A Meander Through A Little Of The Russian and Ukrainian Countryside and some Vegetarian Russian Caviar...

By popular demand-well at least from a couple or so of you...a little taste of the countryside from my trip to Russia and the Ukraine.

What I loved about the countryside, was the contrast of the sight of familiar looking trees and wild flowers together with the less familiar styles of Russian architecture.

 It all seemed so exotic...

Seen here are some wonderfully old windmills-plus a horse!

 

I just had to see these strange windmills a little closer...

But up close, they only seemed even more curious!

 

There were also some glorious old wooden churches,

 

I particularly liked the shape of the roofs on some of these old churches...

 

There was an extremely interesting open air museum situated in the Ukrainian countryside where I took some of these photos. Here they were preserving some delightful thatched old homes.

One of which had a roof which almost looked like a felt hat,

 

Some had more a wattle and daub appearance,

 

Others had a more ‘manicured’ thatched roof...

 

After all the hustle and bustle of the cities it was delightful to see a newly married couple celebrating in the countryside with a simple buggy ride.

 

Now after that we need some sustenance...

Following on with the Russian inspired theme, I offer some Russian Vegetarian Caviar!

Baklazhanaya Ikra

...Russian Vegetarian Aubergine Caviar 

  

 

This is a very simple Russian ‘poor man’’ caviar made from aubergines (Eggplant), totally vegetarian of course...and there are many versions about, but this is mine...

2 aubergines

2 onions-chopped

3 fat cloves of garlic-crushed

4 ripe tomatoes-chopped

A small glass of Vodka

A splash of Extra Virgin British Rapeseed oil

A little lemon juice

Half a tsp sugar

Freshly ground sea salt-Maldon for preference

A very generous grinding of aromatic pepper

Bake the aubergine in a hot oven (200C) for about 50 minutes until soft.

Meanwhile fry the chopped onion and garlic in the rapeseed oil until soft then add the chopped tomato and vodka and burn off the alcohol for 2 minute.

When the aubergines are cool, peel off the skins and lightly mash the pulp.

Turn down the heat, add the sugar, aubergine pulp, salt and pepper and simmer very gently for 30 minutes until the mixture is very soft and unctuous. Add a splash of lemon juice and serve on sliced buttered griddled bread.

I made some fresh sourdough bread to accompany my 'caviar'...

 

This is fabulous as a supper dish-though I wouldn’t say no if it was served up at lunchtime!

The creamy aubergines contrast so well with a tasty slice of buttered bread...

I do hope everybody liked this second Russian interlude. I may have one more post if people are interested...

 

A good evening to everybody...