Russian home cooking is a gift to anyone who likes hearty food made from ordinary groceries. These five recipes lean on potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, butter, and a generous hand with dill and sour cream. You probably have half of these ingredients already, and the rest are easy to find at any regular supermarket. Here is how to fit each one into your week, along with a few tips I wish someone had given me the first time I made them.
Beef Stroganoff for a Busy Weeknight
Beef stroganoff is the recipe to start with if you want quick results. It uses 500g of beef fillet, 250g of mushrooms, one onion, one clove of garlic, and a creamy sauce built from 150g of crème fraîche, a tablespoon of English mustard, and 100ml of beef stock. A tablespoon of plain flour helps thicken everything, and parsley goes on top at the end.
Get the recipeBeef stroganoff
Because beef fillet is a tender cut, it needs only a short time in the pan, which makes this a great Monday or Tuesday dinner. My biggest tip for first timers is to get your pan properly hot and cook the beef in batches so it browns instead of steaming. A heavy Cast Iron Skillet holds heat beautifully for this. Cook the onions, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil and butter first, set them aside, then sear the beef and bring it all back together with the sauce. The English mustard adds a pleasant kick, so taste as you go if you prefer things milder.
Cabbage Soup (Shchi) for a Cozy Midweek Pot
Shchi is the vegetarian soup I make when the fridge looks a little bare. It calls for one medium cabbage, one large onion, a carrot, a stalk of celery, two large potatoes, and two large tomatoes, all simmered in eight cups of vegetable stock with a bay leaf. Three tablespoons of unsalted butter give it richness, and sour cream with dill goes on as a garnish.
Get the recipeCabbage Soup (Shchi)
This recipe makes a big pot, so I like to cook it on Wednesday and eat it for lunch through the rest of the week. A large Dutch Oven is the ideal vessel because eight cups of stock plus a whole cabbage takes up a lot of room. Soften the onion, carrot, and celery in the butter before adding everything else, since that step builds a lot of the flavor. Do not skip the sour cream and dill at the table, because they brighten the whole bowl.
Fish Soup (Ukha) for a Lighter Evening
Ukha is a clear, gentle soup that feels lighter than the others on this list. It combines cod and salmon with four large potatoes, two medium carrots, a sliced onion, and three bay leaves in three cups of fish stock plus three cups of water. Two tablespoons of olive oil start the pot.
Get the recipeFish Soup (Ukha)
This is a nice choice for Thursday, when you want something warm but not heavy. The practical tip here is timing. Let the potatoes and carrots cook until nearly tender before you add the fish, because cod and salmon cook quickly and will fall apart if they simmer too long. Your same Dutch oven works perfectly for this soup, so you get plenty of use out of one good pot.
Blini Pancakes for a Weekend Brunch
Blini are small yeasted pancakes, and this version mixes half a cup of buckwheat with two thirds of a cup of flour. The batter also uses a teaspoon of yeast, a cup of milk, two tablespoons of butter, half a teaspoon of salt, and one egg that you separate.
Get the recipeBlini Pancakes
Save blini for Saturday or Sunday, since the yeast needs time to work and you will want a relaxed morning. Separating the egg is the step that trips up beginners. You whip the white separately and fold it in to make the pancakes airy, so a good balloon Whisk makes the job much easier. Fold the whites in gently with a spatula so you keep as much air as possible. Your cast iron skillet doubles as a fine blini pan, too.
Olivier Salad for Sunday Meal Prep
Olivier salad is a hearty potato salad packed with four potatoes, three carrots, four eggs, seven ounces of sausage, a can of peas, four onions, and four ounces of dill, all bound with a cup of mayonnaise. A tablespoon of salt and half a tablespoon of white wine vinegar season it.
This salad is wonderful for Sunday because it keeps well in the fridge and gives you ready lunches for the days ahead. There is a lot of chopping involved, so put on some music and settle in. Cut everything into small, even cubes so each bite gets a little of every ingredient. Let the boiled potatoes, carrots, and eggs cool completely before mixing, or the mayonnaise will turn greasy. A roomy Mixing Bowl Set helps here, since you need a large bowl to toss everything without spilling peas across the counter.
Planning Your Shopping List
Several ingredients repeat across these recipes, which keeps your shopping simple. Potatoes show up in the shchi, the ukha, and the Olivier salad, while carrots and onions appear in nearly every dish. Dill garnishes the cabbage soup and fills the salad, and butter appears in the stroganoff, the shchi, and the blini. Buy a large bag of potatoes, a few pounds of carrots and onions, and one big bunch of dill, and you will cover most of the week in a single trip.