Summer is here and with it brings warm temperatures and thus a strong aversion to using the oven or stove. In the winter, I love baking granola or cooking a slow stew, not only because I like spending time cooking in the kitchen but it’s also a great way to warm up the apartment. These days we have all the warmth we need in our apartment, and “cooking” becomes the attempt to assemble meals using the stove as little as possible. I now truly see the value of a “summer kitchen” - that cooking area situated far enough from the rest of the living quarters that it doesn’t pollute them with its heat in summer.
One particular Ukrainian recipe is perfect for such weather – in the last two weeks we’ve made two big batches. It’s Okroshka, a cold soup of cucumbers, dill and ham with a milky base. It’s very refreshing and very Ukrainian – fresh dill is essential for this dish.
Okroshka
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 t. sugar
1 t.
4 c. water
2 c. buttermilk or plain yogurt
1 ½ c. cucumbers, finely diced
½ c. green onions, chopped
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
1-2 c. ham or hot dogs, chopped
2 t. salt
May also add a couple boiled, diced potatoes and/or radishes. I’m not such a big radish fan, and boiling potatoes means using the stove, so I leave them both out.
Remove egg yolks and mash well with sugar and mustard. Gradually add water and buttermilk/yogurt and blend. Dice the whites and add them as well as the rest of the ingredients. Chill until serving. Serves 4.
This recipe has been adjusted a bit for “American” ingredients – here we use a yogurt-like beverage called “ryazhanka” for the milk base. I’m not sure what the direct translation is, it might actually be buttermilk. Plain yogurt should also work fine, but you might need to add more water if you use thick yogurt. A different variation of this soup is made with “kvass,” another refreshing summer treat – essentially a beverage made from fermented black bread. In summer it's sold by the cup from big tanks on street corners. It has virtually no alcohol in it, which means it’s Baptist-approved. Karen had difficulty describing it when we bought some for our guests to sample – it looks like iced tea, but is a little tangy and a little sweet, and smells a bit like beer. Although it’s a refreshing summertime beverage, I prefer my Okroshka with a milk base.
Laura
