BLUEBERRY CRUMB CAKE

BLUEBERRY CRUMB CAKE


This is a very easy to follow recipe from Barefoot Contessa (food network). If you like the moist blueberry muffins, then you will definitely like this crumbly cake.

               STREUSEL :

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

     

           CAKE :

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder           
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch round baking pan.

For the streusel:

Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

For the cake:

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. With your fingers,crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and serve sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.

UZBEK PLOV (uzbek pilav)

FINALLY, THE BIG SECRET IS REVEALED. UZBEK PLOV FROM MY FATHER.

   If Uzbekistan could export the Uzbek plov to other countries, it would definitely bring a fortune. Uzbek plov is the most arguable recipe on the post-Soviet territory. There are many hundreds recipes of Uzbek plov and each of them claims to be the No 1 recipe. When people start to talk about Plov recipes, they unintentionally go into the argument about their skills or secret spices that only they might know. I am going to share with you the classic recipe that my Father taught me and I am sure that many of my friends who ate my Father's plov will be happy to try to make plov at their homes, but I also hope that it will not stop them coming to our house where we always happy to see them by the big family table with kazan of plov.

   If you want to spend evening with your friends in a nice, long conversation, with the very good bottle of vodka or cognac, the plov is the best dish that you can imagine. Usually, it takes good 2 hours to make plov. You will need a kazan -the original heavy pot from Ubekistan. If you don't have one you may use big cast-iron pot or some heavy duty cooking pot with a thick bottom.

I don't have measurements for small pots, that's why you will have to adapt the recipe for your own needs.

Let's start.... :)

Meat: We prefer good piece of Lamb, but beef is also acceptable - 1 pound.


Rice: We got used to Sushi Kokuho Pink Rice (available in Asian supermarkets), some claim that Basmati rice works fine; I used also Uncle Ben's. I never tried Turkish Pilav rice, but it could work I assume. - 1 pound.


Carrots- 5


Onion -2 medium size


Garlic- 1 head


Coriander crushed -1/2 tsp


Cumin crushed - 1/2 tsp


Kosher salt- 1/2 tbsp (to taste)


Corn oil or Vegetable oil


Full Kettle with boiling water

Cut the meat into medium size cubes.



Chop the onions.


Clean carrots and cut into long pieces. You can use the mandoline slicer but with the thickets attachment. I cut them with the sharp knife. The carrots should look like this:

Wash rice 5-6 times until the water is clear. Drain.

Peel the first skins of the garlic off.

Now we are ready! Poehali!(Let's Go!)

Put your Kazan (Pot) on the highest fire on your stove. The kazan should be hot when you add the oil. Oil should be approximately 1/2 inches high.

Put chopped onions. When onions are golden color (5-8 minutes) add the cubes of meat. Mix it up all together and let the meat fry its all sides through ( 10-15 minutes). You have to stand by the kazan all the time in order to mix the magic potion. Since, we cook on a very high fire we don't want our meat and onions to burn.






Add all the carrots and mix it again. The carrots will become soft after 8-10 minutes. Do not forget to mix it and mix it again.

Add 1/4 tsp of crushed cumin.

Then, add the hot water. The water should be two fingers ( 1inch) above the surface of the meat-onion-carrot mixture.




Let it boil and cover the lid. We wait till our meat will become ready. It all depend on the meat you guys bought. The good fresh lamb takes 20-30 minutes to cook. Chuck of beef may take an hour. Please, open the lid and check the meat and mix it,mix it, mix it. Perhaps you will need to lower your fire a little.

When you will feel like"Aha, my meat will be ready in 5 minutes"- add the whole head of garlic. Just leave it on top of meat.

Attention: If you lowered the heat, the heat should high before you add the rice.

The rice is clean and drained waiting for you. You  very carefully, put the rice equally on top of the meat. Smooth the top with the skimmer. It's very important to put rice equally everywhere.

Cover with the boiled water. The water should be your  two fingers above the surface of the rice.

After the water will start boiling , add salt and the rest of the spices. (cumin, coriander). Attention: You can try the boiling water for salt and decide whether it is enough or not.

As soon as water will get to level of the rice. (there will be no water above the rice),take the skimmer and carefully  make a mountain with the rice.






Carefully go around the rice and build the mountain. Take a chopstick or knife and make 5-6 wholes in the rice. Cover the lid. If you are using regular cooking pot, lower the heat to medium.Do not open it for  5-10 minutes.

You have time to make a salad.

2 tomatoes (without skin)
1 cucumber (without skin)
1 red onion sliced
salt

Mix the rice with the meat and serve it on the big plate for everybody. The garlic will have a taste of the good roasted garlic, peel the skin and enjoy it!

Do not forget to have a good cup of Green tea after the dinner!!!


P.S. My smart mom, who does everything by rules and laws advised me to write the basic rule for the measures of the ingredients. You will need 3 equal parts of meat, rice and 3/5 carrots+2/5 onions.
For example: 1kg. meat+ 1 kg. rice+ (750 gr. carrots+250 gr. onions)

CHICKEN SOUP (very easy)

CHICKEN SOUP.

The cold weather is coming to New York and what can be better than a plate with a hot homemade chicken soup. I cook soup at least two times a week and for faster process bought a pressure cooker. You can use my recipe to make a simple chicken stock for any your culinary needs or make a chicken noodle soup.


I use any available chicken part at home, preferably organic. My kids don't like rich stocks that's why I use  not so much meat.

4 organic drumsticks; or 4 thighs;or half of the organic whole chicken;some bones.
2 medium size potatoes cut in small cubes
1 carrot cut in small cubes
1/4 of the red bell pepper chopped
1/2 Celery stalk
1 Bay leave
1/2 tbsp Vegeta seasoning  http://www.amazon.com/Vegeta-Gourmet-Seasoning-Sazon-Canister/dp/B0002AZWYC
1/2 tbsp Kosher Salt

For pressure cooker you will need to follow the instructions. Usually the water should be filled for 2/3 of the pot.

For the regular pot, fill it up, leaving couple inches from the top. (Of, course depends on your pot. Trust your instincts.)

I throw all the ingredients to pressure cooker, skim the foam, cover the lid, lock it and cook it for 30 minutes (check pressure cooker instructions)

If you use the regular pot, cover the chicken with a cold water. Bring it to boil and reduce the heat. Before the boiling you will need to skim the foam with the spoon. It will make your soup clear. Simmer for an hour. Season it with 1/2 tbsp of kosher salt and 1/2 tbsp of Vegeta seasoning.


 Check the chicken for the readiness and add potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper and celery (I chop 1/2 stalk celery, or cut it in half and throw it before serving), bay leave. Cook until the potatoes are ready (10 -15 minutes).






Usually, I add egg noodles or alphabet pasta into the soup and prefer to cook the pasta separately. Cook the pasta accordingly to the box directions in the small pot. Mix the pasta and stock before serving.





Garnish it with chopped fresh dill.

BASIC BUTTER COOKIES

The recipe is BASIC butter cookies, it means that you can add anything you want to make them your favorite. You can make great Lemon cookies by simply adding 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of finely grated fresh lemon zest. You can turn the in Walnut paradise by rolling the balls of dough in crushed walnuts right before the baking. You can make delicious chocolate sandwiches by melting milk chocolate and dipping your cookies in it. If you are lover of Nutella, then just spread a little bit on your cookie and enjoy the sweet heaven!

BASIC BUTTER COOKIES

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 salt

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer until fluffy and white (3 minutes). Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined.

Form dough into 12 -inch log (2 inches in diameter) on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll up dough in plastic wrap. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm (2-3 hours) (You can keep the dough in refrigerator up to 5 days).

When I am not patient enough and I don't want to wait for dough to get firm, I pinch the little pieces and roll them in the ball shapes, flatten them on the baking pan. Ready to go!

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut the slices 1/8-1/4 inch-thick slices from log with a heavy knife to fill 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging slices about 1 inch apart. Cookies grow inside the oven, please don't try to squeeze all of them into one sheet. If garnishing with coarse sugar.

Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden. Bake time is 12-15 minutes. Do not overbake!!! Cool on sheets 3 minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to racks  cool completely.

I bake these cookies for my son's class and send them to school. Kids love them! Recently , I started using organic white flour, organic sugar and organic egg and it makes them guilt-free pleasures.

EASY LASAGNA. (DELICIOUS)

My lasagna recipe is very easy to follow and very quick to make. Many people may call it not original Italian one, but everyone will like it and will ask for another piece, I promise.

LASAGNA




1 package lasagna 
1-2 pounds of ground turkey meat
1 jar of ready tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce ) 
3 cups ricotta cheese
1 pack of mozzarella cheese
1 onion
olive oil
pepper, salt, sugar, cumin, coriander, dry oregano.
fresh parsley, basil, cilantro

I cook for my big family, that's why I use two pans for lasagna and whole package of lasagna pasta. Some brands come with many leaves inside, make your math how many you will need. I use four leaves for one lasagna pie.

Cook pasta according to package direction. If the pasta is ready and sauce is not, leave the pasta in the pot with cold water.


Heat the heavy pot with the olive oil. Chop the onion and fry them until golden color. Add your ground turkey meat. Cook the meat until brown and add the 1/2 tbsp of salt, crushed cumin, coriander and oregano. Stir in spaghetti sauce;simmer for 5 minutes. Try the spoon of the sauce. If more needed add more salt or sugar.

Shred the mozzarella cheese and mix it with the ricotta cheese. Add  chopped fresh greens and ground black pepper.

Spread 1/2 cup meat sauce.

Place one pasta piece. Cover it with meat sauce. Second layer will be spread ricotta-mozzarella cheeses. Third layer is going to be covered with meat sauce, and fourth with cheeses.
 1-meat sauce
 2-cheeses
 3-meat sauce
 4-cheeses








If you want sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil; bake 30 minutes. Remove foil;bake 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

POTATO FLAKES DINNER ROLLS.

DINNER ROLLS WITH THE POTATO FLAKES (MASHED POTATO POWDER)


3/4 cup water
1/2 cup milk
5 tbsp (70gr ) unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup potato flakes (unsalted, regular)
3 - 3  1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 packet of yeast ( 2 1/4 tsp)
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

I use for all my yeast-dough recipes my Must -Have thing in the kitchen-Bread Machine. If you don't have a Bread Machine  here is what you will need to do.

1. Put water, milk, sugar , salt and butter in a small saucepan. When the butter will be melted (not boiling), add the potato flakes, mix it very well with the spoon and leave it for 1 minute.

2. In separate bowl mix together 1 cup of flour and yeast. Add the potato mix (not hot) into the flour and mix it with the mixer. Add 1 egg. Mix it for 3 minutes.Add more flour and mix it with the wooden spoon. Put your dough on the floured surface of the kitchen table and knead it for 10 minutes. At the end, add the fresh dill. The dough should be soft and elastic.

3. Put the ball of the dough in the bowl and cover it with the plastic or cotton towel. Place it in a warm place for one hour. After the dough will double in size, divide it in 16-20 pieces. Shape the rolls and put them inside the baking pan ( two circle cake pans). The pans , of course, are buttered. Cover the pans with the plastic and let them stand or 45-60 minutes.











4. Preheat oven to 375 F. Brush the diner rolls with an egg wash. Sprinkle the poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

These dinner rolls are great for sandwiches.

CARVING THE PUMPKINS FOR THE FIRST TIME (tutorial)

HOW WE CARVED THE PUMPKINS!!!

I had never carved the pumpkin before in my life. My oldest son insisted for a very long time and finally yesterday, the day before the Halloween, we did couple small pumpkins. And I must say, IT IS A LOT OF FUN!!!!

You really need a minimum of tools and a little bit of time. It's not terribly messy and the results are absolutely great!



1. Cut the top off and start to scrape the inside flesh out. Here my son used the tablespoon, but I used some sharp stuff that I owe, like for example my own manicured nails. :)




2. Choose the side which is going to be carved and try to scrape the inside as much as you can to make it approximately 1 inch thick.

3. Pick a design and draw it on the surface of the pumpkin. If you don't trust your drawing skills , then you can draw (or print) it on the paper and trace it by punching the lines with the needle.


4. There are really good tools for sale in the craft shops for carving, but I used the regular crafting knife to cut the surface skin of the pumpkin. It's very sharp, so you have to be very cautious and work always the knife opposite from you.

5. Then I let my son to use a small saw tool to finish the cutting process. He loved sawing. The moments when the first eye popped out, then second were full of happiness and screams. :)


6. Finish the edges with the saw, make them smooth and perhaps it will need some minimal corrections and you will have YOUR HALLOWEEN JACK -O-LANTERN.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!