Who says you need to make a special dough for amazing appetizers? Thank goodness for puff pastry! It is so easy to use and you can buy it in the freezer section at any grocery store. I want to introduce you to this delicious puff pastry packets that are filled with salmon, sour cream and herbs. And can be served with any green salad of your choice. It’s great for brunch, lunch, or light dinner. This will definitely be on my holiday table this year.
Salmon in Puff Pastry
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 200 g fresh salmon skinless, boneless
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Some fresh dill finely chopped
- 1 sheet all butter puff pastry
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add finely chopped onion cook and stir until tender.
- Cut salmon into small cubes. Season with salt and pepper, add sour cream, cooked onion and fresh dill. Gently mix.
- Preheat oven to 380 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Gently roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/2 cm. Using 8 cm round cookie cutter carefully cut out circles.
- Place pastry rounds on a flat surface, divide salmon mixture between them and spread one tea spoon over pastry, leaving a 1/2 cm border all around.
- Brush pastry borders with water. Top with pastry rounds and press edges together firmly to seal.
- Place the pastry packets on baking sheet and brush with egg yolk.
- Make a small hole in the middle of the top of each lid. Use a paring knife to score the top of the pastry as desired. Be careful not puncture through.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
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This post was posted in Appetizers, Puff Pastry
Bread Kvass
A traditional Russian bread kvass is a fermented and carbonated beverage in which the main components are Rye bread, yeast, sugar, water and raisins. In Russia kvass is used in some cold recipes such as okroshka.
Bread Kvass
Ingredients
- 3 l boiled water room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 10 slices Rye bread
- 3 Tbsp raisins optional
Instructions
- Slice Rye bread.
- Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat the broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet. Broil the slices until dark brown, turning them over only once, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- In a large bowl, mix together active dry yeast, sugar and water. Place bread and raisins in 3 Mason jars and fill the jars with water.
- Cover the jars with lid or plastic wrap and let it stand on the countertop for 6-8 hours at room temperature, stir the mixture occasionally.
- Carefully remove the toasted bread and raisins and discard them. Using a strainer pour the kvass into empty jars or plastic containers and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- Serve chilled and ENJOY!
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This post was posted in Drinks
Chunky Guacamole
The secret to perfect guacamole is ripe avocados. If you prefer a smoother guacamole, use a blender. Personally, I prefer avocados crushed with a fork with finely cut tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.
Chunky Guacamole
Guacamole can be served not only with tortilla chips, but also with fresh sliced vegetables, such as radishes, cucumber, or celery.
Ingredients
- 3 ripe avocados
- 1/2 lemon (or lime)
- 2 small tomatoes
- 1/2 oignon
- 2 cloves clove garlic
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1-2 pinches cayenne pepper (or chili powder)
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Slice the avocados in half along its length and dispose of the seed and skin. Crush the flesh of the avocado using a fork. Drizzle with the lemon juice.
- Chop the onions, tomatoes, and cilantro. Crush the garlic.
- Mix all the vegetables and avocados together. Salt, pepper, and add the cayenne pepper.
- Put the guacamole in a bowl and serve along with tortilla chips or sliced vegetables.
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This post was posted in Appetizers
Okroshka (Cold Slavic Soup)
Okroshka is a soup, mostly served in summer and always served cold. The ingredients are diced and then mixed with kvass. The ratio of chopped vegetables to kvass is similar to that of cereal to milk. There are tons of different okroshka recipes, but every okroshka must contain green onion, radishes, cucumber, potatoes, boiled eggs and dill.
Okroshka (Cold Slavic Soup)
The word “okroshka” come from Russian word “kroshka” (crumbs) and means “made of crumbs”. All ingredients must be finely diced.
Ingredients
- 4 hard boiled eggs diced
- 2 boiled potatoes peeled and cut into small cubes
- 1 medium english cucumber peeled and cut into small cubes
- 8 slices (300g) bologna finely diced
- 6-7 radishes thinly diced
- 1/2 bunch dill finely diced
- 1/2 bunch green onion finely diced
- 2 l kvass
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- sour cream for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Chop all ingredients.
- Now is the time to turn the salad into a soup. Pour the kvass over the chopped vegetables and mix gently. Add salt and pepper according to taste.
- Let the veggies soak all the flavors for about 2-3 hours in the refrigerator before serving. Serve cold with sour cream. Okroshka will taste even better the following day.
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This post was posted in Soups
Almond Flour Banana Bread
This banana bread gets its amber color and caramelized taste from brown sugar and the taste is amplified by the almond flour. This is not gluten-free recipe, you need to add a little of all purpose flour too.
If you don’t have almond flour or brown sugar, you can try our famous Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread.
If you are looking for gluten-free recipe, try our Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins.
Almond Flour Banana Bread
Although the chocolate chips and walnuts are not mandatory, they add a whole new level of taste and texture to this cake.
Ingredients
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 200 g brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 200 g almond flour
- 100 g unsalted butter melted
- 80 g all purpose flour
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 100 g chopped walnuts
- 60 g chocolate chips (60%)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180C). Grease a large bread pan and set aside.
- Mash bananas with a fork and mix them with brown sugar.
- Add eggs and mix well.
- Add melted butter,
- and almond flour.
- Then add all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well.
- Add walnuts
- and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into bread pan and bake for about 55 minutes.
- Banana bread is ready when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely.
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This post was posted in Desserts
Chocolate Sauce
After trying to make this chocolate sauce at home, you will never go back to store-bought syrup again. No weird preservatives or ingredients like the ones in the store. You will need two ingredients to make this delicious sauce.
Watch this quick video to make your mouth water.
Chocolate sauce
Your sauce will taste even better if you will use heavy cream. Unfortunatly most of the time I use milk, since I’m always trying to lose weight 😉 but it keeps finding me for some reason.
Ingredients
- 125 ml milk or heavy cream
- 150 g dark chocolate (60-70%)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan bring milk (or cream) to boil. Remove from the heat and pour the liquid over the chocolate. Allow it to sit for 1 minute. Whisk to combine.
- The sauce will stay loose while its hot. But you can always reheat it. Spoon the chocolate mixture into a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Heat the sauce for about 3-4 minutes stirring constantly or until it has become liquid again.
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This post was posted in Desserts
Berry Charlotte Cake
This is a famous French dessert made of ladyfinger biscuits, light mousse and topped with fresh fruits. My Berry Charlotte Cake is very easy to make, although it seems like not. The only downside to a charlotte is that it is not always easy to assemble the ladyfinger in the spring form.
Berry Charlotte Cake
Even though the berry season is only a few months out of the year, frozen berries allow us enjoying the sweet taste of summer year round.
If it is winter time or you happen to not finding any good berries at the store, use frozen ones, for the mousse and fresh ones for the decor.
Ingredients
- 500 g berries raspberries, strawberries or blackberries…
- 50-70 g sugar
- 500 ml heavy whipping cream ( 35%) very cold
- 8 g gelatin
- 24 Ladyfingers
For decoration
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- Fresh berries
- Fresh mint optional
- whipped cream optional
Instructions
- Rinse and drain berries, add sugar and puree until smooth.
- Pass the puree through a fine sieve, to remove all tiny seeds.
- You will need about 1/2 cup of puree for dipping the ladyfingers. The rest pour into the saucepan.
- Add 4-5 Tbsp of cold water to gelatin, and set it aside.
- Place the saucepan with berry mixture over medium heat on the stove (don’t boil), remove from the stove and add gelatin. Whisk well until the gelatin is dissolved. Let it cool to room temperature. …
- Pour the very cold heavy whipping cream into a large bowl and whisk, until the cream reaches the soft peaks stage. Do not over beat!
- Once the berry puree is completely at room temperature, gently fold it into the whipped cream and set it aside.
- Line the inside and walls of a springform pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap. …
- Measure the length you need.
- You can trim off one end of each ladyfinger.
- Dip one side of the ladyfinger in the puree mixture. Let the excess syrup drip off, then line the ladyfingers (dipped side needs to be inside) in a tight ring, cut side down, around the spring form pan.
- If you having trouble fitting the last ladyfinger in, you can cut it in half.
- Pour the berry mousse into the springform. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
- Carefully remove springform walls and plastic wrap. Transfer cake to the plate.
- Dust with cocoa powder.
- Garnish with some fresh berries, fresh mint, whipped cream and shredded chocolate.
- You can decorate with ribbon, but don’t forget to remove the ribbon before cutting the cake. 🙂
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This post was posted in Desserts
French Chocolate Macarons
French Chocolate Мacarons (Macarons au chocolat) – elegant french cookie made with almond flour. There are hundreds of different fillings, but the chocolate ganache is the most popular. This recipe is simple enough to make, but they sometimes crack or have imperfect “feet”. Don’t worry they’re still delicious, and don’t give up, only practice will make them flawless.
Perfect for a cafe gourmand!
French Chocolate Macarons
Please don’t eat your macarons right away, wait until they reach ambient temperature. Macarons can be stored in the refrigerator for 5 days. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
Ingredients
Almond cookies
- 75 g almond flour
- 110 g powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp cacao powder
- 2 large egg whites (about 70 g)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 50 g sugar
Chocolate ganache
- 100 ml heavy whipping cream ( 35%)
- 90 g chocolate chips (60%)
- 1 tsp sour cream
Instructions
Almond cookies
- Mix almond flour and powdered sugar in food processor (20-30 seconds).
- Add cacao powder to almond mixture and pass through a fine sieve.
- Add a pinch of salt to egg whites and beat until foamy.
- Slowly add sugar and beat until firm peaks form.
- Fold the dry mixture into the meringue, keep folding the batter until it reaches a honey-like consistency.
- Transfer the batter to the pastry bag.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. To make all macarons look the same size, print out a 2.5 cm macaron template, place under parchment paper and trace the outlines. You can also use a silicone mat.
- Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet, pipe circles. Tap the baking sheet a few times on the counter to release any air bubbles, and to make them look round. Let them sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, until skin forms on the shells.
- Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Bake for 15 minutes (one sheet at a time). Each oven temperature is different so keep an eye on them. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet before removing them. Pair the cookies up according to size.
Chocolate ganache
- Add heavy cream to a small saucepan and heat on high heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips. Allow to stand for 1 minute to soften the chocolate.
- Stir briskly until smooth.
- Add the sour cream and stir again.
- Transfer ganache to the pastry bag or small ziplock bag. Allow to cool for about 2 hours at room temperature or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Pipe the ganache filling in the middle of one shell (about 1 tsp).
- Sandwich it with empty shell. Store them in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before serving. They’ll taste even better next day. 😉
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Pickled Cabbage
For my version of pickled cabbage, cabbage and carrots are marinated with vinegar. This is an easy recipe and ready to eat the next day!
Pickled Cabbage
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb cabbage
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 head of garlic
- 4 cup water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup 6% vinegar
Instructions
- Cut, core and shred cabbage finely.
- Peel the carrots and grate.
- Peel the garlic and cut each clove into 4 pieces.
- Place vegetables in a mason jar.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot, boil water with salt, sugar and olive oil. Remove from the heat and add vinegar.
- Pour hot marinade over the cabbage and let it cool completely.
- Cover with tight lid and store it in the refrigerator. Cabbage will be ready in 12 hours.
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This post was posted in Salads