Recipe Roundup

There are just some recipes that are too good to adjust or tweak, and I wanted to give them a hearty shout out on this blog. Here are a few winners I’ve made recently.

Russian pelmeni with a sprinkle of curry powder, Sriracha, and a dollop of sour cream.

 

For a brief time when I was in college, there was this awesome little pelmeni restasurant in my hometown that made exclusively…you guessed it, pelmeni. Sadly, it shut down a few years ago but the cravings for pelmeni have not stopped. Finally, at last! Natasha’s Kitchen provided me with a recipe that resulted in closest approximation.  This recipe calls for chicken, but you can make it with any filling you’d like (I like just a bit of seasoned potato). I made mine by hand the first time around, and while it was worth it, it was also pretty time consuming. Next time, I’m getting myself a mold.

 

Delicous comfort food for my soul: chiles rellenos

I fell in love with chiles rellenos during the two years I lived in Tucson, Arizona. After moving to the east coast, it seemed I would have to give up on them altogether. I couldn’t find it in many restaurants for some reason, and in the few where I tried it, they were either still frozen in the middle or the “breading” was wrong. However, on my honeymoon last fall my husband and I stopped at this little town just outside of San Francisco for dinner and I tried once more, figuring that restaurants knew how to do it right out West. And was I right! I figured if I wanted some myself I’d have to make it. CHOW provides a king-making recipe, and taught me the secret–the “breading” is not bread, but rather fried egg batter. Genius!