We love cookbooks, and this cookbook is a staff favorite. Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking by Portland chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales. Her acclaimed Portland restaurant Kachka celebrates the vivid world of Russian cuisine, with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, and is changing the way America thinks about Russian food. Her cookbook does the same, while updating and modernizing Russian cuisine without losing its spirit and traditions. In Kachka, you'll find everything from ingenious vodka infusions to vibrant pickles and pillowy dumplings and even more delicious sweets.
First and foremost, she considers this more of a cookbook of Soviet-era cooking and foods from the former USSR, and not necessarily Russian. While always starting with a family recipe, these are her interpretations. Kachka challenges the assumption that Russian food is bland, boring and lacking in variety, and that "soul food" transcends cuisines and cultures, to become "soulful". Current food trends such as pickling, fermentation, bone broths and alcohol infusions are the norm in this cuisine. Most of the creative vodka infusions in the book and restaurant started out as babushka health remedies, and her anecdotes will have you laughing out loud, while the vibrant photographs will have your stomach growling. This "Rabbit in a Clay Pot" is just one example of a simple, yet elegant recipe included in Kachka.
From the author: "There are dozens of classic dishes that get cooked in smetana. To the uninitiated, braising in cultured dairy just sounds wrong. But it's magic. And while the smetana can work its voodoo on the rabbit all on its own, I like cramming in a heady amount of garlic and porcinis, and then balancing all that earthy intensity with the sharp-sweet punch of sour cherries. Serve with draniki (potato pancakes). Or, if you're looking for a quick shortcut, add some potatoes right to the braise for a one-pot meal.
First and foremost, she considers this more of a cookbook of Soviet-era cooking and foods from the former USSR, and not necessarily Russian. While always starting with a family recipe, these are her interpretations. Kachka challenges the assumption that Russian food is bland, boring and lacking in variety, and that "soul food" transcends cuisines and cultures, to become "soulful". Current food trends such as pickling, fermentation, bone broths and alcohol infusions are the norm in this cuisine. Most of the creative vodka infusions in the book and restaurant started out as babushka health remedies, and her anecdotes will have you laughing out loud, while the vibrant photographs will have your stomach growling. This "Rabbit in a Clay Pot" is just one example of a simple, yet elegant recipe included in Kachka.
From the author: "There are dozens of classic dishes that get cooked in smetana. To the uninitiated, braising in cultured dairy just sounds wrong. But it's magic. And while the smetana can work its voodoo on the rabbit all on its own, I like cramming in a heady amount of garlic and porcinis, and then balancing all that earthy intensity with the sharp-sweet punch of sour cherries. Serve with draniki (potato pancakes). Or, if you're looking for a quick shortcut, add some potatoes right to the braise for a one-pot meal.
Having trouble tracking down rabbit hindquarters? You can modify this recipe to work with chicken thighs. Simply cook the smetana braising sauce for about an hour on its own at 350°F before adding the chicken thighs, then reduce the heat to 250°F and braise for another hour."
