The Russian House restaurant in Austin

   Last night was my second visit to the Russian House restaurant in Austin. The first time I went was to celebrate Marcus's birthday last summer. We took the kids and had the extreme luck to eat in the private room. Being in a dark room with ornately decorated rugs covering the walls, interrupted occasionally by serious men refilling our waters and our over-attentive waiter bringing too many courses of food, the experience was unique and memorable. Marcus and I loved tasting several samples of their infused vodkas. The kids ate beef tongue for the first time. Marcus fell in love with the hot and savory borscht. Though our voices were often drowned out by the fact that a small band was performing just on the other side of the wall, it was an awesome way to celebrate Marcus's birthday and helped make a crucial emotional connection to downtown Austin. Some of the most memorable celebrations in our marriage are attached to small and beloved restaurants, and we cherish opportunities to find new special locations.

   That is why we decided to take Bennion to the Russian House last night. We were looking to share that same experience with a friend visiting Austin for the first time. It was a Friday night, and the restaurant was busy, but not overcrowded, which was great because we were 20 minutes late. The hostess had the appropriate amount of disregard and annoyance for us that I would expect for a restaurant with a Russian theme, and though I'm sure she would have felt some satisfaction in turning us away because a more responsible patron would have taken our coveted seats, she begrudgingly sat us at one of the few remaining open tables in the main dining room. No special room for us tonight...they had notified us when we made the reservation that 3 people are not enough for that experience.

   The main dining room was decorated like the inside of a home, with small framed photos covering the walls, furniture with nesting dolls and other trinkets to the side, and a TV silently playing Russian television from the early 1990s for effect. Our water man was once again was a large and very serious looking man, and he kept himself very busy refilling our waters any time we took more than a few drinks. The vodkas were once again numerous, and with a third adult in our party, we tried even more infusions, although I would have preferred being there during Happy Hour so we could have had a flight of them instead of paying for each serving outright.

   We had all made the serendipitous decisions to eat earlier that afternoon at separate locations, so none of us were hungry enough for entrees, leaving our attention focused on the vodkas, which I preferred. We all chose different options, and shared tastes of everything. We had basil, cactus and honey, pineapple and raspberry, saffron, mint and lime, and other infusions. It's a great way to spend the meal, and I would highly recommend anyone play around with the vodkas at the Russian House.

   Ben wanted an appetizer, so we got the meat plate. On it were thin slices of two types of salami, smoked pork, smoked beef, smoked chicken, and beef tongue, along with a generous dollop of horseradish and apparently the hottest mustard on earth, though I wasn't brave enough to try it. A side plate of insanely delicious bread accompanied the meats. I could have eaten just the bread all night.

   Marcus and Ben ate the borscht, and I had the wild mushroom soup. The bowls were served with tortillas on top, which had curled around the top of the bowl from the heat of the soup, creating a perfect seal. We discussed the choice of the tortilla as the topper for the soup, and Ben decided it was probably an employee of Mexican descent working in the kitchen who brought the idea to the restaurant, as none of us had ever heard of tortillas in any Russian menus. We decided that the tortilla soup topper was cleverly Austin, and left it at that.

   The lifeless waitress, apparently annoyed because we were not ordering entrees, came over to offer dessert. My guilty conscience overcame me, perhaps aided by 4 infused vodkas, and I told her we wanted both of the new dessert cakes. One was, according to the waitress, best translated as "bird milk cake" and had a wonderful marshmallowy layer on top of two other layers of cake. The other cake was a dry chocolate blah. I ate one bite. The boys had the rest. Marcus, being the snack master that he is, would have eaten it no matter what, so I felt no remorse eating the majority of the bird milk cake.

   Overall, though my experience this second time can't touch the connection I created from our first visit, it was still well worth the $140 it cost, which at any other restaurant, would have caused us to never consider visiting again. $48 for vodka just seems criminal anywhere else, right? Fortunately for the Russian House, they're the only game in town for the borscht that Marcus is in love with, and an endless variety of infused vodkas that we will continue to try and try and try.

8/27 Minestrone with pesto

Background: The kids have gone back to their dad's right now, so I'm back to blogging. Here's my first blog of the fall: Minestrone with pesto... My principal gave me a zucchini that one of our teachers had grown, so I decided to use it in this soup. Soup is one of my favorite things to cook because you make way more than what you need and freeze the rest!!! I made this once for my friends Lisa and Jodee because Lisa helped me make a TON of pesto from the basil in her garden...

This is from the book, "Cook This, Not That". I couldn't find an exact recipe online so I'll embed the recipe ingredient amounts as I go...

Here are most of the ingredients...4 cups chicken stock, 4 cups water, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can white beans, 1 zucchini, 1 onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, a couple of spoonfuls of pesto, 2 carrots, 8 oz. potatoes, and 4 oz. green beans. Also 1/2 tsp dried thyme. Grated parmesan cheese to taste...

Potatoes and green beans....forgot these in the first picture

First, heat up a BIG pot over medium heat with 1 Tb olive oil. Add 1 chopped onion.

After the onion has softened (about 5 minutes...make sure you stir from time to time), add 2 cloves garlic (I chose 4 cloves because I love the taste of garlic), 1/2 lb cubed potato with the skin on (the recipe calls for yukon gold or red potatoes but I used russet b/c that's what I had on-hand), 2 medium carrots (I used a handful of baby carrots that I had on-hand), 1 medium zucchini, chopped (I had a HUGE zucchini, so I just hacked off a piece of it and chopped that, same size as the potato chops), 1/2 lb green beans (I used fresh raw green beans from the produce section), and salt/pepper to taste. Let cook for 3-5 minutes until you can smell the veggies cooking throughout the kitchen.

Add a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes (with the juice), chicken stock (the recipe calls for 8 cups of chicken stock, but gives the option for 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water, so I did that. AKA 4 cups chicken stock, 4 cups water), and 1/2 tsp dried thyme (I didn't have dried thyme so I used 1/2 tsp dried basil. Same diff.).

Simmer for as long as it takes for veggies to soften. Taste from time to time to see if you need to add salt. When potatoes are soft, it's ready. Don't add salt right away. Let it simmer for a while and add only as needed. DO NOT OVER SALT!!!!!

When the potatoes are almost done, add 1 14 oz can of drained and rinsed white beans, a few spoonfuls of jarred pesto and a couple of spoonfuls of grated parmesan cheese. Continue to cook for maybe 10 minutes.

Ladle soup into bowls and add a little more parmesan cheese. Yum!

This recipe is very healthy. It only has 200 calories and 490 mg. sodium. Plus, it's a great way to go meatless one day per week if you're into that. We loved it. The pesto adds a GREAT flavor!!! I would definitely make this over and over again. It's a great way to use all the fresh veggies from your garden!

Bonus - there's TONS left over to freeze and eat another day, preferably in the middle of next week when I'm dead tired and not willing to cook.

Double bonus - here's our sunset today....

As always, I'd love to hear from you if you make this recipe, or if you appreciate any of my tips.

7/10 Whoopie Pies With Salted Buttercream Filling

Background - My daughter, Dharma, suggested I make Whoopie Pies. Whoopie pies are like two cupcake tops with frosting in-between them. Some people call them Moon Pies. I wanted to make something a little different so I chose this recipe that includes salted buttercream filling, rather than the standard vanilla. Things did NOT go as planned. I'll get to that...

http://www.foodess.com/2009/02/whoopie-pies-with-salted-caramel-buttercream/

Here are the ingredients for the cookies:

Here are the ingredients for the buttercream:

1. Whisk flour, baking soda (not pictured, oops), cocoa, and salt in a bowl.

2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars.

3. Add other wet ingredients, then flour mixture a little at a time until fully incorporated.

4. Drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet. I used my silicone mat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Set on a cooling rack and make more! I ended up reducing the size of the cookies because I wanted to make more for Marcus to take to work. You'll see at the end...

6. While the cookies cool, make the buttercream. Mix water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Swirl gently to mix and let it bubble until it becomes a golden color.

7. Remove from heat, add cream, and stir. You now have caramel. Move the caramel to a glass bowl quickly, because you will probably have to microwave it when you add it to the frosting mix.

8. Put egg whites, sugar, and salt in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until a candy thermometer reads 140 degrees. Transfer to the stand mixer and whisk until firm peaks appear.

9. Add butter a little bit at a time, then add vanilla and caramel. Heat the caramel in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it's able to pour out of the glass bowl. I only had to heat it for 10 seconds total.

This is where everything fell apart. See how thin this "filling" is? These are the exact measurements the recipe calls for, but there's no way this can be used as a frosting-like filling between the two cookies. This calls for drastic action! 

I added a crapload of powdered sugar, a few scoops at a time, until I ran out!!!! Probably 1 cup in all. Still not thick enough...

Having run out of my only conceivable frosting thickener, I turned to the internet for help. Somewhere I found a Q&A post about this very problem, and someone suggested adding cornstarch. I started adding a spoonful at a time and mixing. I probably added 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup cornstarch. It worked...

Finally, I was able to add the filling to the flat side of a cookie, and sandwich it between another same-size cookie. Though I lost the "salted buttercream" flavor through the addition of all the extra powdered sugar, at least the consistency was right. 

The two large whoopie pies on the plate are for me and Marcus. The rest are for his work. Thank you for the challenge Dharma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you like this recipe, please let me know. Also, if you like any of my tips and tricks, please tell me!

7/10 Mexican Omelet for 1

Background - Well, this might be my very first completely original recipe...I took the leftover shredded beef, tomato/cilantro/scallion mixture, and shredded cheese from last night's tacos and used them as filling for an omelet this morning. Holy cow, this thing is good....I'm proud.

Here are the ingredients:

1. Heat up a small amount of shredded beef and juice. Keep it covered so it doesn't dry out. I didn't have a lid for the small pan so I used aluminum foil.

2. Scramble 2 eggs and add a tiny bit of water. I saw a show once where a restaurant cook said to add a little bit of water to the eggs when making omelets. I've done it ever since.

3. Heat a skillet and add vegetable oil. Spread out and add the eggs. Let them set most of the way before adding ingredients.

4. Add cheese, then veggie mixture, and then shredded beef. Fold omelet over. I added the rest of the beef and cheese to the top, for the photo op ;)

Finished! Enjoy with a dollop of sour cream!

7/9/12 Shredded beef tacos

Background - Saveur.com has a place on their website where you can save the recipes you like. I was going through the list trying to figure out what I wanted to cook for the next couple of days. I came across shredded beef with lime and avocado tacos, as well as Mexican rice. It's been a while since I cooked Mexican food, so I thought I'd give this a try. I ended up not making the Mexican rice, because Marcus sent me a text message mid-afternoon saying he ate a huge lunch and only wanted a light dinner.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Shredded-Beef-with-Lime-and-Avocado

I made several changes to this recipe, some out of necessity, others out of preference. 
First - I did not use brisket. The recipe calls for 2 pounds of beef brisket, and Smiths only had huge honkin briskets for sale. I didn't want to buy a $20 brisket to make these tacos. The butcher recommended chuck steak, so I used that. 

Second - I used minced garlic from a jar, not smashed cloves of raw garlic. Trying to use the stuff I have...


Third - I browned the meat before adding the other ingredients and simmering. The recipe does not say to do this.


Fourth - I added a beef bouillon cube, a chopped chipotle pepper, and a couple spoonfuls of sugar to add flavor to the juices.


Fifth - I knew 3 hours wouldn't be enough to get the meat shred-ready. I ended up simmering the steak for 6 hours, and it came out perfect. 


Sixth - I added shredded lettuce to the tacos. They just seemed to need it.


Seventh - I shredded the cheese rather than cutting it in to cubes. I thought cubed cheese would be weird in a taco.


OK. That might be it. If there's anything else, I'll put it in my process notes.

Here's the steak before it was cooked:

Oh yeah, I also added olive oil to the pot and put salt and pepper on the steak. The recipe does not say to do any of that. I also used a white onion. The recipe says to use a yellow one. 


1 - Brown both sides of the meat and then set it aside on a plate before adding the water to the pot.

2 - Add the water, onion, bay leaves, garlic, bouillon cube, chipotle pepper, and sugar, and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom.

3 - Bring to a boil and add meat back to pot. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 6 hours. Check with a fork from time to time to see if it's starting to shred. 

4 - Sit back and relax while the smell permeates your whole house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 - Prepare the cold ingredients:

6 - Chop tomatoes, green onions (aka scallions), and cilantro, and put in a bowl. Add lime juice (I used the bottled juice rather than fresh), salt and pepper to taste. Stir.

7 - Slice the avocadoes, grate the cheese, and shred the lettuce. I used romaine. Set up a taco-building station.

Here's a trick I learned from a cooking show. To remove the seed from an avocado, whack it with a knife and turn it, and it should pop right out.

I put the corn tortillas right on the burners of my gas stove to char them slightly and heat them up. Worked great. I put them on a plate inside a towel to keep warm while I finished prepping.

8 - Take the meat out of the pot and shred it with 2 forks on a cutting board.

9- Assemble your tacos. I also used sour cream in the tacos.

That's it! They came out great and Marcus really liked them. I have a ton of shredded beef and tomato-cilantro-scallion mix left over, so I'm going to make Mexican omelets tomorrow morning. I'll post that too! Gotta love leftovers!

When saving the shredded beef, I put it in a ziplock bag, added some of the juice from the pot to it to keep it from drying out, and stuck it in the fridge inside a bowl to make sure it wouldn't accidentally leak.


Thanks for checking out my latest recipe! Please leave a comment if you try this recipe yourself or if you like any of my tips and tricks! Hasta luego.