Happy Holidays! Looking to stuff your face in style a few more times before the New Year resolutions kick in? Here is a selection of my favorite recipes from this year’s posts, perfect for any special occasion.
- To get you started, the New Russian Brioche, Herring, and Foie Gras makes for an unexpected and spectacular amuse-bouche.
- The Romanian Duck Pâté Pantin and Cluj-Style Vegetables doesn’t have to be made with wild duck, and the black truffle sauce is well suited for a fancy dinner.
- Staying with expensive ingredients, the Crab Pozharsky, Mustard Sauce, Aligot and Asparagus can be your seafood main course.
- If you prefer something less frou-frou, the Osso Buco with Pumpkin Mousse and Dried Persimmon Sauce is homey with a touch of originality.
- With my series on Russian cuisine, I also got to add a few wild game recipes to my repertoire. Try the New Russian Elk, Sunchoke, and Truffle, or the Wild Boar Cutlets, Celery Root Purée, Kasha, and Lingonberry Sauce.
- I’ve apparently been preparing for Christmas all year long, as I have not one, not two, but THREE holiday desserts for you! It’s gonna be really hard to pick between the Varškės Spurgos, Lithuanian Farmer Cheese Fritters, the Povitica, Croatian Walnut Roll, and the Vánočka, Czech Christmas Bread.
On the other hand, this year’s most popular posts, as usual, seem to suggest that I’d be better off sticking to improved traditional recipes rather than going completely off script with my own creations:
- The undefeatable Qurutob, Tajikistan’s National Dish is now my most popular dish for three years in a row! Who would have guessed when I first posted it?
- My Bosnian Ćevapi with Kajmak, Ajvar, and Lepinja makes a meteoric entrance straight to the second rank. It’s well deserved, because this ćevapi is pretty damn good!
- My Somlói Galuska, Hungarian Dessert Dumplings, is also a newcomer, and it tops the result page when you google somlói galuska. I can proudly declare that this is a Hungarian food blog.
- The Tarkhun, Tarragon Soda is still popular. I should consider updating the post a little to help boost it to the top of the Google search results – right now, it comes second.
- Next comes the Plombir, Russian Ice Cream, another regular of this top 5, because who doesn’t like ice cream? Even Vlad likes ice cream!
Anyway, whether original creations or reinvented classics, all of my recipes result from thorough, iterative work of research, trial, and error. Do yourself a favor and give them a chance!
Previous years:
Happy Holidays 2017
Happy Holidays 2016
Happy Holidays 2015
Happy Holidays 2014
Happy Holidays 2013
Happy Holidays 2012
Happy Holidays 2011
(Photo credit for featured picture of Vlad: Russian President Vladimir recently met with cultural luminaries in the Kremlin and, most notably, handed out awards for outstanding artistic and literary achievements. 06/04/2018. Sputnik/Sergey Guneev.)