селедка под шубой - Herring under a fur coat.

Selyodka pod shouboy otherwise known as herring under a fur coat is the

most beautiful salad I've ever seen. The first time I saw this was in a little

Cafe on Nevsky Prospekt in St Petersburg. We'd spent the day exploring

the Peterhoff Palace, comparable only to Versaille with its ornamentation

and gilded statuary.

Such things make me hungry. Our Russian guide and friend Olga

recommended a cafe for our arrival back in the city. I ordered

chicken and a slice of what looked like purple cake, while my

friends and travel companions Emma and Mike waited.

The purple cake turned out to be Herring under a fur coat and here's

how you make it.

Par boiled, grated potato

Salted herring fillets 

Spring onions

Grated carrots

Boiled eggs

Grated Beetroots

Mayonaise

Spread the potato on a plate followed by the herring and spring onion.

Cover this layer in mayonnaise. Add the layers in order of the list above

and photos and cover each time in mayonnaise. Leave over night for the

beetroot juices to run through each layer turning the whole thing purple.

Serve in slices like a cake.

Proposal. Crunchy Baharat Chicken and Sumac Rice

 

This is Loch Ken in south west Scotland, taken moments before I proposed to S. 

She said yes and I've never seen such joy pouring from a person's eyes. We will

marry in Cornwall in late September 2011.

There's nothing like a bit of exciting news to inspire you in the kitchen and this 

week brought the following delightful and somehow autumnal dish. I won't

pretend it's seasonal though.

This is chicken thigh strips in a baharat spice mix and ground toasted rice which 

gives it a crunchy and aromatic coating. Imagine a Turkish KFC and you'd be 

close. The rice contains diced red onion, pistachios, sultanas, parsley, garlic, 

sumac, cinamon and lemon juice. The recipe asks for saffron, but I recommend  

extra sumac as its a really interesting sour fruity flavour which is brought out by 

the lemon juice.

The Baharat spice mix is the fun part. You could buy the mix from a specialist 

shop but it's far more interesting to get to know your spices. Start with the

whole spices, create the mix, toast in a dry pan for a minute until you start to 

hear popping, then grind the spices while still warm. 

Turkish Baharat contains mint. This is the key ingredient. Use a large amount. 

Also black pepper and paprika are a large constituent. As with any spice mix, the

ingredients vary so you can include coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, 

cardamom, cassia, nutmeg, allspice. I recommend at least the holy trinity of Cs 

(a termed coined by my father) which for me makes up the heart of any spice 

mix: Coriander (seeds), cumin and cardamom.