Syrniki (Russian Cheese Pancakes)

Do you know someone who’s a real whiz in the kitchen? Someone who's dinner invitations always guarantee a mouthwatering meal? I’m not talking about a gourmet chef, but someone who simply knows how to put out good, tasty food? That’s our friend Vlad.

He loves to entertain, and his approach is to spoil his guests with a smorgasbord of appetizers: Russian dark bread, cheeses, caviar, smoked fish, garlicky cheese spread, beet salad, etc. His simplest concoctions are often the ones guests continue thinking about long after the party’s over.

Nothing demonstrates this better than his Syrniki, or Russian cheese pancakes. He was responsible for breakfast during a group vacation weekend in Lake Chelan and decided to make his family’s favorite (seriously, they request them every weekend). His American version uses cottage cheese, a simple substitute for the traditional, drier Russian farmer’s cheese that can be hard to find. Traditional Syrniki include a fair amount of sugar (and sometimes vanilla or raisins) to produce a sweet dough, but Vlad’s approach is more flexible. An egg, a little flour and a teaspoon of salt is all that’s needed for the basic recipe, which gets shaped into little cakes and pan fried until crisp on the outside. His family eats theirs drizzled with maple syrup but I suspect they’d be equally delicious with jam. While I do enjoy that sweet-salty interplay, I most often whip up a batch of savory Syrniki for a quick weeknight dinner. My go-to mix-ins include fresh chives or garlic and spinach, but this recipe is ripe for experimentation.

Fried cheese in all its cultural iterations is delicious (think Greek Saganaki, Swiss Malakoff or Indian dry chili paneer), and these cheese pancakes are no different. When it’s Syrniki night and I tell the kids what I’m making, their response is predictably, “Yay!! Cheez-nicky!”

Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Syrniki) – Basic Recipe

Traditionally made with hard-to-find Russian farmer’s cheese, this cottage cheese version comes together easily with a few staple ingredients. The thick batter is shaped into cakes, dusted with flour and pan fried until golden brown. Serve the basic recipe with maple syrup or jam, or try some savory mix-ins.

1 egg

1 lb full fat cottage cheese (I like this one made with milk from pastured cows)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup flour, divided

Oil for pan frying (I use this one)

Lightly beat the egg in a medium bowl. Add the cottage cheese and salt and mix well. Add a ½ cup of the flour and stir to combine. The mixture should resemble very thick pancake batter. If it’s too thin and sticky, add a bit more flour. 

Pour enough oil into a large skillet (I prefer cast iron) to generously coat the bottom; heat over medium-low. In the meantime, pour the remaining flour into a shallow plate. Scoop roughly a ¼ cup portion of dough onto the floured plate. Get your hands in there and dust generously on all sides with flour, then carefully shake off excess, forming each into a little flattened cake. Handle carefully - they will be very soft. Repeat this process with the rest of the batter.

Once the oil is hot, place four or five cakes into the skillet – do not overcrowd – and cook until a nice golden brown crust forms on the bottoms, about 4 minutes. Flip and continue cooking on the other side, adding more vegetable oil as needed. Remove to a platter and lightly sprinkle with salt if desired. Repeat with the remaining cakes.

Serve hot with maple syrup, jam or fruit compote, or as a main dish with a fresh salad.

Makes about 12 Syrniki

How to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese

I don't have the greatest memory. Birthdays? Forget it. The big snow storm of 2008? Clueless. What I did yesterday? Give me a minute. But when it comes to food memories, I can spew out more details than anyone cares to hear.

For example, in 1998 my mother, sister and I were in England during a 6-week European adventure. In addition to visiting the Beatrix Potter museum in the Lake District and the home of James Herriot (author of "All Creatures Great and Small"), our to-do list included a proper afternoon tea in London.

I'll never forget it. My mom was up front ordering while my sis and I grabbed a table. Nearby, a little 5 or 6 year old English boy, outfitted in knee-high socks and dress shorts, was looking us up and down. He was sitting on a bench swinging his little legs when, apropos of nothing, he proudly announced in the most adorable British accent, "I'm having the toasted cheese." I will always think of this when I eat a grilled cheese sandwich.

  
Grilled cheese is a simple comfort food that both children and adults enjoy immensely. While the dish is uncomplicated, it's surprising how many competent cooks admit having a hard time getting it right. Most often this means charred bread. The good news is that scraping the blackened bits off with a knife is a thing of the past. With the correct technique and a little patience, you can serve up perfect, glorious grilled cheese sandwiches every single time.

The number one rule is that the heat needs to be lower than you think. The whole point is to end up with a golden, buttery exterior and an oozy, melted interior, a process that simply cannot be rushed. Number 3 (a solid medium-low) on the stove dial is just right. 

Secondly, I find that putting a weight on top allows for even heating and ensures that the cheese melts properly. I use a simple piece of aluminum foil and an empty pot.

Like I said, it's all about the technique. Here's how I do it:

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. In the meantime, assemble your sandwiches using good bread, sliced cheeses and any other fixins' that strike your fancy. For the sandwiches pictured here, I used raw Cheddar, summer tomatoes and basil from the garden. Swirl some butter in the bottom of the skillet. Place the sandwiches in the pan, cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil and top with a pot that's large enough to press the sandwiches evenly (a baking dish would also work). Let the grilled cheese cook until the bottoms are perfectly golden brown, 4-6 minutes. When you lift each sandwich to flip, swirl a little more butter underneath (don't be skimpy). After flipping the sandwiches, there's no need to continue covering and weighing them down. Cook on the other side until golden, about 3 minutes.

Unless you'd like to cut them, you can now ditch your knife since no scraping will be required. 

Raclette

I’ll never forget the first time I had raclette.  We were introduced to this interactive meal (involving individual pans, wooden scrapers and melted cheese) years ago while visiting family in Switzerland. I also remember declaring on the spot that it was my favorite dish ever.
 
Since then, I’ve enjoyed raclette a million times over. While the novelty has worn off, the deliciousness hasn’t. 
 
Raclette, pronounced rah-KLEHT, refers to both a type of cheese and a traditional Swiss dish that features said cheese. It originated in the Swiss canton of Valais where, as legend has it, the Alpine herdsmen set up camp for the night and when some cheese got too close to the fire, it melted onto a rock. Not wanting to waste (the Swiss are incredibly resourceful), they scraped it up (hence the French root word “racler,” meaning “to scrape”) and declared it delicious. 
 
If you go to a Swiss street festival today, you’ll see raclette being served in a close-to-traditional fashion. A huge half-wheel is heated, cut side up, under an electric heat source until it melts and bubbles, after which it is scraped off over tiny boiled potatoes or bread. But most Swiss homes have a raclette grill. In the same spirit as fondue, diners sit in a circle around the grill, armed with little individual pans. In goes a slice of raclette (along with any desired fixins’ – I love sliced pineapple) and under the grill it goes. When it’s ready, wooden scrapers are used to ensure that every bit makes it to your plate. And if that weren't enough, the top of the unit is equipped with a flat, open grill -- perfect for grilling sausages, prosciutto, veggies or baguette slices. Along with small, boiled potatoes, this cheesy dish is eaten alongside cornichons and pickled onions for digestion.

So the other night we decided to have a spontaneous, mid-week, semi-celebratory dinner party in honor of our good friend Nick, who was moving to Bogota, Colombia to do legal work for a year. Raclette seemed the natural choice. Not only is it interactive, easily assembled AND delicious, it’s one of the few dishes that makes you slow down, take your time and enjoy the experience.
 
Followed by a fresh green salad and a rustic apple tart, our friends were sent home with content bellies. It’s easy to see why this 700+-year-old tradition lives on.

Mama's Mexican Kitchen

I'm originally from upstate New York, meaning that my idea of Mexican food was somewhat limited to chain restaurants serving cheesy, greasy, gooey glop with sour cream on top. It never sat well and, for most of my life, I thought Mexican food and I just didn't mix.

Of course now I know better after having experienced the fresh, citrusy Mexican dishes of the west coast. My favorite joint in Seattle is La Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard, hands-down. To start, they offer just-fried warm and salty tortilla chips along with a bar of fresh salsas. And their small plates! The chicken mole is implausibly good, and the halibut tacos with lime wedges and crunchy slaw on soft, homemade corn tortillas are a far cry from the heavy, oily dishes of yore.

However, there is a time and a place for some stick-to-your-ribs Tex-Mex. So last night, before heading to the Big Picture Cinema, we stopped at one of Seattle's oldest Mexican joints, Mama's Mexican Kitchen. Awarded the Best Enchilada medal for good-bad Mexican food by The Stranger. I had to try it for myself.

I ordered 2 chicken enchiladas served with Mexican rice and refried beans. The review was pretty much spot-on: greasy, cheesy and very saucy. The plate arrived with a crescent of rice on the left and a thickly-blanketed, cheese-covered mess on the right. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's not having enough sauce. But Mama's fared pretty well in this department. An ample supply of red enchilada sauce kept the tortilla and chicken filling nice and moist... and the copious pools of grease acted as back-up.

Overall, my dish was much too mild (I would have preferred a little kick) but it did the job. I don't think I'll ever convert over to the heavy, greasy, cheesy camp but as far as good-bad Mexican is concerned, Mama's delivers.

The Italian Store Sandwich

I enjoy a good sandwich. But they're not always easy to come by. Don't get me wrong, Seattle certainly has a few "not to be missed" establishments, including Mario Batalli's father's meat shop, Salumi. Here you can get a sandwich carefully layered with hand-cured artisan salami, house-made mozzarella and fresh figs - simple, good ingredients without a lot of bells and whistles. There's also the newish Baguette Box which offers gourmet sandwiches on good baguette. And it's impossible to talk sandwich shop without mentioning Paseo Caribbean Restaurant's famous juicy grilled pork sandwich with caramelized onions. Certainly the best of its kind.

But sometimes I miss sinking my teeth into one of those loaded New York style Italian subs. Oddly enough, one of the reasons I was so looking forward to the Duck Dinner in Arlington, Virginia was to get one of those glorious sandwiches at The Italian Store.

Me admitting this is my way of eating crow. You see, most New Yorkers have a chip on their shoulders when it comes to finding decent pizza or bagels outside of state lines. I refused to listen to Tristan when he said that Arlington, Virginia had a little shop in a 1970's-era strip mall with killer Italian subs. Boy, was I wrong.

The Italian Store does it right. From the chewy crust hard roll to the medley of Italian meats and cheeses to the shredded lettuce, hot peppers and just the right amount of olive oil and vinegar. Not only did we gorge ourselves on Napolis while we were there, we took a couple of them on the plane back to Seattle, too. As delicious as they were, our last bites were hard to swallow since they were accompanied by the realization that we had to wait at least another 6 months before our next fix...