Blackened Salmon with Citrus Yogurt Sauce

Based loosely on “Broiled Salmon with Citrus Yogurt Sauce” from epicurious.com and “Blackened Salmon with Blue Cheese Sauce” from foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients:

1-4 lbs Salmon*

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

* The quantities listed are easily enough for four pounds of salmon, and probably more.

For the Dry Rub:

1 Tsp Oregano

1 Tsp Parsley

1 Tsp Black Pepper

2 Tbsp Paprika

1½ Tbsp Salt

1½ Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

For the Sauce:

1 Cup Unflavored/Unsweetened Greek Yogurt

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Water

1 Tsp Grated Lemon Zest

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Tsp Grated Orange Zest

2 Tbsp Orange Juice

¾ Tsp Salt

½ Tsp Honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash salmon fillets in cold water and remove any pin bones that may be present.  Mix all the spices together for the dry rub, mix well, and then use to coat the salmon.  If the skin is on one side of the fillet, only rub spices on the opposite (eating) side.  If you can spice both sides, be aware that to spice both sides may make the fillet too spicy for the sauce.

In an oven-safe skillet, preferably cast iron, preheat the pan on medium-high heat before melting the butter.  Add the olive oil and mix.  Quickly add the fillet, spicy side down (if there’s a skin side) and fry for about 2 minutes.  Carefully flip the fillet and fry for about one minute before placing the whole pan and fish in the oven.  Bake for about 5 minutes, during which time, you can quickly prepare the sauce.

In a small sauté pan, mix all ingredients for the sauce and warm over low heat.  Your goal is not to cook the ingredients, and in fact, because I’m not a chef, I can’t even say that heating to higher temperatures would work.  Heat and mix the sauce for a few minutes until warm to the touch…about 100 degrees.

Remove the fish from the oven, cut to size, and serve with a healthy serving of sauce on each portion.

You may wonder if the combination of citrus and yogurt with a salt and paprika-based dry rub would work well.  And I can tell you that we were thinking the same thing.  The best I can describe the taste is to say that when you take a bite, your first taste is of the citrusy creamy sauce.  You have enough time to enjoy the sauce before the heat and salt of the rub takes over.  Eventually, the mixing of the flavors is complete, as is the eating experience.

Candied Citrus Rinds

This recipe is based on one found in Put ‘em up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton.  The book is filled with many interesting and unique food preservation recipes.  It is currently my go-to book for unique and new recipes of this type.

Ingredients:

Peels from 6 grapefruits (or other citrus)

1 cup water (plus more for boiling rinds)

4 cups sugar (to make a syrup)

1 cup sugar (for dusting)

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cut the grapefruit, orange, or other citrus rinds into ¼” strips.  Any shape or size of strip is usable, so don’t throw anything away.

In a medium saucepan, add the rinds and enough water to cover them completly.  Bring the rinds to a boil, stir once or twice, and drain the pot.  Refill the pot twice with water, boil, and repeat.  The rinds should go through three complete rinses of water to sufficiently remove the bitterness from the rinds.  Drain the rinds after the final boiling and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil.  Begin adding 4 cups sugar slowly and stir continuously until all the sugar has been added.  As the syrup heats and the sugar dissolves, the syrup will go from a cloudy suspension of sugar to a clear (but bubbly) syrup.  Mmmmm, yum.

Add the vanilla bean (or extract) and the rinds to the syrup.  Boil the mixture with periodic stirring for 1 hour, or until the rinds are translucent.  Do not cover.

Remove the candied rinds from the syrup (but save the syrup!).  Drain in a colander for a few minutes until cooled enough to handle.

Spread the rinds on a drying sheet (using wax paper is a good idea, but optional) and allow to air dry for at least 2 hours.

Once dry, but still somewhat sticky to the touch, shake small batches of the rinds in a Ziploc bag filled with the last 1 cup of sugar.  Store the rinds in a bag or cookie container and enjoy.

As for the remaining syrup: I know sugar is pretty cheap, but you shouldn't let this citrusy syrup go to waste.  You could use the syrup as-is on pancakes and waffles, or as a source of sweetness in your tea.  It also makes a delicious glaze on cakes and pastries.

You might find it inconvenient to sacrifice so many citruses just to make this candy...but that's not the point.  You can easily freeze the rinds over many months as you eat your citrus normally, and then thaw before slicing and boiling.  This is a great way to make the most of the foods you buy in the store.  Think of this as just one more way to recycle and get the most out of your money.

And here’s another idea: don’t go out of your way to sacrifice a boat-load of grapefruits just to harvest their rinds.  For this current batch, I had actually sliced the rinds of various grapefruits over a few months and froze them.  They keep quite well in the freezer and it didn’t seem to significantly affect the taste.  So whenever you eat your grapefruit, just remember to remove all the leftover innards before slicing the rind.

Linguini with Roux-Thickened Clam Sauce

Linguini with Roux-Thickened Clam Sauce

My family has enjoyed linguini with clam sauce for many years.  We prepare it for special occasions, though those evenings usually tend to be Sundays (because…well…if you know my family, Sunday is “pasta night”).

When preparing for this blog post, I wanted to take the opportunity to fix the only problem we ever saw with the sauce: the original recipe (which doesn’t use a roux) is too watery.  And though that sauce is tasty, one feels as though they’ve missed out on a part of the sauce, unless the remaining juices are drank right off the plate.

Therefore, I endeavored to thicken the sauce, making it creamier but not losing any of its taste.  The result was excellent, though not quite perfect.  In the meal pictured below, I’d have to say that too much roux was used.  Some of the clam flavor was lost to the roux, so add it carefully when you make this dish.  If you’re used to making a thick stew or sauce with roux, add perhaps ½ to ¾ as much roux as you’d normally use.

 

To Make the Roux:

1 cup flour

1 stick butter

Heat the butter in a frying pan (I prefer cast iron) and once all the butter has melted, add the flour.  On medium heat, fry the flour until it has been cooked to a light brown (as compared to the near-white of all-purpose flour).  Stir the roux frequently to prevent burning and evenly toast the flour.  Set aside to cool for later.  Making a full cup of roux leaves you with a good deal excess, which can be saved for some future soup or stew.

To Make the Clam Sauce:

3 10 Oz Cans of Clams

2 8 Oz Bottles of Clam Juice

4-6 Cloves Garlic, Diced

2 Tbsp Parsley, Chopped

1 Tbsp Basil, Chopped

½ Stick Butter

Heat the butter in a large frying pan or small sauce pot.  The sauce is prepared in a single pot, with ingredients being added as you go.  Therefore, make sure the pan/pot you chose is large enough to hold at least 1 quart of sauce (with room to spare).

Lightly brown the garlic, basil, and parsley in butter over medium heat.  Stir frequently as the greens have a tendency to cook faster than the garlic if not stirred.

Add the bottled clam juice and the canned juice as well.  Save the clams for a bit…they were cooked enough when they were canned.  Add about a half cup of the roux and heat until the sauce is an even consistency, using a wire whisk to mix-in the roux.  Cook the sauce for at least five minutes before deciding whether to add additional roux to thicken the sauce.  And as I mentioned at the start of this post, don’t add too much.

Add the canned clams and continue to cook until hot and then simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

Serve over linguini or fettuccini with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Broth with Dumplings (куриный бульон с клецками)

This is by far my favorite Russian soup.  It’s basically chicken and chicken broth, carrots, pepper, and dumplings (flour, egg, and milk).  It’s the simplest to make, and you can eat it as a stand-alone meal or as a side dish.

Ingredients

3 Lbs. Chicken (with Bones, Possibly Skin*)

1½ Tsp. Pepper Corns

4 Large Carrots

2 Cups Flour

2 Eggs

1 Cup Milk

Salt & Pepper

*If you prefer a fattier and more flavorful soup, you can boil the skin with all other chicken pieces to prepare the broth.  Otherwise, cut excess fat away and remove the skin.

In a large stock pot, bring 1½ to 2 gallons water to a boil.  Add some salt (about 1 Tsp.) and ½ Tsp. pepper corns, followed by the chicken.  You’ll want to keep the skin and meat for flavor.  Boil for about three hours, periodically removing any of the meat fat that may foam and collect at the top surface of the broth.

Clean, peel, and slice the carrots so they’re about ¼” thick.

Once the chicken has cooked, turn the flame off, remove the chicken, and strain the broth and return to the soup pot.  Add another ½ Tsp. fresh pepper corns and some more salt, if you deem necessary (taste it).

Once the chicken has cooled sufficiently to handle, remove the meat from the skin/bones.  Tease the meat apart in strips about ¼ wide.  Return to the soup pot and turn the heat back on.

Return the broth to heat and add the carrots.  Prepare the dough for dumplings by mixing two separate batches of 1 cup flour, 1 egg, and ½ cup milk in a bowl.  Use a fork to mix it and add flour or milk, as needed, until the consistency is that of sticky bread dough.  In other terms, it should be thick enough that it takes a little effort to pull the dough out of the bowl, but not so dry that it’s not sticky.

Once the broth is boiling, dip a small teaspoon into the oil floating in the soup, then use the edge of the spoon to pinch and remove from the bowl a small piece of dough (¼ x ¼ x 1”).  Dip the spoon into the soup and give a little shake.  If the dough is not too thin or sticky, the dumpling should fall off the spoon.  Continue making dumplings until you've used both batches of dough.

Cook the soup until the carrots are soft.  Serve hot with extra pepper on the side.  I personally think that unless you have to blow your nose at the end of the meal, you haven’t added enough pepper.  But that’s me.

I hope you enjoy my favorite soup.

JK

Russian Borsch (Борщ)

Borsch is the quintessential Russian soup, and probably the best known here in America.  It’s very healthy and uses two veggies that I used to dislike: cabbage and beets.  Of course, I had not previously tried beets and therefore thought they were disgusting.  But when cooked properly, they’re a very sweet vegetable, and are even good plain.

And about cabbage, I can say this: I really hate bitter vegetables in the broccoli family (cauliflower, Brussels sprout, etc.).  But when cabbage is cooked into a Russia soup, you barely notice it’s there.  It gives some texture and vitamins to the soup, and really helps to fill you up when eating a bowl of soup as a stand-alone meal.

Served with a heaping spoonful of sour cream and fresh herbs, Borsch is one of the most colorful soups I’ve seen.  And the sour cream gives it a very smooth, creamy taste that’s hard to beat.

Ingredients:

10 Large Potatoes

3 Large (5 Small) Beets

2 Yellow Onions

2-3 Carrots, Shredded (~1.5-2 Cups)

½ Head Cabbage

3 Lbs Pork with Bones (Shoulder)

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

3 Bay Leaves

30 Pepper Corns

1 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp White Vinegar

   

Needed When Serving:

Diced Dill & Green Onions

Pepper

Sour Cream

White Vinegar

In a large soup pot (3 gallon or so), boil the meat for about two hours with 20 pepper corns and three bay leaves.  Periodically remove meat fat, which floats on the top as the meat boils.

Separately prepare the beets.  Remove the greens and small tap root, but do not peel.  Boil about 45 minutes, or until the beet is cooked through and soft.  You can check with a fork in the same way you’d check a boiled or baked potato.  I’ve also noticed that the beets may float when they’re done, but today, I had only noticed this when they had finished cooking, so I’ll pay attention next time and hopefully update this statement.

 

Shred the carrots in a food processer or a cheese grater.  Fry with the diced onions (~¼” square) in a with a little vegetable or canola oil until the onions are soft.  Add two tablespoons tomato paste and mix well.  Continue frying until the onions are very soft.  Set aside for later.

Peel and dice the potatoes into cubes about ¼ - ½” on a side.  Shred the cabbage in a food processor until the shred is finely chopped.

Once the beets have cooked, cool in cold water until they’re comfortable to handle.  Peeling is easy when the beet has been cooked properly because the skins just about fall off.  Just run your fingers along the outside of the beet until you've removed all the skins.  Chop it in half so it fits into your food processor, and then grate the beats.  You’ll probably end up with pieces that are about an inch or two long, about the diameter of spaghetti or linguine.

After the meat has finished cooking, remove the pot from the heat, remove the meat to cool, and strain the broth.  Return the broth to your soup pot and add about ten fresh pepper corns.

Once you can handle the pork, tease the bones from the meat and remove any large pieces of fat.  Since you’ve boiled the meat so thoroughly, you can simply break the meat into small strips, about 1” long and ½” wide.

Heat the shredded beets in a small sauce pot with one tablespoon sugar, two tablespoons white vinegar, and enough water to cover the beets.  Simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes on low heat before adding to the broth.  I’m guessing the vinegar helps break down the beet further, releasing more of the internal juice.  Then again, I could be completely wrong, and when I asked Anastasia about the purpose of this step, she shrugged and said, “I don’t know.  Maybe to make it softer and sweeter?  It’s what my mom does.”  

Add all ingredients to the broth.  Cook the soup until the potatoes are cooked-through.

Dice some green onions (scallions) and dill, but don’t add to the whole batch of soup.  You’ll want to keep this garnish fresh, so just add it to each bowl of soup as you serve it.  And with all Russian soups, remember that it’s typical to prepare a large pot of soup and then reheat small batches during the week.

For this and most Russian soups, a proper table setup always includes fresh flowers to please the ladies, lots of sour cream, and shakers of salt and pepper.  If you have a mortar & pestle, you may consider grinding the pepper to a fine pepper, as it provides even more peppery flavor to your soup.

Each diner should add a heaping spoonful of sour cream to his/her soup, followed by some salt and pepper to taste.  Mix the soup well before you enjoy your creation.

Eat well.

JK

Soup Solyanka (Солянка)

I love soups. I can eat soup any time of day and for any season. It's a good thing that now Jeremy is so into that as well. He travelled to Russia a lot, and has tried my family's cooking over the years. Now he asks me to make him different soups. One of them is called Solyanka, Солянка in Russian.

This soup contains lots of meat, some vegetables, and spices. Be prepared: it takes quit some time to make it. But in the end, it's worth it.

Ingredients


Pork (with bones, e.g. Pork Chops or Shoulder) 3 Lbs/ 1,3-1,5 Kgs
Smoked Pork Sausage/Kielbassa or Smoked Ham 0,5 Lbs/ 200-250 g
Hot Dogs (8-10) or Bologna 1 Lb/ 0,5 Kgs
Dill Pickels 4-5
Onions 2
Salt 1 Tbsp
Potatoes 8
Tomato Paste 1 Tbsp
Bay Leaves and Pepper
Oil




Preparation


In a large pot, boil 2 gallons water (8-10 Liters), add pork (with bones) and salt to make a meat broth. Boil for 2 hours, periodically removing the frothy meat fat that collects on the top of the water.

While the meat is cooking, you'll have time to prepare all other products.












Meanwhile, prepare meats/vegetables, but don't begin cooking them until the broth is about 45 minutes from being done.







Cut dill pickles into small cubes, about 1/2" (1 cm) to a side. Add to a separate pot with some water and pickle juice that almost covers the diced pickles. Later, you'll boil the pickles about an hour to soften them, adding water so that it covers the pickles.

Dice the onions small and fry in a pan until soft and lightly browned. This only takes about a half hour so don't start too early. Add the tomato paste and a little water to mix everything together.













Cut the remaining meats into small cubes, about 1/2" (1 cm)  on a side. Fry smoked sausage a little while to draw out some fat and cook it a bit.






Peel and cut the potatoes into large pieces, about 1-1,5" (2-3 cm) on a side. Fry in a pan until lightly browned. It's not necessary to fully cook the potatoes now, because they'll be boiled in the soup later.

When the meat has finished cooking, remove the meat and cool. Separately, strain the broth to remove any chunks. I always do that because it makes the broth so clear, leaving it without any small bones or other things coming out from meat. Return the broth to its pot.

Once the pork has cooled enough to handle, use your hands to pull the meat off the bones, removing the fat, and then break the meat into small pieces that average 1" (2-3 cm) on a side.

At this point, everything you've cooked, including the onions and tomato paste, potatoes, pickles (with juice), and meat can be added back to the soup. Boil the soup until the potatoes and hot dogs/bologna are fully cooked.



Serve hot with a lemon slice and olive for flavor. Add a heaping spoonful of sour cream, mix it in well and add some pepper to taste.










Once again, one of my favorites.

Have a great day!


Anastasia Kalashnikova