- Londra
- Parma
E va be’, continuiamo con i dolci, l’austera and healty Lucina mi perdonerà… Questo è un sempreverde, evergreen, che riesce sempre bene, a meno che siate un po’ orbi e vi succeda come a me (vedi misfatto precedente). Sembrano difficili ma non lo sono affatto. L’unico problema è imbroccare i gusti con il ripieno e la copertura. Come fare, ad esempio, se in famiglia hai una mamma allergica al cioccolato e una sorella che odia la creama pasticcera? Io ho rimediato così: panna e caramello… Continue reading ‘Bignè caramellati’
Hello readers, this posting has got nothing to do with food. I just want to share a few funny thoughts about Twitter. As you can see from the blog website we have a Twitter feed. If people subscribe they can see when I’ve posted one of my English recipes (I think Candi has stopped Tweeting hers…). Anyway, I confess I know precious little about Twitter. Not sure about its uses, to be honest or the purpose of it all. It was my youngest son Tom (a tweeting fiend) who forced me to include Twitter on my blog page and gave me a crash lesson on how to use it. None of my friends tweets in truth (we still talk on the phone. Remember that?). Anyway, my eldest son Mike , who is one of my followers and he’s fast becoming a foodie, last week rang me in desperation. Apparently my tweets were all wrong! I was putting the link to the main blog webpage rather than the individual recipe I was alerting people about (stay with me, reader!). ALSO I wasn’t shortening the web address link, which immediately alerts people to the fact you are COMPLETELY clueless. What was he on about?…NO IDEA ! So he had to explain in VERY simple terms how to go about it PROPERLY. And if you think I’m thick , slow and a right old luddite talk to my colleagues in the office. I’m Bill Gates, compared to them! Anyway, I think I’ve done it right now. My new tweet should pass the test. Please Mike confirm! The things you learn,eh? Loving every minute of it, of course! 
cornbread
My friend Carmelita donated a bag of organic polenta flour to me the other day. Yes, I know, my friends and I don’t give each other standard presents. For some reasons they tend to be of an edible, home made nature…I wonder why. Anyway, I was really keen to use it. As I had made some soup I scoured my books for some interesting, quick bread recipes to go with it and finally found this one for cornbread. BINGO! I could use my polenta! The results were very pleasing indeed:….. the bread looks like a light sponge cake but of course it is savoury. It is really soft and it has a delicate taste, not to mention the lovely yellow colour. Furthermore it has a slight crunchy texture, thanks to the polenta flour, which makes it particularly interesting. It would be delicious with other added ingredients, like grated cheese, chilli, sweetcorn or bits of bacon. I have been so impressed with it that I’ve decided to share it rightaway, before other recipes that have been patiently awaiting their turn to achieve blog status. Ha ha… Surprise, surprise it is by Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall. Yes, AGAIN! Where has he been all my cooking life? But what can I say? I love his recipes! Continue reading ‘Cornbread’
Seville orange marmalade
Hands up who has ever had a Seville orange? Well, I had never bought or seen one before but I decided to get myself some as I had decided to try my hand at making home made marmalade ( as you know I’m very much into jam/chutney making now). I had tasted Candi’s excellent one in the past but never tried making it myself beforehand, despite the fact I LOVE it. So I dutifully ordered a bag of organic Seville oranges from the Riverford people, who supply my weekly organic veggies. In fact it was described as a marmalade kit, as it was complete with recipe. So what could be more convenient than that? Well, when they arrived I must confess I was a bit disappointed….ok, a LOT disappointed. They didn’t look a patch on the beautiful waxed, shiny ones you can buy in my local supermarket. They were smallish and deformed. Definitely ugly looking. Oh well, I assumed they would taste delicious all the same. Sometimes you can’t judge the book by its cover, right? So on Saturday I decided that the day had come to have a go and gathered all the necessary ingredients. But when I started cutting the oranges in half in order to squeeze them…LO AND BEHOLD….they were full of pips! AND they tasted incredibly bitter. So: ugly AND foul tasting. Had I been robbed? Continue reading ‘Seville orange marmalade’
Orba da sempre da lontano, ci ho sempre visto benissimo da vicino. Ora sarà l’età (presbite o rimbambita, chissà) ma a causa di una (s)vista stavo combinando un bel disastro. Il famigerato giorno dei 3 compleanni in famiglia stavo preparando la terza torta che torta non era ma una cascata di bignè. La pasta choux per i bignè è una cosa semplice e che dà molta soddisfazione e così mi sono messa a farla a cuor leggero. Solo che leggendo male la ricetta bisunta che uso da anni sono partita facendo bollire il doppio dell’acqua necessaria e, naturalmente NON me ne sono accorta prima di buttare la farina e fare l’impasto (a breve posterò la vera ricetta). E così mi sono trovata con una massa appiccicosa e informe invece che la mia elastica pasta choux. Tra l’irritato e lo sconfortato mi sono messa a fare un altro impasto nell’ansia di non arrivare a totalizzare il numero di torte promesse. Non so perché non ho buttato il misfatto, mi piangeva il cuore… E così, un po’ per tirchieria, un po’ perché non volevo darla vinta alla pattumiera ecco come l’ho rimediato.
NB. La parola “serendipità” mi si associa inevitabilmente con la culinaria, che spesso è metafora della vita. La mia prima esperienza serendipica è stata con una panna montata troppo sbattuta (ero un po’ nervosetta) e trasformatasi in un saporito, pannoso panetto di burro. Continue reading ‘I misfatti si possono rimediare… Un piccolo caso di serendipità’
beetroot and pecan nuts hummus
Dear Candi, here I am with another healthy recipe, in answer to your “naughty” mousse. I’m DETERMINED you try cooking with beetroot. I thought I didn’t like them myself until I cooked my first one, remember? It was love at first sight…ok taste. You MUST have a go and force your family to reconsider their hate for this glorious vegetable. The colour alone- a lovely shade of shocking purply/pink- is worth cooking with, don’t you think? AND, apart from anyhting else, it has incredible properties (it cleanses your kidneys, bla bla bla). Anyway, this particular recipe is absolutely gorgeous and bound to convert a few philistines. It’s easy to make, it tastes divine and it’s ideal as a starter with crudités (see picture). Or I guess as an accompaniment to cheeses or cold meats. You must try it when your next hoard of famished people descends on you! Once again I found the recipe, which I slightly adapted, in my River Cottage Every day book already mentioned (…. more than once in fact. I’m fast becoming a fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I must bring you a copy of this particular book when I come to Italy in March). Wouldn’t you agree that the colour alone is amazing????? By the way, I doubled the doses stated in the recipe as I had quite a few hungry people coming for dinner and didn’t want to run out…. Continue reading ‘Beetroot and pecan nuts hummus’
Niente misfatti come avevo promesso, scusate! oggi voglio postare un dolcetto vero. Lo so, Lucina, la vita non è solo dolci e fai bene a sbilanciare un po’ il nostro blog verso il cibo salutare, però oggi qui nel milanese è sabato grasso. Uno scampolo di carnevale mentre tutti i vicini sono già in Quaresima… eh eh…
Allora eccolo il mio dolcetto di mia elaborazione, passando per i vari procedimenti per le mousse e le bavaresi. Qualche
passaggio, ma assolutamente non difficile.
Yes! Today is our FIRST birthday! Ok, our blog’s….Isn’t it amazing, Candi? An idea born during one of our get together, when I was recovering from chemotherapy, still going strong. I had a look yesterday. The first recipe you shared on line was the red pesto recipe (which is delicious, quick and I’ve made a lot ever since) on 19th February 2011. I’ve got to say I’ve really enjoyed doing this shared blog EVEN if it’s just me, you and the spammers (what on earth is the point of these people I REALLY do not know!) who access it (well…I know that there are a few faithful followers). It pushes me to experiment and try new things in the kitchen. One of my current catch phrases, after I have cooked something which looks particularly good, is :”I have got to blog this!”, much to my husband’s chagrin who is not allowed to touch it before I have taken a picture of it. Ha ha…Let’s face it: as well as being an achievement in itself, cooking is often a fun, enjoyable shared experience, is it not? Not to mention the de-stressing effect that messing about in the kitchen has! Looking back over the past 12 months here are, from the top of my head, some of the new “foodie” frontiers I have crossed on this blog journey: discovering beetroot and Jerusalem artichokes (never cooked with these two vegetables before. In fact I didn’t even know what a Jerusalem artichoke looked like. The ignoramus that I am!), having a go at making jam and chutney (and where have they been all my life? They are SOOOOO easy to make!), making home made gnocchi (much easier than I thought!) learning a few fish names in both languages. I have, of course, tried LOADS of new recipes , much to the delight of family and friends, particularly the female variety. Remember Candi: cooking is an act of love. NEVER feel bad or guilty about spending time experimenting in the kitchen! It is NEVER a waste of time. EVEN when things go wrong (see: misdemeanors). Wasn’t it the great George Bernard Shaw who once said of failure: “Try again, fail again, fail better”? Food for thought…. Have a great day Candi! And thank you for sharing all your good ideas with me….
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