5 recipes from the cookbook of Leo Tolstoy's wife
Although Sophia Andreevna was the wife of the famous writer and count, she managed the entire the household herself. Her cookbook ‘Dinner for Leo’ has more than 160 recipes and she often cooked herself according to them.
The ‘Dinner for Leo’ cookbook consists of very short and straightforward recipes (it does not, however, have step-by-step instructions or photos). And summarizing the variety of dishes, Sofya Andreevna gives a good advice: "Drink - but not too drunk, eat - but not to excess."
We have chosen a few simple recipes from this very book of Tolstoy's wife, which can easily be prepared even today.
1. ‘Anke’ lemon pie
Mix 1 lb. flour, 1/2 lb. butter, 1/4 lb. powdered sugar, 3 yolks and 123 ml of water. Butter to be straight from the cellar, cooler. [Bake two crusts.]
For the cream: grate 1/4 lb. butter, mix in 2 eggs; add 1/2 lb. sugar, the zest of 2 grated lemons and the juice of 3 lemons. Boil until thick as honey.
Check out the detailed recipe and step-by-step photos in our article.
2. Apple pies from the Bers family (Sophia’s maiden name)
Rub 1 lb. flour, 1/2 lb. butter, 1/4 lb. sugar on a board with hands; add 1 egg, 1/2 cup cream stirred into the dough; mix all together and roll out; peel the apple, take out the core, cut in half; put the apple, sprinkled with sugar, on the dough and make pies, smear egg on top, bake the pies in the oven.
3. Potato soufflé
Peel, boil and rub 15 potatoes through a sieve, put in a cup and dilute with milk, so that it is not liquid and not thick; add 2 spoons of melted butter, 5 yolks, raise the whites and stir everything together; put in a mold and sprinkle cheese on top, then put in the oven at the time of sitting down to eat.
4. ‘Paskha’ (Easter dessert)
Rub 7 pounds of cottage cheese through a sieve, add 8 eggs, 1/2 pound of sour cream butter and 600 ml of heavy cream; stir all this, put on the stove and continue to stir to prevent it burning. And as soon will give whey (the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained) and, once boiled, remove from the stove and, while it cools, add cinnamon to taste. Then, lay it out in a mold and press down with heavy pressure, however not suddenly, but gradually.
5. Guryevs porridge
Boil milk and remove the foam, boil semolina porridge with this milk and add a spoonful of butter; cool the porridge and add sugar, a piece of vanilla and 5 egg yolks; lastly, add 7 beaten whites; pour into a mold and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.
