Thursday, 27 September 2012

THIS BOOK'S CLOSED . . .

My last blog had a picture of a little boy beside a washtub:  my cousin, Ivan.


June, 1963:  Diana, Ivan, Eleanor

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A lot of the food I have blogged recently came from this book:


Atkinson, Catherine.  From Borshch to Blinis.  London:  Southwater, ©2000.

The writer, Catherine Atkinson, is a Cordon Bleu cook and the contributing editor, Leslie Chamberlain, has lived and travelled in Eastern Europe.

This cookbook specifically identifies 15 of its recipes as Ukrainian.  The lavish illustrations provide helpful clues regarding techniques and presentations. 

Having tried most of the Ukrainian recipes, I can especially recommend the Carter’s Millet, the Dried Fruit Compote, the Beef Stroganoff, and the Cheese Dumplings.
 
I would suggest using your own judgment when it comes to some of the other recipes.  Faithfully following the recipe for Galushki, for example, did not work for me.  A few days ago, I had some extra perogy dough (Mom's recipe), so I cut it up in halushky style squares  -- much better!


 As for Atkinson's boiled Kovbasa, that was the “wurst”.

I tried the Polish Babka, and it was good, but I don’t think it rose enough, even though it looks much as it did in the book’s illustration. 


I did enjoy Atkinson's book for its contributions to promoting Ukrainian cuisine, but we have better recipes . . .                                                         thanks to our moms.  

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