palmini making...

i love to travel and i love to eat. so, it's no surprise that one of my favorite things about going to new places is eating their foods. some of my favorite dishes are slovak! and, one of my favorite slovak dishes is palmini, the russians version of meat raviolis. i adore them and vareneeki (ukrainian potato raviolis). since i not only married a slovak man, but married a slovak man who went to culinary art school, i thought i'd be sitting pretty eating palminis anytime i wanted them. the problem is, my husband never learned how to make them. my mother in law is an amazing cook, but, she too, never learned. so, i gave up that dream of ever eating them in my own home.

then, my russian friend, julia, said the most beautiful sentence to me,
"i know how to make'em!"
so, i put her to work one sunday. she threw on my favorite apron
(thank you, again, heather for my gift all the way from italy!)
and showed me the ropes of making palminis...

after making the dough, and cutting them into pieces...

...then, rolling them out, we placed a mixture of ground meats & onions in the middle...

...and then pinched the edges together, making them bite sized.

we then boiled them in water with olive oil and bay leaves.

here's the end result, served with the traditional sour cream and the americanized way with ukrainian ketchup.

i know it may not seem too impressive to all of you, but i'm ecstatic! i've wanted to know how to make these for years. i never knew they were so simple!

...and, trust me, illya is happy about it too!

so, thank you, julia, for teaching me this russian treat.
my mother in law will be proud!