And after the brief healthy interlude of my roasted vegetables soup we are back to cakes! But what’s a girl gotta do when the weather turns dark and depressing? Resort to comforts of the sweet variety, naturally. It works every time. I made these TWICE a couple of weeks ago, following the gift of a lovely bag of plums from my friend Carmelita (I love presents of the edible variety). Both times they turned out deliciously lovely and light, undoubtedly helped by the good quality of the plums which were incredibly sweet and tasted simply divine (I have also made jam with them. Great!). By the way, I think this has been a particularly good year for fruit in the UK, or so I hear. Anyway, back to muffins. I really like them but sometimes they can be a bit disappointing: heavy and stodgy (obviously these don’t get blogged…), but not these babies! The combination of plums, oat and almond works really well. I found the recipe on line but adapted quite a bit. For example there were no ground almonds in the original recipe , while the quantity of porridge oats was higher. I personally think that the ground almonds make the muffins airier. Try them for yourself! Continue reading ‘Plum, almond and oat muffins’
Now that the autumnal season is upon us it’s time to give birth to a new soup recipe. Soups are so cheap and quick to make and such an ideal thing to eat on a cold, wet, dull day. Even better if accompanied by some lovely bread! And better still if the bread is home made! Speaking of which: I haven’t updated you lately on my bread making extravaganza but let me tell you that my experiments in that department are going really well! My sourdough is still going strong and I’ve tried many new recipes. I will have to blog one soon! Anyway, back to soups. This particular one is slightly more complicated than normal ones as before banging all your veggies in a pan you must roast them in the oven. But trust me: it’s worth it for the flavour! Plus, it’s hardly complicated to roast a few vegetables, isn’t it? So what are you waiting for? Have a go at this one, you soup fanatics. You won’t regret it! Continue reading ‘Roasted red vegetables soup’
I bet I’m not the only one that when faced with leftover egg whites puts them in the fridge in the vain hope of using them for something else in the near future, only to admit defeat and throw them away a week later , still unloved and unused. I have done it so many times it’s embarrassing to mention! I might as well throw them directly in the bin rather than having this ridiculous pointless charade to go through purely to spare me from guilt feelings (I hate throwing food away!). I have made meringues in the past, of course, but my repertoire in the egg whites department is pretty limited (I have been meaning for ages to make macaroons, for example, but haven’t had the courage yet). So when I chanced on this recipe from the BBC Good food website which actually requires egg whites, I made a note of it and promised to myself I would try it out next time I was left with the blasted things. As you will recall, this was the case after my disastrous attempt at making custard tarts (I was left with SEVEN egg whites!! Eeek!) . Well….unlike my somewhat disappointing tarts these dainty little cakes were fabulous! And really simple to make. Continue reading ‘Blueberry and lemon friands’
Tornata! Ma la cucina rimane lontana tra ospedale, lavoro e chilometri su chilometri macinati di qua e di là per la Penisola. Così comincio postando una delle ricette fubissime di Araba felice che ho fatto mesi fa e ha fatto successo a casa mia. Mi sono ripromessa di provarne altre versione e di non comprare mai più quelli industriali. Io li ho fatti in padella ma devo riprovarli al forno. Continue reading ‘Sofficini fatti in casa’
True to the spirit of this blog allow me to share with you a somewhat disappointing bake I did today. Even Tomik the cat is not happy about appearing in the picture as you can see. Well…I can’t always brag about my successes, can I? So let me share with you what went wrong in attempting to bake these egg custard tarts. Ok, I am being a bit harsh on myself as they weren’t a COMPLETE disaster BUT they were far from being perfect. VERY far. First of all let me tell you why I decided to bake them in the first place: it was the result of watching the Great British Bake off programme on Tuesday (which I LOVE, by the way)! For the Italians reading this blog: this is the fourth series of a very entertaining reality TV programme shown on BBC 2. It’s actually one of the few things I watch these days. It inspires me to try new things never attempted before (I made bagels following one of the episodes in the previous series) and it’s highly entertaining. For anyone who has an interest in baking, that is. Every week the contestants have to bake three things: two that they have known about in advance and one they haven’t. The worst baker gets knocked out. This week the “secret” recipe (or technical challenge as it is called) was indeed egg custard tarts. Well…what could be difficult about them? They seem rather innocuous, right? WRONG! Continue reading ‘Egg custard tarts ( a misdemeanour)’
This is a lovely salad that you could make with rice, pearl barley, cous cous or, like in this case, spelt. In truth in a salad you can put anything you want (within reasons) but very often one tends to use the same old things. But there is no need to be boring! This particular salad is very filling and, apparently, very good for you (particular for the the old intestines) as spelt is a super grain which has many health properties and it is easier to digest than other whole grains. I simply cooked the spelt then added what I had available. You could try different things, of course. Mozzarella instead of feta, or different raw vegetables. Whatever you put I’m sure it would work. Continue reading ‘Spelt salad with feta cheese and crudités’
Ok, first of all I have to explain the title here. La notte di san Lorenzo, or saint Lawrence night, is the 10th of August which is when, in theory, you can see shooting stars in the sky. The Italians have dedicated a plate of spaghetti to it, can you believe? (and by the way, sorry if I’m 3 weeks late!) This dish however is not the traditional recipe but it’s my friend Carmelita’s version. She is a siciliana doc and she ensures me that this is what they eat for the notte di san Lorenzo in and around the city where she comes from, which is Catania. One day, a few weeks back, she came round my house and brought a gourmet tin of sardines as a present, complete with detailed instructions on how to make this particular sauce. How could I refuse to try it? The ingredients are very simple: tinned sardines, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and breadcrumbs. But the taste is out of this world. Honest! So this is a really simple, cheap and packed with flavours dish that even one of my University students could manage. You’ll be surprised how good and quick it is…. Continue reading ‘Spaghetti alla notte di san Lorenzo’
I am a HUGE fan of scones, particularly the cheese variety. They are often what I go for when I visit a tea room (provided they look home made, that is!). Strangely enough I find they are often disappointing (read :tasteless or stodgy or both). I often judge how good a particular café/tea room is by its scones and if the cheese ones are good they can count me in as a regular customer. I baked this particular batch on Saturday in honour of my annual posh tea party with the English book group ladies which always takes place at around this time of the year at my house. In theory it should be an al fresco event, read: in the garden. In practice the weather is always bad (this is England after all!) so we end up staying indoors. And this is what happened this year AGAIN: it was nice the day before, it was nice the day after but on the actual day it peed down! Anyway for this event tradition wants that I take out my best china, splash out on some expensive tea (this year was Countess Grey by Fortnum and Mason) and lay the table for a posh do. Continue reading ‘Parmesan and rosemary scones’
Per fortuna c’è Lucina! Accidenti sto trascurando il blog in modo vergognoso. E sarà sempre peggio, visto che domani parto per le mie settimane russe e sarò un po’ qui e un po’ là. Fino a metà settembre niente cucina, poca Internet, ma incontri, seminari, tanto Tolstoj, Puškin e Volga, Volga, Volga…
Per farmi perdonare e per salutarvi per un po’, posto questa tortina in mezzo a valigie da strizzare, regalini (quasi tutti alimentari) da stipare e relazione del seminario ancora da correggere.
Se una amica va in Provenza e ti porta un sacchetto di lavanda da cucina profumatissima, qualcosa ci devi fare. Già penso a un risotto che ho assaggiato in Svizzera, ma in casa avevo della ricotta di pecora da godere e così ecco qua la torta. La lavanda mi piace molto in cucina, l’unica accortezza è stare molto attenti alle dose. Il rischio-saponetta è in agguato. Grazie Elena!!!
Nothing for ten days and then two recipes all at once? What’s going on? Well….why not, eh? I like living on the edge, me! Seriously, the reason for my absence was simply that I have not been in residence. Like previous years I went to spend a few days in Edinburgh for the fringe festival. Brill! While I was there I met up with my youngest son Tom and , as it’s often the case, we ended up talking about food. Like mother, like son…He loves cooking too and this dal recipe is one of his favourites. So much so that apparently he “inflicts” it on his girlfriend at least once a week (I’m sure she is getting a bit fed up by now, good though it is!).! Anyway, dal is a very common Indian dish made with pulses. This simple but flavoursome version is based on red lentils. What I like about this recipe is that it’s very straightforward and can be used as a base. You can try adding other vegetables to it such as chick peas, potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes etc.. I have seen many variations on the internet. Served with the naan bread I have just blogged works really well! Continue reading ‘Red lentils dal’
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