when i was in russia working on my honors thesis — reprinted here in full for those with six hours to kill — i fell in love with exactly one authentic Russian dish.

and this isn’t it.

the dish i loved was a side dish, some kind of mushrooms and peppers cooked in sour cream, Parmesan chesse and dill — and i’ve yet to figure out how to cook it properly.

however, i’ve gotten basically the same taste by adding dill and sour cream to a relatively standard mushroom alfredo sauce.

full recipe after the jump.

main ingredients:

  • 1/2 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup of half & half (or milk, or heavy cream depending)
  • 1/2 cup of sour cream
  • 1/4 cup of chopped porcini mushrooms (or the like)
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped small
  • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of dill
  • pasta of your choice

cooking instructions:

  1. while cooking the sauce (below) prepare pasta, of your choice and to your taste
  2. in a large pan, sauté the chopped mushrooms in olive oil then add the garlic — cook until translucent but not browned and the mushrooms are tender
  3. add half and half, sour cream and butter
  4. once the butter melts add the parmesan cheese, stirring until fully integrated
  5. add the dill
  6. simmer until thickened
  7. serve over pasta of your choice