Nora’s Salad

Eggplant Salad

Nora and I got together and cooked again today. And boy did we cook! We made shurpa (a lamb soup), damlyama (a lamb and vegetable dish) and a new salad. Since I don’t know the name for that salad and since she introduced us to it, I’ll just call this “Nora’s Salad”. She said that she’s been making it for ages. It’s absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
2-3 eggplants (cut up like fries)
4 tomatoes thinly sliced (we used Roma tomatoes)
1 medium onion (thinly sliced in half moons and soaked in a water/vinegar solution)
1/2 cup total of dill and flat leaf (Italian) parsley finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely minced
Salt to taste
Oil for frying (or if you have a deep fryer, that would work too)
1/4 – 1/2 cup of vinegar

Finished Salad

Steps:
1. Cut the onion into half moons and soak in a water/vinegar solution for at least a half hour. If you have more time, that would be fine too. Use about 1/4 cup of vinegar about as much water.
2. Cut up the eggplant like you would potatoes for french fries. Soak the eggplant in water for at least a half hour. More would work fine too. Soaking removes the bitterness. Remove as many seeds as possible, but if there are some left, that’s fine.
3. Fry the eggplant in oil in batches and layer the salad as follows:

• Eggplant
• Minced garlic
• Onion
• Tomatoes
• Greens (dill/parsley mixture)
• Repeat.

Salad Layers

Eggplant Soaking

[caption id="attachment_403" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="Eggplant Frying"][/caption]

Memories of Summer (tomato salads)

Aren't they cute!

On days like today and those like last week, I need to remember summer. Since tomatoes are my favorite food, it’s hard to replicate the feeling of summer in the dead of winter. But somehow, I was able to spot good tomatoes at Costco (yes, I know, but they were great). These little beauties were so sweet (they were intended for soup or sauce, but I tasted one and decided that they’re good enough for salad).
So here’s my new take on salad.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Onions
Feta
Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar
Salt, pepper (to taste)

Steps:
1. Quarter the tomatoes
2. Slice the onions into thin moons
3. Add salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and feta. Mix. Eat.

Tomato close-up

Salad

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Spread

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, in large part because I love all the cooking.  Most people dread all the cooking, but I even take Wednesday off so I can make a few “spares”, just in case something doesn’t turn out and people still leave with overstuffed bellies.  I still love the holiday, despite the mandatory family squabbling.  But without further delay, here is the menu I’m planning (and yes, I take help where I can):

Appetizers:

• Chicken wings (not a Thanksgiving staple, but I love them and they seem to go over pretty well with the family).  See above
• Seafood puffs (puff pastry stuffed with seafood, store bought, and I hope they’re good).
• Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Pizza Bites
• Smoked Mackerel (this can be found in most Russian food stores; ask for “skumbria”)
• Baked Asparagus with Cheese
• Shrimp with sauce

Whole fish

Fish in pieces

 

 

 

 

Salads:

• Seafood salad
• Olivie? (a French salad, and every cook in former USSR has her/his own twist on it. This one is a maybe since I don’t like peeling potatoes or cutting cooked potatoes.) I decided not to make it this time.
• Egg salad and mushroom

Turkey

Main Course:

• Turkey (DUH!)

• Baked potatoes (my family is averse to mashed potatoes with skins and I am averse to pealing potatoes)
• Stuffing (of the StoveTop variety. My family will accept no other.)

Dessert:

Zephyr in Chocolate

• I bought two pies at Sweet Pies of Door County and we’ll have that. They’re yummy, try one.
• I also bought a Russian-style dessert called Zephyr in Chocolate. I’m not exactly sure what’s in it, but it seems a marshmallow-type substance covered in dark chocolate.

Recipes and pictures for all these to follow.

Salad

In my family, there is really only one Salad.  Yes, with a capital “S”.   Certainly we eat other salads, but none of them would resemble anything an American would recognize.  None of our salads have lettuce.

Ingredients:
1 small onion
2-3 medium tomatoes
Salt, to taste

Steps:
Cut the onion into thin half-moons. If you want to reduce the bite of the onion, soak it in cold, salty water for a little while (in my case, as long as it takes me to cut the tomatoes).


Cut the tomatoes in half and cut out the woody stem. Cut the tomato halves into somewhat thin slices. Sprinkle with salt, to taste.

There are many variations on this salad. Some add cucumbers, or dill, or dress it with olive oil, or sour cream or a combination of those.