Russia ~ Kartoshka s Gribami

Kartoshka s Gribami

Or, Potatoes and Wild Mushrooms *If you use store bought cheap mushrooms I wonder if you can still call it that* 

Many of you *do many of you even read my blog?* may be wondering where in the heck I ran off too! I mean no new recipes! No new photos! Did this month scare me off? 

The answer is NO, this month did not scare me off :) 

I have been a horrible Blogger, not updating, not adding new content and even though I have made a few more things, I have neglected to sit down and share it with the rest of you. Booooo,.. I know. So lets remedy that shall we?I have found that many different places have a similar dish. Fried Potatoes with *insert ingredient here*. It can sometimes be very ironic that so many people fear the unknown foods of the World even though many dishes are very similar. Chalk that up to our troubled history and the often violent clashes of nations, one country bringing its influence into another. So here we have Potatoes and Mushrooms. 

If you want an actual recipe, You can go check out Russian Bites. 

I suppose rather then a recipe, a list of ingredients could be suggested. 

4 potatoes

1/2 cup to a cup of mushrooms *sliced

Butter or Oil as needed for pan

Sour Cream 

Dill

Some recipes call for you to peel and slice the potatoes to resemble fries, others say to simply cut up the potatoes in small squares, I say make your fried potatoes how you like them. I like mine to look more like little squares because my mom used to dice the potato like that whenever she made fried potatoes and it brings back good memories of breakfast with my mother.

Heat up a skillet, nonstick if you like, cast iron if you like. I used cast iron because I was having a nostalgic moment, and I love how things cook in it. 

Add the butter or oil, 2 to 3 tablespoons should do it

Add potatoes to the pan, let cook till tender, you will have to stir but don't over stir and break potatoes up, they need to crisp up a bit.

Slice the mushrooms and add them to the potatoes just before the potatoes are done so the mushrooms do not over cook. 

Add a dollop *I love using that word when I cook* of sour cream and dill to taste. 

 Look at the steam coming off that skillet, those potatoes look so good and the smell was amazing. Deffinately a great comfort food regardless of the weather and regardless of the meal.

Have you ever played "What are they cooking?"
When I was a teenager and living with my sister for the summer *she lived in a large apartment complex of studio and one bedroom apartments* The hallway used to be a barrage of different smells, some more pleasent then others. Around meal time when you walked towards your door, you would hit several different cooking smells on your way and me and my sister made a game out of guessing what it was they were cooking. Why the wild tangent that seemingly has nothing to do with today's recipe? Well the smell of fried potatoes is pretty unmistakable, especially with mushroom. It smells good! My kids were drawn out of their bedrooms and towards the table before I was even close to calling them for dinner.

What I did Differently:
I did not use wild mushrooms. I used the cheap mushrooms that I can get in a container for very little money so that I do not feel guilty spending a ton on a dinner. If this is being made for something or someone special, feel free to splurge.

My families Reaction:
Fried potatoes are always a hit, regardless of what country we are cooking from and what the extra ingredients are. They ate everything on their plate and were full and happy for the rest of the night. The sour cream and dill made a nice added touch that gave a comfortable dish a makeover.