Monthly Archive for gennaio, 2012

Dolcetti di pasta fillo al pistacchio

Avete mai sofferto di sindrome da pasta fillo? Una specie di panico dovuto a esperienze traumatiche da pasta che rompe, appiccica, raggruma in gomitoli informi, altro che filo/fillo/phyllo (greco: foglia)… Questa meravigliosa pasta sfoglia si presenta a fogli sottili e lisci come la seta che però sono delicati e vanno sempre tenuti sotto un asciugamano umido mentre si lavora, altrimenti si seccano. Io qualche misfatto con la pasta fillo l’ho combinato, scongelandola male, appiccicandola ecc…

Come aveva detto Lucina? Si finisce per combinare  a stodgy mess. Ecco, proprio, quella cosa lì. Espressione da imparare… stodgy=heavy, hard to digest, dull, boring…

Ma è meravigliosa e meravigliosi sono i piatti che rende possibili. Eccone uno. Continue reading ‘Dolcetti di pasta fillo al pistacchio’

Roast Jerusalem artichoke,hazelnut and goat’s cheese salad

roast Jerusalem artichoke salad

It looks as if I’ll have to post another recipe and quick as Candi clearly hasn’t yet worked out how to upload photos using her new camera. Oh dear me! The trials and tribulations of new technology,eh? :-) I think I’ll personally  stick to my mobile phone. Ok , my photos are far from looking professional but still…you get the picture, right? And pardon the pun on words…Anyway, here’s a new salad recipe I tried the other day using Jerusalem artichokes. I found them in my last veggie box (it must be that time of year again) so decided to try something different from the soup I made last time (and blogged). The recipe is taken and adapted from a new recipe book I got at Christmas by Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall called River Cottage everyday. I’ve never roasted Jerusalem artichokes before but I’ve got to say I was impressed. They tasted really lovely and went very well with the goat’s cheese. In The River Cottage book the goat cheese used is the hard, crumbly variety which gets tossed in the salad itself, but I used the other type, grilled it and placed it on top. I reckon it is equally nice. Continue reading ‘Roast Jerusalem artichoke,hazelnut and goat’s cheese salad’

Where are the misdemeanors??

We have called this blog recipes and misdemeanors but so far we have only blogged many recipes and NO misdemeanors. So here I am to set the record straight, partly for people like Alessandra who commented on the last recipe feeling inadequate about her culinary skills. The truth is that you can only learn and improve by…well, cooking. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But NOBODY just produces culinary delights from the word “go” without making SOME mistakes. There have to be some trials and errors. Like with many other things. There is a proverb here that says: “Practice makes perfect”. How true! If it’s any consolation, Alessandra, when I got married I could just about fry an egg. To vary on the theme sometimes I would add some ham or cheese, or cheese AND ham to be outlandish. Both myself and my poor husband soon got fed up with the lack of variety so I had to learn…and fast. Ok, it helps the fact I LOVE eating, but let’s face it: food is one of the pleasures in life. Right? We mustn’t feel bad or guilty about liking…loving….food.  Continue reading ‘Where are the misdemeanors??’

Variazione sul tema ciocco-noci. Brownies alle noci

Lo so, è imperdonabile, dopo tanta assenza presentarsi con una ricetta con gli stessi ingredienti dell’ultima postata. A mia metafisica giustificazione introdurrò il tema del tempo come flusso continuo difficilmente sezionabile e della necessità di un ponte tra vecchio e nuovo anno… Oppure una più prosaica scusa per la mancanza non di ricette pensate e realizzate ma di foto a causa di una nuova macchina fotografica e di un maledetto cavetto finito chissà dove (forse buttato?) così da impedire l’estrazione delle foto dalla suddetta macchina. Ora però il tempo stringe, devo postare prima che Lucina torni a casa e mi sgridi! Alimenterò la vostra pazienza con questa sfocatissima foto da telefonino di questi brownies molto buoni e veloci, solo un po’ calorici :(, ma tant’è… poi rifatevi con il pesce postato da Lucina. Continue reading ‘Variazione sul tema ciocco-noci. Brownies alle noci’

Fillets of salmon with dill and capers

fillets of salmon with capers and dill

Well…..happy new year everyone! Sorry for the absence from the blog but Christmas time is no time to go on a computer! I have been extremely busy and I’m only now getting back to some sort of normality and into cooking mood. Actually, that’s not quite true as I have spent a big part of my holidays cooking for a houseful of men! Anyway…..time to start experimenting in the kitchen again. Last night I tried this very simple salmon dish from the BBC Good food magazine. It was really simple but very tasty so I’ve decided to share it with you. And that’s what we want, us busy ladies with jobs: straightforward, no fuss recipes! By the way I had to look in the dictionary the Italian word for “dill”. I confess I didn’t know. Apparently it’s “aneto”. Not sure how common it is in Italy or whether it is readily available. It goes very well with fish and potato salads. Do you use it Candi? I really like it. Anyway, enough chatting. Let’s get cooking! Continue reading ‘Fillets of salmon with dill and capers’