Russia ~ Fish Babka ~ Dinner

 

Fish Babka

The joy of International cooking is the ability to try things you may never have tried before. And I do mean NEVER. 

Fish Babka is one of those dishes that I may not even have known existed, I may have gone my entire life without knowing of or partaking in this particular meal. In the grand scheme of things it may not mean much, but when you really think of all the places, all the dishes, that we as Americans may not know much about, it all adds up to pretty sad. We are missing out on lots! Not just new and delicious food, but culture, lots and lots of culture and tradition goes into these dishes and opening up our kitchens to the food opens up our minds to the culture. 

That said, fish babka, was for me, an episode of bizarre foods. It was good, really good, but the texture was,... interesting. Not bad, just really interesting. I will wait for you to cook it, try it and tell me what you thought of it.

This recipe came from "Russian, German & Polish food & cooking" by Leslie Chamberlain

*Any White Fish   *White Bread   *Milk   *Butter   *Onion   *Eggs   *Nutmeg   *Salt/Pepper

Recipe

12 oz of white fish fillets, skinned if needed, cut into 1 in cubes

2 oz white bread cut into 1/2 in cubes

1 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 eggs seperated

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp dill to garnish

Procedure

1) preheat the oven to 350 lightly grease a ovenproof loaf pan

2) place the fish cubes in a bowl and add the bread, then pour the milk over mixture and leave to soak while you cook the onion

3) melt the butter in a small pan and fry the onion for 10 minutes or until soft. cool a few minutes then add to the fish bread mixture with egg yolks and spices.

4) whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff then gently fold into the fish mixture

5) spoon the mixture into the dish, cover with buttered foil and bake for 45 minutes or until set

6) allow to stand for 5 minutes then spoon out

 

What I did differently

I did not spoon the mixture into the baking dish, so the milk that was supposed to drain from the spoon ended up in the baking dish and made the entire dish a bit runnier then it should have been. Make sure to spoon the mixture.

My families reaction

hmmmm 

Well it wasn't bad per say, it was interesting. They liked the taste and yet, did not know what to think about the texture.