Seriously. My husband is a fabulous cook, and it’s our habit for him to take over on the weekends to make such things as Tikka Marsala Chicken, or Pad Thai, or Mongolian Hot Pot.
Only problem….I often travel on the weekends at speaking events. Which I love.
But I love his cooking, too.
Sometimes he makes something that is SUPER NUMMY….and I’m very sad to be gone.
Like this past weekend – he pulled out his Russian Recipe book and made a Warren Family Favorite - Pelmeni. As Russians say, “You can never have too many pelmeni!”
Think – meat-filled dumplings served with mayonnaise and dill. Yum-o! We usually make them on New Year’s Eve, a tradition started when we lived in Russia, by our friend Luda Khakhaleva.
It’s really not hard.
First, make the dough:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
3 whole eggs
¼ c. warm water
Mix the flour and salt, make a little whole in the mix, pour in the scrambled eggs and water. Toss the mixture together then knead it by hand until it holds together. Form it into a ball and let it stand for an hour.
Then, take:
1 ½ pounds of ground beef and pork and mix it up.
1 medium onion
1 tsp. salt
Pepper
Grind it all together in a food processor. It makes what is called…Farsh. (Roll your R. See, you’re speaking Russian!)
Now, here comes the fun part:
Roll the dough into a long roll, (think one of those tubes of cookie dough). Cut about an inch of length, then roll it flat into a circle.
Put a heaping teaspoon of meat into the center.
Fold it over, forming a half moon.
Let them sit on a floured board (cover them with a cloth so they don’t dry out) while you boil water (throw in a bay leaf, some salt and a blop of cooking oil). When the water reaches a full boil, throw in the Pelmeni (don’t crowd them, they don’t like it). They’ll rise to the surface when they’re finished (about 5 minutes).
Drain and bathe them in butter (real butter, people). They’re nummy with just salt and pepper….
Or, like this – drowing in Mayonaise, some dill, and hubby’s favorite – red pepper!
(note: I never use red pepper. They’re just too delicious to drown the taste with that much heat. Bleck).
You can also fry them in butter until they’re golden brown. Super Num.
Okay…so while the family was doing this….
I was doing this…
Hmmm….
Aw, Bob and Larry are fun, too.
Really.
*sigh*