Eastern European Winter Feast with Anastasia Zolotarev Saturday 14 June

Saturday 14 June 

Food is grounding; it connects us to our past, moves with people across borders, and is ever evolving.

Anastasia Zolotarev draws on her Ukrainian and Belarusian heritage and celebrates the food and flavours of Eastern Europe. She finds the balance between preserving tradition and
sharing the evolution of her family’s recipes. Through her cookbook, Sour Cherries & Sunflowers, she celebrates culture and connection, with recipes to preserve and feed the soul. 

To start this beautiful class and to warm the soul, we will begin with drinking some usar – A Ukrainian drink made from infusing fruits, honey and cinnamon

Our day around the bench will start by making Borsch and Pyrizhky, a traditional hearty soup or stew made with oxtail, beetroot, vegetables and more. 

We will discuss borsch, its significance to Ukraine and Eastern Europe, it’s many stories as it reflects regions and homes of those making it. We will make it together from scratch, in a big pot and we will share with you the ways in which it is made. 

While our borsch cooks, Anastasia will show you how to make Pyrizhky (also known as piroshky) from scratch. 

These are fried hand pies filled with vegetables. A recipe passed down to her from her pra babushka (great grandmother). We will make three different fillings for them and fry them up
together to feast alongside the borsch when we sit down to eat together.

At the table we will take a moment to toast to the occasion with a vodka cocktail (or straight if you want to be traditional!) along with a degustation of savoury pickles and some zakusky (small appetisers) and then enjoy a hot bowl or two of borsch and the fried hand pies.

We will finish with her great grandmother Zinaiada’s honey, sour cream layer cake – we will layer it together early on in the class.

And ... something to take home - a jar of sour cherry preserves for everyone to take home

*If anyone is vegetarian we can make a vegetarian borsch too on the spot. The rest is vegetarian food too*

Anastasia Zolotarev 

Anastasia is an Eastern European-Australian recipe developer, food writer and food creative.

She was born in Belarus where her mother grew up but shortly after moved to Kharkiv, Ukraine to live where her father was born and raised. Living as a multigenerational
family with her parents and grandparents in Ukraine she sustained memorable moments from her early years. After migrating to Australia with her parents in 1994, Anastasia occasionally would travel back to visit relatives and friends, but it was not until later that she began to become interested with the food, culture and history. In her early 20s she completed a double degree at the University of Technology in Sydney – Bachelor of Arts in International Studies/Bachelor of Tourism (Marketing). Anastasia worked in marketing for a large events and hospitality company in Sydney where she was inspired to pursue her passion for food, so she decided to partake in Masterchef Australia.

After Masterchef, Anastasia took on work experience at several different restaurants around Sydney including Firedoor, Quay and Bells at Kilcare. Passionate about food and creativity, she began to write recipes, explore food photography and create food content for brands such as Harris Farm Markets and Hello Fresh. 

As time went on, in 2017 Anastasia went to visit Ukraine and Belarus after a long period of not visiting. That visit was transformational, and it was after that moment she began to document, research and cook the food of her heritage.

Anastasia is passionate about connecting food with community. She ran several fundraising events in support of Ukraine including for Unicef Ukraine and a NGO for Missing Children in Ukraine. She hosts workshops and private dining experiences where she teaches home cooks how to make signature Eastern European dishes and menus that are curated for special occasions. Anastasia lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children.

The class runs from 10:00am to 2pm and Anastasia and the team at Moonacres look forward to seeing you soon.