Maslenitsa: blini, bears and beyond

Katrina Kollagaeva, curator of our new Pushkin House food blog, takes a look at the festival of Maslenitsa which begins on 8th March, and introduces the first contributor—Alissa Timoshkina and her enchanting salmon and caviar ‘blini cake’ recipe.

“Watching a woman baking blini one might think that she is calling spirits or making a philosopher's stone out of the dough” - that is how Chekhov described pancake making during Maslenitsa week. 

The soulfulness and symbolism of making and eating food in Russia is what, to this day, many travellers to the region and Russians themselves note. A drinking toast is (almost) never just a ‘cheers’, foraging in forests is still part of most people’s lives, not a mere fashion, and, when Russians mark the start of the Lent and Spring, they do it for a whole week, with rituals, bare knuckle fist fights and bonfires - all the while gorging themselves on pancakes, of course. 

Food never feeds the belly alone, and in Russia this statement has a particular exuberance and … soul.

So it seems fitting to start this new Pushkin House food blog during the week of Maslenitsa – when feasting is encouraged and spring is in the air with its promise of new beginnings. Our plan and hopes for the blog is to travel through the seasons and regions of Russia with recipes and people’s stories. We will share the recipes of chefs and well-known writers (like this week’s enchanting salmon and caviar bliny cake by Alissa Timoshkina), interviews with Pushkin House followers and stories of people making Russian-ish food across the UK (watch out for a salo maker in Wales - yes, really).

What is special about Russian food that the world needs to know about? This question will be at the heart of our quest on this blog. 

And an important disclaimer. When we say Russian, we often refer to the whole of the so-called ‘New East’ region, the former USSR. Whilst being very much aware of how problematic this ‘Russifying’ of so many countries can be, we choose the word as a shorthand and in recognition of the fact that millions of people who live outside Russia across the post-soviet space, think of themselves as Russian, at least in part. Yours truly is one such example: I was born in Estonia to a Ukrainian mother and a Russian father who had himself grown up in Crimea. Go figure!  

So please welcome our first blog contributor Alissa Timoshkina: a chef, the author of the acclaimed book Of Salt and Time, an event curator and podcaster. A Siberian lass who combines her flair for words and style with impressive cooking abilities to bring the food of her childhood to these shores.

SALMON AND CAVIAR BLINI CAKE by Alissa Timoshkina

Before we delve into the recipe, let’s take a little linguistic detour. The Russian word ‘blini’ is a plural word referring to crêpes, and what are commonly and technically incorrectly termed blinis in the UK would be called ‘oladushki’ in Russian. So here I use the word in its original way, talking about large thin buttery crêpes. Blini are an archetypal Slavic dish, dating back to the pagan days when they were prepared to symbolise the sun. The tradition of making blini in spring was introduced into Russian Orthodox religion and sustained throughout the atheist Soviet regime. There are a million and one ways to eat blini: plain with lots of butter, stuffed with mincemeat or sweet tvorog, or topped with sour cream and caviar. However, if you want to push your blini experience to the next level, I highly recommend this recipe.

A really indulgent and admittedly slightly old-fashioned dish, this salmon and caviar cake reminds me of some prosperous years our family enjoyed in the 1990s, managing to recover from the blows of the collapsed Soviet regime. While the cake was the star show at most family gatherings, I remember really clearly the very first time I tasted it at my uncle’s and aunt’s dinner party. My adult self is pleasantly surprised to think that as a child I seemed to have really enjoyed the rather sophisticated taste of smoked fish and caviar. Risking living up to the cliché of wealthy Russians gorging on pancakes with caviar, I chose to share this recipe with you simply because it is undeniably delicious. I mean what’s there not to like about a cake made entirely out of thin lacy crêpes, layered with fresh herbs, cucumbers, cream cheese, salmon and caviar! Of course, as any cake, it should be made for a very special occasion and treated with awe. 

Makes 1 cake, 8 slices

For the blinis  

300g of plain flour 
2 pinches of salt
4 tbsp of melted butter 
1 egg
350ml of whole milk
300ml of boiling water 
50-70g of butter for frying 

For the filling 

400g of thick Greek yoghurt or sour cream
1 lemon, juiced and zested 
1 medium bunch of dill
2 tsp of pink peppercorns in brine 
4 tsp of capers 
2 tsp of jalapeños 
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced 
200g of smoked salmon 
200g of poached salmon 
50-100g of red caviar 
180g of cream cheese 

In a large bowl, whisk together plain flour, salt, melted butter, egg, whole milk and boiling water until you get a smooth, runny batter.

Heat up a frying pan and melt a teaspoon of butter to grease it. Pour 1/2 a medium ladle on the pan and swirl around till you have one thin even layer. Fry on one side for about 40 seconds to a minute. Flip and fry on the other side for another 30 seconds. 

Stack the crepes on a plate and continue to fry until all the batter is used up. The mix yield around 30 crepes. 

To prepare the filling which will go between the layers of buttery pancakes, mix 400g of Greek yoghurt with juice and zest of 1 lemon, dill, pink pepper corns, capers and jalapeños, all finely chopped. Taste for seasoning and add a small pinch of salt if you like. 

To assemble your cake, add the yoghurt mixture between every two pancakes, and then alternate the layers of smoked and poached salmon, cucumber and caviar. Keep staking them up until you’ve run out of ingredients. You might have a few pancakes leftover, which is never bad news! 

To finish your masterpiece cover the entire cake with cream cheese before serving it proudly to your guests. Make sure they all take a moment to admire your creation and only then cut into it to reveal the beautifully coloured layers. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alissa Timoshkina is originally from Russia, but has lived in the UK since the late 1990s. In 2014, after leaving a career in the arts sector, Alissa launched KinoVino which rapidly gained recognition as one of the most original projects redefining London’s food scene. Since its launch she has developed a bespoke event branch, hosted supper clubs exploring food from her native Russia and released her debut cookbook Salt & Time in 2019. Her recipes are featured in The Guardian, Red Magazine, Olive Magazine, The Independent and House & Garden amongst other leading UK publications. Alissa uses her knowledge about food to advocate for maternal wellbeing through nutrition. She has launched a podcast - MotherFood - to create a community of women and share their voices on subject of food and womanhood.

Signed copies of Salt and Time are available in the Pushkin House shop.

Our food blog curator Katrina (Katya) Kollegaeva is a chef, food writer (Guardian, FT, Time Out restaurant reviewer 2009-2012) and sustainable food specialist with a background in food anthropology. She grew up in Estonia to a Crimean dad and a Ukrainian mother. Together with Karina Baldry she runs Rosehip & Rye, a catering and food delivering company specialising in the 'Soul food from the New East'.

Head to Pushkin House’s Instagram where Katya is taking over our feed for the week of Maslenitsa, 8- 14 March!