Layers in June

Who knew that today would turn out to be a pretty nice day when the morning was so dreary? I was literally wearing a sweatshirt and two pairs of socks this morning, it was so cold. And again I thought of making crepes, but alas, there were only 4 eggs in the fridge, and that's just not enough to make my crepes fabulous. And since it was a Saturday, I didn't want ruin my family's weekend by experimenting with new Russian recipes so I decided to stick to things I know how to make on the weekends and turn my kitchen into a lab on weekdays. As an homage to the dreary June morning and my bundled-up self, I baked up some layered goodies for my family. Here's one, as I was only able to upload these pictures onto the computer before the system failed. What is a good way to get cell phone pictures from the phone to the computer? I've been e-mailing them...

Cheesy Pork & Potato Bake
Learned this one from my Mama when I first got married and it was hit with my hubby

1 lb. pork shoulder
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into rounds

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 onion, sliced

8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

salt & pepper

olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with olive oil.
2. Cut pork into 2 inch chunks and beat with a meat tenderizer until flat. Arrange in a layer in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.
3. In a mixing bowl, lather the potatoes with the mayonnaise. Arrange in a layer on top of the meat. Drizzle any remaining mayonnaise on top.
4. Cover the pototoes with a layer of the sliced onion, then cover the onion with a layer of the shdredded cheese.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then, uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until top is golden brown.
   

Around noon, when the cheese atop the pork & potato thingy was happily bubbling in the oven, the sun came out and I could not resist chopping up some fresh veggies to compliment the baked dish. The quantities are what I used today and it made a nice medium-sized salad, but feel free to use as much of each ingredient as you want. Also, excuse my terminology...I have yet to learn the correct terms. Is "slivers" an appropriate term? I think I've only seen it on packages of almonds. Anyway, it doesn't matter how it's chopped, it's how it tastes, right? And it looks so pretty!

Cabbage, Radish, & Cucumber Salad

1/4 head of green cabbage, shredded
1 bunch radishes, chopped into slivers

1/3 English cucumber, chopped into slivers

3 scallions, chopped

salt & pepper

1-2 tbsp. sunflower oil

Combine veggies with sunflower oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Voila!

For my baked yummy dessert (layered honey-walnut cake!) wait for the next post. Still gotta figure out how to get the rest of my pics from my cell.

And so it begins...

It's another grey summer day in Western Washington, my fridge is stuffed with food I've cooked up this week. If I add anything else it will undoubtedly burst. Last night I had to be very creative when trying to stuff my Roasted Tomato Soup into the the fridge. In the end, the strawberries had to suffer on the counter all night... So right now, even though I had a grand plan for making crepes, I can't because there's no room to store them. My other option is to read Harry Potter, but I think I'm all Pottered-out. Finished reading Book 4 yesterday morning and felt very accomplished and ready to go on, but then glimpsed at the last page of Book 5 and groaned. 870 pages! I'm not ready to take on another big tome right now. So here I am, doing what I've been told to do by my friends last summer when we sat at BJ's eating our thick-crust pizzas (Sweet Pig for me!) and I told them about how I want to cook Russian food all summer. Well, that plan went awry, but here is another summer before me. I had no plans but to read Harry Potter and a million other books. The weather is bipolar. I think our January was warmer than our June (except for the past two days) and I said to myself, "I think I will blog!"

So here's the plan--to teach myself to cook Russian food, as I am part Russian, although I've never been to the country itself. But whatever, it was all one big Soviet Union at one time and I speak Russian so hence, I pronounce myself Russian! And proud of it...although I my language is getting rather rusty...

Since I came up with this idea on a one rainy summer morning last week, I've made vareniki, plov, zapekanka, and a radish-cucumber salad. I still have to work out the plov recipe. It was too sticky for my liking, but I got a lot of great suggestions from my Facebook friends, which I will have to try out. Anyway, I plan to blog as I go, and I have a feeling I probably will cook up something today as the weather is not improving and Harry Potter is not calling my name...

Oh and here's a recipe if you're also in the mood for some Russian food =) If you try it, let me know how it worked for you. I'm ready to tweak my recipes.

Zapekanka

Resembles an American cheesecake

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

16 oz. cottage cheese, strained through a cheese cloth

1 cup cooked farina (see recipe below)--aka Manka

1 1/2 cups sugar

7 eggs

1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray

2. Beat cream cheese, cottage cheese, farina, and sugar in a stand up mixer until combined.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

4. Fold in 1/2 the raisins.

5. Pour batter inot prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining raisins.

6. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown on top.

7. Cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Farina

1 cup milk

5 tbsp. farina

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Heat milk on medium-high temperature until steamy, but not boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk in the farina. Keep whisking until the farina thickens. Stir in butter. Cool before using in zapekanka.