An occasional series in which staff members share a recipe that we turn to time and again:

While it may be true that January is the time to turn back to healthful eating, the typically cooler weather and blustering winds take me back to a place where cheese and a few other ingredients can be bound together with mayonnaise and called “salad.”

I don’t mean the American Midwest. I mean Moscow.

When I studied there six years ago, my host mother, Ganna Lvovna Klyachko, an adorable woman of 86 years (who has since died), made several dishes that I still pine for today. There was her risovaya kasha, a sweetened rice porridge studded with plump golden raisins and very generously dotted with butter ("More butter!" was a cry often uttered around the breakfast table); eggplant caviar, a puree of eggplant and summer squash; and Salad Olivier, a potato salad embellished with carrots, peas, apples and a dressing of mayonnaise and sour cream. And, yes, there were many requisite bowls of beet-red borsch topped with sour cream.

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Among all her specialties, though, one dish truly stands out: a spread made of a soft, creamy cheese (similar to havarti), garlic, carrots and mayonnaise. I first tasted the garlicky mash on Nov. 7, 2009, when the whole family gathered around long tables set up in Ganna Lvovna's living room to mark her late husband's birthday. (Students of Russian history will note the significance of that date in 1917 as the October Revolution.) I recently learned from Ganna Lvovna's daughter, Irina Klyachko, that her family calls the dish "cheese salad with garlic and carrots." Today, many renditions of the salad appear on Russian cooking websites, all with the characteristic orange hue and mayo-induced sheen. According to Klyachko, Ganna Lvovna began making the dish about 45 years ago, although the family doesn't remember where she got the recipe.

After I returned from Russia, my mother gave me a copy of “The Art of Russian Cuisine,” by Anne Volokh (first published in 1983 by Macmillan). When thumbing through the pages, I noticed a recipe for Syrnyi Pash­tet s Chesnokom (garlic cheese) in the chapter on zakuski (appetizers). “This is another recent addition to the hors d’oeuvre table,” Volokh writes, “an ingenious combination of simple ingredients that work splendidly together.”

Volokh says the origin of the dish is quite straightforward. “It was created for a simple reason: You could get cheese, you could get garlic,” she told me over the phone from Los Angeles. “I think it is just a fortuitous combination that somebody tried, and it worked.”

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With the addition of shredded carrots, a la Ganna Lvovna, I re-created the bright orange, pleasantly pungent dish that I remembered; the spread appears on my table every January, when I host a Russian New Year party abundant with infused vodkas and zakuski. (The party typically takes place around Old New Year, which falls on Jan. 14). If you’re not convinced of the humble combination’s potential, just think of it as the Russian version of that caviar of the South, pimento cheese. Spread it on crackers or triangles of toast, smear it on cold or grilled sandwiches — or, when no one is looking, eat it with a fork.

A salad fork, naturally.

Scale, print and rate the recipe on our Recipe Finder:

Russian Cheese Spread (Syrni Pashtet)

8 to 10 servings (makes about 2 cups)

This garlicky spread of cheese, carrots and garlic is a crowd-pleaser. Feel free to use more or less of any ingredient, as the recipe is quite adaptable to what you have on hand.

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Serve with toasts or crackers, or spread on sandwiches.

MAKE AHEAD: The spread needs to be refrigerated in an airtight container for at least 2 hours — preferably overnight — and up to 3 days.

Adapted from Moscow resident Ganna Lvovna Klyachko and “The Art of Russian Cuisine,” by Anne Volokh (Collier Books/Macmillan, 1983).

INgredients

About 12 ounces havarti cheese

2 medium carrots, well scrubbed (about 33/4 ounces)

4 cloves garlic

3 to 5 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably Hellman’s (not low-fat or nonfat)

Steps

Use a food processor or the large-holed side of a box grater to shred the cheese, then transfer it to a mixing bowl.

Coarsely chop the carrots and garlic; transfer to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed. Add to the mixing bowl, along with 3 tablespoons of the mayonnaise, using a fork to stir and mash the mixture. Add some or all of the remaining 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise as needed to bind the spread together.

Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and preferably overnight, to allow the garlic to mellow and the flavors to meld.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

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