Pistachio cookies

Pistachio cookies

I know this recipe from childhood but didn’t cook it for a long time. Don’t know why, just forget. Some days ago have seen this recipe in my old recipes copy-book and have decided to remind it. It is very interesting cookies so want to tell you.

You’ll need:

125g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs

125g flour

125g starch

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp pistachio

2 tbsp rum

100g fruit jam

Step 1: Whip butter, sugar and eggs. Sift flour, starch and baking powder together (right to the whipped mass). Add rum and knead a dough (in the beginning use spoon, then hands);

Step 2: Preheat oven to 200 ^oC. Place large piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet;

Step 3: Divide your dough in a pieces and make balls as walnut, strew it with pistachios and place them on the baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly and make a deepening in a centre of each ball;

Step 4: Bake cookies on a middle level of oven during 13 minutes until golden colour. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool them on a wire rack. Fill up every deepening with jam.

M-m-m-m delicious!

Risotto

Risotto and mushrooms

Risotto from the Italian language means rice. A secret of its popularity is great number of cooking variants. Invariable is one rule: rice in risotto has to be tender outside and hard inside. It is very important to choose right rice kind. The best one is middle grains. When you cook such rice, it discharges enough starch and rice mass become soft and sticky. But for all that, grains keep hard. The best choice of rice is Arborio, Vialone and Carnaroly. Don’t wash rice before cooking! And always when you add meat or vegetable bouillon, it has to be very hot. Cook risotto 20 minutes stirring slowly but continuously.

Step 1: Saute onion with 1 tbsp butter. To make more juice, add pinch of salt;

Step 2: Add 300g rice and stew it during 3 min stirring slowly. Pour in 150 ml wine and let it boil away. Add mushrooms, stir;

Step 3: Add 1l hot bouillon gradually as rice will take it up. Stir constantly;

Step 4: Dissolve pack of saffron stamen with hot bouillon and mix with prepared rice (over 20 min);

Step 5: In conclusion add 40g grated cheese and 1 tbsp butter to rice, stir. Strew with parsley, stir. Serve at the same time.

Saffron imparts appetizing yellow color and gives piquancy to risotto. If you haven’t saffron, use turmeric.

Fresh green is part and parcel of Italian cuisine. You can put basil, thyme and parsley to risotto. Don’t chop green, just tear leaves off.

Ceps (fresh or dried) impart especial, nut flavour to risotto. If you use dried mushrooms, soak it into hot water during 20 minutes. Then pour water out and add mushrooms to the rice.

Parmesan is one of the most appropriate cheeses, but you can also use moccarella, mascarpone or gorgonzola.

Bon appetit!

Soup "Harcho"

Soup “Harcho”

Delicious for REAL men

At first time I cooked this soup as lazy, ignorant of Georgian tradition cuisine cooker. I also used mutton! But can say that – not bad. In actual fact, “Harcho” is Georgian dish, soup (name means beef soup). It is very important to use 3 ingredients: beef, tklapy (concentrated sauce tkemaly-plum sauce) and grated walnuts. I’ll show you my first experience and then recipe of real “Harcho”.

For 4 persons you need:

500 g mutton

2 onions

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp flour

2-3 gloves of garlic

2 tbsp tomato paste

100 g rice

2 tbsp wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

salt

black pepper

1 tuft of fresh green

Step 1: Wash meat, dry it up, slice large pieces and put into pot. Pour 2.5l of water, reduce till boiling and skim a scum from bouillon. Boil during 2 h (small fire);

Step 2: Peel onion and chop finely. Warm up oil in a pan and fry it slightly. Strew onion with flour, make it brown and take away fire;

Step 3: Put rice into bowl and wash it out by cold running water, then pour water out. Put fried onion and rice into bouillon, salt, pepper and boil during 20 minutes;

Step 4: Peel garlic, chop finely and add to our soup with tomato pasta, bay leaf and wine vinegar together. Salt, pepper one more time and boil 5 min more;

Step 5: Wash fresh green, dry it up and chop finely. Serve Harcho in plates and strew with green.

Good advice: add 1tsp vinegar during boiling and meat will become tasty and will be prepared faster. You can also rub meat with soda previously and leave for 3-4 h, then wash it out thoroughly and boil.

Real Georgian recipe Harcho:

1. Boil meat (put cut meat into cold water. Boil during 2-2.5h, middle fire);
2. Take meat away pot and put there rice. Salt bouillon and boil rice with roots together (but take it away in the finishing) and back meat;
3. Add first portion of spicery: fried onion with 1 tbsp flour (see Step 2), 1 parsley root, bay leaf and some crushed pea black pepper;
4. Over 5 minutes pour grated walnuts in;
5. After 5 minutes more add second portion of spicery: 2 tbsp parsley green, 1 tsp dry basil, 0.5 tsp red pepper, 0.5 tsp cinnamon. At the same time add sour sauce tklapy (if you haven’t it, add 0,5 glass pomegranate juice or at least tomato pasta). Add hmely-sunely if you have.
6. Cook no more than 5 min, add pounded garlic, 2 tbsp kinza green, 0,5 tbsp basil green then leave covered Harcho with lid about 3-5 minutes to brew;