Or easy things to make that would pair with a salad and some bread and butter and make a light supper? Also, do you have any favourite summer recipes .... with berries, say ... or quick meat dishes? Or a baked savoury custard .. anything like that, please?? In addition: what sort of things are considered "zakouska"? I had a Russian acquaintance who spoke of it, but that was before I started to cook. It really is no fun reading cookbooks.... I like to know what real people eat! Peace & Love to you p.s. If you would like a recipe or information or ideas in exchange, perhaps I could find something for you ... please say.

This is a recipe for Shuba (I'm not Russian but married to a former Russian citizen). Zakuska just means appetizer. Shuba is made from herring, potatoes, ahrd boiled eggs, beets and some other things. Everyone I know who has tasted it LOVES Shuba, not just Russian Jews, as the recipe would lead you to believe. This is a meal. Serves: 1 Servings Ingredients: 1 lb Whole cooked potatoes, -chopped to cubics size -1/2"x1/2" 1 lb Cooked carrots, cut with p. -1/4"X1/4" 1 lb Cooked Beet, cut like -carrots 1 lb Pickles, cut likecarrots 2 Hard boild eggs, cut like -carrots :-) 2 lg Herrings, chopped in size -like carrots 1 sm Red onion 4 tb Mayonaise Parsley and dill Instructions: Meantime I can recommend you another salad, which is VERY popular among Russian Jews. Different variations just will show your artistical skills, because of colorful slices. (pron. [shooba], like tool) in Engl. means Herring in "fur-coat" Place in round plate a layer of potatoes whole portion, then layer of beets 1/2 of portion, then half ofportion of picles, then layer of carrots 1/2 of portion, then onion and finaly - herring then everything backword: onion, carrots, picles, beets. On top pour Mayonaise and decorate with chopped greens. Let its soaked at least overnight. Serve like cake. It a very colorful and tasty appetizer... Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest V97 #085 by "Phil Gurnicht" on Mar 13, 1997

Zakuska is usually small morsels that are consumed after am alcohol, if it is vodka, i has to be strong in taste, like pickles, sour craft, herring, smoked and salted. The favorite Russia dishes include thin pan cakes, little pockets with stuffing (porojli), pelmeni (ravioli), back weed "Kasha", fish...potatoes and cabbage,

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i work with a russian lady and i don't know if she is typical of her native land but she loves breads, dips, stews with barley, fish - and she prefers things to be organic. She also likes a lot of dried fruits and nuts.