... but eating brought it back (meow).
@emiliasilverova's side blog for all things food. || Homecooking advice, recipe (translations), anything—just ask me!
MADE: 16 MAY 2021 (pic above) & 21 JAN 2023 (all the other pics)
I don't know a whole lot about Argentina, but once upon a time I heard that all of its regions had their spin on empanadas. And that out of all those spins, empanadas tucumanas were the best. Royalty, almost.
Enough to pique my interest.
So I looked up the recipe, and immediately knew I had to make them indeed. Been making them every once in a while ever since with a tiny spin of my own, of course... they never, ever failed me 😋
So the things I changed:
using wholegrain flour (or half-wholegrain, half-white) for the dough—I had this idea back when I was trying to eat less refined carbs, and honestly it's great. Even more flavorful that way imo.
chopping the carrots of the beef broth in cubes after the beef is cooked, and adding the cubes to the empanada filling—again a good addition for texture and a slight hint of sweetness.
Pic 1: pan gonna overflow with that much good stuff inside
Pic 2: after 1 ¾ hours the contents of the pan look much less good, but trust me what they lost in visual they gained in flavor
Pic 3: filling ready to sit for a night
Pic 4: folding empanadas is kinda zen to me, can't explain why
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The reason behind this pairing is that I was craving fish and chips—but:
Fish and chips in local restaurants here is insanely overpriced
Chips are not exactly the healthiest choice
The fish was what I was craving anyway
The solution, therefore, was making the damned fish myself... so I did. Plus, I saw an article saying that battered fish went well with spicy rice. It was an epiphany—I did love Nando's rice when I tried it on my latest trip to Canada. So I armed myself with this recipe and this recipe for the rice, as well as the door stopper that is the Complete America's Test Kitchen Cookbook for the fish (a book recommended by my American friends, and ngl the recipes I tried so far are pretty good).
Changes I introduced:
(rice) 1 TEASPOON turmeric instead of 1 tablespoon good lord, I wanna taste some rice among all the yellow (btw rice I used is basmati)
(rice) more paprika because I don't have chili powder, only flakes
(rice) one chopped tomato on top of all the other veggies, because why the hell not
(fish) using sparkling water instead of beer, because there's no place for beer in this house 😾 (more seriously, I know beer batter is traditional, but alcohol is one of my strongest food aversions, and beer is easily the worst offender I can think of)
Eating a bit of fish that fell off while I cut it, I wasn't totally convinced. And then, I actually started eating. It was so good. Extremely messy to cook (mmmm oil flying everywhere), but just. So. Damn. Good. And the rice too, rice is pretty addictive 🙃
10/10 would recommend.
Oh, and don't be cheap with the fish. Fresh, quality fish is really what makes it imo.
Pic 1: fat bastard no. 1, reporting for duty
Pic 2: fat bastard no. 2, frying
Pic 3: a nice, filled-to-the-brim pot of rice (featuring can of peas lol)
Food #002: Porcini and chestnut risotto (with a fusion twist)
MADE: 07 MAR 2023
Before anything, yes, I have a favorite bowl. I mean, who can resist the meow? 👀
Alright. So. When I made this, I had a revenge to take. The last risotto I ate before that (in a supposedly fancy restaurant!) was b l a n d —and I hate bland.
Hence, my mission here was to make a risotto that could be fancy AND not bland. Oh, and to use the jar of chestnuts that had been sitting in my pantry, too. I mostly based my recipe on this one, this one and a tiny bit of this one, but I did add some twists of my own... so please, Italian people, don't kill me for what I'm about to disclose 🙃
INGREDIENTS
250 g risotto rice (arborio/carnaroli)
30 g dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup (250 mL) porcini soaking liquid (see in recipe instructions)
2 1/2 cups (625 mL) vegetable broth (I used a cube of unsalted broth + water)
12 crumbled cooked chestnuts (+ some whole ones to serve)
1 or 2 shallots
1/2 cup (125 mL) sake (as a replacement to the traditional white wine, because that's all I have in my teetotaler's pantry)
20 g pecorino romano (it should be parmesan, but there are only very few cheeses I like and parmesan isn't one of them)
30 g butter (optional)
salt & pepper
olive oil
chopped scallion (to serve)
sanshō (Japanese pepper, to serve)
DIRECTIONS
(Optional) Stir fry the whole jar of chestnuts with salt and pepper for a few minutes, then reserve them. Crumble the 12 chestnuts that will go into the risotto.
Put the dried porcini in at least 1 cup boiling water for 10-20 mins. In the meantime, you can prepare the other ingredients (like chopping the shallots for instance)
In a saucepan, combine 1 cup porcini soaking liquid and the vegetable broth. Heat up until it boils and is completely mixed. Keep warm on the stove.
In a saucepan big enough to cook the amount of rice, stir fry the shallot in the olive oil over low heat, until it becomes translucent. Add all the rice. Stir everything and let toast for a few minutes, then add the sake to deglaze.
Add a ladle of hot broth. Gently mix and cook until the mixture starts to look dry. ONLY then add another ladle of broth, etc. (This process is very important! It ensures the starch in the rice gives a nice, creamy texture.)
When there's about half of the broth left, add chopped porcini and the crumbled chestnuts, mix, then keep adding broth ladle by ladle.
When you're done adding the broth and the rice is done, remove the risotto from the heat and stir in butter and pecorino. Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with chopped scallion and sanshō sprinkled on top, as well as whole chestnuts.
Pic 1: showing off my giant ass jar of porcini
Pic 2: if you've never seen a jar of chestnuts, that's what it looks like in my local grocery store
(Or: a Russian Englishman’s twist on the Romanov-era Olivier Salad)
007 Fest 2022, Scavenger Hunt item no. 52: “Design a meal or dish of food representing a Bond character. Explain your logic.”
In the days when Janus used to travel all around Russia in his personal armoured train, the question of food always was a critical one. Of course, the on-board kitchen was well-stocked with quality tins, but one did not simply live on a diet of tinned food—especially when one was the immensely rich Janus.
Therefore, some of the Janus Syndicate’s enforcers were specially assigned to catering. They ordered dishes to the greatest chefs in all of Saint Petersburg and brought them back to base (not unlike a private Uber Eats…); they did the grocery shopping at the historical Gostiniy Dvor department store; they even procured rare and/or exotic ingredients from abroad. None of them complained—as long as they weren’t caught red-handed nabbing some of this exceptional food, the job certainly had its advantages.
Janus, as for him, didn’t complain either. As much as he despised his old friend James in those days, he had very much adopted the latter’s love for good, expensive cuisine for himself. While the local restaurateurs never saw him in person, he paid them so generously they came to look forward to the tough-looking henchman’s next visit. There were worse arrangements, especially in 1990s Russia.
What Janus also loved was history—above all else, Romanov history. In another life, he would have certainly been the dashing Count Vronskiy in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Or, at the very least, a young, ambitious Don Cossack officer, relentlessly gaining power in the tsar’s court through intrigue and connections. But alas, he was born a century too late for that to ever happen. His consolation was to devour all the books he could find on the subject… and infiltrating the young Russian Federation’s politics to steer them away from Communism as much as he could.
It was while reading one of his history books that one day, Janus stumbled upon the story of Belgian chef Lucien Olivier and of his most famous creation—Olivier salad. Like every Russian, Janus knew the Soviet, cheapened-down variation of it, also known as Russian potato salad. He was very surprised to find out that the original was, in fact, very posh. Depending on the versions, it could include such ingredients as hazel grouse, crayfish tails, or even black caviar.
Intrigued, Janus kept searching about this historical salad. Chef Olivier had clung jealously to his recipe all the way to the grave, but fortunately some of his contemporaries had noted down their best approximations. The oldest possible source Janus could find was an 1894 article from the long-defunct magazine ‘Our Food’. For what he had in mind, it was a very good base.
So, one day, he summoned one of his caterers and asked for the recipe to be recreated, albeit with a few alterations of his own. The original recipe was forever lost after all, so no need for complete authenticity. Instead of hazel grouse, he wanted partridge—a very acceptable replacement, according to the 1894 article. If he did live the Cossack life, he’d probably have hunted it himself… but the truth was, partridge had been his favourite game meat ever since James made him try some.
Instead of crayfish, he wanted the sweeter, softer scampi. How English of him, one might say. Instead of meat jelly, he wanted the most buttery, decadent beluga caviar—hopefully not from Valentin Zukovsky's Azerbaijani farm, though. He wanted quail eggs, too. And for a slightly dark, smoked edge, he wanted French duck magret. Again, James’ influence on him might be stronger than he’d ever admit…
Lastly, there was the question of the most mysterious ingredient of them all—what the article called ‘Kabul’ sauce. Back in the day, it was a condiment made by the British firm Crosse & Blackwell, but it unsurprisingly had been discontinued eons prior. The replacement, Janus decided, would be a mixture of good old Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. Russia had borders with China, Korea and Japan after all. Slightly spicy, with a umami kick to it… that resembled enough the descriptions he read.
The henchman finished noting this down, nodded, and went. Shortly before dinner time, he came back to the train with the customary bliny with sour cream and caviar… as well as this.
‘Delicious’, Janus thought at the first bite. ‘Well worthy of a tsar… I could call it the Janus salad.’
INGREDIENTS
(DISCLAIMER: the author broke the piggy bank for some of these ingredients because she made this dish for her 26th birthday. Do not feel obliged to do the same—that being said, scouring places such as Petrossian or La Grande Épicerie de Paris (a French equivalent to Harrod’s) was very fun.)
Salad (makes 3-4 servings):
2 roasted partridges (can be replaced with roasted chicken)
8 (+1, see decoration) quail eggs (can be replaced with chicken eggs)
5-6 waxy new potatoes (if you’re Janus, you’ll probably want Jersey Royals. If you’re a French frog like the author, Noirmoutiers are an excellent replacement.)
70g smoked duck magret (omit if you don’t have access to it)
Half an English cucumber
1 tbsp capers
10 black olives
Meat from the scampi claws
Scampi broth (if raw scampi are used):
Parsley
Tarragon
Dill
2 bay leaves
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, chopped
Jamaican pepper (Bond would approve)
Coarse salt
Provençal sauce:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp vinegar
olive oil (or olive oil + a neutral tasting oil—olive oil has a strong taste)
black pepper
garlic powder
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tsp soy sauce
For the decoration of 1 serving:
2 scampi (aka. langoustines)
1 lettuce leaf
The spare quail egg, halved
Chives
Black caviar (if you’ve got Janus’ unlimited funds, beluga is a must—since the author hasn’t, she used osetra instead. A good, much cheaper replacement with a similar taste would be trout roe... except it isn't as dark as Alec's soul 😆)
DIRECTIONS
Roast the partridge (or chicken) and let it cool down
Boil the potatoes and let them cool down
Boil the quail eggs for 3 minutes and let them cool down (8 minutes for chicken eggs)
Make the scampi broth. When it boils, add the raw scampi and cook for 8 minutes starting from when the broth boils again. Remove the pot from the stove and put it in a cold water bath. Leave the pot to cool down, so that the scampi are infused with the broth.
Remove the bones from the partridge/chicken, then chop it up into small pieces along with the potatoes, cucumber, magret, eggs and meat from the scampi claws. Add capers and sliced olives
Make the Provençal sauce. Mix the egg yolk and mustard then slowly add oil while whisking, until texture is firm (an electric hand mixer helps). Add the other ingredients and mix well.
Add two generous tablespoons of Provençal sauce to the salad, then gently mix it all up.
To serve, ideally use a ring mold. Decorate the molded salad with the scampi, egg, lettuce leaf, caviar and chives.
Serve very cold. The 1894 recipe says that it should be ideally done in ‘a crystal vase, like fruit macédoine’.
https://liveuser.livejournal.com/77282.html (the 1894 recipe, in Russian)
https://stale.ru/en/different/olive-s-rakovymi-sheikami-gotovim-originalnye-salaty-olive-s/ (different variations of the original recipe with more complete instructions, Google (?) translated from Russian)
BONUS PICTURES:
Mmm roasted partridge
A good view on that caviar (I certainly am not going to get more any time soon, so gotta show off 😁). Also, six bliny of course.
Little birthday dessert in the same spirit:
Georgian black tea with lemon
Chocolate, lemon, raspberry and mango macarons
‘Cigarettes russes’ (Russian cigarettes), which are Belgian rolled biscuits
Raisin and lemon Scottish shortbread
Apple and honey ‘tulskiy pryanik’, a sort of gingerbread from Tula, Russia
PS: did you spot the three Sean Bean non-Alec Easter eggs in the opening blurb? 👀
A reblog from my main blog, cause I'm still pretty damn proud of what I did there. Actual recipe and pictures under the cut, if you have no time for the opening blurb.
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Alright, a real dish this time—and the latest I made, at that.
I've been using Noom for the last few weeks, and their recipe section had this very interesting recipe. In hindsight there clearly was too much broth (way too soupy to be a respectable American chili, I know), but the final product is pretty delicious nonetheless. Tomatillos in particular are a nice discovery—they give the dish a slight, nice tang I enjoy very much.
As you likely will soon learn, I never totally follow a single recipe unless it's my own and even then... So changes I introduced are:
Using dry beans instead of canned (that way I can change the water at least two times when I boil them, for uh... anti-gas purposes)
Mashing finely half of the beans (so I could use the mash as thickener, even though clearly there wasn't enough for that much broth 🥲)
Using green bell pepper (I hate jalapeños with a passion, they just are unpleasant)
Using 1 tsp ancho pepper and 1 tsp chipotle pepper (for that more authentic flair)
Adding smoked paprika (I saw that in more authentic white chili recipes, and I happen to have brought back delicious Kotanyi smoked paprika from a trip to Austria, so...)
Serving with chipotle Cholula sauce (Cholula my beloved 😭... though ngl it really makes the overall taste even better)
Not a recipe per se, but a nod to my main blog (@emiliasilverova)—and this post in particular.
I'll make a confession: I don't really like Earl Grey. As in, traditional Earl Grey—stuff like Lady Grey for instance is infinitely superior to me. Positively shocking, I know 😱 But more shocking yet to the Bond fandom, this is not even a mug of Earl Grey... but of Barry's tea (and oat milk)!
What can I say, the person who got me hooked on Barry's (who'll recognise themselves) was right, Irish tea > English tea. It just is less bitter and overall nicer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The only exception I'm willing to make is for Yorkshire biscuit tea, but that's another debate.
That being said, it is actual, pretty fancy Earl Grey in my tea box on the left. Mariage Frères French blue, as per @wambold's recommendation. Must agree that this is the best Earl Grey I've ever tasted even though, again, not English 🤣
To think I ironed the tea towel just for this pic… Oh, and maybe one day I'll show you my tea (box) collection. Maybe.
Spoiler: I have a lot.
(^ profile pic (c) me. Yes, I mean to show off my photoshop skillz. Yes, it might based on that Garfield derp meme.)
So. I, Emilia Silverova, cook. A lot. So much, in fact, that there are 500+ food pics on my phone... not counting the ones from my even older phone.
Since I figured the world might want to see said pictures, I created this blog specially to dump them. Maybe add recipe sources below the pics as well. Surely that will be fun 👀
