Shining a spotlight on Russian cuisine

A new collection of recipes celebrates the diversity of Russia’s eastern cuisine

DESPITE OPENING Alissa Timoshkina’s cookbook on a surprisingly warm, just-about-spring morning, I get a shiver looking at the photographs of deep snow and icy landscapes. Salt & Time (Mitchell Beazley, £25) is the first by this Russian food writer (it won’t be her last), and shares the food, tales and tundra of her home country – Siberia in particular.

Timoshkina takes pains to avoid clichés. Her blinis are not caviar-loaded but stuffed with goat’s curd blended with soft dried apricots; there’s a recipe for the iconic Russian salad of diced potatoes, carrots and boiled eggs, but it’s lighter than the norm.

Timoshkina was born in Omsk, and has Jewish Ukrainian roots via her mother, while her father’s family hails from Russia’s Far East. Her great-grandmother trained as a pastry chef and her grandmother is the queen of making Russia’s classic aubergine dip and yellow split-pea soup. Yet it wasn’t until Timoshkina moved to the UK (in 1999, to study, after which she curated film festivals in the capital) that cooking became more than just a pastime. She launched Kinovino four years ago, a supper club and catering business that teams film screenings with exquisite dinners, and runs pop-ups and parties that celebrate most cuisines under the sun.

But it’s when thinking of Siberia, she writes, that, ‘I can immediately hear the sound of fresh snow crunching beneath my feet.’ So there are pickled vegetables in her book that hark back to coldweather preservation techniques, and a warming koulebiaka (salmon pie) is among many tempting dishes from a cuisine as diverse as Russia itself.

Clockwise from above Alissa Timoshkina prepares a feast; her take on the classic Russian salad; koulebiaka (salmon pie)

Try Timoshkina’s rye crostini– toasted rye bread topped with dill butter, lightly charred spring onions and thinly sliced radish, or finished with a smear of curd cheese, roasted beetroot and pickled grapes.