Accéder au contenu principal

IKRA - Russian eggplant caviar/Russian aubergine caviar

Someone was looking for a "soft aubergine/eggplant spread with tomatoes" and I knew exactly what they were talking about. There's a dish in Russia, our Eastern neighbour, which is called IKRA or fake caviar. I got this recipe from Russian friend Galina back in Edinburgh sometimes around 2000. Still makes a regular appearance in our kitchen.  It's lovely on a slice of toast, or as a condiment or spread on a mezze-table. Russian aubergine spread IKRA 1 large aubergine/eggplant 1 large onion 2 garlic cloves 2 tomatoes 1 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice salt and freshly ground black pepper fresh parsley or dill Prick the aubergine with a fork here and there, then place into a preheated 200C/400F oven and bake for about 60 minutes, until fully cooked and slightly charred on the outside. Flip over once or twice during baking. Remove from the oven, let it cool. Then cul half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh. Place into a cutting b...

Courgette salad recipe (Shredded Zucchini Salad)

Courgettes Zucchini

We've got just three summer squash plants this year, and gosh, have they've supplied our family well. I harvest one or two good-sized courgettes (zucchini) every other day and I've been cooking all our family favourites on a regular basis (see recipe links at the end of the post).

I've also been discovering new and novel ways of using the zucchini. Nigel Slater's courgettes with dill cream were a huge hit (bigger with adults than kids, I must admit), as was this (raw, gluten-free and vegan) courgette/zucchini salad from BBC Good Food. The grated courgette salad was new as well as novel - although I had made zucchini "carpaccio" salads before, I had never shredded/grated a courgette for a salad.

Recommended!

Suvikõrvits. Courgette. Zucchini.
One of this year's prolific summer squashes in our garden. 

Shredded courgette salad
Adapted from BBC Good Food
(Särtsakas suvikõrvitsasalat)
Serves 4 to 6

Suvikõrvitsasalat. Zucchini salad. Courgette salad.

3 - 4 young courgettes/zucchini (about 1 kg in total)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp poppy seeds or black onion seeds or black sesame seeds
1 garlic clove, finely grated
juice of half a lime
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the courgettes, grate/shred coarsely (I used the coarse grater blade of my food processor). Put the grated courgettes into a large colander, sprinkle with about a teaspoonful of salt, mix gently. Leave for 30 minutes, to get rid of excess water. Then squeeze with your hands to get rid of even more liquid and transfer into a large bowl.

Dress the courgettes with olive oil, garlic, lime juice, poppy seeds and black pepper. Toss to combine and serve.

More favourite courgette/zucchini recipes:
Courgette and Parmesan tart @ Nami-Nami
Courgette cake with lemon frosting (Lemon and Zucchini Cake) @ Nami-Nami
Oven-baked zucchini and tomatoes with feta @ Nami-Nami
Estonian courgette and cheese soup (Zucchini and Cheese Soup) @ Nami-Nami
Greek Zucchini Pie (Kourkouto) @ Nami-Nami
Roasted marrow with garlic and herbs @ Nami-Nami

See also:
Zucchini cake with crunchy lemon glaze @ David Lebovitz
Zucchini stuffed with freekeh @ Sarah Melamed
Zucchini bake with feta and thyme @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Zucchini and carrot ribbons @ A Veggie Venture
Zucchini, pancetta and farro salad @ Lucullian Delights

    Commentaires

    Posts les plus consultés de ce blog

    IKRA - Russian eggplant caviar/Russian aubergine caviar

    Someone was looking for a "soft aubergine/eggplant spread with tomatoes" and I knew exactly what they were talking about. There's a dish in Russia, our Eastern neighbour, which is called IKRA or fake caviar. I got this recipe from Russian friend Galina back in Edinburgh sometimes around 2000. Still makes a regular appearance in our kitchen.  It's lovely on a slice of toast, or as a condiment or spread on a mezze-table. Russian aubergine spread IKRA 1 large aubergine/eggplant 1 large onion 2 garlic cloves 2 tomatoes 1 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice salt and freshly ground black pepper fresh parsley or dill Prick the aubergine with a fork here and there, then place into a preheated 200C/400F oven and bake for about 60 minutes, until fully cooked and slightly charred on the outside. Flip over once or twice during baking. Remove from the oven, let it cool. Then cul half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh. Place into a cutting b...

    Traditional Christmas roast (oven-baked pork shoulder with honey, mustard and rosemary)

    From the recipe archives (originally posted in December 2012. Still my favourite Christmas roast). Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the December issue of Kodu ja Aed magazine, 2012  What's your traditional Christmas roast (assuming you're eating meat)? Turkey? Goose? Duck? In Estonia it's definitely pork, though roast poultry has become more popular during recent years. I've been flirting with  roast goose  and actually served  duck leg confit  on Christmas Eve this year. It was delicious. However, for years I've been serving pork roast - a pork shoulder ( kaelakarbonaad in Estonian) in a mustard-honey-garlic-rosemary marinade, to be more precise. I love that it's a pretty fool-proof recipe, simple to make, with lots of flavour. And - as an added bonus - any leftovers are excellent on top of rye bread on the days after the party, or as part of a salad. So if you're not making it for a big family feast, you can still make the same amount and simply make sever...

    Roasted pumpkin soup with almonds and spicy dukkah oil a la Silvena Rowe

    From the recipe archives, originally posted in October 2011. Totally worth making!!!  PS Check the comments section - Silvena Rowe herself left a comment - how cool is that!? I spotted this soup recipe in Silvena Rowe 's beautiful Orient Express: Fast food from the eastern Mediterranean , one of my recent cookbook acquisitions. I've been making various pumpkin soups and certainly wasn't looking for a new soup recipe, but this one caught my eye because of almonds . There are almonds both inside the soup and in the dukkah-mixture (Not sure what dukkah is? You can read more about it here ). We cooked four recipes from Silvena's book last Sunday (see the menu below, scribbled on our newly painted kitchen wall), and the soup was very well received. The almonds add a thickness and a lovely texture to the soup, the dark red pomegranate seeds are a true eye candy, and the dukkah oil is a wonderful flavour enhancer. I more or less followed the recipe, though I used a bit ...