BELARUS

So...what kind of food do they have in Belarus? The cuisine of this Eastern European nation reflects its proximity to Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania. It also features kosher food, because of its Jewish population.

I will level with you...I came to this particular country with more than a little trepidation. I tend to cook in the Asian style...lots of spices. Lots of fish. And, because of my schedule, something I can accomplish with an hour or so. While I did have to put in a couple of hours in prep time, I am pleased with the results. I found the food filling, tasty; and, it has helped me relax about entering the Russian countries.

My first dish was Bitochki. This dish came over from Russia, and is essentially a meatball. I added a shake of nutmeg, a pinch of salt, a couple twists on thye pepper grinder and six tablespoons of butter to a pound of ground beef. Believe it or not, I actually held back on the butter. Traditional Bitochki has more. After mixing it up a bit, I rolled the meat into eight balls, coated them with plain dried breadcrumbs and flattened them some. Then, each patty was topped with a little more butter. I put two more tablespoons of butter in a skillet, and browned the patties, setting them aside. Next, about a quarter of a chopped onion was put into the skillet to saute until soft. In goes a couple of splashes of white wine...and a few more into the gullet. One must steel one's nerves, don't you know? Then sprinkle in a little flour. When this boils, put in half a cup of sour cream. Add a little pepper, stir, and add a quarter cup of heavy cream, Half-and-half or whole milk, depending on how fatty you want thins to be. I used the Half-and-Half.

The above sauce is spooned onto the patties, after they have been plated. I purposefully did not add any more salt while cooking the sauce, because I found it salty enough without it. That's up to you.

Next, I made a Russian/Ukrainian dish known as Pampushki. If you are Jewish, you know this as Latkes...but with a little filling. This one took a little longer to make. Three medium potatoes were peeled and grated. Meanwhile, one large potato was peeled, cut up and boiled for twenty minutes. Squeeze out the excess water from the grated potatoes, and place in a bowl after the boiled potato has been mashed. Mix them together. Make sure to add some salt and pepper. in another bowl, mix feta cheese with some freshly cut dill. Scoop out some potato mix...about the size of a large egg, flatten in, and put some of the cheese dill mix in the center. Fold it over, and roll into a ball. The mixture is now in the center of the ball. Dip in a beaten egg, and roll in bread crumbs.

After the above process has been performed on each potato ball, put them in either a deep fryer, or a skillet with hot oil...enough to cover at least half of the ball. Turn over after four to five minutes and repeat.

That's it! To round out my Belarus experience, I also bought a jar of red cabbage, and polish dill pickles. Give me a break! After two and a half hours, I owed it to myself NOT to make something from scratch!

BITOCHKI:

1 lb Ground Beef
8 tablespoons Butter
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Onion finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon Flour
1/8 cup Dry White Wine
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Heavy Cream, Half-and-Half or Whole Milk

PAMPUSHKI:

3 medium Potatoes grated
1 Large Potato mashed
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 cup Feta Cheese
2 tablespoons fresh Dill
All-Purpose Flour
1 Large Egg beaten with 1 teaspoon Water
fine dry Bread Crumbs