Chow Down To Eurovision 2015 - Russia

Dobryy vecher from Russia with love... (Don't boo it's a blog, no one can hear you) 

The year 2000 saw Russia come 2nd in the contest with their first entry in English, Solo. Alsou did  manage sing So Low but the deadly serious big burly backing dancer doing jazz ballet are the most memorable part of the act.....are there some early Beyonce moves there?

Russia dish is a great source of vitamin B which is helpful of you find yourself on the wrong end of a Eurovision drinking game. 

Mushrooms Julienne make 12 small ramekins or you could make a big one

Ingredients

• 1 leek
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 onions
• knob of butter
• a few sprigs of rosemary
• 400g mushrooms
• 1 whole nutmeg
• A splash of verjuice
• 150g hard cheese of your choice grated, (I had some hard greek sheeps cheese)
• Quantity of white sauce, recipe below

Method

• Dice the leeks, onions and garlic
• Fry in a saucepan with a knob of butter till softened 
• Add the rosemary and stir
• Add the mushrooms and cook on low heat till starting to soften
• Grated in 1/2 the nutmeg, add verjuice and stir
• When softened fill some ramekins 3/4 full
• Fill the ramekins till just full with the white sauce
• Top with a hand full of grated cheese
• Bake at 180 for 20 minutes
• Serve with little toasts for a douze points dish

White Sauce

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 750ml light milk
• Vegetable stock cube

Sauce Method

• In a saucepan melt the butter
• Add the flour, stir to combine, 
• cook the flour for about 1 minute
• Add milk to a jug with a good quality stock cube)
• Slowly add some milk  while whisking to make a smooth sauce
• As the sauce thickens add more milk a little at a time, you might not use all the milk.
• While whisking let the sauce cook to thicken further for a few minutes, it should have a thick pourable consistency (but not thick enough you can slice it!)
• Season to taste

Like little cheesy ponds

Nobody could boo that dish! 

Russia will bring a song of peace to Vienna, I'm sure that won't be awkward...

There is no doubt they will be booed during the performance, which I do not support.

I find booing very disrespectful to the artist and the respect of the audience and possible not the most effective way to have your point of view heard.

Polina Gagarina  will give a great performance and I wish her the best of luck in what really is a tough gig.

удача!

Past Russia Chow Down to Eurovision: 

2014 Garlic Tongue

2013 Vodka Babushka

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Russia

добрый вечер (dobryy vecher) Saucers, this is Russia calling, the home of the vodka babushka from Chow Down to Eurovision 2013.

Russia will be represented by garlic tongue this year, who doesn't love a good garlic tongue???

Many years ago I worked in a shared space with a community centre that also hired rooms to seniors groups.

There was a group of Russian ladies that would meet weekly to have lunch together and would need to use the kitchen to heat up their contributions.

Now I am kicking myself that I did not pay more attention to their dishes or befriend them so that I had a ready supply of ideas for the Chow Down to Eurovision.

Thankfully there is one dish they cooked that is firmly etched in my mind, and nostrils.

Each Tuesday the plate of tongue would arrive to be microwaved for 2 minutes and fill the air with glorious garlic.

This would usually be followed with a chorus asking what that awful smell was, even asking the tongue lady (I don't know her name) why she would even make such a dish.
We really are a very tolerant bunch.

So long story short, the Russian tongue lady inspired me to cook my first tongue.

Apart from peeling back the skin there is no "gross factor" about cooking this dish.

The hardest part was finding the tongue, 8 butchers and 2 markets later, I celebrated with the "I got tongued selfie"

 

Garlic Tongue

Ingredients 

• 1 ox tongue
• 2 brown onions
• 2 stalks of celery
• 2 carrots
• 4-5 gloves garlic
• Parsley
• 1 chilli
• 5-6 cloves
• 3-4 bay leaves
• Pinch of pepper corns
• Large pinch of salt

Dressing

• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Few sprigs of parsley, chopped
• Pinch of salt

Method

• Add tongue and remaining ingredients in a large pot and cover with cold water
• Bring to the boil and simmer for about 3 hours till tender
• Remove tongue from stock and refrigerate over night
• Discard stock and vegetables
• Peel the skin from the tongue (there always has to be a gross job)
• Slice in thin(ish) pieces and place on serving plate
• Combine, minced garlic, olive oil, parsley and salt and mix well.
• Generously drizzle over the tongue
• Serve hot or cold for sandwiches, toast or with a creamy mash potato.
• It's another one to cross off the "have you ever cooked....." list

I didn't mind the tongue, cover something in garlic and I'm there but AB was not of it!

The chickens may have enjoyed the remains of the day

 Tastes like a tongue.....yeah that's deep!

 

 

The Tolmachevy Sister won junior Eurovision in 2006 with the gutturally jazzy Vesenniy Jazz.

It is impossible not to sing along!

 

They are all grown up and are back to represent Russia with a the pop tune Shine, will they be the first twins to win junior and "real" Eurovision?

удача! 

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Russia

Russia has only been in the contest since 1994 but when the first entry they sent had a dress that moved every which way but loose you knew they were a country to watch out for. Historically Russia has pulled out some great Eurovision moments, Alsou and her butch jazz ballet backing dancers, Parliament the anti boy band, Dima Bilan with his ballerina stuffed piano and Olympic ice skater. The over hyped controversy of Tatu did little for the contest apart some mild childish comedy. If you listen to the Russian song as though they were singing in English it sounds like "how many guys in your brassiere, He was my boy scouts" I never promised to be high brow.



However in 2012 they struck Eurovision gold, by sending the Bashuski, the grandmas. Who doesn't love a grandma? I think it was just that they had those little faces you just want to squeeze. I know I shouldn't have a favourite, but I think Natalie was everyone's favourite, she even made it to onto our Christmas tree.

 

The act even featured baking!

 

 



I have based this recipe around the Rum Baba in Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets by Linda Collister.

Don't you just want to eat that little face?

Vodka Babushka
Ingredients

• 60g black cherries (about 7)
• 1/2 cup of vodka
• 5 tablespoons of lukewarm milk
• 3 eggs
• 250g strong flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 table spoons caster sugar
• 7g dried yeast
• 100g soft unsalted butter room temperature

For the syrup

• 2 cups water
• syrup from the tin of black cherry
• 1 cup sugar
• Reserved vodka from the cherries

Method

• In a small bowl soak the whole black cherries in the vodka
• Into the bowl of a stand mixer add the milk, eggs, flour, salt, caster sugar and yeast.
• With a dough hook knead until smooth and elastic, scrap down the side to ensure that all the flour is mixed in. Should only take about a few minutes.
• Cover the bowl in cling wrap and let rise to almost double, about 1 hour. (I transferred into a glass bowl because I needed to use the mixer for something else)
• Grease and flour the babushka moulds or muffin tray. It is recommended that you chill the moulds after you grease them to stop the butter being absorbed into the batter. I didn't do it but it's a handy hint to know if you find things are sticking.
• Mash the butter with a fork to obtain a smooth consistency
• Beat the butter into the batter till it is incorporated and not showing through, no butter streaks.
• Drain the black cherries from the vodka, but reserve the liquid for the syrup.
• Finely chop the black cherries finely and stir through the batter.
• Fill the moulds half way, allowing room to rise. Less is more as they will grow, also spread the mixture out evenly so that you don't end up with a babushka with a bigger behind than the others, or have to deliver the terrible news that 1 babushka didn't make it.
• Let rise again for about 30mins till they have doubled.
• Bake at 200°C  for about 20 mins till they are golden and are a bit loose in the tin.
• When baked, remove from mould and let cool on a wire rack
• To make the syrup put the water, black cherry juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil for about 3 mins (it's a syrup, not a sauce so it's ok to boil on this occasion) Remove from the heat and add the reserved vodka.
• Soak each Babushka in the syrup before putting on a serving plate. You can give them a good soaking, I was frightened they would break up but it is amazing just how much vodka syrup one Babushka can hold.
• Serve with double cream and extra cherries

No Grandmothers this year but Dina Garipova will perform What If.

удача!