Spas: Honey, Apple and Nut

Cooking time —
Complication —

August is a rich month. In August, we celebrate three big church holidays called Spases: Honey Spas, Apple Spas and Nut Spas. This is why today we would like to present a selection of recipes for Russian dishes you can cook for the holidays. The first Spas falls on August 14. It is a Honey Spas. From that Spas on, it is allowed to eat honey, so there must be honey dishes on your table. Then comes the Apple Spas celebrated on August 19. Apples are the main ingredient for dishes cooked on that day. August 29 is the third Spas, Nut Spas. Nuts are ripe by that time and simply beg to be eaten.

Kolivo

2 cups fine-ground barley
3 L water
1 cup milk
2-3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cranberry or currant jam
1 cup poppy seeds

Rinse the barley and boil them at medium heat skimming periodically. When the barley starts emitting jelly, remove water, put the porridge in a separate bowl, add milk, and boil until the barley is soft and dense, stirring periodically. Prepare poppy seeds: put them in boiling water, leave for 5 min to get steamed. Drain the water, rinse the poppy seeds, add boiling water and drain it immediately as soon as drops of fat begin to appear on the surface. Crush the steamed poppy seeds in a porcelain mortar adding half a teaspoon of boiled water per each tablespoon of poppy seeds. Combine the prepared poppy seeds with the prepared barley, add honey, and heat 5-7 min at low heat, stirring continuously, take off the heat and add jam.

Guriev Kasha with Walnuts

400g shelled walnuts
100g shelled bitter almonds
3 cups cream
1/3 cup semolina
2/3 cups sugar

Boil walnuts and 20 bitter almonds, shell, and crush in milk. Pour most of the cream in a bowl, put on low heat, and skim the skin into a plate. Add semolina to the remaining cream, boil it into a liquid condition, ass crushed nuts, almonds, sugar, and stir. Make a pastry border on a dish, put a layer of skin, a layer of kasha, etc., sprinkle with sugar and breadcrumbs. Serve topped with fruit and jam.

Apple Mousse

650g apples
3/4 cup sugar
1 knife-tip lemon acid
1 cup water

Rinse late apples, core and slice them. Put the segments in a pan, add water, and cook at low heat until soft. Take the softened apples out and, while hot, press them through a sieve or grind. Add sugar, lemon acid and whip into an airy foam. Put the mousse into cups or dessert bowls, and let chill.
Serve with chilled boiled milk.

Honey Mousse

1kg honey
10 yolks
450g cream

Pound yolks until homogeneous adding honey gradually. Cook at low heat until dense, stirring continuously, take off the heat, and chill down. Whip pre-chilled cream to get airy foam and combine with the chilled egg-honey mix.
Put the prepared mousse in cups or dessert bowls and chill down.

Petersburg Apple Pudding

10 apples
1 1/2 cup sour cream
5 eggs
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 lemon
1 cup fruit jam
30g butter

Rinse and core apples, and put them in a buttered form. Fill the apples with fruit jam. Separate yolks from whites and pound them with sugar, grated lemon peel, flour and sour cream. Add whipped egg whites. Pour the mix over the apples. Put the form into the oven and bake the pudding at low heat until ready.
Take the baked pudding out of the oven, then out of the form, slice, and serve on a round dish. You can serve the pudding with fruit jam or chilled boiled milk.

Gingerbreads

200g honey
400g flour
200g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 egg
1/2 lemon
2 tsp powdered cinnamon
ginger
cloves
salt to taste

Put the honey in a pan, add butter, cook at low heat until the butter melts down, take off the heat. Add sugar, salt, ginger, whipped eggs, crushed cloves, grated lemon peel, powdered cinnamon. Then add flour and stir thoroughly. Roll out on a floured board. Cut out various shapes, put them on a baking tray (buttered and floured). Bake at low heat.
Cover the prepared gingerbreads with icing. To make the icing, stir 1 egg white with 100g of sugar and vanilla.

Curd With Honey

400g curd
4 yolks
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp honey
80g butter
1 cup sour cream

Process the curd through a grinder or press it through a sieve. Combine yolks with sugar, butter and heated honey. Whisk thoroughly, combine with the curd, and serve with sour cream.

Goose With Apples

1 goose
1kg sweet-and-sour apples
salt, sugar, water

Take a young (preferably) goose, rinse it and rub with salt. Halve the apples, core them, and sprinkle with sugar. Stuff the goose with half the apples, sew it up, put it on a roasting tray back down, add a little water, and roast until ready often pouring over with the liquid from the tray. Bake the remaining apples with the goose and take them out of the oven when ready. Carve the goose and serve it with apples and potatoes baked in goose fat.

Pies With Apples

(Serves 4)
1kg sponge
filling:
1kg apples
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Peel and core ripe apples preferably of sweet-and-sour and sour sorts. Cut them into segments, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and leave to rest 15-20 min. Fill the pies with the mix and deep-fry 4-5 min at 160 C.

Bon appetite!