Russian squash spread recipe we call “kabachkovaiy ikra” (кабачковая икра) or squash caviar. The recipe for the squash caviar is the Soviet cuisine recipe. It was so popular when I lived in Russia and sold in canned jars at every grocery store. It was a really good taste and a silky texture! I live in the USA and bought squash caviar a few times at Russian stores. I never found a good one, I don’t know what they change in the recipe but it does not taste as used to be… Sometimes we can see on a jar of squash spread name “zakuszka” or “zakuska”. Zakuszka (закуска)- mean dishes go very well as a bite with an alcoholic beverage. Mostly it is appetizers. Squash spread on a black bread Borodinskii is a great zakuszka!

     I saw the recipe on Russian Instagram just recently and got inspired to make it for my American part of the family to try. I was surprised, they like it. I make a small change in the original recipe. The original recipe didn’t have cognac and cinnamon but in my opinion, it adds squash caviar beautiful flavors. Another change, I cook vegetables separately because they take different time to cook and easily overcook one when others are ready.

My favorite way to eat squash spread with a toasted slice of baguette or toasted black rye Russian bread. Sometimes I give a little touch of garlic on the top of my toasted bread before adding my spread to toast. Some people like to serve with crackers.

The unusual name caviar in relation to squash, what is for more people is meaning  fish eggs . The root of this dish’s name is from the old Russian language. According to the S.E. Ozegov dictionary, the word caviar has 2 meanings. The first meaning is fish eggs and the second is a vegetable dish from small chopped pieces. For example, we have in Russia eggplant caviar, mushroom caviar, and beets caviar.