Feast like a Tsar: 5 sumptuous New Year caviar recipes

Russian Kitchen
MARIA AFONINA
A New Year’s Eve feast is a time when Russians compete over who will buy the most delicious caviar. Imagine this: it’s late December and a friend's brother offers the best caviar from Sakhalin. However, he’s selling caviar only in large quantities. Finally, you find yourself with a kilogram of caviar, and have no idea what to do with it and how to prepare it. Russia Beyond has a solution: Read our recipes.

The classical way to prepare caviar is to make small sandwiches with white bread, then butter and add caviar on top. Sometimes they’re adorned with dill, which is ubiquitous in Russian cooking. Russia Beyond suggests several other original recipes that you can easily repeat. 

1. Eggs stuffed with red caviar and cheese 

Ingredients: 

Clean the boiled eggs, cut into halves and remove yolks. Grate cheese and add mayonnaise to the yolks. Mix. The resulting mass should keep its shape, so it’s better not to put too much mayonnaise. Mix and add a little salt. Fill the egg halves with this mass. Don't put too much at once. Place the caviar on top. 

You can also use quail eggs, but cooking them will take a bit more time.

2. Crackers or chips with caviar 

Squeeze cream cheese on crackers, and place caviar on top. You can decorate it with herbs, and also use chips. One small secret – eat this snack quickly so the chips don't have time to get wet. Similarly, you can serve caviar on cucumbers. 

3. Pancakes with caviar 

For this dish, you must first bake pancakes, or make a thin egg omelet.

Then fill each pancake with cream cheese, and roll. Cut each roll into several pieces and place vertically on a dish. Place caviar on top.

You can also bake draniki, small potato pancakes, and put a little cream cheese on each, and caviar on top. 

4. Rolls with salmon and caviar 

Slic salted or smoked salmon into thin long strips, or immediately buy slices of fish. Put a teaspoon of butter, twist the rolls and place them vertically on a flat plate. For a more refined dish, tie a roll with an onion, and place the red caviar on top. 

5. Tsarsky salad 

Ingredients: 

Preparation: 

First you need to clean and boil the squid for no more than five minutes, until white. Then cut the squid into strips, and slice eggs and potatoes. The cheese should be rubbed on a medium grater. All ingredients must be layered on the plate in this order: squid, potatoes, eggs and cheese. Cover the layers with mayonnaise and salt. Decorate the top layer with red caviar. 

Don't forget to read our seven suggestions for selecting caviar before cooking.