Tags
beef pies, Cabbage, Canada, carp, fish, kebabs, Lent, Mushroom, pike, Russia, Salmon, Seafood, Sour cream
I love this picture taken by a friend of mine. Check out the name of the fish place-Pike Place Fish. My husband and son took a fishing trip last year to Canada where they fished for Pike. My son said it was the best fishing trip ever. You gotta love making a memory like that.
Pike is something new to me. You really can’t find it in the local store around here. According to my husband, they require lots of work to clean up to make a presentable filet. They brought them all the way back to N.C. and we cooked them right up. I like pike. Russians like pike, as well as carp, salmon and perch.
In Russia, fish are everywhere. There is this comical quote about the fish in Russian seas- which may explain why it’s so important in the Russian diet- “There is so much fish in the Northern Divina that if you push an oar into the water, it stands up by itself-the shoals of the herring are so thick.”
One interesting fact that I learned about fish comes from my new cookbook-“The Art of Russian Cuisine” is that there are 250 days of Lent in the Russian Orthodox church. What it means for many locals is that fish is often the main staple especially for the observant. My son would prefer fish over red meat, any day of the week.
He’ll be happy this week. This week’s menu will include a few fish and mushroom dishes-another favorite food that my son loves. Mushrooms are another staple in Russia. Kind of like our blueberry and strawberry picking pastimes, the Russian family will gather together to go and pick mushrooms, right after a hard rain. It’s a family outing and the results are some fantastic mushroom sauces.
Another common staple-smetana-really thick sour cream that goes in just about everything. I learned last year that I could only use so much of it without packing on the weight. So I am going lighter this time around.
This week I will attempt some time-honored recipes:
Fresh Cabbage Soup
Little Beef Pies
Roasted Carp with Smetana
Fish Kebabs
Fish with Mushroom and Dill Sauce
Will let you know how it goes!
