Following suit for the last three countries, I was so excited to do Russia as our country for the evening!
Tonight, it was just me and my husband for dinner. (That NEVER happens!) Given that I haven't been feeling like myself for the last few days, we decided to do it small scale tonight and just eat dinner together. No silly games, no fancy table settings, just the two of us sitting down at the kitchen table and eating together.
For the main course, I chose Piroshki, and for dessert we had Orange Drop Cookies.
Dinner: Piroshki
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 cup milk
1 onion, finely chopped 3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup vegetable oil
ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
dried dill weed to taste 1 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup warm water 3 cups oil for frying
Directions:
1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until evenly browned; drain. Stir in the onion and cook with the beef until onion is translucent. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, and dill weed to taste. Allow to cool before using
2. Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water and place in a warm location until frothy, about 10 to 15 minutes. In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and whisk in the eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Remove from heat
3. Place 2 cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the milk mixture. Then, add the yeast solution and the remaining 2 cups of flour and mix well. Let dough sit in a warm spot until it doubles in size.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Pinch off pieces of dough (I used...about the size of a golfball) and roll out or smash the pieces into flat circles about 3 inches.
5. Fill each circle with a tablespoon (or more) of the cooled meat mixture. Fold the dough over and pinch the sides together to seal. Allow these to sit on a flat surface for a few minutes.
6. In a large skillet or pot, heat the oil for frying. Fry the piroshki in batches until golden brown on all sides. Remove and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels to take some of the oil off
**Make sure your oil isn't too hot! I burned the first few that I made tonight because the dough fries fast. The outside was getting dark brown and the insides were still doughy.
But for the most part, I think they turned out pretty well
Confession time- I made these cookies on Saturday because I felt like cooking, and...my husband and I have been eating them steadily for the last two days. They are addicting!
Dessert: Orange Drop Cookies
Ingredients:
2/3 cup shortening 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg 2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon orange zest 2 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees celcius) and grease cookie sheets
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir 1/2 cup orange juice and 1 teaspoon orange rind into the flour mixture.
3. Cream shortening and white sugar together. Mix egg into the sugar mixture thoroughly. Slowly blend in flour mixture. Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes
5. Make the icing: Mix confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons butter together until smooth. Pour 2 teaspoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon of orange rind into the sugar and butter mixture, mix well. When the cookies have cooled, spread the icing generously over the tops of the cookies.
**MY VERSION
- I followed the ingredients on the left pretty much exactly, but then I didn't read the second column, so the cookies didn't end up with any baking soda or salt...and they were still delicious!
- I didn't zest any more orange into the icing. I only used the powdered (confectioners) sugar, butter, and orange juice.
Who doesn't like cookies? As far as decorations and fun activities go, like I mentioned before, I wasn't feeling like my normal self today, so I made this little card with my husband and my names on it in Russian, as well as a few cards that just say "I Love You", also in Russian and those were our table pieces for dinner tonight.
Because we neither one wanted to do much of anything, I suggested we watch Anastasia to go with the Russian theme, but... he had work he had to do and honestly, I didn't really feel like watching a movie tonight either.
I didn't take many pictures tonight because we didn't do anything extravagant, but we both liked the Piroshki, and as I said before the cookies are addicting.
If I was to do it again, I would:
- 1. Try not to burn the Piroshki
- 2. Not stack the Piroshki when I was putting them together...we had some that stuck together when I went to put them in the fryer and they came apart and my husband tried to re-shape them while I was frying. (After reading the recipe again, I see that it does tell you to put them on a FLAT surface...oops! :) )
- 3. Use a tad less Dill-Weed... it's not a spice I cook with a whole lot, and the recipe just says to add "to taste". Well, our taste is a little less than what I sprinkled in...
- 4. I might cut the recipe in half if it's just going to be two people. Two Piroshki's filled me up, and my husband was "really hungry" and he had three... so, we have lots of leftovers!
The next country has been chosen (Sorry, it's a surprise!) but, I CAN tell you that it will have a goofy activity to be done with a group of people.
I'm sure after a few days of rest, I'll be feeling like my usual self again and the fun nights will continue! Until then, our Russian dinner night produced some pretty good food, and even though I burned part of the main dish- the cookies were amazing! I will definitely make those again! ..and I'll probably re-try my hand at Piroshki too, but maybe not for a little bit. I'm not good at deep frying things yet...
***Also, I choose the countries as I go. I only plan dinners one at a time, so if you have any country suggestions, I would love to hear them! So far, I have had Iceland and France be suggested (and will probably do both of them at some point!) Also, there is no limit to how many of these dinners we are going to do, we are just enjoying eating some new foods!
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