We celebrated Easter twice this year! Last week we watched the webcast from St Thomas and had a nice dinner. This week, we dyed some eggs, I took a stab at making some Russian Easter dishes and we watched the webcast from St Nicholas, the Orthodox Cathedral on the East side. They start their midnight service at midnight, so we were up until 2!
I asked my Russian teacher if she had recipes, and she kindly sent me her grandmother's recipes for paskha (a sweet cheese) and kulich (a sweet bread). The paskha is supposed to use tvorog, which is a Russian fresh cheese, but we didn't think it was a good idea to go to Brighton Beach right now to find a Russian grocery, so we used cottage cheese instead. I didn't have the right sort of molds either, but they turned out pretty well anyway! Paskha has to be drained, so I got to use cheesecloth for its intended purpose for the first time:
I made the kulich in Grandma's angel food cake pan, and it looks pretty good, even though traditionally it would be a cylinder! Here is our full Easter spread, which we dug into for breakfast because Alex couldn't wait:
Maybe next year I will get some proper molds!
Happy Easter!
I remember when we were in high school and Kathie was studying Russian she mad Kulich -- I think she baked it in a coffee can!
ReplyDeleteOoo, good idea! I'd have to specifically get a can of coffee though -- I usually get it in bags!
DeleteI was going to tell you the same thing - but I don't think you'll be able to find any coffee cans unless you get Cafe Bustelo! also - what else do you use cheesecloth for? I remember Mrs. Baue had us make cheesecloth angel dresses for a Christmas pageant and we didn't even know where to get it. Do you remember that Karen?
ReplyDeleteI really like your pictures Sally!
Cheesecloth is also for making your own ricotta; hahahahaha! Even in these stay at home days, I don't think that's going to happen in my house. On the other hand, Mary Berry uses it for puddings. The steamed kind. May do that.
ReplyDelete