Glad you like how the pelmeni recipe sounds! I'm told it's actually quite traditional to have multiple people help with the filling and shaping of the dumplings... like a "pelmeni bee."

Anyway, here's another recipe for you:

Котлеты
(makes about 10 patties)

Despite the sound of their name, котлеты have nothing to do with "cutlets" in the usual sense of the English word.

Rather, as you can see from examining the recipe below, they are made from essentially the same ingredients as a typical American meatloaf -- that is, ground meat "stretched" with egg, bread, and finely chopped or shredded vegetables. But the mix is formed into individual patties instead of being baked in a loaf pan.

Since the ground meat mixture is coated in breadcrumbs and fried in hot fat, it would be technically correct to call them "croquettes" or "risolles" -- but, to me, both of those names sound much too Frawnch and fancy-schmancy, and fail to capture the down-home comfort-food associations of Russian котлеты.

For the фарш (ground meat mixture), half-beef and half-pork is pretty traditional, but you can also add ground turkey, or fresh Italian sausage with the skins removed, or whatever.

Anyway, here's the recipe, with some Russian terminology thrown in as a refresher for your memory...

один килограмм фарша [2 lbs. "plus change" of ground meat(s) -- remember, "two-and-a-quarter pounds of jam weighs about a kilogram!"]

два ломтика любого хлеба [2 slices bread, of any sort]

картошка размером с теннисовый мячик, натерная [tennis-ball-sized potato, shredded]

одна средняя луковица, мелко нарезана [1 medium onion, chopped fine]

одно яйцо, взбитое [1 egg, beaten]

соль и приправы по вкусу [salt and seasonings to taste... I like to use some garlic powder, cumin, crushed red pepper, and caraway seeds -- but traditional котлеты are not highly spiced, so don't overdo it]

две столовых ложки нарезанной зелени [2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh green herbs (optional)]

панировка (packaged bread crumbs)

масло (растительное или сливочное) для жаренья [vegetable oil or butter for pan-frying]

Tear the bread into large pieces, place in small bowl, and pour over it just enough buttermilk (or plain yogurt diluted with water; or regular milk; or beer; or whatever) to soak the bread so that it gets mushy.

Place mushy bread, shredded potato, and minced onion in clean cloth or heavy-duty paper towel and squeeze firmly to press out as much liquid as possible (discard liquid).

In large bowl, combine bread/potato/onion mix with ground meat, egg, seasonings, and chopped herbs. Blend thoroughly with fork. If mixture seems too soggy to be shaped into patties by hand, stir in 1/4 cup bread crumbs (or matzo meal or crushed cornflakes or quick-cooking oats, etc.), and let mixture chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

With your hands, grab tennis-ball-size portions of the meat mixture and form into slightly flattened oval patties.

Preheat oven to 375 and have some seasoned bread crumbs ready on a plate as you heat a few tablespoons of oil or butter over medium-high heat in a large, heavy сковорода (skillet). Roll each patty generously in the breadcrumbs and place 4 or 5 at a time in the skillet to saute the exteriors for several minutes until nice and brown, turning occasionally. Transfer котлеты into a 13x9 pan and bake in oven for about 25 minutes until cooked through. (If you have a really huge skillet with a cover, you can do all the cooking on the stovetop -- but my cast-iron pan will only fit about 4 kotlety at a time, which is why I use the stove-to-oven method.)

P.S. Instead of or in addition to the potatoes and onions, you can use finely shredded carrots or zucchini, or diced marinated mushrooms, etc. (Note that kotlety are a good way to disguise vegetables for finicky young children.) But whatever you use, try to squeeze out as much moisture as possible before you add it to the meat mix.