Crab, Avocado and Corn Salad with Cilantro and Lime

Usually I have all ingredients for the salad on hand at home. It takes only 10-15 minutes to put all together and have lunch.

2 cups cooked corn, cooled (fresh, if available, or frozen and thawed, I used a canned one)
1 avocado, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound imitation crabmeat
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon mayonnaise (my addition)
zest of one lime
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
In a large bowl, combine the corn, avocado, crab, onion, and cilantro.
Mix together the dressing ingredients (oil through pepper) and pour over the salad. Gently toss to mix and taste for seasoning, adding a bit more salt or pepper, if desired.
Garnish with additional cilantro, if desired.

Салат из авокадо, кукурузы и крабовых палочек.

2 чашки приготовленной охлажденной кукурузы (я использовала консервированую)
1 авокадо, порезанный на небольшие кубики
200 грамм крабовых палочек, нарезанных на небольшие кубики
1/4 чашки мелко нарезанного красного лука
1/4 чашки мелко нарезанной кинзы
1 столовая ложка оливкового масла
2 столовые ложки майонеза (мое дополнение)
цедра одного лайма
1 1/2 столовые ложки свежего сока лайма
1/4 ч.л. кошерной или морской соли
свежемолотый перец по вкусу
В большой миске смешать кукурузу, авокадо, крабы, лук и кинзу.
Смешать все ингридиенты для соуса (от оливкового масла до перца) и залить салат. проверить на соль и перец, если нужно, то добавить немного соли и перца. Перед подачей на стол посыпать кинзой.

Recipe from Fountain Avenue Kitchen

Latkes, latkes, and again latkes

Knowing a special love Jewish people, especially men, to latkes, I collected recipes for different latkes, which I used to make. I hope my recipes will be helpful for those who love latkes all year around.

Potato latkes in food processor

Lemon Ricotta latkes

Potato & Pear Latkes

Oatmeal Buttermilk latkes

Potato & Apple latkes

Pumpkin latkes

Fastest Cinnamon Buns

It's the quickest recipe I found for truly American delicatessen. I following the recipe and result is THE EXCELLENT. First of all, the recipe comes from bery trustful source. I highly recommend to use such great resource for all of you. These buns are 'fast' because they are leavened with baking powder and baking soda, not yeast. Read over the entire recipe before you begin - it is not difficult at all, especially if you are organized. The instructions indicate that you should use a springform pan -- a 9" cake pan can also be used.

Yield: 12 buns

Dough Ingredients:
3/4 cup cottage cheese (4% milk fat) or ricotta cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 oz. (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for rolling
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Filling Ingredients:
3/4 oz. (1-1/2 tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice, see note below
1/4 tsp. ground cloves, see note below
1 cup (4 oz.) chopped pecans

Note: add more cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg instead of allspice and cloves, if desired. You may also add mini-chocolate chips, finely chopped apples or dried fruit to the filling.

Glaze:
2-1/2 oz. (scant 2/3 cup) confectioners' sugar2 to 3 tbsp. cold whole or low-fat milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9- or 10-inch springform pan with cooking spray. You can also use a 9" cake pan.
Make the dough:
In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together (don’t overprocess). The dough will be soft and moist.
Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12x15-inch rectangle.
Make the filling:
Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2-inch border unbuttered around the edges. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface. Sprinkle the nuts over the sugar mixture.
Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough jelly-roll style. Pinch the seam to seal, and leave the ends open.
With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 12 equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan; they should fill the pan and touch slightly, but don’t worry if there are small gaps.

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 to 28 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Run a spatula around the inside edge of the pan and remove the springform ring. Transfer the rolls to a serving plate.
Make the glaze:
In a small bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar, 2 Tbs. milk, and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. It should have a thick but pourable consistency, so add up to 1 Tbs. more milk if necessary. Drizzle the glaze over the rolls. Let stand 15 minutes and serve.

Hungarian style apple-pie bars

I searched for this recipe forever. My mom used to make apple-pie bars with similar recipe, and, of course, I would like to reproduce the recipe. Finally, I found the recipe in such good cooking book "From our grandmother's kitchen". I reduced amounts of ingredients for the size of baking pan they mentioned, and my apple-pie bars came out perfect. I really recommend such good recipe for everybody who likes a combination of cookie dough and sweet apple filling. It's simply delicious. I enjoyed every bite of the delicacy.

Dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (very soft)
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
9 medium size apples, peeled, cored, cubed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Egg wash
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl. In large bowl, beat sugar and eggs together with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in butter, sour cream, and vanilla until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl and beaters as needed. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour mixture until just combined.
Transfer dough to clean counter and knead a little bit. Add flour as you need. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Press each piece of dough into 4-inch square, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours ( I did 2 hours)
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 F. Grease 13 by (-inch baking dish. Roll one piece of dough into 13 by 9-inch rectangle on lightly floured counter.
Toss apples with nutmeg, sugar, sugar and bread crumbs. Add raisins and walnuts. Spread filling evenly into dough-lined baking pan.
Roll remaining piece of dough into 13 by (-inch rectangle on lightly floured counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it over filling. Trim and crimp edges of dough together.
Prepare egg wash mixing egg and milk. Brush the top dough. Poke vent holes in top crust at 2-inch intervals using fork. Bake until crust is golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baling. Let pie-bars cool on wire rak until filling has set, about 2 hours. Serve at room temperature.

Венгерский яблочный пирог

Тесто
3 чашки муки
1 чайная ложка разрыхлителя
3/4 чайной ложки соли
1 стакан сахара
2 больших яйца
8 столовых ложек мягкого несоленого сливочного масла
1/4 стакана сметаны
3/4 чайной ложки ванильного экстракта

Начинка
9 средних размеров яблока, очищенных от кожуры, удалить сердцевину, в кубе
1/2 ч.л. мускатного ореха
2 столовые ложки панировочных сухарей
3 столовые ложки сахара
1/2 чашки изюма
1/2 стакана измельченных грецких орехов

Помазка
1 яйцо
2 столовые ложки молока

Перемешать  в миске муку, разрыхлитель и соль. В большой миске взбить сахар и яйца электрическим миксером на средней скорости до получения однородной массы, около 1 минуты. Добавить масло, сметану и ваниль. Взбивать приблизительно 1 минуту. Уменьшить скорость миксера и медленно добавить мучную смесь. Выложить тесто на стол и замесить. Если нужно добавить муки. Разделить тесто на 2 равные части, плотно завернуть в пищевую пленку и поставить в холодильник на час или два  (я продержала тесто 2 часа)

Разогреть духовку до 350 F (180Ц). Приготовить дечку размером 13х9 дюймов. Раскатать одну часть теста в прямоугольник по размеру дечки. Выложить тесто в дечку.
Перемешать яблоки с мускатным орехом, сахаром и панировочными сухарями. Добавить изюм и грецкие орехи. Распределите начинку равномерно поверх нижнего пласта теста.
Раскатать оставшееся тесто в прямоугольник досточной величины, чтобы покрыть начинку. Накрыть раскатанным тестом начинку и плотно защипнуть края.

Перемешать яйцо и молоко. Помазать раствором пирог. Ножом сделать вентиляционные отверстия на растоянии 5 см друг от друга. Поставить в нагретую духовку и выпекать до золотисто-коричневого цвета, 50-60 минут. Через 30 минут после начала выпечки, повернуть пирог в духовке. Вынуть готовый пирог из духовки и дать остыть окоо 2 часов, нарезать на порционные куски. Подавать при комнатной температуре.

Russian Potato Salad Olivier

Russian Potato Salad Olivier.

This a post about my favorite salad, which we used to make very often in Russia and America. It's kind of signature dish from Soviet Union. Everybody loves it and everybody knows how to do it. It's easy and delicious.  I think, it's one of the reasons, many americans have already adopted such simple Soviet delicatecy.  I found this post on Internet and would like to share with you. Believe me, it's quite interesting to know how americans make our favorite salad.

Салат "Оливье"

На 12 порций

4 картофелины Yukon Gold, вареные, очищенные, нарезанные кубиками (около 2 кг)
3 большие моркови, вареные, очищенные, нарезанные кубиками
4 сваренных вкрутую яйца, нарезанные кубиками
1 банка консервированного горошка (примерно 2 стакана)
3 больших соленых огурца, нарезанные кубиками
400-400 грамм вареного куриного филе, нарезанного кубиками
майонез, по вкусу (возможно, потребуется 1 - 1 1/2 чашки)
соль и перец

Перемешать все ингридиенты, добавить майонез и хорошо перемешать. Дать постоять 30-40 минут перед подачей на стол.

Measurements

Many of you ask me about measurements, especially for baking. Not many of you know about cups and glasses, some of you used to a metric system. For all of you I found on Internet 2 nice images, which suppose to be helpful. If you have any questions, please, let me know.

Многие из читателей спрашивают меня о соотношении американских мер и метрической системы, к которой привыкли многие русско-язычные читатели. Я нашла на Интернете 2 картинки, которые помогут Вам ориентироваться в мире американских стандартов. Если у вас возникли вопросы, пожалуйста, напишите мне.

Focaccia and cooking class.

I'm not a bread baker. Every time I deal with yeast I feel uncomfortable and worried about final result.  Therefore I decided to take a class about pizza & focaccia dough. Everybody likes pizza and focaccia, but not everybody can bake them. It's was my first experience with community education in America. First of all, I did not expect to see a well-equipped demo kitchen in a community center. They have a world-class demo kitchen, which I can use for community cooking class which I want to organize.  For nearly 2 hours I had fun making dough for focaccia and pizza. And I'm ready to show off first results of my baking experiment.  I brought dough to home and kept in refrigerator for 5 days. At the end of the 5th day, I baked focaccia sprinkled with olive oil and salt. One thing, I can say, it's quite easy and delicious. It's much better than taking even a fresh bread from the bakery or supermarket.  Now,  the recipe.  The recipe goes from Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois's books.

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 Tablespoon salt (you may use less)
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 1/2 cups bread flour (you can use all-purpose flour)

This recipes makes enough dough 2  9-inch focaccias. you may substitute up to 25% whole wheat flour for the bread flour.
Mix yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with water in contained that has a lid. Mix in flour using spoon, food processor or mixer with a dough hook. Mix until the last bit of flour incorporated.
Cover, NOT AIRTIGHT, and allow to rest at room temperature for approximately 2 hours. Dough will rise to double in size. Dough can be used immediately after initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) contained and use for pizza or flatbread over the next 14 days.

Focaccia is also given time to "proof" (rise), 20 minutes before baling. Preheat oven to 460F, rack on middle shelf. Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly brown. Before baking, I sprinkle focaccia with olive oil and sea salt.

Now, I have to have a special word for the presenter. Carol was so nice and attentive that all of us in class successed in our dough making. Her directions were easy and simple. I think, even a man can do such easy recipe and enjoy a fresh focaccia or pizza at home. It does not require a lot of skills, equipment or time. Definitely, I will use the recipe over and over again.  Thanks Carol for a good recipe and a lot of useful advices how to handle an yeast dough.

Barley mango green salad

Couple weeks ago my Facebook friend Arie Dubov presented this salad to his friends. No matter how many people asked for a recipe, he did not release it. So, using his picture, I decided to create my own one. It's quite healthy, delicious and new for all of us, who used to eat barley kasha. Living in Soviet Union, many years ago we did not know that we can use a boiled barley for salads. Now I do 2 barley salads and really like. Barley is one of the historically proofed ingredients on Jewish kitchen. It's inexpensive, healthy (lots of fiber and protein) and nowadays, quick to cook. For just about 20-30 minutes, you will have a nice salad.

Barley mango green salad with Honey Dressing

Yield: 2 Servings
1/2 cup dry quick barley
2 cups cold water
5 cups torn salad greens
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 big California Green Mango, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1/4 cup salted peanuts, chopped.(optional)
Dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
salt, black pepper to taste
 
Rinse barley, and place in a small bowl. Cover with water by about two inches, and let soak for about 20 minutes. Drain. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a large heavy saucepan. Add barley, reduce heat, cover, and boil until tender but still firm to bite, about 20 minutes. Drain. Transfer to large wide bowl, tossing frequently until cool.
 
Whisk vinegar, olive oil, and honey in small bowl.
 
Mix greens, onion, and mango into barley. Add vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper, toss to coat. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve at room temperature.

Зеленый Салат из манго и перловки (ячменя) с медовым соусом.

Пару недель назад мой друг на Facebook Арье Дубов представил этот салат своим друзьям. Независимо от того, сколько людей попросили этот рецепт, он не раскрыл его. Таким образом, используя его фотографию, я решила создать свой собственный.
На : 2 порции

1/2 стакана сухой быстро разваривающейся перловки
2 стакана холодной воды
5 чашек листьев зеленого салата
1/4 чашки тонко нарезанного красного лука
1/2 большого плода Калифорнийского зеленого манго, мелко нарезанного
1/4 чашки мелко нарезанного соленого арахиса (по желанию)


 Соус
 3 столовые ложки оливкового масла
 2 столовые ложки рисового уксуса
 2 чайные ложки меда
 соль, черный перец по вкусу

Промыть ячмень, и поместить в небольшую миску. Залить водой примерно на два дюйма, и дать постоять в течение около 20 минут. Слить воду. Довести 2 стакана воды до кипения в большой тяжелой кастрюле. Выложить туда ячмень, уменьшить огонь, накрыть крышкой и варить до готовности, около 20 минут. Слить воду. Переложить в большую миску и дать остыть.
Перемешать уксус, оливковое масло и мед в небольшой миске.
Смешать зелень, лук, и манго с ячменем. Полить соусом. Попробовать, если нужно добавить соль и молотый перец. Посыпать арахисом. Подавать при комнатной температуре.