The Gastronati have an Evening in the Former USSR

Why did the Gastronati choose the former USSR? Well, we were originally going to do a Russian night, but then we extended it geographically speaking, so that Squeaky could make cabbage rolls. From top to bottom in the photos, we ate borscht, cabbage rolls and mushroom casserole, and then veal shank with sour cherries, and washed them down with infused vodkas. J, who is a designer, even made us little place settings with our names in Cyrillic!

This has been S's favourite Gastronati so far and with good reason because it was truly fantastic! We surprised ourselves! S made the mushroom casserole and I made the borscht. I used a recipe belonging to my Russian friend in French class.

I learned that no ingredient is off bounds in cooking from this part of the world - there are fruits in savoury dishes where you wouldn't expect them, and other surprising ingredients. PB and J who hosted this time, made the veal shank with sour cherries, and also blackberry- and peach-infused vodkas. And Squeaky's cabbage rolls had a sauce made from ginger snaps!

Stay tuned for some feature recipes later this week!