Monthly Archive for febbraio, 2012

Beetroot and pecan nuts hummus

Published by Lucina, on 29 febbraio 2012 in Antipasti, sfizi, finger food..., English Recipes and starters. 1 Comment Tags: , .

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’

Mousse allo zabaione di moscato con salsa di cioccolato

Published by Candida, on 25 febbraio 2012 in Dolci and Ricette in Italiano. 3 Comments Tags: , .

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.

Continue reading ‘Mousse allo zabaione di moscato con salsa di cioccolato’

Happy birthday to us! Happy birthday to us….!!!

Published by Lucina, on 19 febbraio 2012 in Chiacchiere/Chatting. 6 Comments

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….

Baked sea bream with fennel and onion

Published by Lucina, on 17 febbraio 2012 in English Recipes, fish and Pesce. 1 Comment Tags: , , .
baked sea bream with fennel and onion

I am blogging this  über healthy recipe to counter balance the very indulgent ones we have been sharing recently. We seem to favour cakes and all manner of sweet, and may I add unhealthy, delights on our blog but not as many main courses (meat/fish, etc). I wonder why that is. :-) Anyway this particular dish can’t be accused of being “bad” for you or fattening so here I am promoting it to our little group of foodie friends. An interesting thing to report here is that I had NO idea what the Italian word for sea bream was when I embarked on the idea of cooking it. I had had sea bream in restaurants before, of course, but had no idea what the Italian word for it was. In truth something linguistically very peculiar has been taking place with fish ever since I moved to this country many many years ago. Namely, I know the English- Italian translation of many bog standard fish (like salmon, trout, sole, cod, etc.) but navigate a little further afield (in the world of the sea bream, sea bass, red snapper and such like) and I’m totally and utterly lost. Clueless in fact! Continue reading ‘Baked sea bream with fennel and onion’

Torta di farro all’arancia

Published by Candida, on 11 febbraio 2012 in Dolci and Ricette in Italiano. 8 Comments Tags: , , , .

Ho voluto vedere se si può usare la farina di farro per fare le torte, non solo un pochino, ma proprio tutta di farro. E così ho usato una ricetta che mi ispirava e l’ho coniugata al farro. Grazie quindi a Rossella di Vaniglia che ha postato questa torta della sua mamma. Ecco qua la mia versione farrOginosa. Funziona.

PS. Oggi a casa nostra è il giorno dei compleanni: marito/figlio/sorella in un colpo solo. Questo, infatti, è un post programmato. Io sono in cucina per le torte!

Continue reading ‘Torta di farro all’arancia’

Honey and peanut butter cereal bars

Published by Lucina, on 7 febbraio 2012 in cakes and English Recipes. 7 Comments

honey and peanut butter cereal bar

I MUST blog these delicious, moist cereal bars which I made for the first time last week. I found the recipe in the Everyday River Cottage recipe book I’ve already mentioned in my last posting.They are divine and everyone has been remarking on how good they taste. My dearest hubby liked them so much he decided to make a batch himself to take to work. Sure enough his colleagues were mightily  impressed. Particularly when they heard HE had made them. Ok I supervised him a teeny weeny bit but still… Anyway, they are a cinch to make and are a lot healthier than the bog standard cereal bars you  buy in the shops. …. They are packed full with oats, seeds and dried fruit so they have got to be good for you, right? RIGHT! I grant: there is also butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter amongst the ingredients, which are hardly healthy, but who’s looking,eh? They are ideal to take to work and munch when you need an energy fix. By the way, I LOVE peanut butter. I confess I could happily scoff half a jar by myself…..Mmmmmhhhhh! On to the recipe then…. Continue reading ‘Honey and peanut butter cereal bars’

La cremina mou per il panettone di San Biagio

Published by Candida, on 2 febbraio 2012 in Chiacchiere/Chatting, Dolci and Ricette in Italiano. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Domani è il 3 febbraio, San Biagio, medico e vescovo, protettore della gola. Da noi nel milanese è tradizione mangiare il panettone avanzato da Natale. E se non lo hai avanzato tu, sta sicuro che i negozi sono ben felici di sbarazzarsi dei loro avanzi e si precipiteranno a vendere i panettoni a compra due/paghi uno. Noi a casa l’abbiamo avanzato e ora la famiglia mi ha ordinato la cremina che faccio sempre per Natale e Santo Stefano. E’ semplice e di solito è molto gettonata.