blue artichoke: Wandering Gullet: Russia

First of all, let me tell you why there were no Sunday Muffins this week. Friday and Saturday, but mostly Saturday, I dove into holiday baking and baked up a storm. When the flour settled, I was too tuckered out to break another egg or measure another teaspoon of baking soda. No muffins. I do, however, have a beautiful cookie tray. More on that tomorrow, when I have pictures of my glorious creations.

Last night's Wandering Gullet dinner was selected with the baking frenzy in mind. I knew I wouldn't be up for anything overly complicated or time-consuming, so I chose a slow-cooker meal: Russian Red Lentil Soup. I assembled the ingredients and started it cooking at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Though the recipe said to cook on low for 3 hours, I started it on high (because I like to heat things quickly to minimize time spent in the danger zone of 40-140F). I intended to turn down the heat after an hour, but I got sidetracked with other things and left it on high for all three hours. Somehow, I think it was still a bit undercooked. The lentils were slightly crunchy and the onions were definitely crunchy. Maybe that's how Russians like their lentils and onions. I prefer them a bit softer. GC liked the soup well enough; I did not. I'm not convinced this is typical Russian fare, but if it is, I can understand why they waited for hours in lines for bread. I ate my popovers but decided the soup was not good enough to eat, so I fried a couple of eggs for my dinner. I'll not share the recipe with you.

Finally, happy birthday to Purple Fried Okra!

Getting to Know All About You: What food do you think it would be worth spending hours waiting in line for?

Comments

Most of the Russian food I've had (remember, I lived there for that summer) was actually very, very good. This soup sounds... wrong. I'd think they'd want the veggies soft, especially as their socialized medicine meant they had lost many of their teeth.

Posted by: Red Momo | December 17, 2007 05:14 PM

Got any good Russian recipes, or typical Russian dishes for which I can find recipes? I'd like to give Russia a second chance.

Posted by: Blue Artichoke | December 18, 2007 08:59 AM

One word for you: Vareniki. These are the Russian analog to (Polish) pierogis. A good vareniki recipe must have sour cream in the dough, and should have a filling including potatos, cottage or farm cheese, and onion. There are tons of filling variations, of course, but just avoid anything that has ridiculous quantities of butter -- those are Ukrainian bastardizations of the noble Russian original. They're perfect with beer. Or, for a true-er experience, serve with large tumblers of vodka and make sure you kill the bottle by the end of dinner.

Posted by: red meat | December 18, 2007 06:36 PM

when i was in ukraine this summer, i was treated to homemade vereniki for breakfast (b/c we went out and drank lots of vodka at a neighbor's bbq before we got a chance to eat it for supper!). i must say, it was the most delicious meal i had during my travels through both ukraine and poland! so please, dear artichoke, don't accuse the ukrainians of bastardizing that delightful dish. history shows that the russians are by NO MEANS nobel, and what i had was delicious and had no butter that i could recall - in fact, they were topped with browned bits of pork lard (farm fresh from my hosts pigs). i hardly ever saw butter in ukraine or poland, come to think of it. lard was much more common. oh yeah, and ukraine is nestled b/t poland and russia, so they have, in some ways, made the best of both cuisines! perhaps we need to start planning another culinary adventure...

oh yeah, i have a new name.

Posted by: crawfish etoufee | December 20, 2007 10:20 PM