Photo by Dima Bahta
The wonderful Olia Hercules has, over the years, taught me (and many others) to love the food of Ukraine and, thus primed and inspired, I’d been looking out for this book. I’m thrilled to have it in my possession now. A muscular celebration of Ukraine’s culinary heritage, it is most certainly a political statement in itself, but The Authentic Ukrainian Kitchen is also, and most emphatically, a rich repository of deliciousness. There’s so much I long to eat, but I’ll give you a quick shortlist: Traditional Rye Bread; Fried Potatoes with Goat’s Cheese and Garlic; New Potatoes with Dill and Bacon; Cucumber, Mint and Celery Salad; the traditional fish soup, Rybna Yushka; the sauerkraut soup, Kapusnyak; Cold Borscht with Greens; Halushky (dumplings) with Sour Cherries; Lazy Holubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls); Sautéed Cabbage with Prunes; Cherry Torte with Walnuts; the honey layer cake, Medivnyk; Kiflyky, little jam-filled crescent pastries; and all the pancakes in the breakfast chapter! And it’s one of the latter I’m delightedly sharing with you here: the crepes with creamy soft cheese filling, Nalysnyky. Incidentally, my paternal grandmother used to make something very similar, though not for breakfast and, instead of soaking the raisins in water, as in this recipe, she soaked her sultanas in rum!
Extracted from The Authentic Ukrainian Kitchen: Recipes from a Native Chef by Yevhen Klopotenko (published by Robinson, and out now, £26).
