A Chocolatey ebook Break

So I guess I'm not as industrious this summer as I was last summer even though the sunny weather didn't come around until about a week ago. The problem is that I have discovered that I can upload ebooks from the library and so instead of playing around with recipes, I've been catching up on my reading. It is a bit selfish of me; only I get gratification from my reading. But I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself since I did cook up a few tasty dishes, it's the blogging that I've been rather lazy about. Lately though, a few friends have asked me about my blog and I thought I'd at least post something that could satisfy a few tastebuds. And since I just finished my latest novel (Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins), caught up on the lastest episode of Suits (sooo easy on the eyes!), and actually remembered my password for blogspot, I'll share a recipe for a perfect summer dessert: Triple Layer Jello Cake.



Triple Layer Jello Cake

Creamy Chocolate Layer
1 cup milk
2 packets gelatin
1 cup (8 oz.) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 cup sour cream

Creamy White Layer

1 cup milk

2 packets gelatin

1 cup (8 oz.) heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp. sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Chocolate Top Layer

6 tbsp. sugar

4 tbsp. cocoa power

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups water

2 packets gelatin

1. Chocolate Top Layer: To save time, start with the top layer, since it takes the longest. In a small saucepan combine sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and water. Heat on medium high, stirring constantly, until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour in gelatin and continue stirring until the mixture boils. Take off heat and let cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, prepare the other two layers.

2. Bottom Layer (Creamy Chocolate): In a standing mixer, using the whisk attachment, whip together the heavy cream, cocoa powder, and 3 tbps. sugar until very stiff peaks form (it should have the consistency of Cool Whip). Switch to the paddle attachment and add the remaining sugar and sour cream. Beat slowly until smooth and combined. In a microwaveable dish stir together the milk and gelatin and let stand one minute. Microwave milk/gelatin mixture for 30 seconds and then stir (repeat microwave/stir process two more times). Pour the milk mixture into the chocalate cream mixture and beat slowly until smooth. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish. Refrigerate until set, about 15-20 minutes.

3. Middle Layer (Creamy White): Once the bottom layer is set, make the middle layer using the same process as the bottom layer, omitting the cocoa from the whipped cream and adding the lemon juice. Slowly pour the Creamy White mixture over the set Creamy Chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for another 15-20 minutes, until the middle layer is set.

4. Finally, pour the cooled chocolate (step one) over the set Creamy White Layer and refrigerate for another 15-20 minutes. Slice and serve!

Tips & Thoughts

**Instead of making your own whipped cream (heavy cream + sugar), you can substitute with an 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip. I like to make my own because I feel like I'm cheating if I use ready made stuff (weird, I know). Also, it's cheaper if you get a half-gallon carton in Costco. It lasts a while and you can make so much more!

**I haven't tried this yet, but I noticed that in a lot of gelatin recipes, it seems like it's the combination of hot and cold that gets the gelatin working. So I think it might work if you only add 1 cup of water to the Chocolate Top Layer concoction, boil it, and then pour in the remaining cup of cold water. Might be even faster to get it to cool down, since it is annoying to have to wait to let it cool. I'm going to try this next time.

**Instead of the Chocolate Top layer, I've used a fruity Jell-O, prepared according to package directions and poured on top of the white layer. Gives the Jello Cake a completely different taste and look.

A Lazy Day Recipe

Wow, it's been a few months since I blogged! The year is almost over and since I am currently on my Winter Break from school, I thought I'd at least do one post before school starts up again. Yesterday was one of those days when all I wanted to do was stay at home and do nothing. Christmas weekend was extremely busy and exciting and yesterday I just felt exhausted! I lazily dragged myself to the fridge to see if we could make it through the day without my having to cook anything. Sadly, I realized that spending some time in the kitchen was inevitable. With a great sigh, I settled down to eat the previous night's leftovers: Shuba and chocolate cake. I'm telling you, nothing compares to a pickled herring salad and a chocolate pastry for breakfast. And when I say that it was actually delicious, I am not lying. The best part is that I didn't have to make breakfast.

As I already admitted, yesterday I was just plain lazy. I was trying to think of something easy that I could make for dinner, say fry up some eggs and potatoes. Sadly, I used up all my eggs to make that pickled herring salad and that chocolate cake. And it's funny how when you're 16 and get your driver's license you want to drive everywhere, but in a few years it gets old and all you want is your personal chauffeur. So driving to the grocery store was out of the question for me. Changing out of my pj's required way too much effort. I decided I'll see how long I can last without having to make anything at all. So when my daughter asked for food and all I could offer her was some mac & cheese I decided I really do need to cook something a bit more healthy. The trick was to cook something that can last more than a day so that the next day (today!) I can truly relax and be lazy. I sound like a sloth right now, don't I? The answer was plain and simple: Borscht! Borscht is super healthy, very easy (although prep work may take some time), and it taste even better on day two. So here you go, on your next lazy day, you can make borscht, too. This is my super easy variation. A true borscht is made with pork, but I use chicken because chicken is much easier and much cleaner. Also, one important aspect is to never let it boil. Keep it on medium to medium-low heat at all times.

Red Borscht with Chicken

3 chicken drumsticks

3 quarts water

1 tbps. vegetable oil

1 medium carrot, grated

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium beets, grated

1/4 small head of cabbage, shredded

3 medium potatoes, chopped small

1 16 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 tbsp. kosher salt

a few sprigs of dill and parsley, chopped

1. For the broth: In a large pot, combine drumsticks and water and cook slowly on medium-low heat for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until meat starts to come off the bone. Skim occasionally. Remove the cooked drumsticks and set aside to cool. Strain broth through a sieve and return to clean pot. When drumsticks are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone and shred with your fingers. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet, add the grated carrot and chopped onion and cook on medium-high heat until transluscent, about 7 minutes. Set aside.

3. To assemble the borsht: To the hot broth, add the grated beats and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until they soften. Add the shredded cabbage and cook for 5 minutes until limp. Add potatoes and cook for 10 minutes, until fork tender. Add the reserved shredded chicken meat, the reserved fried carrots and onions, and the kidney beans. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until flavors blend. Season with salt, pepper, dill, and parsley. Add more salt & pepper and herbs to your liking.

Note: You can make the broth one day ahead and refrigerate the strained broth and shredded meat separately. The next day, reheat the broth on medium heat until it starts to warm up (don't let it simmer or boil) and follow the rest of the recipe.

Serve borscht with a dollop of sour cream and some hearty rye bread. Yum!

Fruit of our Land

Well, our land doesn't produce very much fruit because, and I'm very ashamed to admit this, it's not very maintained. We just sort of let it go, and now that we actually want to do something with it, it's HARD! All those weeds! At least one of my good friends, who took one look at it, said very nicely, "Your yard is, um, very organic..." I will take that as a compliment. But we do have one wild cherry tree that produces fruit. I didn't even think it was edible, but my husband said it is so every summer I pick those cherries and use them to make kampot, or home-made juice, if you will. These cherries are extremely sour so I personally wouldn't eat them just like that, but they make a really good kampot.

So yesterday I decided to pick these cherries. They are sly little buggers though! First of all, they're the same color as the leaves of the tree so they're hard to see, and second, most of them are in the very top branches. I picked what I could reach, which wasn't much. I did consider climbing the tree, but then I got this image of me sprawled on the cement, berries strewn in every direction, and my daughter hollering at the top of her lungs next to me, and that was enough to change my mind. So I made use of what I picked and added other berries from my stash at home to make quite a refreshing pot of kampot.

Kampot can be made from any assortment of juicy berries or fruit. I wouldn't use bananas (they're more mushy than juicy), though. It's really easy and I never measure what I use so here is a measure-less recipe.

Kampot

an assortment of berries or fruit such as apples, plums, peaches, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, etc.

sliced lemon or orange

sugar

1. Fill about 1/4 of your pot with your desired fruits and/or berries. I used my wild cherries, Rainier cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and lemon.

2. Add about 1/2 sugar. I always start with 1/2 cup because fruit has it's own natural sugars which will be extracted as the fruits boil.

3. Fill the rest with water. Bring to a boil on high heat. At this point you can taste the kampot and add more sugar or lemon juice to adjust sweetness to your taste. In this recipe I ended up adding 3/4 cup more sugar (those wild cherries were really sour).

4. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

5. Cool completely. Strain through a mesh sieve. Chill in the refrigerator. Enjoy.

This weekend my husband went fishing and caught two King Salmon so I knew he'd take care of the dinner. I let my hubby deal with the fish, he's really good with, but I had to make something for dessert. Last week I went blueberry picking with my daughter and we gathered 17 lbs. of berries and they were yummy! So of course, I had to make a blueberry dessert. I'd already made blueberry muffins and a blueberry coffee cake, but there is one Russian blueberry dessert that I absolutely love and make every summer with the freshest berries I can find!

Blueberry Vareniki

makes about 30

1 cup water

1 egg

2 tbsp. sour cream

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

1. In a large bowl whisk together the water, egg, sour cream, and salt. Add flour and mix. When it gets really doughy, turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until elastic. Return to bowl, lightly cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare to assemble the vareniki by placing the berries in one bowl, and the sugar in a second bowl, close at hand. Cover another plate with saran wrap and lightly flour. This is where you will place your assembled vareniki. The saran wrap and flour will prevent the vareniki from sticking to the plate. You may need a couple more prepared plates. I ended up having to use three.

3. Divide dough into three chunks. Roll out one chunk into a thin sheet. Don't make it too thin because it may tear, and you don't want it too thick because then the vareniki will be too doughy. It's hard to say, but after several tries, you'll probably figure out how thin you like it...

4. Using a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out round shapes. The remaining dough (the part that didn't make it into a round) can be added to the next chunk of dough and rolled out for the next batch of circles. I don't like wasting dough so I make use of every bit of it.

5. Place a dough round in the palm of your hand. In the center, place 4-6 berries (all depends on the size of the round) then add about 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Fold one side of the round over to make a half-circle and crimp the edges with your fingers. Place on prepared plate. When you have a plate-full of vareniki you can stick them in the freezer until they harden, then transfter to a Ziplock bag. Keep vareniki in the freezer until ready to use.

6. To cook vareniki, bring a pot half-full of water to a boil. Drop in vareniki. Reduce heat to medium-high and let them boil for about 5 minutes. Take them out with a slotted spoon and place in bowl. Add a little butter (about 1/2 tbsp) and stir gently. The butter will keep them from sticking to each other. Sprinkle with sugar on top and serve.

When Green Looks Good

Yesterday morning I woke up with a grand plan to cook something I haven't made in a long time: Shavleviy Borscht (Sorrel Borcht). Unfortunately, my husband had let his brother borrow his car and so he had to take mine to work. I was stuck at home trying to figure out what I could do with whatever I had in the fridge. I ended up making chicken broth, figuring that I could run to the grocery store as soon as I got my car back and finish making the borscht. That didn't happen until late evening as we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and drove down to Alki for a stroll. The stroll didn't happen either. My daughter insisted on playing in the sand, which was fine. My husband and I lounged on the beach, watched the waves, and let our daughter practice sharing her toys with some new friends. With our busy schedules (well, not mine, as I'm on summer break) we rarely get to get out like this so it was a treat. I still wanted to make my borscht so as soon as we got home I drove to Safeway and bought my ingredients and made a delicious pot of it. And now I don't have to cook anything at all today because there is a big pot of borscht sitting in my fridge right now!

Now, this borscht is usually made with sorrel leaves, which taste sour, but since I can't access the sorrel my mother has in her garden because she moved all the way to Missouri, I use spinach and lemon juice as substitutes and it still tastes pretty darn good. I've never seen sorrel in a grocery store, so if any of you ever find one that sells it, do let me know.

Very Easy Chicken Broth

2 carrots, roughly chopped into large chucks

1 onion, roughly chopped

4 sticks celery, roughly chopped

2 chicken drumsticks

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. ground pepper

2 tsp. kosher salt

3 quarts water

1. Combine ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring to a slow simmer on medium-high heat (don't let it boil). Then, reduce heat to medium low, and let slowly cook for 30 minutes.

2. Using tongs, remove the drumsticks. Let cool slightly, then remove the meat from the bone and shred with fingers or a fork. Reserve for later use in soup or borcht.

3. Strain the broth through a sieve. Discard cooked vegetables. This will make about 2 1/2 quarts of broth. Refrigerate until needed.

I didn't have celery at home so I went ahead and made the broth without it and it turned out just fine. I just like to use celery because it gives it a richer flavor.

Green Spinach Borscht

2 1/2 quarts Chicken Broth (see recipe above)

cooked chicken, shredded (use reserved meat)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped small

3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

5 oz. spinach, stemmed and chopped

4 eggs

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill

2 tbsp. lemon juice, from half lemon

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. ground pepper

1. In a medium saute pan, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil. Add chopped onion and saute until onions are carmelized. Set aside.

2. Heat broth at medium high heat until steamy, but not simmering. Add potatoes, reduce heat to medium and cook until tender.

3. While the potatoes are cooking, whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. When potatoes are tender, holding the egg bowl in one hand, slowly pour in the eggs, while stirring the broth with your other hand. The eggs will have a feathery texture.

4. Add the spinach, carmelized onions, chicken, parsely, dill, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir. Let cook for another 10 minutes until all flavors blend. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and a nice chunk of rustic bread.

Variation: Instead of pouring the eggs raw into the broth, you can also boil them separately, then chop the hard boiled eggs into small chunks and add them last. Tastes just as good, but gives a different texture. That is how my mom makes this borscht. My husband likes the delicate feathery texture of the eggs so I cook it like that to make him happy.

Piece of Cake

The weather has been amazing lately and I've been staying away from the kitchen and enjoying it! In retrospect, it isn't very good for the pocketbook because we've been eating out a little too often. However, I took a trip to Costco and bought a bunch of meat so I'm ready to go back into the kitchen in full swing...

My brother's birthday was a week ago, and he asked me to make him a cake. It was such a nice sunny day, really not a cake-baking day, and I had already gone to pick raspberries with my daughter that morning, but since I only have one brother, I gave in and made it. So here's the recipe.

By the way, many Russian cakes have funny names that have nothing to do with what's actually in the cake. For instance, here in America we have cake names like Carrot Cake, which tells you that you're bound to have carrots in the cake. Or Cheesecake...clearly you're going to taste cheese. Russian cakes, however, have names like "Mishka na Severe" (Bear in the North) and "Ptich'ye Moloko" (Bird's Milk), just to name a few. Sometimes I wonder how these names came about... There are normal cake names, too, and this is one of them, called "Medovik" (Honey Cake).

Seven Layer Honey-Walnut Cake (Medovik)

Cake Layers
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs
1 c. sugar

2 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. baking soda

3 cups flour

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare baking sheets by spraying with non-stick cooking spray. Prepare a steam bath by bringing a medium pot half filled with water to a slow simmer. Prepare work surface by cleaning an area for rolling out the dough. In the middle of your work surface pour out 1 cup of the flour and spread it out in an even plateau (can you use that word in a recipe?) You will need to have this ready for the hot batter.

2. In a metal mixing bowl combine butter, eggs, sugar, and honey. Set bowl over the simmering water and stir ingredients until heated.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour and the baking soda. With a wooden spoon, stir flour into the batter on the steam bath. Continue stirring until batter is smooth and heated through. Pour out the batter onto prepared flour and gently knead the flour into the batter. The batter will be hot so be careful.

4. Shape dough into a loaf and divide into 7 equal parts. Shape into small balls and cover with mixing bowl (upside down) to keep warm.

5. Flour your work surface well. With a rolling pin, gently roll out each dough ball into a thin sheet. You will need to keep the sheet well floured on the top and bottom to keep from sticking to the rolling pin and your work surface. The dough will be very delicate and can easily tear. Use a plate or the bottom of a springform pan as a template for your cake layers, but do not cut the sheet into the shape until baked. Just make sure it will be big enough to make the layer size you want.

6. Gently pick up the dough sheet and place onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 4-5 minutes, until golden. (While one sheet is baking, you can start rolling out the next one so that you have one ready to pop in the oven once the first one bakes. I always work with 2 baking sheets, and in the 5 minutes that one is baking, I roll out the next dough ball and wash and spray the previously used baking sheet.

7. Once the sheet is baked, place your template on top and cut around with a knife. Place the round layer on a flat surface to cool. Reserve the edges in another bowl. You will need them.

8. Repeat for the remaining 6 dough balls until you have 7 equally round layers.

(I tried putting each picture next to the step it corresponds with, but it all got jumbled up when I posted the blog...very irritating...so here are the pictures in order.)

Cake Icing (Variation #1)

2 cups heavy cream1

14 oz. can cooked condensed milk**

Beat heavy cream with electric mixer until thickened. Add condensed milk and beat until combined.

**To cook condensed milk, boil unopened can in a pot of water for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Cake Icing (Variation #2)

10 oz. Cool Whip

1 14 oz. can condensed milk (uncooked)

Beat Cool Whip and condensed milk until combined.

Assembling the cake

1 cup toasted walnuts

half the remaining layer edges

1. In a food processor separately process the walnuts into small chunks and the layer edges until they resemble small crumbs.

2. Spread icing on the first layer, sprinkle walnuts on top, then cover with next layer. Continue icing and sprinkling walnuts every layer, except the final one. Ice the sides of the cake.

3. Shape your cake crumbs into a small mound. Carefully pick up the cake with both hands and roll it through the mound so that the crumbs stick to the iced sides.

4. Place the cake onto a serving platter, ice the top, and sprinkle with cake crumbs and walnuts. Let rest in the refrigerator for about an hour until the layers absorb the icing. Serve and enjoy!

Oh yeah, and if you have left over icing and cake edges, eat them!

Play Date Canapes

Earlier today a few of my girlfriends came over with their kids for a play date. It's still hard to believe that we all have kids. It seems that only yesterday we were single and care-free, hanging out at Alki, chillin' at Starbucks, playing soccer at Celebration Park, or having lunch after church at the Burien Azteca. Now we're kissing away owies, changing diapers, laughing about the funny things toddlers say, and sharing what we put on the table for our men and kids. Play dates are a great time to share stories over a few simple dishes, like canapes (small open-faced sandwiches) and this morning I prepared a trio of these for my friends.

You have to start out with a yummy spread. As I've been cooking Russian food in the past few weeks I've noticed that quite a few recipes call for mayonnaise--must be a Russian staple. Here's something I came up with on my own that I like to use as a spread.

Garlic-Herb Mayo

1/2 head of garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup dill, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

2 cups mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together.

Easy, right? Yep. I was inspired by the herb-butter I learned to make in my Culinary Arts class at the Art Institute of Seattle--yep, yep, I did go to Culinary School--for an entire FOUR DAYS!!! It was a month long class held on Saturdays. I got into it simply on accident when I filled out a scholarship application and BSed about how I was going to apply my new knowledge of culinary arts in my ENGLISH class. Surprisingly I got that scholarship and got to spend some time in a professional kitchen with a French chef. I have to say that if I ever decide to change careers, culinary arts will be it. It was an amazing experience! It is where I also learned the term "canape," speaking of which, I have digressed...

For the canape recipes, I will not be writing the actual number of things you need because it all depends on how many you want to make. So if you want to make a lot of canapes, you're gonna need a lot of sliced bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. If you're only gonna make one (which is rather silly), you'll need much less. Anyway, common sense.

Starting with the hardest one...

Eggplant-Tomato Canapes

baguette, sliced

Garlic-Herb Mayo

fried eggplant slices (read on for how to fry)

tomato, sliced

mozzarella or Gruyere cheese, shredded

chopped dill (optional)

Assembling the canape: Spread the bread with Garlic-Herb Mayo, top with a slice of fried eggplant, then with a slice of tomato. Garnish with shredded cheese and dill.

To fry eggplant:
1. Slice the eggplant, toss with some salt, and place in colander over a mixing bowl for at least an hour. This way the eggplant will release some if its bitter juices.

2. Heat some oil in a skillet (you will need to keep your jug of oil nearby as the eggplant takes in a lot of it as it fries) and place eggplant slices in hot oil. Don't forget to pat the eggplant slices with a paper towel to dry out moisture prior to frying otherwise when the moisture hits the oil you and your stove will be covered with a ton of oil sprays...

3. Fry eggplant until golden brown on each side. You will probably need to keep adding oil to your skillet as you keep frying.

4. After all eggplant slices have been fried, place back in colander over a mixing bowl and let it sit for a few hours as the excess oil drips out of the fried eggplant. You can even stick this whole contraption in the fridge overnight and let the oil trickle down into the mixing bowl. Eggplant is now ready to use!

***This is how much oil seeped out after 4 hours...

Smoked Salmon Canapes

baguette, sliced

Garlic-Herb Mayo

cucumber, sliced

smoked salmon slices

mozzarella or Gruyere cheese, shredded

chopped dill (optional)

Assembling the canape: Spread the bread with Garlic-Herb Mayo, top with a slice of cucumber, then with a slice of smoked salmon. Garnish with shredded cheese and dill.

Sprat Canapes

baguette, sliced

Garlic-Herb Mayo

cucumber, sliced

can of smoked sprats in oil, halved

mozzarella or Gruyere cheese, shredded

chopped dill (optional)

Assembling the canape: Spread the bread with Garlic-Herb Mayo, top with a slice of cucumber, then with half a sprat. Garnish with shredded cheese and dill.

Spice Rack Make-Over

This has nothing to do with Russian food, but I'm pretty excited about my "new" spice rack so I thought I'd share. I got my spice rack as a wedding gift five years ago and in these five years it mostly sat quietly in the corner collecting dust since none of the spices that it came with are of any use. I've never come across a recipe that calls for savory or marjoram. And the fish, steak, and poultry seasonings look rather suspicious. I'm actually curious how many of you who own spice racks actually use the spices they come with... Anyhow, this week I decided that I'm going to chuck it and make room for something else. Lucky for the spice rack, I came across a pretty nifty label maker on my trip to Costco today and a brilliant idea occurred: What if I just chuck the spices I don't use, relabel the jars, and fill them with spices I do use... And that is exactly what I did. This is why I'm still up at midnight because I've been cleaning, drying, labeling, and refilling the spice jars all evening. Here are the results:

BEFORE / DURING / AFTER

Very exciting, isn't it? Although, now that I think about it, I haven't really used any spices other than salt and pepper in any of the Russian food recipes I've made so far... Time to experiment!