Red Sparrow and a Ukrainian Dish in Protest

Our current Cook the Books Club selection, hosted by Simona of Bricole, has been Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews.  According to the Publishers:

"In contemporary Russia, state intelligence officer Dominika Egorova has been drafted to become a “Sparrow”—a spy trained in the art of seduction to elicit information from their marks. She’s been assigned to Nathaniel Nash, a CIA officer who handles the organization’s most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young intelligence officers, trained in their respective spy schools, collide in a charged atmosphere of tradecraft, deception and, inevitably, a forbidden spiral of carnal attraction that threatens their careers and the security of America’s valuable mole in Moscow" .... The Publishers' rant also called the novel an "electrifying modern spy thriller", however stupefying might be a better adjective.

"The art of seduction" i.e trained and systematicaly degraded, prostitute spies.  Sadly, I was unable to finish this book, couldn't identify with the lead characters at all, aside from pity, and would agree with one reviewer, admittedly in the minority, of mostly sycophant mainstream voices, who said in part:

"If this was a novel about old spies in suits, I’D BE SO HAPPY.

But no, we have to have sex-crazed agents who read human emotions through synesthesia and cook really elaborate meals in their tiny rented flats for no apparent reason."  Read her whole review, it's quite good.

Actually, the recipes at the end of various chapters seemed not to come from any real love of cooking or even food, but to be more market driven add ons.  I found the writing mediocre and the subject not only depressing, and explicitly violent, but disgusting, with a predictable, Cold War plot.  Truly, a sad commentary on the moral state of the Union.  

So with that in mind, and after looking over various recipes from the Ukraine online, we are going with one of their national dishes, Banosh!  Said to be of the most popular traditional Hutsul dishes, specifically from the Carpathians.  Courtesy of the Ukrainian Recipes site, here it is, with a few adaptations:

BANOSH

Ingredients

1 bulb onion
200 g (7 oz) brynza, a firm sheep's milk cheese, or as I did grated Parmesan
300 g (10.5 oz) bacon or pork belly, chopped
1/3 bunch of spring onion
2 cups light cream (or part water)
1 cup cornmeal or polenta

sour cream for topping
black ground pepper – to taste
salt – to taste

Cooking

Put light cream or milk  in a pot and bring it to boil.  Then, whisk in the cornmeal and continue to boil over low heat, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook the cornmeal mush until it becomes dense.  Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

Now let’s cook topping. Cut bacon into medium pieces. Peel a bulb onion, then wash and chop it. Combine the onion with bacon in a frying pan and brown the ingredients. Now we’ll need brynza (brynza is a brined cheese made using cow, goat, or sheep milk, and sometimes including a mix of these types of milk). I couldn't find this cheese, or any close to it, so used grated Parmesan Reggianito. Cut brynza into little pieces. Wash spring onion and cut it finely.

Transfer the prepared cornmeal side dish to a serving bowl. Cover it with the fried bacon and onion. Top the banosh with brynza (or cheese of choice), sour cream and spring onion. Serve warm.

This was the perfect meal after a day of visiting my dentist and discovering that the pain in my jaw (like someone had given me a right hook) was due to possibly yawning, which caused a dislocation of the joint. No chewing was possible.  I was told to eat soft foods until it re-established itself.   Praise God, it had done so by this morning!

We both enjoyed this version of polenta, and especially with the yummy toppings. As you can see, we had another soft food on the side, avocado!

This post is my contribution for our ongoing Cook the Books selection, which is finished this Thursday, the 31st of March.  The Roundup should be interesting.  So, you are invited to check it out next week some time.  I'm also linking up with Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marge, The Intrepid Reader, and with the Foodies Read Challenge, hosted by Heather.

Our next book pick is Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci for April / May 2022, and is hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.  You are welcome to join in.  (Leave a comment here or check out our Guidelines page if you have any questions.)