Everyone knows that slavs have an obsession with Russian salad. But, boy, is it heavy on the stomach! All that mayo and ham… This is a close cousin, but much lighter and quite flavorful. It is made of ingredients available typically during the winter (well, today all vegetables are available… but I mean naturally available): chopped boiled potatoes, boiled carrots and boiled red beets. You also add chopped pickles and finely chopped fresh leeks. Oh, and oil, wine vinegar and salt/pepper at the end too. In terms of proportions, this is not an exact science type of thing and you just try to keep the quantities of each ingredient relatively equal, while tasting. The beets and pickles are probably less than the potatoes and carrots – that’s about as exact as I can get 🙂

It is winter comfort food. Plus look at those vibrant colors!

P.S. Word of warning: this salad “drinks” a lot of vinegar. In order for it to be adequately sour, you might have to add the vinegar several times – because it keeps absorbing it and the flavor flattens after a while.

Believe it or not this cream is vegan! Vegetable-oil based heavy cream was used, but dairy cream of course is the norm.

Ingredients: 500ml cream, gelatin (one packet), 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla essence, or seeds or whatever :). The cream and the sugar are heated (they should not reach a boiling point; then the vanilla essence is added, and the gelatin (prepared based on the box instructions). This mix is poured into molds and refrigerated for at least 2-3 hours.

For the honeycomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enmlPtSm74I
Crumble it on top, pour thinned out amber honey (chestnut is best) and enjoy. The gelatin and honey, of course, are not strictly vegan, but they have proper substitutes such as pectin and agave syrup.

Not sure why the name, maybe the chocolate part is the West and the cream cheese is the East (but then who is the Nutella? Well, Cuba, according to the post!) It’s a fun recipe. The cream cheese offers some variety from the otherwise dense chocolate-y taste, and the author of the blog where I got this from is right – it begs for a glass of cold milk!

All in all, I am certain Santa won’t mind that I substituted cookies with this.
Follow the recipe here:
https://17andbaking.com/2009/05/05/april-showers-bring-may-migraines-and-cold-war-brownies/

In this week’s installment of “They look nothing like the photos on the original recipe” we have these butter cookies, rich with flavor from tons of orange zest, with melted caramel white chocolate (apparently they sell caramel aero chocolate here in Bulgaria: http://i5.otzovik.com/2016/10/27/3971241/img/39375736.jpeg) on top, instead of powdered sugar icing, and blanched orange peel.

Some of the comments under the recipe are on point: mixing the butter for too long creates flatter cookies, and also – refrigerate the dough for an hour before baking. Funny that a recipe that is part of a series about the importance of treating butter right didn’t include these fine tips.

Recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017342-orange-butter-cookies?smid=fb-nytdining&smtyp=cur

This is a cute presentation alternative to round biscuits. Plus it is more of an adult version with the walnuts, blue cheese and bresaola (sliced cure meat, which can be replaced with ham, prosciutto or anything like that). On the side I have a walnut & ricotta pesto to spread on it. Unfortunately this pesto also has sundried tomatoes in it and that totally dominates its flavor. Next time, I will make my own “white” version of the pesto, to see if that is better for dipping.
The recipe comes from (blush) the Disney princess recipe cookbook. This blogger describes the process of making them, so I don’t have to 😉 :
http://www.womansconed.com/?p=1171 but the ham and cheese have been replaced.

oh my god what an ordeal. I hate quinces. Preparing them, anyways. You remove the fuzz and all of the crazy little growths, coring them is crazy, their shapes are crazy, the texture varies… sigh. Hence the rustic uneven look! This was supposed to be a quince tarte tatin, but alas, the quinces looked ugly and amorphous, so I had to mix them up with pears (thanks for the hint, sis). Now it only needs a scoop of ice cream, and I can enjoy a piece and forget the trauma 😉

Followed the newly-gangsterized Martha Stewart’s recipe but just added a splash of bourbon to the melted sugar and butter:
https://www.marthastewart.com/355925/quince-tarte-tatin

This Korean-themed experiment was done as a proof of concept for sous-vide pork belly. I have the Joule gizmo and so far so good – no wows, but good results. You keep the pork belly submerged in 80F water for 7 hours and it melts! It is seasoned with a Korean BBQ sauce, and topped with a mushroom kimchi I bought at the local mushroom-focused shop (it is a Myco-boutique!). The scallion pancake is no looker but it serves its purpose as a nice onion-y base for all of this pork/kimchi goodness.

The recipes consulted include:
https://www.daringgourmet.com/pajeon-korean-pancakes/
and
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/stupidly-simple-sous-vide-pork-belly

The difference between gnudi and gnocchi? One is a potato dumpling, the other a cheese dumpling (typically – ricotta cheese). Therefore, gnudi are generally creamier. Feta gnudi are also saltier unless you pre-soak your feta in non-salty water (which I didn’t do this time). A sweetier, nuttier pesto was required to compensate for that – hence the mint, pea, roasted almond pesto I whipped up the round out the taste of the gnudi. You can boil gnudi too, but I would hate to get involved in that kind of mess (hmmm, may trying steaming next time though….why not?). Plus if you roll them in semolina flour, pan frying makes their sides slightly crispy. Conclusion: the flavor combination feta-parmesan-peas-mint-almonds works well!

Here are some gnudi-making guides:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-01-10/features/sc-food-0110-gnudi-20140111_1_ravioli-dumplings-gnocchi
or
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/ricotta-and-black-pepper-gnudi-spotted-pig-april-bloomfield-recipe.html

Eggplant Bruschetta
When it comes to bruschetta I don’t think simplicity is a plus. I like to give my bruschettas “the works” – roasted eggplant, tomatoes, capers, loads of chopped basil, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts… oh, the balsamic drizzle too. Of course, one has to be careful not to make the bruschettas soggy, so the balsamic should be added last. Totally my favorite Italian appetizer.

Pumpkin spice season does not scare me! I revel in it, and I am particularly smitten by Trader Joe’s Apple Cider Jam. Who thought you could get so addicted to apple jam … I have never actually heard of such a thing. No one makes apples into jam in Bulgaria.

For this breakfast, I made waffles (we call them “gaufrettes” in Bulgaria) with applesauce (didn’t have eggs!), browned butter, flour, misc. autumn spices like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg etc; then melted brown sugar and mixed in walnuts for the walnut crunch on top; whipped some heavy cream and poured a little honey in it. It is all gone now…