I have not seen my friend Yulia for exactly a year, and what a year it was: I got married and she gave birth to the twins Anastasia and Sofia. There was occasional catching up over skype, and I even got to see the girls - yet the proper meeting was overdue.
When we stopped by Yulia’s in Moscow I did not know what to expect. Has my friend changed after her family doubled and she took on much anticipated yet a completely unknown role of a mother? And most importantly: does the change in her life mean I have to change something in mine?
When Yulia opened the door I was relieved to see the very same person I have long known: slender young woman with long blonde hair, confident gaze and beaming face. As we arrived the girls were sleeping, and Yulia with her casual hospitality brewed us some tea, washed apricots and sweet cherries, and equipped me with the knife to chop a bunch of dry figs for the cottage cheese bake, her signature tea time special I remember her making probably as long as I have known Yulia.
This cottage cheese bake (zapekanka) is a traditional Russian treat. You might see it just as a low-effort and low-calorie cheesecakes. For me it is the memories of the favorite kindergarten meals or Sunday breakfasts prepared by mom. Zapekanka includes cottage cheese (the more fat content the better), eggs, a bit of fine semolina, some flour and baking soda.
Interestingly in Russia baking soda is often preferred to the baking powder: maybe because since the Soviet times soda bicarbonate had been a universal pantry item slash detergent. You’d bake with it, you’d polish your silver cutlery (was there a single Soviet house without a set of silver cutlery?) or you’d wash the oily stove. It was until the big multinationals enlightened the home cooks of the post Soviet Russia that soda is not so effective as the liquid detergents designed for each specific cleaning task and definitely not so good for baking. End of the Soviet minimalism as we knew it.
Back to zapekanka though: the dish is quick to make, and for a busy young mother it is a keeper! After 20 minutes in the oven Yulia carefully sliced zapekanka. Özgür still full after his power Russian breakfast (sausages, sausages and more sausages) had a piece, and I happily ate no less than half of it indulging the flavors of my Soviet childhood.
Meanwhile the girls woke up. I was struck with awe when I saw them: with the fine China faces, deepest light blue eyes, plump folds on the knees and elbows and big pinky cheeks they were the purest human beings I have ever seen. The girls looked fragile, and yet they possessed the power no one else in the room had - they knew least about life and were not bothered by that.
Instead of zapekanka broccoli puree was waiting for them. Yulia put each of the twins in their chairs, tied the bibs, warmed the puree jars in the hot water, emptied their content into a bowl and gave the jar caps to the girls to play. Yulia sat in front of the daughters and started the feeding. Anastasia and Sofia seemed absolutely indifferent to the food, and to my naive question why Yulia explained that they are thrilled to see new people in the house and curious to know what the guests are up to. I immediately continued with the zapekanka to show that the guests love eating and so should the girls. The girls ate, not at least thanks to the efforts of Yulia who was so strategic about placing a spoonful in the mouth of her daughters at the very moment their mouths open a bit, and before they knew they had to deal with the mouthful of broccoli.
After the feeding we played with the girls. Özgür, with a natural unlimited affection for children every Turk has, was obviously popular with Anastasia and Sofia who were clearly flirting with the huge-handed, intensely tanned and foreign speaking man. The hour got filled with crawling around, squeezing the toys, smiling and claiming attention until the girls got tired and capricious.
Yulia went to put the girls to sleep, and I quickly washed up the dishes, table covers of the girls’ tables and toys. Broccoli pure was everywhere including the pants of the rubber brown cat and the fins of the plastic orange fish. I thought about the steady routine Yulia was living according to: waking up, eating, playing, getting tired and capricious, going to sleep, sleeping, then cleaning up and maybe having a quite moment before the girls are awake again. This simple routine seemed dreadful to me before I saw its short preview in the Yulia’s house. No, it did not look easier that I thought. But there was something I did not consider before: the sense of completeness in the house and more than ever beaming face of my friend.
Zapekanka (Russian Cottage Cheese Bake) with Tel Kadaif
For a long time I have been both fascinated and intimidated by tel kadaif, thinnest dough strands used in Turkish desserts. I love the crunch of the backed kadaif and its light texture, but I am often put off by the quantity of the sugar syrup found in the kadaif-based sweets. One attempt on the home-made künefe was enough for me to vow that I’m never repeating this butter and sugar loaded trick at home again.
Eventually it occurred to me I could use kadaif as a pastry shell. I gave it a slight buttery crunch and barely noticeable mahlep aroma: what a perfect base for the tender cottage cheese bake!
Prep Time: 5 Min
Cook Time: 40 Min
Total Time: 45 Min
Serves: 10
Ingredients
For the kadaif crust:
- 150 gram tel kadaif
- 60 gram butter melted
- 1 tbsp sugar powder
- 1/2 tsp ground mahlep option; may be replaced with vanilla extract
For zapekanka:
- 500 gram full-fat cottage cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1.5 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp fine semolina
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 lemon, finely grated zest of
- pinch salt
- few apricots or a peach thinly sliced, for decoration
Directions
- Make the kadaif crust: Preheat the oven to 180C/355F. In a medium mixing bowl combine the tel kadaif, melted butter, sugar powder and mahlep (if using). Thoroughly rub the tel kadaif threads with your finger tips to separate the threads and spread the other ingredients well. Press the coated kadaif threads into a baking pan (square 9x9x2 inch or 23x23x5 cm or rectangular 11x7x2 inches or 28x18x5 cm): wet your hands if the threads start sticking. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and crunchy.
- Make the bake batter: Whisk the egg yolks with sugar. Push the cottage cheese through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flours, lemon zest, baking soda, lemon juice and salt. Now mix in the yolks and sugar. Whisk the egg whites into the stiff white foam and fold the egg whites in the batter. The resulting batter should be thick and have consistency of the cheese cream: you can’t pour it, only spread.
- Assemble the bake: When the kadaif is baked, spread the batter over the kadaif and even it with a spatula. Decorate with apricot / peach slices and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the center is set. Serve warm or cold, preferable on the same day. The bake keeps well in the fridge for a day or two yet the kadaif base looses it crunch.
