For those who run or regularly read culinary blogs or websites, there is absolutely no need to explain who all these Jamie and Gordon, Nigel, Nika, Chadeyka or Stalik are, and when studying such recipes “from ...”, you immediately understand what to expect and for what purpose. tune in to the wave. When I come across Nika Belotserkovskaya’s recipes, I know that I will certainly see there something quite simple, sometimes intricate, but not excessive, and generally very applicable “in everyday life.” Of course, I visit her website more often. But the site is one thing, and the book is another. And today, on my blog, there will be a time for this very recipe “from...”, and in addition - a review of Nika Belotserkovskaya’s book with the brilliant and memorable title “In the mouth all year round” (“Eksmo”).

By the way, I plan to continue publishing similar reviews of cookbooks, and I even took a special title photo for this case, by which you can recognize such reviews.

Agree, the title of the book is truly brilliant! After reading the title, you can be amazed, laugh, indignant or frozen, but you will not remain indifferent - the title is catchy. It’s as captivating as the charismatic Nika herself, as are her recipes.

Quickly flipping through the book, I immediately realized that the first thing I would cook from it would be confit tomatoes. I absolutely love baked tomatoes! It’s easy, unpretentious, but cook pasta with these tomatoes once, and all questions and complaints about excessive simplicity will disappear. This recipe will be waiting for you at the end of the publication.

Book “In your mouth all year round”

The book has a soft cover. I don't really like these, but I liked the fold on the binding, which not only shows the reader beautiful photo in a larger size, and is also practical, because it can be used as a bookmark.

In the photographs of the book there is a continuous dacha atmosphere, and the recipes are laconic and without unnecessary water.

Photos of dishes are diluted with photographs “from life”, which gives rise to some feeling of “wanting to go there”, because it is sunny, warm, sometimes secluded, or not secluded, but certainly delicious.

All recipes are grouped into sections:
pickles
marinades
vegetable snacks
sauces
spicy confitures
seasonings
jams and preserves
drinks
...and compote!

As you can see from the bookmarks, I have already chosen for myself a whole list of what I would like to cook, but first, of course, the promised confit tomatoes.

By the way, I prepared my limoncello using the recipe from Nika’s website, but in the link you will find 3 more citrus liqueurs - stock up, New Year not far off.

Confit tomatoes

When I started drying tomatoes myself, I didn’t yet know what they should be like according to science - it was just too confusing to look for and buy ready-made ones, but everything was right at hand: tomatoes, oven, desire. And my very first sun-dried tomatoes were almost like this: soft and tender, quite juicy.

They store well, doused in oil in a jar, and are delicious either as a salad or as a “put on bread” or added to a salad, as a complement to some ready-made dish, or added to a vegetable puree soup.

The original recipe calls for rosemary and thyme, I replaced these two herbs with dried oregano.

Ingredients:

6 tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
1-2 bay leaves
dried oregano
a pinch of sugar and salt
black pepper
olive oil

Make a cross-shaped cut on the tomatoes and pour boiling water over them for 20-30 seconds, then remove the skin. Cut into 4 parts, scrape out the seeds and juice.
Add all the spices to the tomatoes, crushed garlic directly in the skin, a little olive oil and mix gently with your hands.
Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet or in some wide form.
Nika offers 2 cooking options :
preheat the oven to maximum (250°), put in the tomatoes, turn off the oven and open the door slightly, leaving to cool completely;
Preheat the oven to 100-120° and simmer for 3-4 hours.
The first method is good for cooking in the evening - throw it in and go to bed, and in the morning it’s beautiful. I cooked using the second method, as I did it during the day.
Place the finished confit into clean jars, removing the garlic, bay and herbs (if sprigs) and pour in oil. Keep refrigerated.

P.S.: I made it with pink tomatoes.

The new publication will be dedicated to preservation - from marinades to jams, there is also a section with tinctures: we are the first to publish several recipes.

The previous book was called “Easy to be Easy”- this was the tenth edition of culinary blogger, photographer and writer Nika Belotserkovskaya: if the most different recipes Beloniki, then, for example, . Belotserkovskaya, by tradition, took all the photographs included in the publication herself, the permanent author of the design of the blogger’s best-selling books - art director of Sobaka.ru Igor Mozheiko.

Niki's Instant Pickled Vegetables

Or vegetable stew. I saw the idea with a pressure cooker in the book “Modernist Cuisine”, they use it both in the tail and in the mane to prepare everything in the world (including jams, try it!). After several experiments, this is the snack I got. The vegetables in it remain absolutely “alive”, crispy, dense, with natural taste. Only eggplants turn from purple to brown, the rest retain their bright colors. Everything can be cut into large pieces, as in the photo, but then you will need about twice as much liquid for the marinade. Greens, if you like, take to your taste - green basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, tarragon. You can use broccoli and cauliflower. The most important thing here is strict adherence to the cooking time; literally 5-10 extra minutes separate them from boiled vegetables.

per 0.7 l can:
eggplant - 70 g
zucchini - 70 g
sweet red or yellow pepper - 70 g
young carrots - 70 g
sweet white onion - 70 g
cherry tomatoes - 2-3 pcs.
garlic - 1 clove
greens - 2-3 sprigs
hot red pepper
non-iodized salt - 1⁄2 tsp.
black peppercorns - 1 tsp.
allspice - 2-3 peas
cloves - 1-2 buds

for the marinade:
olive oil - 4 tbsp. l.
water - 4 tbsp. l.
apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar 6% - 1.5 tbsp. l.
sugar - 1.5 tbsp. l.

Cut the vegetables into small pieces, approximately 1.5x1.5 cm in size, the onion into large cubes, and the garlic in half. Salt the zucchini, eggplants, peppers and carrots and let stand for 10 minutes, release the juice.
Pour sugar, spices, and tomatoes into the bottom of the jar. Mix vegetables with onions and garlic, place in a jar, compact tightly so that they are flush with the neck. Pour in all the marinade ingredients; it should reach about 4/5 of the height of the jar.
Close the lids and place in a pressure cooker with moderately hot water. Close the pressure cooker and quickly bring to a boil over high heat.
When the pressure cooker starts to whistle, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave for another 5 minutes.
Place the pressure cooker under running cold tap water, cool, open, and remove the jars to the table. After 20 minutes, turn the lids down and let cool completely.
Let it sit for a week and gain flavor.
Can be stored for a year in a cool, dark place.

Tomato sauce in the style of satsebeli from Nika

Ideal for kebabs, fried lamb, poultry cooked in the “Caucasian” manner. If you make it from fresh tomatoes, you need to take about 3 kg of them, preferably plum-shaped ones, boil them, as in the previous recipe, to about 1 liter, then rub the skins and seeds through a sieve. If you are lazy, you can take, for example, 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and 200 ml passata, or vice versa, 600 ml passata and 1 can of chopped tomatoes. Please note: tomato puree is not tomato paste!

for 1 l:
tomato puree or passata - 1 l
wine vinegar 6% - 3-5 tbsp. l.
sugar - 3-4 tbsp. l.
cilantro, basil (preferably purple)
dill - 1 bunch each
fresh mint - a small bunch
hot red pepper to taste
garlic - 3-4 cloves
ground coriander - 1 tbsp.
ground black pepper
non-iodized salt - 2 tsp.

Remove stems from basil and dill and rinse cilantro well. Finely chop the greens and garlic. Finely chop the hot pepper.
Bring the puree to a boil, season with coriander, black pepper, salt, vinegar and sugar.
Add hot peppers, herbs and garlic, stir, let it warm up for another couple of minutes.
Can be stored for more than a year.

Provencal ketchup from Guy Jedda

Very homemade, spicy and tender, like everything that magical Grandpa Guy makes. Excellent with boiled meat, pork, poultry or potato casseroles. Just try not to overdo it with the amount of thyme and spices, the indicated quantities are quite enough - this ketchup should not be intrusive.

for about 1 liter:
ripe tomatoes - 1.5 kg
sweet white onion - 1 kg
red wine vinegar - 125 ml
sugar - 100 g
spicy mustard - 1 tbsp.
grated nutmeg - 1⁄2 tsp.
sweet paprika - 1⁄2 tsp.
hot red pepper - 1⁄2 tsp.
dry thyme - 1⁄2 tsp.
ground ginger - 1⁄2 tsp.
olive oil - 4 tbsp.

Coarsely chop the tomatoes and chop the onion into half rings.
Heat olive oil in a saucepan, add onions, tomatoes, add a little salt, stir, and cook, stirring, over medium heat for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are well boiled.
Rub the vegetables through a sieve or with a food processor.
Pour the vegetable puree back into the saucepan, add the remaining ingredients, simmer for another 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens to the desired consistency (it will become a little thicker when it cools).
Check for salt-pepper-vinegar-sugar.
Pour into hot sterilized bottles, close the lids, cover with a towel and let cool.
Can be stored for more than a year.

Quick apple and onion chutney from Ivan Gilardi

A quick sauce as a side dish for any terrine or fresh white meat. If you find the amount of vinegar intimidating, take half, taste for acidity halfway through cooking, and add as much as you see fit to suit your taste. Of course, adjust the amount of pepper yourself depending on its spiciness and your tolerance. I don't like non-spicy chutney at all. If you are lazy, take your favorite ready-made curry mixture, if you want, fry in a dry frying pan a teaspoon of cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, paprika, a little cloves, cardamom, etc., to your taste, and then grind into powder in a mortar.

Golden apples - 6 pcs.
onions - 3 pcs.
cane sugar - 10 tbsp. l.
white wine or apple cider vinegar 9% - 8–9 tbsp. l.
curry - 2 tbsp. l.
hot red pepper - 2 tbsp. l.
non-iodized sea salt - 1 tsp.

Peel the onions and apples. Cut the onion into half rings, apples into cubes. Fall asleep everything cane sugar and stir. Add remaining ingredients.
Place everything in a microwave-safe dish with a lid. Cook in the microwave at maximum for 10 minutes, remove, stir and leave for another 10 minutes. The time depends on the power of the stove.
If you don’t have a stove, you can make it in a saucepan. Heat odorless vegetable oil. Add all the ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes until cooked, stirring frequently to avoid burning.

Eggplant jam with peperoncino from Maddalena

If you peel the eggplant, it will be completely impossible to tell by taste what it was made from (although you don’t have to peel it). Just don’t put a lot of hot pepper, it needs to be completely “tsut-tsut”, as Maddalena says. Choose young, medium-sized eggplants, preferably round, firm, with the smallest seeds, or even better, without them at all.

for approximately 900 ml:
eggplants - 1.2 kg
sugar - 300 g
juice of 1 lemon
apple - 1 pc.
white wine or apple cider vinegar - 4 tbsp. l.
pectin - 20 g
ground or fresh hot red pepper - to taste

Peel the skin from the eggplant with a vegetable peeler, cut the pulp into small cubes, pour over lemon juice so as not to get dark.
Mix sugar and pectin thoroughly.
Peel the apple, remove the core, grate.
Place the eggplant, apple, sugar, vinegar, and a pinch of peperoncino in a wide saucepan, stirring, and bring to a boil.
Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir constantly while cooking.
Taste and add lemon juice to taste if necessary.
Place very hot in sterilized jars and close with lids. Cover with a towel and let cool.
If the jars are not sterilized, they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. If you sterilize, then out of the refrigerator for up to 2 years.

1. Wash the lemons very well and wipe dry.
2. Remove the zest with a vegetable peeler, cutting off only the yellow part; the white part will give off bitterness.
3. Pour alcohol over the zest and close the jar tightly. Leave at room temperature for 5-6 days so that the alcohol completely draws out all the precious aromas. During this time, you need to shake the jar periodically.
4. Sylvia was very surprised by the question: the longer the better? No better! A week is enough! I don’t know where the “pickling” of this magical drink came from for years, but I have also come across such recipes. This doesn’t make it any better; on the contrary, it gains unnecessary flavors.
5. When the alcohol has infused, prepare the syrup: heat water with sugar until dissolved over low heat. It is important not to bring to a boil! It should be a little hot, so that you can safely put your finger in there without getting burned.
6. Filter the alcohol from the zest through a fine sieve or through gauze or a napkin.
7. Mix with chilled syrup - the liqueur will immediately become cloudy, as it should be. Wait a couple more days.
8. Everything you can and should drink!
9. It is best to store limoncello in a cool, dark place. It should be served very cold - ideally in shot glasses frozen in the freezer. Or stick a bottle in the freezer before your insatiable guests arrive.
10. Do it immediately.