Cucina e altro
Madre degenere che arriva con la torta del compleanno il giorno dopo!
E non ho neanche pareggiato i bordi… Ma la ricetta funziona e quindi la posto. Le fragole possono essere sostituite da altri frutti rossi o dalle pesche. In effetti, l’ispirazione mi è venuta da una ricetta di tartellette di cavoletto, fatte con una versione particolare della pasta frolla, la pate sucrée. Continue reading ‘Crostata di fragole con mousse di cioccolato bianco e limone’
The Italian people will of course know what gnocchi are but some of my English friends may not be 100% sure. Well… let me “educate” you: they are little potato and flour dumplings, which you boil in salted water and then dress with any sauce you like (as you would with pasta). You can buy them in many supermarkets in the UK BUT they are not a patch on the homemade variety. I find the ready-made ones rather hard and stodgy, to be honest. The home made ones, on the other hand, are ever so light and fluffy. I had only made potato gnocchi a couple of times before in the past , previous to this attempt that is, and that was AGES ago (and one had been a disaster!) so I decided the time had come to have another bash at it. …I was surprised how easy it was to make them and they really tasted great (or I wouldn’t be blogging them, would I?) so here I am sharing the recipe with you. There are many varieties out there: with potato and spinach, pumpkin, nettles (yes! Nettles!) but I decided on the plain,traditional ones. Who knows? I may branch out in the future and attempt different types. The recipe I used is pretty bog standard. The sauce I dressed them with is a bit rich, I admit, but you can use a simple tomato sauce if you prefer.
P.S. Happy birthday to Laura (Candi’s daughter). 18 today!!!!! 
blueberry cheesecake
I love cheesecakes and I have tried many different ones, using a variety of soft cheeses like mascarpone or Philadelphia. This one is particularly easy to make but it looks really professional so you could easily impress your friends if you produce one of these. It tastes even nicer the day after (you have to store it in the fridge in that case) so it’s ideal if you have people for dinner and you want to cook ahead. You can make it with other berries like raspberries or blackberries. But I love blueberries so that’s what I chose and I am now sharing with you. Strangely enough I have never seen a cheesecake on sale in Italy (I might be wrong. Do tell me if I am Candi when you get back from Russia) but they are very popular here in the UK and, may I add, in Austria and Germany where we had some delicious ones while we were there on holiday. The recipe is, once again, from Rachel Allen’s book called Bake. Continue reading ‘Baked cheesecake with blueberries’
salmon fillets
I invited some people for dinner last week and I had to come up with something quick and hassle free as I didn’t have much time to cook in the afternoon. So I thought of this nice and easy summer recipe (slightly adapted) by the mighty Delia Smith (I love her, I do confess). I’ve done it many times before and it has never failed me. So here I am sharing it with you. It’s so simple to make even my husband could have a go (ha ha). What is good about it is that you cook the salmon in the oven first and then you let it go cold, so you could easily cook it in the morning and then forget about it until just before your guests arrive. The sauce takes no time at all in the food processor (yes, you will need one). The only thing you have to make sure of is that you buy a ripe avocado. If it’s too hard the sauce won’t work. Avocados are strange things, aren’t they? I find that they are either too hard or too soft. A bit like pears. One minute they are not soft enough, the next you have to chuck them in the bin as they have gone brown and mushy. I’ve thrown away many in my lifetime!
Continue reading ‘Salmon fillets with avocado and creme fraiche sauce’
Purtroppo non sono mai stata a Bari che deve essere una magnifica città. Che sia per consolarmi che ho cercato di cucinare questa splendida focaccia? Di solito amo le focacce basse (il mio ideale è quella ligure, ma del levante), anche la pizza mi piace sottilissima. Eppure questa alta focaccia fragrante mi ha incuriosito, da quando ne ho letto sul bel libro La cucina pugliese di Giovanna Quaranta, ma anche sul blog già citato La via delle spezie. Ecco ora che ho esposto tutti i credits possibili, vado con la mia versione di cui sono abbastanza soddisfatta (ahi ahi, come diceva mio nonno: chi si loda s’imbroda…). E con questa ricettina io Candi vi lascio di nuovo per un po’. Sono partita per la grande madre Russia. Nei prossimi giorni sarò qui e poi qui. Ci si ritrova a settembre con novità, progetti che con Lucina non mancano mai… Continue reading ‘La focaccia barese’
rhubarb jam
I LOVE jam, particularly the home made variety so it’s baffling that I don’t make my own on a regular basis. Because, let’s be honest, it’s not that complicated. How difficult is it to boil some fruit with some sugar and put it in jars? Ok, you need to get the quantities right but still! So I thought the time had come to have a go and decided to make some rhubarb jam. I love rhubarb (sorry Candi. I have never seen it on sale in Italy. Another idea for import /export? Already you have to start growing parnsnips, remember?) so last time I was shopping I bought two bags (on offer, as it happens) and some jam sugar and when I came home I put the lot in a big pan and started boiling away. Just like a witch with her cauldron. Well….. it didn’t take me long to produce the finished result. And it is amazingly good: it tastes divine and the consistency is JUST right. WHY haven’t I done it before? It’s so simple! Honest! Next time I might even add some grated ginger . Sorry to be bragging about it but I have to share with you this cookery success, right? Next session is going to be with my friend Carmelita who also wants to try her hand at jam making (she has always been scared of it. But WHY? I really don’t know..). We are going to make some blackberry jam, to be precise. She knows a secret spot where loads of them are growing (mind you: they are not ripe yet!). What better than that? But for now let’s see how I made my fabulous rhubarb jam. Continue reading ‘Rhubarb jam’
Al supermercato vendono delle buste, tipo quelle del salmone affumicato, con delle fette sottilissime di polpo. Sono abbastanza care, quando il polpo invece non lo è. Ecco il semplice modo di prepararsi questo piatto, perfetto per l’estate, da soli. Per venirne a capo ho girato un po’ per i blog, preso consigli di qua e di là, ma sono soprattutto debitrice alla brava Manuela di La via delle spezie, anche se ho usato il mio solito metodo di cottura del polpo che non prevede acqua.
Continue reading ‘Carpaccio di polpo’
spot the nettle
Candi, I am HOME again!! You can’t be on holiday all the time and it’s time I went back to do some serious cooking. Had a great time in Austria and Germany and ate a lot of spaetzle (I think this is the spelling) – read some sort of ugly and fat egg pasta worms. Mind you: they were delicious so I MUST find the recipe somewhere and ask my German friend Beate to bring me the tool you need to make them. She is visiting me soon so perhaps she’ll even teach me the right way of cooking them, which can only means it will get blogged! Anyway, when I came back from my holidays I discovered not only an empty fridge but also a massive nettle amongst my garden plants (see if you can spot it in the photo) hence, in a flash of genius, I decided to use its leaves and make a risotto before chopping it down. And before you think I am gaga , think again! It’s a well known dish amongst Italian foodies. Isn’t that right Candi??? I remember making one years and years ago with my auntie and recall it was actually rather good. And by the way don’t worry! Nettles don’t sting once they are cooked! As to their taste….difficult to describe (a bit spinachy, perhaps?). The only way to find out, if you are intrigued, is to follow this recipe and try for yourself. A confession I have to make is that I cook my risottos in the pressure cooker. Oh yes!No stirring stock for 20 minutes for me. Life is too short up North! You wouldn’t believe how quick and easy it is and how delicious it tastes. You would never know it hasn’t been done the “orthodox” way. Trust me! So if you are interested in making a most unsual risotto using the pressure cooker read on…. Continue reading ‘Risotto with nettles’
Faccio spesso l’hummus perché a casa piace a tutti e lo considero un piatto un po’ calorico forse ma molto utile: è pieno di colesterolo buono, di proteine vegetali; insomma, un buon modo per evitare di mangiare carne, una volta tanto. E’ un piatto tipico del Medio Oriente, lo fanno tutti, al di là delle differenze e diffidenze: armeni, turchi, arabi, israeliani… Mette d’accordo proprio tutti. Vale la pena provare anche noi…
Vi avevamo segnalato due belle riviste di cucina, About food e G2 kitchen, create dall’amicizia e collaborazione tra blogger. Ma non c’è due senza tre. Questa è l’ultima nata…
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