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Kartofel's Selyodkoi
Potato And Herring Casserole
Kartofel's Selyodkoi
The Baltic Sea has been so thoroughly fished that herring is growing scarce, and this wonderful fish, once considered so plebeian, is now a delicacy in the Soviet Union. Here, a single herring is economically stretched into a filling meal for four in a dish that is common to both Northern Russia and Estonia.
Ingredients
1 salt herring (about ¾ lb/340 g)
1 large onion, sliced
Milk
1 oz (30 g) grated Parmesan cheese
4 bacon rashers
4 medium potatoes
Butter
Freshly ground black pepper
Details
Serves: 4
Method
Rinse the herring and soak it overnight in milk. Discard the milk; skin the herring. Split it and remove the backbone. Cut it into 1 in (2.5 cm) pieces.
Grease an 8 in (20 cm) ovenproof casserole. Fry the bacon rashers until just barely crisp. Leave them to cool, then crumble them. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Place one-third of the potatoes in a layer in the bottom of the casserole. Pour on half of the bacon grease, then sprinkle on half of the crumbled bacon, half of the sliced onions, and half of the herring. Pepper liberally. Top with half of the remaining potatoes, then cover the potatoes with the rest of the bacon grease, bacon, onion and herring. Again pepper liberally and make a top layer with the remaining potatoes.
Dot the potatoes with butter and sprinkle them with the grated Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then cover the dish and bake for 30 minutes more. Serve hot.
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