{Birch} Just Because

Берёзы

Мои перевёрнутые слёзы

В небо стекают стройными струйками

По белым стволам, мерцая простыми рисунками

…

Birches

Like inverted tears of mine

Draining down into the sky in slender streams

From white trunks, shimmering in simple patterns

…

11.11.11

{FALLiage} Almost/WordlesWednesday

I

Октябрь уж наступил — уж роща отряхает

Последние листы с нагих своих ветвей;

Дохнул осенний хлад — дорога промерзает.

Журча еще бежит за мельницу ручей,

Но пруд уже застыл; сосед мой поспешает

В отъезжие поля с охотою своей,

И страждут озими от бешеной забавы,

И будит лай собак уснувшие дубравы.

…

VII

Унылая пора! очей очарованье!

Приятна мне твоя прощальная краса —

Люблю я пышное природы увяданье,

В багрец и в золото одетые леса,

В их сенях ветра шум и свежее дыханье,

И мглой волнистою покрыты небеса,

И редкий солнца луч, и первые морозы,

И отдаленные седой зимы угрозы.

VIII

И с каждой осенью я расцветаю вновь;

Здоровью моему полезен русской холод;

К привычкам бытия вновь чувствую любовь:

Чредой слетает сон, чредой находит голод;

Легко и радостно играет в сердце кровь,

Желания кипят — я снова счастлив, молод,

Я снова жизни полн — таков мой организм

(Извольте мне простить ненужный прозаизм).

…

{А. С. Пушкин}

===============================

I

October has arrived - the woods have tossed

Their final leaves from naked branches;

A breath of autumn chill - the road begins to freeze,

The stream still murmurs as it passes by the mill,

The pond, however's frozen; and my neighbor hastens

to his far-flung fields with all the members of his hunt.

The winter wheat will suffer from this wild fun,

And baying hounds awake the slumbering groves.

…

VII

A melancholy time! So charming to the eye!

Your beauty in its parting pleases me -

I love the lavish withering of nature,

The gold and scarlet raiment of the woods,

The crisp wind rustling o'er their threshold,

The sky engulfed by tides of rippled gloom,

The sun's scarce rays, approaching frosts,

And gray-haired winter threatening from afar.

VIII

When autumn comes, I bloom anew;

The Russian frost does wonders for my health;

Anew I fall in love with life's routine:

Betimes I'm soothed by dreams, betimes by hunger caught;

The blood flows free and easy in my heart,

Abrim with passion; once again, I'm happy, young,

I'm full of life - such is my organism

(Excuse me for this awful prosaism)

...

{Pushkin A. S.}

{A Glimpse of My Motherland…} Wordless/Nostalgic/Wednesday

[Долина Нарзанов//Narsan (mineral water) Valley]

[Ледник "Семёрка"//Ice Range "Seven" on a background]

…Easy to Be Green If It's Borscht!

Today it is scallions' turn to star in a recipe. They are non other but regular onion being very immature. This sophomore has not grown any bulb yet.

The word 'scallion' derived from Askalon (Ashkalon)—one of the Philistine cities and port on the Mediterranean coast. I'm guessing the use of this ingredient traveled in all four directions of the world.

It ended up in Russia as well (most likely it was here all along!). After long and cold winter, when our bodies running low on vitamins, here comes the green onion—one of the first crops, packed with nutrients. With its plentiful phytoncides (the antimicrobial elements in plants) scallions come just in time to fight germs leftover from winter ailments. Green onions are also sprouting early to help us with lingering respiratory diseases, which might accompanied us during the cold months. In 100 grams of scallions there's a daily doze of vitamin C along with vitamin A, B2 and B3. And even though eating hollow leaves raw can give you mildly bad breath, it can help killing germs inside the mouth.

You can eat them fresh in salads, dips and sandwiches or add to stir fries and soups. And that's what I'm doing—making borscht with green onions.

Every spring my mom would cook Green Borscht, using first greens from early farmer's markets. Although in Russia this soup is made with sorrel—a sour spinach-like leafy vegetable, I had not yet found it on this side of the pond. So I decided to use fresh spinach and to make this emerald colored soup sour, I add lemon juice. To prep fresh spinach, that could be sandy at times, use the same process as for leeks, described in my previous post.

Garnished with chopped hard boiled eggs and, as almost everything else in Russia, with a dollop of sour cream, this is my way to eat up spring!

◊◊◊

Green Borscht

Serves 6 to 8

2 T spoons olive oil

2 bunches of scallions, chopped (makes about 2 cups)

1 lb white potatoes, cubed

1 bunch of fresh spinach, chopped (makes about 4-5 cups)

1 cup of chopped mixed fresh herbs: parsley, dill and cilantro

Salt+ground black pepper to taste

8 cups of water or chicken broth (I used water)

Juice of 1/2 medium lemon (about 2 T spoons)

To garnish:

Hard boiled eggs (I used 4), chopped

Sour cream

A lemon wedge to squeeze more juice in your bowl, if desired

• Heat oil in a stock pot, add all the vegetables, salt and pepper lower the heat to medium, cover the pot and let vegetables sweat for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are half way cooked.
• Pour water, raise the heat to high and let it boil. Once boiled, check for salt and adjust if needed.
• Cover and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pot.
• Serve and savour!

The scallions are not the 'key' ingredient in this dish, however, you will notice and appreciate their onion flavor that makes this soup tasting very fresh!

Georgian Chili: Chakhokhbili [Чахохбили]

What makes chili a chili? For me it's a chili pepper, of course! Or any other hot pepper. I have prepared a chili recipe to share with you, a more traditional version, but then I thought I'd share this idea first. There's a Georgian dish named Chakhokhbili (and it does rhyme with Chili!) that is prepared using chicken, tomatoes, peppers and fresh herbs. Originally, they use the whole chicken with bones. I used boneless skinless drumsticks--the dark chicken meat makes this dish very hearty. However, you can use any part of chicken. The trick is to sauté the chicken before adding everything else.

Although some variations of Chakhokhbili call for a bell or sweet pepper, I decided to use the bitter one- red hot chili (dried). To re-hydrate the peppers, I poured hot boiling water over and soaked the peppers for couple of hours. If you want to make the dish less spicy, remove the seeds. If you want it mild--just use bell pepper.

My version is quite spicy, so beware!

◊◊◊

Chakhokhbili- Spicy Chicken & Tomato Stew from Georgia

2 lb dark chicken meat, boneless and skinless

2 cups (about a pound) slices onions

2-3 closes of garlic, crushed

1 cup (about 4 oz in weight, please see photo above) re-hydrated red hot chili, chopped

2 cups chopped fresh herbs: cilantro, parsley & dill

1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (16 oz) can crushed tomatoes

2 TB spoons tomato paste

2 TB spoons olive oil

Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven or aluminum pot, add chicken and brown it on high heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring to make sure it turns golden brown on all sides;


2. Add onions and peppers, mix and sauté on medium heat with open lid for 5-8 minutes or until onions are translucent;
3. Add both diced and crushed tomatoes plus tomato paste, mix, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through on medium-low heat, stirring to prevent burning;
4. Add fresh herbs, cover, turn off heat and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving;
5. Serve with bread or boiled potatoes, or fire extinguisher!

Drunken Redhead

I am not talking about an individual. I'm talking about a red leaf cabbage. I wonder why they called it "red" when, in reality, it is of a gorgeous purple color! Never the less, being a redhead lead this crunchy vegetable to my Red ingredients list for this month.

The red cabbage is a bit more tough comparing to its blonde sister, the leaves are a bit more stiff and more tangy to taste. I wonder if it's the same with redhead/blonde girls? I can't tell—I'm a brunette :)

So to tame this shrew, I decided to make it drunk. I remembered a method to soak the cabbage used by Georgian cooks—not from state of Georgia, but a country in South Caucasus. They use red wine vinegar and boiling water, but add beets to color the white cabbage red. In my case, I already have a rich color hue, so no beets this time. Also, by adding the vinegar, instead of just cooking the cabbage, keeps the color so bright.

To shred the cabbage you can use mandolin, or a very sharp knife—that's what I used since I don't have a slicer (yes, it's on my wish list!).

I decided to brake the cabbage's purpleness and tanginess with sweet green peas. Green just looks so good on purple. And I added sautéed red onions (which could be sliced with mandolin as well)

◊◊◊

Drunken Red Cabbage And Peas Salad

1 medium cabbage (about 2 1/2 lb), shredded

1/2 teaspoon dry cayenne pepper

1 dry red chili pepper

2 TB spoons red wine vinegar

2 quarts boiling water

1 medium red onion, sliced

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

2 TB spoons oil for sautéing onions

Sea salt to taste

1. Put shredded cabbage in a heat resistant bowl, add cayenne, chili, vinegar and pour boiling water over it. Keep in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
   
   
   
   
2. Drain water, preserving couple of TB spoons of water. Divide cabbage in 2. Put one half in a jar, pour preserved water, cover and store in a fridge. It can be used later for more salad.
3. In a salad bowl combine remaining cabbage and peas. Toss.
4. In a skillet, heat 2 TB of olive oil, add onions and sauté until they turn translucent. Pour the onions over the cabbage, toss and serve sprinkled with sea salt.

To make this salad is much easier then it seems. I hope this salad will find a special place on your dinner table. Remember, it's made with Redhead!

Borscht

Continuing my Red theme, I decided to share my all time comfort food: Borscht. Conveniently, my dad was coming back from his short trip to Russia and I wanted to treat him to a bowl of this ruby red hearty soup. There are many recipes for this dish out there, each equally delicious, but I share the one I've knows since I started making it myself.

This dish is known to the world mostly as Russian as Russian people are often called "Borscht eaters". However, other Slavic nations claim that Borscht is their invention. Some even say that it was created by Ancient Romans who grew tons of cabbage and beets specifically for this soup.

The name of Borscht, containing only one vowel and four consonants making it its not-so-easy to pronounce, came from Slavic word "бърщь" [brsch] meaning "beets". The soup has over 40 varieties, including cold--as they eat it in Lithuania, but it can be very easy to make.

I'm not going to bore you history of this rich red soup only because I don't really know it myself, but I know one thing--it is a delicious vitamin powerhouse! Key ingredients are available almost all year round so you can have bowl any time. It is fun to make especially for those cooks who love chopping. If you aren't found of this meticulous task, don't blame the unsharpened knife--sharpen your knife skills (and preparing borscht will be a good practice), or just buy pre-chopped veggies at your grocery store. Although you will find bagged chopped cabbage (cal slaw mix) or carrots (matchstick cup carrots) you will not find chopped beets. Well, at least I never seen any.

Besides all the vegetables, it is made with fresh herbs--parsley, dill and cilantro--but if fresh is not available, you can use dry. In fact, for following recipe I used dry dill and parsley but fresh cilantro (that's what I had). Sometimes, borscht is served with pirojki (Russian fried hot pockets with potatoes) but dinner rolls or french baguette will do, too. It is mostly served with sour cream.

You can make vegetarian borscht ("lenten" as it is known in Russia) or with any meat and poultry, preferably on the bone. Today, I'm sharing with beef-based soup, for it was made especially for my dad, who is a carnivorous! Oh, and another thing that makes my version easier--I use only one pot unlike other recipes, that call for skillet to sauté veggies.

◊◊◊

Borscht

2 TB spoons olive oil

about a pound beef ribs

1 cup chopped beets

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onions

2-3 cloves of garlic (pressed in garlic press) +couple more for serving

5 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2-3 bay leaves

1 dry chili pepper

2 TB spoons tomato paste

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon dry dill weed

1 teaspoon dry parsley

about 12 oz shredded fresh white cabbage

1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro for garnishing

Sour cream for serving

1. Heat oil in a 10 qt. stock pot and brown beef ribs on one side until crispy and comes off easily, flip and repeat. Takes about 5 minutes per side to brown. Lower heat to medium.
2. Add vegetables: onions, carrots, beets and garlic. Cover and sauté for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spices: dry herbs, bay leaves, chili, black pepper and salt. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
3. Add potatoes and tomato paste, stir, cover and continue to simmer over med-low heat for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile boil 10 cups of water in a tea kettle.
4. Pour 10 cups of boiling water, check for salt, adjust if needed; cover and continue to cook for 20 minutes over med-low heat or until potatoes are cooked.
5. Add cabbage, cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until cabbage is cooked through.
6. Turn the heat off, add fresh cilantro, cover and let stand for 10 minutes.
7. Serve with additional fresh cilantro, freshly pressed garlic and sour cream. Melt and enjoy!

There's a joke: if you like yesterday's borscht, come by tomorrow--it is believed that borscht tastes best on a second day.