• mjes on September 26, 2019

  This cookbook has been the cookbook of the month for October 2019 for the Great British Chefs Cookbook Club

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Rye crostini three ways: tarragon tvorog, roasted beetroot & pickled grapes

  • Frenchfoodie on November 14, 2025

    This was delicious, the light fresh cheese (I used a good ricotta) goes perfectly with the tangy fresh grapes. Didn’t do the beetroot but sure that would be nice too.

• Courgette dip

  • jenburkholder on February 28, 2023

    Enjoyable. Be generous with the salt.

• Beetroot patties with horseradish cream

  • mjes on September 21, 2019

    Not long ago I took a Turkish/Kurdish cooking class that included a zucchini patty similar in concept so my first recipe out of this book was this beet patty. White wine vinegar is not a staple in my kitchen so I substituted Kressi aux herbes vinegar. I'm inclined next time to put the vinegar directly in the beet mixture rather than in the sauce. I found the patties to be very pleasant but not exceptional. In the context of a meal, I would prefer a variety of vegetable patties rather than all beet. The patties reheated well, an important consideration as I live alone.

  • jenburkholder on March 13, 2022

    I enjoyed these. We substituted sour cream for crème fraîche, and used jarred horseradish rather than fresh. Very pleasant, although our beets were enormous and so we had to add rather more semolina and another egg.

• Potato & sauerkraut patties with dill soured cream & crispy shallots

  • mjes on October 09, 2019

    Dill is not my favorite herb so I'll probably use lovage or sorrel next time, but I loved the sauerkraut in my potato patties. Shallots as a topping rather than within the patty made a nice crunch. Excellent recipe is a keeper.

• Carrot patties with coriander yoghurt

  • mjes on October 09, 2019

    Cook slowly and don't overcook for the best flavor and texture. Mixing potato, beet and carrot patties on a single plate makes a great appetizer or side. The apricots and coriander make these patties special (and easy to overeat).

• Baba Toma's pirozhki dough

  • Rradishes on November 02, 2022

    Good dough, makes a lot though so can easily freeze half for later. The dough itself did not have a ton of flavor, but a good easy recipe. Will try Kachka's recipe next. I used sautéed shiitake mushrooms + cabbage + hard boiled egg for filling and it was delicious. Everyone liked these including a toddler.

• Deviled eggs with forshmak

  • Frenchfoodie on November 15, 2025

    Solid recipe, smooth, light and tangy filling that comes together quickly. Mine did not need salt in filling, definately worth tasting before seasoning. I personally prefer a devilled egg with a mayo/dairy addition for creaminess but this was a nice change.

• Winter slaw

  • meginyeg on December 18, 2021

    This was only ok. I think too much lemon juice. We will decrease it if we make it again.

  • Frenchfoodie on November 14, 2025

    I mainly made this because I happened to have everything in the long ingredients list (bar the sour cherries). Was fine on day 1 and great on day 2 when the flavours had melded. The lemon and dill made it fresh and zingy and it looked beautiful too. I used a commercial beetroot and cabbage sauerkraut and did not add the optional chilli or garlic.

• Olivier salad

  • Lepa on December 25, 2023

    This was okay but I think I prefer mayo. It was also a bit soupy with too much sauce and not enough potatoes. I might run other versions the next time I make this salad.

• Rustic fish soup (Ukha)

  • lkgrover on August 25, 2025

    Good salmon fish soup with potatoes & dill. After cooking the vegetables, I pureed 2 cups in a bowl with an immersion blender, then returned to the soup to thicken it.

• Borsch

  • jenburkholder on March 03, 2022

    I really liked the broth on this, but was left unconvinced by the toppings. The kidney beans fell apart after roasting, the peppers didn’t seem to fit flavor-wise, and overall it wasn’t thrilling. The broth could be served as a nice consommé, or perhaps as a base for dumplings or a different set of add-ins.

• Spring fishcakes

  • Clog on August 17, 2023

    A definite one to repeat, although the dill was quite pronounced. Next time I shall restrict myself to a small bunch.

  • BrewLabBlox on April 05, 2026

    Lovely recipe. I’ve never used cabbage in a fish cake before and it worked so well; it made them so light.

• A layered cabbage pie (Golubtsy for the lacy)

  • meginyeg on December 18, 2021

    This fell apart when we cut into it. But it tasted great, especially with the crumb. We will make it again.

  • jenburkholder on January 14, 2022

    I (not everyone) liked the flavor of this a lot, but we cooked it for about four times as long as suggested in the book and our rice still wasn’t done. 20 minutes is obviously optimistic - but we ended up eating too al dente rice. Made with impossible instead of beef and that worked great, the spiced beef layer in particular was nice, but I might prefer to riff that into a meatball in the manner of Lazy Cabbage Rolls from the book Samarkand.

• Kurnik chicken pie

  • lkgrover on October 21, 2025

    Good chicken pie with rice, onions, hard-boiled eggs & herbs. I modified to bake in a 9-inch deep dish pie, because it seemed easier than the more free-form traditional Russian method. (I used this pastry recipe; made cinnamon sugar pie cookies with the extra pastry dough.)

• A trout & potato stew in gorshochki pots

  • meginyeg on January 04, 2021

    Really good. Simple to make but tastes delicious. Used leftover cooked trout instead of trout fillets.

• Siberian pelmeni dumplings

  • mjes on October 25, 2019

    These dumplings are more like ravioli than pot stickers in the use of fine ground flour and egg, the mushroom filling more Chinese than Western with the soy sauce seasoning and pine nuts, with a Russian flair in the sour cream and herbs "sauce". I refused to use a food processor for the filling as I like more control over the texture, especially when pre-cooking. But these dumplings are distinctive enough to be well worth repeating as well as trying additional fillings.

• Chicken with prunes

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on October 28, 2019

    Excellent comfort food, served with mashed potatoes as suggested and Brussel sprouts. Very nice.

• Steak with black radish rémoulade

  • mjes on September 22, 2019

    Fortunately, the introduction to this recipe informed me that the black radish rémoulade could be used separately as a salad or an appetizer with bread. I treated it at an exceptional salad ... black radish and celeriac is a winning pairing.

• Soviet-Korean pickles: carrots

  • snackbaby on April 13, 2024

    these are so good!!

  • Frenchfoodie on November 15, 2025

    Think my garlic was too punchy as 24h after making the overwhelming taste is garlic. Hoping it mellows though definately still usable. Update: these mellowed deliciously, still punchy a firtnight later but edges rounded to deliciousness.

• Semolina cake

  • Frenchfoodie on November 11, 2025

    Made with 3/4 kefir and 1/4 milk for the liquid. Seriously good semolina cake, open crumb but still moist and comfortingly hefty. 180 fan seemed very hot but it cooked in just a couple of minutes under the time given and came away easily from the greased tin.

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