Ho

There were suggestions in tOP, (a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away - actually that's not a bad analogy for what's going on - oh! hang on! we've already had that) that rather than cluttering up the waffle thread with culinary inanity, I might find somewhere else to detail my kitchen exploits and to encourage others to do the same.

This seems as good a time as any, so I'd like to debut with tonight's dinner, which is called 'I was going to buy some lovely fresh fish to eat tonight but I need to sort out my overdraft limit first' or 'What I had in my cupboards'.

You will need:
An onion
A clove of garlic
A chilli (I used a preserved one)
A tin of tomatoes
A tin of anchovies
A few capers from a jar
Some lentils (didn't measure them I'm afraid - about 30g?)
Pasta (somewhere between 50 and 75g)
Oil, salt, pepper, parmesan

Crush the garlic and chuck it into a pan with some oil.
Heat it until it starts to sizzle.
Add the onion (chopped) and season.
When the onion is soft, add the chilli (chopped) and stir for a little while (until you get bored).
Throw in the tin of tomatoes. If they are chopped, leave them as they are, but if they aren't, mash them up with your stirring thingy. Lumps are good but not that big.
Chop up the anchovies and add half of them.
Add the lentils and stir well.
Leave to simmer for about 40 minutes.
But you'll also need to cook the pasta, so after 15 minutes or so, you'll need to put the water on for the pasta.
I'm using penne which will take around 12 minutes to cook according to the packet.
You're aiming to have some cooked pasta about the same time as you've finished cooking the sauce.
Add the remaining anchovy-bits and the capers.
Grate in some parmesan and season again if necessary.
Mix in the pasta and serve.

Serves 1.

I've never done a proper Lenten fast (I did, just for the hell of it, go completely vegetarian for Lent one year), but isn't fish permitted on a Friday (or beaver if you're in South America)?

I think it depends which franchise of Christianity you've bought into     The Russian Orthodox church insists on a totally vegan and alcohol-free diet for the entire 40 days and nights.  I am not a believer myself, but living in the close proximity of those who are (around 30% of Russians will observe the Fast) means that the strictures are quite firmly memorised

Ockeghem - well, there is lots of penitential possibility there ;-)

I am not really sure of the ecclesiastical benefits of undertaking the Fast "for the hell of it"

In the interval I nipped across the road to the 24-hr supermarket (I prefer to shop at 2am when it's quiet in there) and they had technicians putting up signs for a huge in-store promotion of Fast-friendly milk substitute.  They were even attaching pseudo numberplates to the shopping trolleys which read "I'm skipping the milk for Lent!"...

cheers
R_T
(a veggie for 24 years)

The Lenten Fast is taken so seriously here that every cafe and restaurant inserts an extra page of "Lenten Menu" into its menus - I noticed last night on the way home from the Metro that even Steff's Hot-Dog Stand were offering "spicy vegetable pasty" during Lent.  Sadly falafels have not caught on here - I'd love some, Lent or otherwise!  I don't think it's much better here for veggie snack food, but pretty-much every rail, metro or bus-station is surrounded by a ring of kiosks and stands flogging hot snacks in a fold of greaseproof paper.  Cabbage Pies ("piroshki! piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiroshki!") were a traditional snack since the days when the proleteriat couldn't afford meat anyhow, and they're almost always on sale. (Another alternative filling is mashed potato - Dr Atkins wouldn't approve.)  The other favoured late-night greasy train-station food (we seem to eat a lot of this when gigging) are chebureki, a kind of cousin of the Middle Eastern boreka only with double the grease...  it's a sort of mutton pie made with flakey pastry.  We haven't got deep-fried Mars-Bar yet, though.

Was it a white shirt you got the ketchup stain on?  I'm sure that looked choice on the concert platform :-)

Hiya

The cabbage pies are traditionally made from a bread-dough "pastry" (ie with yeast in it), so they have to be filled and then set to rise - each one is the size and shape of a half-size hot-dog bun when finished.  They're traditionally glazed with beaten egg, to look shiny when finished.  These "piroshki" are one of those things which survive multiple interpretations... from delicious and appetising in a baker's (why did I reply over breakfast? Now I want piroshki for breakfast!) through to sodden and crushed in a polythene wrapper from a babushka at the station at 4am.  Like any good Russian endeavour, they require inordinate painstaking preparation and toil from their preparers (who are almost inevitably female).  T-P ought to have a good recipe for these?   BTW T-P if you are reading, have you got a nice recipe for syrniki?? 

One Sunday afternoon about three years ago I got the idea of trying to make my own falafel to satisfy a whim.  They were finally ready sometime on Wednesday after all the 24-hour chick-pea soaking, grinding, mashing, bashing and crashing involved.  I also managed to burn-out the motor in my foodprocessor in the process.  Finding sesame tahini sauce for them isn't an easy job in Moscow either, but if you have a Lebanese or Greek deli near you, you can buy it by the jar and dilute with water and lemon-juice.  Some health-food stores sell "falafel mix", but the one I used produced something more like sage'n'onion stuffing.

I love the sound of that cottage cheese recipe, t-p. I think it's probably curd cheese you are making. It sounds a bit like the filling for Yorkshire Curd Tart, only that has lemon juice as well.

For your recipe, is egg the only liquid? What temperature is the oven? I'd like to try it sometime. I had it in St Petersburg, I think, but didn't know its name.

Thanks, t-p - it sounds lovely. I may not be able to find semolina in my local supermarket, except in ready made puddings . I've just had a look at their website. Dozens of kinds of rice, lots of types of flour, but no semolina.