When on the projects we have an Intercultural night, it always fascinates me to learn about different cultures and make connections with the culture I inherited from my family and places where I used to live.

It also helps me to reflect to the question of identity – not only mine but of all of us – it is not that simple and on the other hand it is so straight forward, minimum to me.

 

Couple of weeks ago we had a cooking workshop by one of the European volunteers click here if you would like to learn more about it. One of the dishes, which we were guided to cook was bruschetta. While the person who was doing the cooking was explaining us about the dish and about the correct pronunciation of it [bru:sketa] a conversation started between the Ukrainian and Belorussian participants about how do they do some dishes back home which bruschetta reminded them of.

This made me remember the, what I can call ‘Soviet’ interpretation of bruschetta, which I used to love so much!

It is amazing how our memory works! The Italian cooking workshop prompted the conversation about varieties in different cultures which brought me back to the school and student times in Kazakhstan, with happy buzzing in team of friends when preparing dishes for gatherings like New Year, birthdays or whatever we wanted to celebrate. I can close my eyes and see my dear friends – how would be great to have once again the buzzing experiences with all of you! I know it is a difficult task, as now we are spread over the world and in some cases are residents of different countries, like me! But I still hope 😉

Yesterday we had our new friends around – a family of one of our son’s friend. As they come from Polish background I thought that it would be appropriate to satisfy my urge and make ‘Soviet’ bruschetta, although minus ‘shproti’ as my darling is not a great fun of fish.

It was like going home!

And everybody loved it!

Interested?

So let us start cooking:

‘Soviet’ bruschetta or egg and fish canapé

Ingredients

1. French baguette – 10 slices
2. Mayonnaise – approx.. 2 tbsp
3. A bit of oil of your preference or a spray to reduce the calories
4. Garlic – 1 clove
5. Hard boiled eggs grated finely – 2 eggs
6. A tin/can of ‘shproti’ (sprat) in oil– optional (one can buy in Russian, Polish, Eastern European shops)

to find an image follow this link https://www.flickr.com/photos/massia_de_rios/4152832749

• Take a large flying pan to fit all of your bread slices, or make them in batches.
• Peel garlic.
• Spray the frying pan with oil thinly.
• Put bread slices and fry on one side until golden and crispy.
• Take them off the pan (I put them on the kitchen paper to take off any excess oil) and slightly rub with garlic on the crispy side.
• Turn the slices over and apply a thin layer of mayonnaise on the unfried side using a teaspoon.
• Using another teaspoon arrange a desirable amount of grateded eggs on the top of the layer of mayonnaise. I pressed it slightly to ensure that eggs stay in place.
• If you wish, you can place one ‘shproti’ on top of the egg or, alternatively, decorate it with a sprig of herb, such as parsley. However I chose a more simple look.

You can use them as a starter or canapé when entertaining.

Enjoy :-)!

 

 Question for you:

It would be interesting to know whether people can share their own stories of dishes, which are inspired by or are reminiscent of – even maybe distantly – bruschetta.

Please email me or leave a comment.