From Russia with Love

The sun, the beach, and Russian food : my idea of a wonderful Spring afternoon.

Saturday was the warmest day I've had so far here in New York, and we only had one thing on our minds--if you can go to the beach by subway, really, why refrain from doing so? So there we were on the Q train, headed for a sunny Russian picnic in Brighton Beach. When we arrived, it was just as I'd hoped: Eastern Europeans shopping for food in places where everything was in Cyrillic, and therefore completely mysterious to the French and English speakers we were.

After deciding that the first store we stopped at had delicious looking pastries but way too much of a line, we headed down to another deli-type shop on Brighton Beach Avenue. Once inside, everything looked good, but I had no idea what half of it was. This was my first time trying out Russian food, and I was pretty excited. I ended up asking a very nice woman about some of the self-serve entrees, and she was more than helpful: she basically walked me through the whole place, with a description of all the non-obvious foods as well as recommendations. I wasn't hungry hungry, so settled for a few pirozhki--although I'm not sure they were pirozhki, because they were made from puff pastry--one pumpkin and one lamb. There was also a small variation on a cheesecake that I couldn't resist taking, so I grabbed it and decided I needed something fresh to go along with this greasy goodness. A bottle of "mineral water", first, which turned out to be incredibly salty sparkling water, and grated carrot salad.We then settled out on a quest for Russian pastries and ended up in the first store, where I excitedly bought a Hungarian beigli, a soft poppy seed-filled roll.

We were finally ready to hit the beach. I was expecting something dirty, but it was alright. Good enough for our improvised picnic, anyway.

My two puff pastry "pirozhkis" (still trying to find out what they were) were indeed delicious, but definitely satisfying. I wasn't hungry anymore after a single one, which was amazingly good, but the second (lamb) was great nonetheless. In between both, I had some of the carrot salad. The taste was completely different from the carrot salad I'm used to in France; there was a lot of oil (too much in my opinion), but also a lot of garlic and a little spiciness. From what I've read, Russian carrot salad is actually Korean by way of Siberia, which explains its distinctive taste.

This recipe from Yulinka Cooks seems to sum up the tastes I got pretty well, from the garlic to the small hint of sweetness.

Next came the "cheesecake" : tangy but not quite creamy, overall nothing that I would go looking for again. It was like a mix between a dry cheesecake and a weird gateau au fromage blanc, so not that great.

Finally came my favorite part of the meal, dessert. I was completely over-full by that time, but the thought of a poppy seed pastry was enough to make me forget about my exploding stomach for a couple minutes. I love poppy seed patries, and especially those from the Patisserie Viennoise next to the Ecole de Medecine in Paris. The sweetness paired with a little crunch is what I like most about them, even if I wish I could skip the "checking my teeth because 9 times out of 10 I have poppy seeds stuck everywhere" part.

Well, the beigli was great--the top was golden and had a nice eggy shine, while the inside was really fresh. When we bought them, they were still warm from the oven, and it really showed in the taste.

I wish I could go back to Brighton Beach every weekend to grab a couple pastries, but the weather is supposed to get even warmer this weekend, which means more beaches to explore. Now if only each country had its neighborhood at a beach in New York, it would make things even better.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

...Finally!

After much consideration, I decided that my failed muffins came from a combination of me not knowing my "new" oven well enough, and the fact that my baking soda was a little old--to be honest, I used the one that was already here when I moved in, which isn't the smartest thing to do.

Once I realize this, I didn't have much of a choice, and set out to prove to everyone (well, myself, anyway) that my pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins could be as good here as they are in Paris.

And they were!

To be honest, I wasn't quite concentrated when I started to bake. I was probably thinking about dinner plans or something like that (we had guests over for the week), and I only decided to taste the batter once I had scooped it all into my muffin pan. That's when I realized they tasted strangely salty. I brushed it off, thinking I just didn't remember the taste of the batter and that this was absolutely normal. I set them in the oven, and three minutes later it hit me. I had forgotten to add sugar. Not looking for an "interesting" sweet & savory mix, I promptly removed the muffins from the oven, put everything back into a bowl, and added sugar. I noticed the chocolate chips were starting to melt, so I added another half cup or so. 

Now I wouldn't really recommend making this same mistake, but it turns out the combination of non-melted and half-melted chocolate chips was a success, at least from what I was told. The batter had a hint of chocolate, and the full chocolate chips added a little something.

OK, so they weren't like my muffins in Paris, but that's what baking is all about, right? Out with the old (or at least set it aside, unwillingly), in with the accidentally new!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - successful Paris version

makes approx. 30 muffins

adapted from a Nestle recipe

3 c. flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 c. sugar

1 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree

1 c. applesauce or oil

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.

Beat eggs and sugar together; add pumpkin and applesauce (or oil) and combine.

Stir in dry ingredients until combined, without overmixing.

Finally, add chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 to 3/4, and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Quiche aux Poireaux

A yummy box lunch

For many French women, my mother and aunt included, quiche belongs to the category of "quick" meals that you can whip up on any random weeknight. It's the type of dish where if you comment on how delicious it is, the answer will probably be something along the lines of "Thanks, but it really wasn't hard to make".

Quiche aux poireaux with a side of salad is almost a family member. One that you may not see that often, but pops up a couple of times a year and is always true to itself.

I decided to perpetrate the tradition and make my own quiche aux poireaux, silently thinking it would never be as good as the ones I grew up eating. First of all, I didn't make my own dough--if I had a real house with a big kitchen maybe I would, but frozen pie shells were my dough of choice for this one. My past quiches--zucchini, bell pepper--have been good but not outstanding, and sort of left me with a "blah" kind of feeling. It's not like a quiche is the hardest thing to make, though, which left me even more annoyed.

I was determined to get this quiche just right. Just in case it turned out well, I wanted to make up my own recipe, so that it would become my quiche. 

Well, my quiche it was, and my quiche it still is. I was amazed by how easy it was compared to the crazy flavor. For a simple leek quiche, it was extra flavorful and a real delight.

So next time I make my quiche and just in case I get some compliments, I'll know exactly what to say.

Oh thanks, but really it only took minutes to make.

Quiche aux poireaux

1 9-inch pie shell, defrosted, or 1 pate brisee

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. fat-free half-and-half

1 tbsp. Garlic & Herb seasoning (lazy me)

2 leeks, chopped

1 tsp. olive oil

salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a pan; saute leeks with 1/2 tbsp. seasoning, salt, and pepper until soft and fragrant.

Beat eggs in a large bowl, add half-and-half, rest of seasoning, salt, and pepper.

In the bottom of the pie shell, add cooked leeks. Top with egg mixture.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for 40-50 minutes, or until top is slightly golden.

Serve with any type of lettuce, with or without dressing.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

One dessert I couldn't bring myself to make in Paris was a cheesecake.

I wanted to be able to try out a true cheesecake, not tweak repeatedly until my combination or ricotta/mascarpone/kiri/St Moret was "almost like a cheesecake". I wanted real cream cheese, but I didn't want to pay it an exorbitant price.

So I waited until I got to New York, thinking I would really get the cheesecake ball rolling out here.

Believe it or not, I haven't had a single slice of cheesecake since I got here almost three months ago. I haven't even baked a real cheesecake. Or even tried. Cheesecake recipes are piling up in my apartment, waiting for me and the day I decide to give it a go. I don't even have a valid excuse anymore--cream cheese isn't really the most expensive commodity around here.

While I put off making a real cheesecake, I've decided to try cheesecake-like associations. I recently got a really great baking book, The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (whew), and their recipe for black-bottom cupcakes appealed to me right away.

Hey, I thought, this is sort of like a cheesecake! A half-cheesecake without risking a "this is not what a cheesecake should taste like" look from anyone.

It turns out the cupcakes were delicious--the sugar doesn't overpower the cream cheese, leaving the cupcake filling with a tangy taste that balances the strong chocolate flavor really well. Plus, the book's directions are so precise that when correctly followed, everything really turns out perfect. For once, I was actually happy with my oven!

Maybe I'll try to make a cheesecake next.

Black-Bottom Cupcakes - makes 12

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 large egg white

1 tbsp sour cream

1/4 c. semisweet mini chocolate chips (I chopped up normal chocolate chips--it's best not to use normal ones without chopping them up, because they sink to the bottom)

Cupcakes

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 c. water, room temperature

6 tbsp sour cream, room temperature

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in egg white and sour cream until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cupcakes: Whisk the four, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. Whisk in water, sour cream, melted butter, and vanilla until just incorporated.

Portion the cupcake batter into each muffin using a greased 1/3 cup measure (I just used a spoon...). Add a rounded tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each cupcake (I found there was a lot more filling than a tablespoon per cupcake--more like 2, which was just fine).

Bake until tops begin to crack, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool in tin for 10 minutes.