Russian Meat Stuffed Blinchiki

Blinchiki... Blini are Russian "pancakes" that really resemble French crepes.  Blinchiki are the same thing but they sound cuter.  I like the Russian language's ability to make words sound "cuter" or "harsher" depending on your mood.  There are at least 4 ways to just say my name, depending on your relation to me and how  you feel about me.

Anyway, these blini are stuffed with beef and rice and served with sour cream.  They are definitely a favorite in our house.  They take less than an hour to make, so great for a weeknight meal.

For the blini, I found this recipe blog post that is pretty close to the one I make.  Though I like mine really thin: http://www.russianbites.com/blini-russian-crepes.

For the filling: 

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 onion
garlic
salt/pepper to taste

Cook rice according to standard instructions with salted water.  Chop onion finely and add in a few cloves of crushed garlic - saute in olive oil on medium heat until translucent.  Add in beef and brown, adding salt and pepper to taste.  Drain any excess oil.  Add in cooked rice and mix together with beef mixture.

Once blini are ready, add in about 2-3 tbsp of the mixture into the middle of the crepe, and fold like an envelope.  Same as a burrito! (original link here).  Then fry with a little bit of olive oil, seam side down for a few minute until browned and crispy.  Flip carefully and fry a few minutes more.  Repeat with remaining blini.  

Carrot Cup/Cake

Apart from the frosting, what you really need to nail in Carrot Cake is the moisture level.  The worst thing you could get is a dry piece of cake.  Luckily, I have a recipe that will knock your socks off on both of those levels!  References upon request.

Carrot Cake: (shown here in "cup" form)

- 2 cups flour

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 3 eggs

- 2 cups sugar

- 3/4 cup veggie oil

- 3/4 cup buttermilk

- splash vanilla

- 2 cups grated carrots

- 8 oz canned crushed pineapple, drained

- 3 1/2 oz flaked coconut

- 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 9 inch cake pans - I always add in a bottom of parchment paper for this recipe. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a medium size bowl beat eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Whisk in flour mixture into egg mixture.  Fold in grated carrot, pineapple, and coconut.  Be sure to squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the canned pineapple.  Also, I usually don't put in the pecans - it feels more like fruit cake to me.   Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

- 1 package cream cheese, room temperature

- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

- about 1/2 cup powdered sugar - but really to taste

- vanilla

- 2 cups heavy cream

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla.  Taste test for sugar.  I don't like super sweet frosting, so I usually put in less than a recipe calls for.

In a separate bowl beat heavy cream until soft peaks form.  Carefully fold in whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.  Tada!

Enjoy!

Ratatouille - it's worth the extra effort, people

This past week really started to feel like spring.  Thus my brain decided that it really needed some vegetables for dinner.  I've tried to make Ratatouille before but the flavors really didn't combine well.  The standard crushed tomatoes I added didn't quite make the cut.  Shout out to my cube neighbor/recipe guru Kat for the base of this one.  I adapted it a little for my own preferences.

Ratatouille:

For Base Sauce:
- 1/2 red bell pepper, cleaned
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, cleaned
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, cleaned

Roast peppers cut side down at 450 for about 15 minutes.

In a sauce pan saute:
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 white onion, chopped,
- 2 or 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 3 medium size tomatoes, chopped
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- salt to taste
Saute while peppers are roasting.  Tomatoes should be breaking down into a sauce.  Add in roughly chopped peppers once ready.  Saute until tomatoes have reduced into a sauce - about 15 minutes.  I like this sauce relatively smooth, so I pulsed the mixture in my food processor for a minute to chop the peppers, leftover tomato chunks, etc.  Spread the mixture on the bottom of a baking dish - I used a 9 x 13 ceramic and it was full.

Cut into 1/16 inch circles:
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 1 medium eggplant
- 3-4 roma tomatoes
- salt - LIBERALLY - because these veggies take in a lot of salt

Alternate slices in the dish on top of the sauce.  Over the entire dish sprinkle the following mixture:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 cloves crushed garlic
- salt
- pepper

Top with sprigs of fresh thyme.
Cover with foil and bake in 400 oven for about 1 hour.  Check the tenderness with a fork.  If liquid remains, take off the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

I topped the whole thing off with some grated Parmesan.