Cucina e altro
Sorry per la foto, ma la ricetta è davvero quel che ci vuole per un cenone. Ha innumerevoli vantaggi: proma la prepari e meglio è. E’ buona avanzata e all’occorrenza la puoi variare con gli avanzi del pranzo di Natale (anche se noi, con gli amici dei ragazzi che sono arrivati alla sera di Natale non abbiamo avuto avanzi!!!). E così siamo arrivati all’ultima ricetta del 2014.
Buon anno a tutti, ma soprattutto alla mia socia, compagna e fedele amica Lucina!
spiced red cabbage
Welcome back, dear Candi! How I missed you… I did patiently wait for you return but I do confess it was beginning to feel like a monologue. Well …merry belated Christmas and a happy Boxing day to you and everyone else who reads this blog. For my Christmas lunch yesterday I made a nice roast crown of turkey (my vegetarianism took a bit of a knock) but also a nut roast (recipe to follow). Of course I also made lots of lovely vegetables to accompany them. One of them was the spiced red cabbage you see here, which is traditional to make at this time of the year. My sister in law Stefania asked for the recipe so I thought I might as well blog it. There are many similar recipes around. I used one from Riverford, the organic farms website. I am not a lover of cabbage, I have got to be honest, but I have got to say this way of making it is rather nice. The good thing about it is that you can make it in advance and eat it cold as well as hot. It keeps really well. The only problem is I slightly overestimated the amount we would need. I could probably have fed a battalion with the quantities I made! 
By the way another nice variation on the theme this year in the vegetables department was with the brussel sprouts. Instead of the ones with chestnuts I usually make I cooked them with caramelised onions and blue cheese. Yummy! Definitely a success! Continue reading ‘Spiced red cabbage’
Vacanze! E allora finalmente ritorno a bloggare. Povera Lucina, lasciata sola a supportare la baracca. Vorrei fare anche qualche proposito per l’anno nuovo, ma è inutile mettersi di traverso se la vita ti trascina vorticosa. Ammaina le vele e lasciati trasportare aspettando che la buriana si calmi.
E’ stata una ragazzina dalle mani di fata a insegnarmi qualche anno fa a fare la gobbetta delle madeleinettes. E ogni volta sembra impossibile, ma funziona! Grazie a Sasha! Oggi ho deciso di profumarle con la lavanda di Elena che conservo gelosamente sottovuoto e che uso con parsimonia (altrimenti, Luigi, dice, il piatto sa di sapone). Anche su Cavoletto si possono trovare istruzioni utili. Per un tè prima di Natale, per una pausa tra Natale e Capodanno, per l’ultimo regalino dolce… Una volta presa la mano sono davvero facilissime. Questa è la mia versione, ho un po’ modificato le dosi (un po’ meno burro, la farina di mandorle.. ecc). Mi pare che sia affidabile. Provatele, anche se non siete in un mood proustiano… Continue reading ‘La gobba perfetta. Madeleinettes al profumo di lavanda. Candi is back!’
caponata siciliana
This is a famous sweet and sour Sicilian dish which I had been meaning to make for a very long time and somehow never got round to do until recently. There are several versions available out there, depending on what part of Sicily they are from (please Carmelita don’t shoot me down if this recipe is not how you make it :-)) . The basic ingredients are aubergines, celery, onions, tomatoes, sultanas, capers and olives. But I have also seen it with peppers and pine kernels and a few other things besides. The version I have made was a bit of a compilation of the recipes I saw on line. In some of them you have to salt the aubergines beforehand in order to make them expel some of their liquid. I didn’t bother doing that. Life is too short. Caponata is better eaten the day after you have made it so that the flavours get a chance to develop. Also it shouldn’t be served hot but at room temperature. I served it as a starter with some homemade bread but it could accompany a variety of other dishes and dips. Ideal for a buffet. It’s really delicious! Continue reading ‘Caponata siciliana’
raspberry and white chocolate traybake
I made this traybake today to share with a group of friends at lunchtime. Yummy! There was enough to offer later on in the afternoon when some lady friends came to have tea at my house. So I basically killed two birds with one stone. The advantage of making a traybake is that you can easily cut smallish portions to share with a large group of people. It’s much trickier to do that with a cake. Anyway, I am glad to report it was a success! I don’t know about you but I love the combination of raspberry and white chocolate. I have got to come clean and confess though that, unlike my previous healthy recipe, this has got a lot of butter in it. :-(BUT, as you can cut it in many dinky little squares, a little piece of it won’t send your cholesterol level off the scale. By the way you’ll never believe where I got the recipe from: it was on the packet of my McDougall flour! And why not? Continue reading ‘Raspberry and white chocolate traybake’
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