Just when you’d like your next cookbook to transport you to a beach lounge, tall drink in hand, along comes “Beyond the North Wind” by Darra Goldstein, a writer and scholar whose specialty is Russian food, to show “how a harsh climate, poor soil and limited availability of foods” can inspire a cuisine that suits our time. This beautifully photographed and personal cookbook explores Russia on a road to discovery beyond fancy czarist dishes and clichés like chicken Kiev. It’s part travelogue, not that you are likely to book a trip to Kola Peninsula, which juts into the Barents Sea. And it’s timely, covering foods like whole grains, fermented dairy, vegetables and herbs, often foraged. Try the creamy fermented oatmeal or a savory pie in rye dough, with scallion and egg filling, for brunch; mushroom barley soup, braised cod with horseradish and stroganina, frozen fish to serve in thin shavings for dinner with homemade infused vodka. Recipes for kasha, blini, pelmeni, and venison meatballs, with celery root and mushrooms, are also covered.
“Beyond the North Wind: Russia in Recipes and Lore” by Darra Goldstein (Ten Speed Press, $37.50).
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