vaniglia e mandorle

La couscousserie de l'horloge (Avignon)

2011-11-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

I love some maghreb cuisine, whenever it's genuine and doesnt include dried fruits and dates.. and even though I lean towards moroccan food, this algerian place has served us some insanely gorgeous food.. and tons of it :D the lamb was absolutely amazing.. golden tasty surface holding juicy meat that melted in our mouth. the briks (specially the fromage et menthe one) were delicate and fried perfectly.

me too

2010-04-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

i know kung fu.

shortbready

2010-02-20T08:47:00.001-08:00

today i was surfing the net around for food and i bumped into a shortbread recipe involving non-dairy butter. now wait a second.. unless you meant non-diarrhee, which i totally understand, if it's non-dairy it's not butter. period.
said that, either you're a poor soul who is intolerant to lactose so i truly feel for you and understand your try.. or i dont really get the point of wanting to eat shortbread, out of all the cookies in the world, without using real butter. it's like making crepes without using actual egg.

i'm not a fat cooking maniac, but when i lived in finland i used to be bewildered in front of the tons of weird margarines piled up in the supermarket fridge. that's crap more than butter, if you dont want to use dairy fat just stick to oils for food's sake.

anyway.

vanilla caramel black tea and shortbread leaves with homemade strawberry compote, fresh strawberries and mint leaves

black rice risotto with salmon filet, white sesame and coriader seeds

corn flour and lemon zest pudding

orchids surviving

2010-02-15T14:57:00.001-08:00

almond and lemon scones

venus and the shrimps

2010-01-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

mmh i love black venus rice with seafood, specially big tasty shrimps.
its perfume is so nice, isnt it.. it almost doesnt need any spice nor herbs. usually i complete the dish with a pinch of freshly ground mix of black and white pepper and a little coriander.

among all the various teas i drink everyday like there's no tomorrow, i usually drink a (generous) cup of genmaicha after dinner.. for some reason i find it an awesome way to top my meal, with that grassy yet slighty salty roasted rice aroma :)

2010.. yay!

2010-01-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

for some reason i really like this pic. feels warm and full and.. i dont know, it's nice :)

i should manage to update more often really.. i dont have the time to write down many recipes lately (this year is gonna be a very busy one with my master degree) but i will for sure update with some pics and brief posts (mainly about food, of course! :D)

Bedank voor je gastvrijheid ;D

2009-11-14T04:14:00.000-08:00

amsterdam

den haag

(ahah :D)

delft

the easiest veggie pasta

2009-05-23T12:32:00.001-07:00

this is the kind of pasta i make for dinner when i'm studying and/or being busy doing all afternoon long (i.e. almost all the time in the weeks before exams.. it's like my most usual dinner i should say ahah)
it's almost impossible to make it bad and it requires very little cooking skills and it turns out delicious with many different kinds of vegetables (besides it produces very little stuff to clean afterwards eheh)

i dont have precise doses, it all depends on how much veggie you want with your pasta (in these "veggie maniac" periods i tend to put a lot more vegetables than pasta actually) and with some little tips it can turn into a really awesome dish.
so well.. put a good amount of water to boil, clean and cut your vegetables (it can be cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, potato, pumpkin, green beans.. whatever vegetables you like boiled) pick your fav shape of pasta.
when the water is boiling, salt and throw in the pasta and the vegetables (NB. check the cooking time of your shape of pasta and compare it to how many min it takes to boil your vegetable without coming out destroyed. then throw in the vegetables according to that!)
when the pasta is ready (much "al dente" so it doesnt overcook in the next passage) drain everything and throw it back in the saucepan with olive oil, chili pepper and whatever spices you like with it and/or parmesan cheese.

is it that simple? yes it is. if you want to enhance your pasta, you can easily prepare some good soffritto (sauteeing some onion and garlic in a frying pan for example) or something super yummy to mix your pasta and veggie in after draining.. i love to boil cubed potato with my pasta and on the side sautee some bacon and rosemary, or some rabbit bites with thyme and lemon grass mmh :D
i often make orecchiette with broccoli this way, completing with olive oil in abundance, chili pepper, garlic and grated hard ricotta cheese.

lemon twist

2009-05-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

finally i put my paws on some of my beloved lemon twist infusion.. sounds like i'm promoting twinings of london, but this infusion is definitely great :D just lemon grass, lemon peel, lemon flavour and a little prange peel, hibiscus and rosehips.. awesomeness.
on a different note, allergy is choking me.. it takes me ages to fall asleep and when i wake up my windpipe's on fire and my nostrils are on strike (plus i sneeze like crazy ahah) i'm not too much into spring really.

for the rest, what.. studying like hell extremely exciting things that involve differential equations, drawing and getting some artsy inspiration i wish i'll follow up (i'm looking forward to some painting, just need to get my paws on my tools eheh) drinking lots of teas and listening to music i didnt listen to in a while.. man i was a huge fan of savage garden back in the day :D
btw i cut my hair again.. whenever i tell myself this time i'll let it grow, then i get some sudden frenzy and go for the mohawk again ahah

pancakes and potatoes

2009-05-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

my veggie madness is not over yet.. sometimes i get this frenzy and buy tons of vegetables to fill up my fridge, hence for days i eat vegetables in any possible way eheh
last night i made some awesome gnocchi with zucchini and a light quick pesto made of brazilian nuts. chili pepper and fresh basil.. so good :D
for lunch instead i had a very nice potato pancake.. usually i have it sweet but this time i sprinkled fresh basil and chopped buffalo mozzarella and then folded it.

potato pancakes

i dont have a too precise recipe for this, but more or less this is how i make them
(makes 2)
2eggs
4tbsp flour
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cardamom
half a glass of milk
1potato (boiled and mashed)
1tsp butter
1tsp baking powder

tiny world

2009-05-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

this little guy is living on my plant of sage.. i was impressed by how small yet perfectly detailed it is :)

i got a few aromatic plants lately.. sage, thyme, rosemary and basil.. i thought my bonsai would feel lonely all by itself eheh besides i'm utterly fond of fresh basil.

book and a cup of tea

2009-05-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

i love tea.

black, white, green, pu-erh, oolong, yellow, flavoured, infuses, rooibosch.. i tend to prefer loose leaf tea to compressed and the only tea in filters i drink is usually black flavoured vanilla of twinings of london (i'm so fond of that tea i wonder if i can find the loose leaf version.. i also love their lemon twist infuse, absolutely refreshing and tasty)
i usually have my tea with no sugar or other additions.. expect for the earl grey, which just calls for a cloud of milk or cream :D
i enjoy collecting nice containers and boxes for my teas, even though i cant find space enough to place as many of them as i'd like ^^ some of them are so cute.. same for teapots, i'm always forcing myself to not buy one more ahah

among the green teas, i have many faves i must admit.. i really enjoy some genmaicha right after dinner, that salty touch is so pleasant. i also like some flavoured bancha, i have a flowery one that never tires me.. as for the chinese i like jasmine chung feng a lot, let alone the everyday gunpowder special i drink a couple of cups a day :)

i'm a sucker for black teas like the already mentioned vanilla flavoured, the earl grey and the peach flavoured (i have a special peach and cream flavoured loose leaf tea by twinings that freaks me out eheh) i'm fond of the south african ntingwe kwazulu also, very particular and pleasant.

as for the white teas, i love the lin yun white downy and the xia zhou bi feng, so delicate.. and a good jasmine pearl.

i have tons of rooibos tea to drink in the evening (no caffeine and tannins is a very appreciable quality, besides it's rich in minerals and the taste is so good) or iced in the summer.. about this one, the only flavoured version i like is honey and vanilla.

i have some pretty good infuses of other kind also, even though some of them are more of a natural remedy (eucalyptus i need for the sinusitis for example)

said this, just a few pics on the subject :)

hojicha

ntingwe kwazulu

gunpowder special

genmaicha

eucalyptus

jasmine pearl

flowery bancha

strawberries and birthdays

2009-04-29T15:10:00.001-07:00

i was back home during the past weekend and since my sis is gonna have her birthday soon and i wont be there, i made an early birthday cake for her :)
i love strawberries, i like to eaat them just by themselves, or with a bit of lemon juice, cane sugar and whipped cream.. even dipped in dark chocolate they're rather good to me eheh

this cake is very soft and delicious.. the cake itself melts in your mouth, matching the cream and strawberry filling perfectly.
i usually use a little bit more chili pepper for this recipe, but not everybody is mad about that so just try it with a little at first.

strawberry chocolate cake

85g softened butter
100g icing sugar
1egg
150g dark chocolate
1tbsp cointreau
170g flour
1tbsp cocoa powder
180ml milk
baking powder
1tsp ground chili pepper

filling:
250ml fresh cream
strawberries

icing:
200g dark chocolate
200ml milk
1tbsp butter
potato starch qs
strawberries

melt the chocolate in a bain marie and set aside. sift together flour, cocoa powder, chili pepper and baking powder. beat butter, sugar and egg till soft and creamy. stir in the melted chocolate and the cointreau.
mix the butter cream with the flour, alternating with milk. pour the batter in a baking tin and bake for about 30min in preheated oven at 180°C.

let cool the cake, then cut it in 2layers. spread the whipped cream (you can beat in a little sugar if the strawberries arent too sweet) and sprinkle with chopped strawberries.

mix the icing ingredients in a sauce pan and let it cook (low heat, bain marie) till creamy. spread onto the cake and spread a few straberries on top.

just a bunch of food pics :)

2009-04-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

rice noodles

chinese srhimp and green peas dumplings

zucchini risotto

broccoli, zucchini and chili pepper pasta

lemon potato and chicken stew

oat mood

2009-03-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

still struggling with my oven.. it's just a small electric oven, a few functions and the habit of overheating. i have to forget about recipe times.. they're not gonna apply except maybe for the first batch of cookies, so i often just look at them and try if they're ready or not :D

anyway.. it's been a long time since i bought these rolled oats. i really like oat, no matter what kind, but i either forget i have it or i just dont have the right ingredients to make something delicious with it.
i love swedish oatmeal cookies, flat, crunchy, dry and just a bit salty.. but i cant manage to find the right recipe, for some reason they never come out crunchy enough for my taste ^^

today's rainy and chilly, i have to study some pretty dull mathematics stuff and i feel like having a cuddling break for merenda.. so here is very nice recipe of soft oatmeal cookies, very good if dipped in warm milk :)

oatmeal cookies

150g sugar
150g butter, melted
150g wheat flour
150g rolled oats
1egg
baking powder
a pinch of salt

beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy, then stir in the butter. sift in flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well. add the oat flakes.
make round cookies, one tablespoon of mixture each. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 10-15min.

olive oil and milk

2009-03-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

this morning the man stated that he doesnt like the cookies that are currently resting in the cookie box. they're just some average industrial breakfast biscuits, actually not that bad since they're apparently made with real eggs and milk.

still, he's definitely true when he says they dont "suck up" enough milk and coffee when dipped.. so i rummaged in my memory to find some proper recipe.

there's a kind of milk cookie i really like, usually made by bakeries in my region. i havent been able yet to find the exact recipe of those, but i have to say this one gets pretty close.. moreover i like using olive oil in sweet recipes. they came out a bit brownish today since my new oven is still a mystery for me eheh :D
these cookies arent very sweet and they're just perfect for breakfast, to dip in caffelatte or to spread with jam :)

olive oil cookies

300g wheat flour
8g baking powder
80g icing sugar
1egg
50ml olive oil
50ml milk
a few extra tbsp milk
brown sugar

sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. beat the egg with the icing sugar till fluffy. stir in the olive oil and a half of the flour, mix well. stir in the rest of the flour and the milk.
knead the dough well, then flatten it with a rolling pin and cut rectangles of dough. place the cookies on the oven grid, brush them with a bti of milk and sprinkle brown sugar all over them.
bake for about 12min in preheated oven at 180°C.

gnam!

2009-03-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

update and more recipes coming soon! i'm making cookies almost every day so i have many new recipes to upload.. btw i really love these ones.
i used to eat some awesome cookies made by a well-known pastry maker in brescia, and i remember looking for the recipe in vain. then i bumped into the recipe of assabesi cookies which are quite alike.
tried it, personalized it a little bit, and this is the result.. i swear they're just delicious dipped in coffee or warm milk :D

gnam cookies

200g softened butter
135g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
280g wheat flour
8-10g honey
40g dark cocoa powder
flavors vanilla, orange blossom
milk qs

Whip carefully softened butter, sugar and honey. Add yolks one by one, keep whipping. Sift flour and cocoa together, add the butter cream and mix well.
Knead carefully all the ingredients. If the dough would be too stiff or dry, add some milk.
Make little balls of dough (a walnut size) and press them in the center with a finger. Bake in preheat oven (200°C) for about 15minutes.

new elf hut

2009-03-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

yes yes.. i havent really been updating lately.. BUT i moved to my new flat about one week ago and now i'll be finally able to update more often.. i'm back to a human net connection now! finally, i was starting to madden ahah
the kitchen part is satisfying, specially compared to the moldy mess i had to deal till one week ago.. there a living room/sofa corner which is rather comfortable and nice (as you can see in the background, my books are already taking over the place) where you can find a lurking troll typically immersed in the italian book ;D

anyway i've been busy studying, moving and such.. i got this new camera and i still have to get into it (maybe would be a good idea to take a look at the user manual also ;)

havent had that much time to cook something good, or at leats to take pics of it eheh i shall learn how to make the most of my new electric oven though.. the first attempt was a failure in shape of a disappointing batch of peanut cookies. taste was pretty delicious, but i had to scratch them off the baking paper and get rid of a good layer of burned cookie.

this afternoon i was rummaging in my pic folders, deleting stuff, moving it to external hd and trying to make some order so to save the upcoming pics in an organized manner.. and i found this series of pics i liked a lot :)
more on cooking later!

eventually back :D

2009-02-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Finally update! yes i've been busy with exams, i've had a very crappy net connection and maybe i've been a bit lazy about updating eheh actually whenever i had a good net, i did a lot of other stuff, mainly checking emails and webmastering websites ^^

anyway i'm back.. got a new camera, gonna make some new food pics and stuff :)

life's been ok.. i was very stressed out about my general physics exam, a nightmare that hauted me for a few years LOL but the other day i finally passed it and with a rather good mark, so now i'm relaxing and starting to prepare the next exam.

havent been cooking too much lately.. i'm always studying or rushing to the gym, taking a bus or looking for a new flat.. plus i cant really make breakfast for myself. i enjoy too much when the guy is here and makes breakfast for me eheheh

since i cant make eggs at all, he makes those. i tried a version of mine of the french toast yesterday morning and it was a sort of enhanced version of his.. super buttery and super sugary, so that i was almost ashamed of myself LOL

anyway.. i'll try to update as soon as i can, for the moment i have just a pic of the sea close to my current flat.

just sky

2008-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

skies from where i live.

delectable broccoli

2008-11-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

i'm still sick with the cold and flu and in the past days it was raining as hell, so i was in the mood for some already winterish soup.

when i was a kid broccoli to me was the thing that goes with orecchiette pasta and nothing else. we used to eat this very italian dish now and then, in the season of fresh broccoli, and nothing could convince me this vegetable was to be used to make something else.
dont get me wrong, i really like broccoli.. it's probably one of my fav vegetables ever. i just loved that pasta so much and my mother was not using it to make anything else. besides, even though i like cauliflower too, broccoli in my mind was something like the cool brother of cauliflower LOL

i'll make some broccoli pasta soon, with maybe fresh orecchiette or strascinati.. lots of garlic and olive oil, a little chili pepper and tons of broccoli eheh

anyway the other day i made this awesome soup.. to be honest i was surprised with the result, it came out so velvety and creamy i was amazed :)
i cant really give precise doses because with vegetable soups i tend to measure things roughly just with a look.. besides, maybe it's the fact that i love vegetables, maybe it's because i know if i have just the soup i'll be damn hungry in 2hours, i tend to make a lot of it eheh

broccoli&potato soup

500g potato
500g broccoli
100ml cream
chicken stock
olive oil
100ml cream
garlic and chili pepper
parmesan cheese

boil the vegetables, chopped, in chicken stock. if the stock is good and well balanced, it wont need to add salt to the soup. strain them a moment before they're completely done and let cool a bit.
put the vegetables and some few spoons of stock in the mixer and mix them well, till they make a soft creamy mixture.
in the meanwhile sautee some garlic with olive oil in a saucepan, then pour the broccoli mixture, the cream and the chili pepper. stir well and cook on a low heat for about 10min, adding some spoons of stock if needed.
serve grating some parmesan cheese all over the soup and accompany with some toasted bread slices.

saffron memories

2008-11-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

i've always loved saffron.. the world's most expensive spice by weight, dried crocus stigmas, luminous color, beautiful aroma. i recall when i was a kid.. dad making risotto and me being the one who prepared saffron.. i would carefully open the little bag, one dose packaging, saffron in powder.. and make it melt in warm water.. smelling the perfume, watching the color changing.

risotto alla milanese is just so good.. saffron and parmigiano cheese.. marvellous match, melting in mouth rice, the meat stock aroma in the background.

in italy we also have the strega (literal meaning: witch) a herbal liqueur, sort of digestif, colored with saffron (and tasting like hell since it's about 40% vol eheheh) and i remember my grandparents had this bottle of yellowish stuff in the living room.. i was fascinated by that but i must admit when i eventually tasted a drop of it i was quite a disappointed kid :D

just lately, maybe a couple of years or so, i've been trying saffron in sweet food for real.. and i really like saffron buns and saffron bread, so delicious :)

these scones are so yummy.. i just tried to mix some saffron in a basic recipe and they came out awesome, i didnt expect such a good result! definitely one of my fav scone ever.

saffron scones
(makes 6-8)

300g plain flour

60g sugar

60g butter

120ml milk

a pinch of salt

baking powder

saffron and nutmeg, ground

melt saffron in warm milk. mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. rub the ingredients with butter till fine crumbs and mix in milk. flatten the dough (about 2.5cm thick) and cut rounds.

bake the scones for about 15min in preheated oven at 180°C.

carrot principle #2

2008-11-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

if you havent thought of baking with carrot,

there's a whole world for you to discover.

my mom never tried to really bake carrots.. she was a little skeptical when i made roasted carrots there for the first time. for some reason, here carrtos usually go raw or, if someway cooked, they're boiled. i definitely despise boiled carrots.. cant say why, but the taste and texture they get is awful to me eheh

actually carrot can be roasted with awesome results.. same way it is very good in baking recipes, such as cookies, breads, cakes and so on. i just grind it finely because i dont like too much the feel of shredded carrot in the dough.. still, i have to say there are some few recipes where a rougher texture just does the best.

so.. another carrot recipe :) as i said previously, i like carrots a lot.. that's why i decided to make one of my fav breads ever with the addition of this orange very versatile ingredient.

carrot scones

(makes 6-8)

240g plain flour

150g carrot

60g demi-sel butter

60g sugar

baking powder

a pinch of cardamom

80ml milk

grind carrot in the food processor and mix it with the butter. mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom with the cattor mixture. rub the ingredients and stir in milk.

flatten the dough (about 2.5cm thick) and cut square, without dividing them. bake the scones for about 15min in preheated oven at 180°C.

divide the squares and enjoy!

a rice cuddle

2008-11-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

this is such a sweet cuddle.. rice pudding is an awesome thing :)
i'm still in full flu, so tonight i felt like eating something nice and cuddling myself a bit.

i use slightly salted butter because i like the taste better than unsalted butter in this recipe.. i also dont like it too sweet, if it's too sugary it tires me soon.

sweet milk&rice

100g rice
40g demi-sel butter
600ml milk
40g sugar
vanilla flavor
cinnamon, nutmeg
50g dark chocolate

cook rice with butter, milk, sugar and vanilla stirring often. let simmer for about 30min, adding ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
pour in a bowl (or single portion cups) placing a bit of chocolate in the middle. grate some chocolate on top.
you can eat it still hot, warm or let it cool in the fridge till the chocolate on top solidifies.

au marché j'ai acheté..

2008-11-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

i'm sick as a dog.. the first flu of the season and my sinusitis is already raging.

so i havent been cooking that much, still i made some experimental scones that reminded me the match caprese salad is made of.. tomato and mozzarella, with some fresh basil, a little oil, salt and pepper :D

this afternoon i had to go out to the drug store and coming back, i stopped by a vegetable stand.. there were these marvellous looking tomatos (dont ask me how come we have such beautiful specimens in november.. i dont want to know LOL) whenever i go to an old school market, i love to look at the goods.. it always reminds me a song we learnt during my french course, that says au marché j'ai acheté [insert name of vegetable] kinda kiddie song to learn the names of stuff. no idea why i still recall it so good ehehe

these scones are awesome accompained by some fresh mozzarella (better if a burrata or a buffalo milk mozzarella) that tenderly melts on the scones.. but some fresh white cheese will work too.

tomato scones

(makes 8 big scones)
320g plain flour
100g olive oil
100ml milk
2tomatoes
1tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1tbsp sugar
fresh basil

mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and stir in the olive oil. rub the ingredients till fine crumbs and mix in milk.
when the dough is soft and smooth add the tomato chopped and the fresh basil. flatten the dough (about 2.5cm thick) and cut rounds.
bake the scones for about 15-20min in preheated oven at 180°C.

carrot principle #1

2008-11-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

if you dont LOVE carrot cake, it's because you have not eaten a good one yet.

i've always been digging carrots. when i was a kid i used to crunch them, now i still eat them like that but i added some few variants eheh
at first i had to eat them because they told me to, it's good for your sight.. sure, i ate tons because of that. the result was that my sight kept on slowly worsening anyway and at school i got named bugs. ya know i have big teeth so, there you go LOL

at home we never got snacks.. i didnt like snacks myself to be honest, yea i was one of those nerdy kids eating fruit at school break and i enjoyed it.
but one day the parents came up with this new snack and i could eat it.. it was made of carrots so kinda apparently healthier according to mom, and i love carrots. so they bought me these camille.
i didnt have any idea about who this camilla was, but surely she had to be a lucky girl if she had these awesome treats named after her.. i was happy. they were so moist and carroty, not too sweet, wondefully crumbly.. i like everything about them, small delicious domes of orange, carrot and almond.

so thinking about a cake for mom's birthday i decided for carrot cake.. it's been a while since i made it last time and i'm looking forward to taste it :D

i make various versions of carrot cake.. and my two faves are with cream cheese filling and this one, with chocolate coating.

chocolate carrot cake

250g plain flour
120g butter, softened
175g sugar
300g carrots
120g almonds, peeled
3eggs
baking powder
1pinch of salt
orange flavor
- coating:
200g dark chocolate
50gbutter

mince almonds and carrots in the blender, set aside. beat the butter with sugar till creamy, add eggs and orange flavor.
stir in the flour mixed with salt and baking powder, then carrots. mix well and pour the batter in a baking tin (about 24cm diameter).
bake for about 45min in preheated oven at 180°C. let the cake cool.
melt butter with chocolate stirring. spread on the cake and keep in the fridge till serving.

apple delight

2008-11-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

yea i know i'm posting kinda twice today.. but this post i wrote it down yesterday then didnt publish it because i was busy doing and just saved the draft. here it goes then :)

i like apples.. i started to like cinnamon because i loved the match apple/cinnamon, but till a while ago i couldnt really stand cinnamon alone. i still dont like too spiced sweet food, like some nordic christmas breads and cookies.
i dont mind finnish piparkakut though, because they're so thin it's not really a cookie to me.. more like a cute sheet of sweet matter eheh

my fridge is filled with apples.. i usually eat an apple a day, after dinner, because it's such an versatile yet simple fruit.. it's fresh, can be tasty, if you peel it texture and taste are a little different, you can chop it, munch it, bake it, grate it, juice it.. you can store kilos of apples and they wont get spoiled (i bought some green bananas the other day and today they're already soft and brownish.. got to eat them quick like a monkey)
i'm not so much into apple juice though.. it's a bit strange to me, i'm never sure if i dig it or not eheh

apple clafoutis cups

2apples chopped
4tbsp plain flour
2tbsp sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tbsp butter, melted
150ml milk

mix the dry ingredients together, stir in milk and butter. add some extra milk if the batter is not smooth enough, whisk it well.
put the chopped apple in 4 single portion baking tins and pour the milk mixture all over them.
bake for about 18min in preheated oven at 200°C.

about scones and informatics

2008-11-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

i'm struggling badly with the net connection.. for some awful reason the wireless one is not working and this pissed me off hugely this morning.
i'm not too good at informatics and such.. or better, i could be pretty good if i was not so upset-able by the smallest trouble. when i get these warning messages about errors and programs closing by themselves i tend to freak out a little bit LOL

i was so annoyed and trying to find a solution that i skipped breakfast and when i checked the time it was already 1pm and i realized i was hungry as hell eheh so once again the choice went to one of my fav things and made some quick scones.
there's something weirdly attractive in scones.. they get on well with salty spreads, sweet spreads.. even better when there's a little contrast salty-sweet.. they're quite bread-like but it's not such a pain to make them (i made bread some few times and it came out good.. too bad it took me a lifetime ahah)
they're a bit like muffins.. extremely quick and easy to make, they give you almost total freedom of flavor choice.. you can put the hell in that dough and it will work :D
when i'm to make muffins and scones, usually it's a sudden decision and the approach is more like cooking creativeness on a very versatile basis.. i have a basic recipe and from there i can change it to suit a new ingredient, a different flavor.. mix all together a bit roughly (because you never have to mix these two kinds of dough too much or the delicious texture will be lost) and bake!these scones are pretty good.. i usually prefer not to put salty ingredients like bacon or seasoned cheese in the dough because i like to spread them with berry jams. in this case i dig spreading fresh cheese, cottage cheese or (in such moments of dreadful taste LOL) peanut butter. sounds weird but to me it doesnt taste bad at all on these here.

i used speck instead of bacon.. first of all because i had one and not the other, secondly i like speck way better than bacon eheh i have to precise though that usually i use pancetta, which is italian kind of bacon, of the smoked kind (that imo tastes way better)

bacon scones

(makes 6-8)
270g plain flour
150ml milk
50g olive oil
1tsp sugar
2tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1pinch of nutmeg and allspice mixed
bacon

mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices and stir in the olive oil. rub the ingredients till fine crumbs and mix in milk.
when the dough is soft and smooth stir in the bacon in thin stripes. flatten the dough (about 2.5cm thick) and cut rounds.
bake the scones for about 15min in preheated oven at 180°C.

scones addiction

2008-10-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

yea i did it again. i made scones randomly just to have a good breakfast :D
it's two days weather really sucks.. this rainy windy thing is not my cup of tea. i have to say though that here it's still a bit warm, not really cold outside, and this makes things a bit better. i also got a cold and i despise that.. in this season it just calls for sinusitis with me, bla :P

i like nutmeg a lot. i guess it's one of my fav spices ever, its flavor kinda intrigues me.. i'm used to have an awesome sugar to sprinkle on sweet food, made mixing caster sugar, sugar in a bit bigger crystals, nutmef, cinnamon and allspice. so i chose a recipe including yogurt because i had wish of soft soft scones and added a bit of spices to it. to me the match nutmeg flavor - fresh cheese just makes a delicious breakfast plan eheh

yogurt scones
with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg

50g softened butter
200g plain flour
1tbsp sugar
1tbsp baking powder
280g plain yogurt
1pinch of salt
1pinch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon, mixed

rub together flour, salt, baking powder, spices and butter with fingertips to make fine crumbs. stir in sugar and yogurt, mixing roughly. i like to keep the dough very soft for these scones, even if it may be way softer than normal scone dough. it keeps then very soft once baked. spread the dough on a baking sheet, cut it in 9 or so parts without separating them.
bake for about 10min in preheated oven at 220°C. divide the scones and eat them when still warm.

mosquitos make scones

2008-10-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

when i woke up today i was so mad.. i couldnt sleep last night because of some mosquitos in my room (and for some other reason i dont really know) weather got a little chillier and there they are, trying to survive enjoying my heating and sucking my blood!

well when i got up, my left arm was covered with bites.. i'm quite sensitive (i dont say allergic but who the hell knows) to insect bites so you can imagine its conditions. i rubbed some tons cortisone lotion and decided to make the brunch of a queen, just to cheer myself up.

well it worked :D
i made some quick scones.. whatever scone you make, they always turn out awesome. i chose to give them the perfume of cardamom, i met this spice in finland for the first time and loved it.
blueberry jam and white fresh cheese on warm scones.. how can one stay upset after that?
sipping my caffelatte, reading mail and news with a sort of pleasant snobbish aloofness.. it's nice sometimes not to care of the outer world at all.
the man just sent me a sort of good morning email.. together with a good breakfast, small things that make my day :)

cardamom scones

(makes about 8)
250g plain flour
180ml milk
50g butter, softened
1tbsp sugar
1tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of cardamom
1tsp olive oil

rub flour, salt, baking powder, cardamom, sugar and butter with fingertips to make fine crumbs. stir in the milk and knead lightly till the mixture is smooth.
flatten the dough to 2,5 cm in thickness and cut rounds in it. place on a baking tray and brush the top of the scones with a little olive oil.
bake for about 10min in preheated oven at 220°C.

one good merenda

2008-10-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

i recall pretty well this merenda.. it was on suomenlinna island, finland :)

the place was a very nice small cafè, my mom and sister went there in the winter too and told me it moved to a bit bigger place.. i like old finnish wooden buildings, with so weird pastel colors and nice claddings.

that was probably the best cappuccino i've ever had in finland, a real cappuccino eheh but i really loved that sort of big fried soft and yummy thing, filled with blackberry jam.. mmh so good. i must find a good recipe of it, though i'm really a culinary disaster about fried food :P

i enjoy very much merenda time, that nice break around mid afternoon to have some treat and a cup of tea or coffee.. that's the italian name of it but i guess you can call it teatime if you will :)

it's a nice interval during the day, something that can cheer you up or just accompany your activities.. i prefer some real break like these above, but even nibbling at some cookies with a glass of milk will do perfectly.

every year when everything starts off i tend to skip merenda and, in the rush between the gym and the school or the bus, i just eat some cereals bar quickly and just because my body screams for food ehehe
so now that i'm settled and i begin to really organize my time, i'll think of some way to have a good merenda even in the middle of such activities. a few years ago i used to make pain au chocolat on sundays so my sis and i would have a nice homemade snack.
last year instead i started to make some awesome puff pastry stuff.. and that's where i mean to go back to :D

a swirl of peanuts

2008-10-24T10:26:00.001-07:00

i love peanut butter.. it's one of those things i should never buy because i'll start using it insanely till the jar is completely empty eheh
i make brownies and cookies, but also an awesome sauce for pasta and chicken.. i like the salty-sweet taste of it very much.

when i was in finland i tried many different kinds and i really liked the bio peanut cream made by some swedish company or something.. (un)fortunately in italy it's not very common to find, so i had to content myself with a small jar of skippy the smooth. they tell me there's 772peanuts in a jar.. i see. well not that i trust them so much after the diatribe about their "natural" version which does contain trans fat even if the label screams it doesnt LOL

but i like peanut butter so much that i'm gonna try to make it myself soon.. i found some good recipe, it's pretty easy but i didnt have the right doses :) so first thing i made with my jar is this peanut butter and chocolate heaven.. it's a brownie recipe but i make it also in small single serving tins, they just need to bake a little less.

chocolate and peanut butter brownies

150g dark chocolate
150g butter
3eggs
200g brown sugar
120g flour
2tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla flavor
1pinch of salt

150g peanut butter
6tbsp milk
1tbsp flour
some peanuts, chopped

melt chocolate and butter, set aside. beat eggs with sugar and vanilla flavor till fluffy. stir in the chocolate, then the flour sifted with salt and cocoa. mix well and pour into the baking tin.
mix the remaining ingredients to make a soft peanut butter mixture, then drop it over the chocolate batter. stir slightly to swirl the mixtures together. sprinkle some peanuts to top.
bake for 25min in preheated oven at 180°C.

smoked, please

2008-10-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

today i was at the supermarket, undecided about salmon.. i love salmon but what was i inspired about, smoked or fresh? i ended up with some nice scottish smoked salmon.. pinkish slices so tender they melt in your mouth.. so nice.
it counted 4 slices and i thought maybe tomorrow i can make a nice smoked salmon and caviar sandwich instead of the overdone ham and fresh cheese (which i like but that's just the quickest toast one can make eheh) and use a half to make pasta this evening.
and that's what i did.

angel hair pasta with smoked salmon and red caviar

while pasta is getting done, sautee some shallot in butter. add smoked salmon roughly cut and freshly ground black pepper.

when the pasta is al dente, throw it in the pan with the salmon sauce, stir in a few spoons of milk and sautee quickly. taking the pan from the heat, add a spoon red caviar, mix well and serve.

as "side dish" i made roasted carrots.. i really like that, it's so easy to make and the result is so good. i dont like boiled carrots at all and rosting them this way is the best to me to eat carrots if not raw :)

roasted carrots

put carrots on the oven rack (i put an aluminium sheet but you can use a baking tin as well) and drizzle some olive oil all over them. ground some black pepper and spread a pinch of salt onto them. you can use whatever spices you prefer, i like it so simple with pepper only.
bake in preheated oven at 200°C for about 20min.

wondrous pear cake

2008-10-23T07:39:00.000-07:00

though pear and chocolate is a classic and a very good match, i found it hard to get a good recipe for a cake. this is my version of a recipe i tried once and i must admit the result is awesome :D

chocolate and pear soft cake

3big firm pears (williams)
200g dark chocolate
150ml milk
200g wheat flour
baking powder
170g butter
2egg yolks
3egg whites
100g sugar

melt 100g butter and the chocolate in a bain marie. whip sugar with egg yolks and mix with sifted flour and baking powder. add milk and melted chocolate, mix well. Blend with beaten egg whites.
peel and slice pears. Pour half of the dough in a baking tin and spread pear slices on it, then cover them pouring the remaining dough. bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 40minutes.

you can spread a simple icing on the cooled cake, made of milk and icing sugar, or a chocolate icing.

les orangettes!

2008-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

i don't like too much orangettes myself, i use to make them for my family (they're definitely fond of those :)
it's not easy to find good candied orange peels, that's why i've stored some tons when i found some awesome ones in a confectionery wholesale.. they drip with their own sugary juice, splendid :D
sometimes i tried to make candied peels by myself but i disliked the process and then they were too thin.. all things considered i look for them already candied whenever i can and i try to use peels cut in quarters.

i like to make both orangettes and nuts covered with chocolate (which i really like to eat myself eheh)

orangettes and choconuts

dark chocolate (at least 50%cocoa)
candied orange peels
minced nuts: peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pine seeds

melt the chocolate in a bain marie, mixing well. in the meantime cut the candied orange peels in a half and mince the nuts.
dip the peels in the chocolate, one by one. place them gently on a rack till the chocolate is solified.
place some spoons of minced nuts in small baking tins (like tartellette tins wrapped with baking paper) and pour on them melted chocolate. i usually mix more or less the same amount of chocolate and nuts.
when the chocolate is solified completely, keep orangette and choconuts in the fridge till serving.

super delicious

2008-10-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

so long i havent updated.. but september was very busy with moving and starting off in a new city.. so well, now i'm (almost) settled, still i'll move to a new flat as i find a better one.. but now i'll have a bit more time to update, i swear :D
i cooked though and i have a lot of food pics and recipes to write down and put here!

this cake was inspired supposedly to joanne harris' chocolat novel.. or better to its main character, vianne. i loved the movie and also the book, harris' one of my fav authors even if this is not my fav novel of hers ^^
so the cake is awesome.. slightly perfumed with orange (do i love cointreau), very soft, rich and chocolateous.. a super treat.. i like to make this cake specially for birthdays of the few people i love, because to me a gorgeous cake is the best present ever :)

i love specially the ganache.. i've tried many different recipes of it, changing doses, ingredients, process.. but in this one, i love the contrast between the dark rich cream and the crunchy crystals of sugar. i have to say i kinda "stole" the idea from some chocolate i like a lot, it's a very dark tablet with big sugar crystals in it (a bit too big sometimes though, but it's not industrial made so it depends on the confectioner ^^)
i like to use marine salt crystals too, but that's a bit more particular match that not everybody appreciates, so i try not to do that when the cake's gonna be eaten by many people eheh
(unfortunately i didnt have my own camera with me so the pic is not that good)

vianne cake

125g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2eggs
230g dark chocolate, melted
1tsp cointreau
230g wheat flour
2tsp dark cocoa powder
baking powder qs
200ml milk topping

(chocolate ganache):
230g dark chocolate
230ml fresh cream
1tsp cane sugar in crystals

whip butter and sugar till fluffy, beat in eggs one by one, the melted chocolate cooled and the cointreau. sift flour, baking powder and cocoa together, add stirring to the chocolate mixture alternating to milk.
pour in a baking tin (24cm diameter) and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 45 min. let cool.
in the meanwhile prepare the ganache: bring cream to boil slightly, then pour it on the chocolate. when the chocolate is melted, stir well the mixure till it's creamy. let cool in the fridge for 15 to 45 min, stir in the sugar crystals then spread onto the cake.

i love berries

2008-08-31T06:54:00.000-07:00

one of the things i liked of finland are berries for sure.. they have such a variety of those, in color, taste, shape. i love berries and for some reason i have a special liking for the dark ones.. blueberry, blackberry, mulberry, blackcurrant.
besides i love shortbread eheheh so buttery, slightly salty.. i like to use the basic shortbread mixture to make different kind of sweet food, from classic shortbread cookies to these bars.
i guess these reasons are enough to tell why this is one of my fav cakes ever.. in the recipe there's blueberry, but i actually make it with all the kinds of berry. yesterday for example i made it with a raspberry and blueberry mixed jam and fresh mashed blackberries.. awesome result :D

blueberry shortbread bars

150g butter
150g sugar
210g wheat flour
2egg yolks
1tsp baking powder
1pinch of salt
blueberry jam (i use more or less 100g)
fresh blueberries
vanilla flavor

Combine butter with sugar, then add yolks and vanilla flavor and beat well. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt to the butter cream and make a soft dough. Halve the dough, wrap the pieces in food cellophane and let them stand in the fridge for 30minutes. Then put them in the freezer for 15minutes.
Wrap a square baking tin (about 20x20) with baking paper and grate (with large grater) a piece of dough in it, spreading the shreds around. Spread jam (as much as you like) onto the grated dough, then grate the other piece to cover the jam layer. Bake in preheated oven at 170°C for about 30minutes. Let it chill a bit and cut the cake into squares.

bread of the elves

2008-08-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

i dont even remember where and when i found this recipe.. i was just looking for something weird and i bumped into lembas. i'm all about elves so i tried it at once.. no idea if lotr elves actually used to eat anything like this.. but i have to say it's a delicious cookie :D for sure it's a pretty good mixture.. i tend to keep mine a bit salty, not too sweet, because i like the taste better. today i was in the mood for cookies but not the usual kind, so lembas is what i made!

lembas
the elven bread

110g butter, softened
40g sugar
1tbsp honey
2egg yolks
1pinch salt
250g flour
fresh orange zest, grated
2tbsp ground hazelnut
baking powder qs

beat butter with sugar and honey until fluffy, stir in egg yolks and the rest of ingredients. mix well, when the knead makes crumbs make a ball and let cool in the fridge for about 30min. flatten the dough (about 3mm thick) and cut it in rectangles, place them on a baking tin. bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 10min.

i love clafoutis

2008-08-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

so.. after the veggie clafoutis recipe, another clafoutis variation i like quite :D it has a crusty surface, a bit more than usual clafoutis (which recipe i'll manage to post asap, it's been a while since the last time i made my yellow plums clafoutis and i'm looking forward) i made it with a mix of strawberries and peaches because, although i like cherries a lot, i dont like to make chocolate clafoutis with those.
useless to say it came out delicious! i like clafoutis also because it's such an easy recipe to make.. once you get the mixture in the proportions you like the best and the right balance between sweet and fruit, it's almost impossible to make a bad clafoutis ^^

peach strawberry chocolate clafoutis

200g straberries
250g peaches
2eggs
40g cornstarch
40g flour
40g sugar (+2tbsp)
2tsp baking powder
75g dark chocolate
50g butter
50ml milk
lemon juice

clean the fruit and chop it, squeeze some lemon juice on it and set aside.
melt butter and chocolate in a bain marie, let it cool. beat eggs with sugar till fluffy, gradually stir in sifted flour, baking powder and cornstarch. beat in milk and melted chocolate.
place the fruit at the bottom of a greased baking tin, pour the mixture to cover it. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 25min. spread some sugar and a bit of butter all over the surface and bake for 10min still

summer peach tea

2008-08-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

to me, peach is with no doubt THE fruit of summer.. yea i dont like watermelons and similar, which are also hard to find in other seasons, so i can concentrate on peaches ^^
surely a reason to be glad to spend the summer months at my family home is that our garden is pretty nice.. we usually have meals outside and absolutely pleasant, in the late afternoon, to sip some cool tea on our bench :)

peach iced tea

1peach
1l water
1tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp sugar
2tbsp earl grey loose leaves tea

bring water and sugar to boil. pour the water on the tea leaves, let steep for about 4min.
slice the peach and place it on the botton of a pitcher, spread with lemon juice. pour tea in the pitcher and let it cool.

snickerdoodles

2008-08-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

i love to make (and eat) cookies so i'm always looking for some new recipe to try.. i like sugar cookies a lot so today i decided i was going to make snickerdoodles :D
for some reason in the past i was not very fond of cinnamon.. i didnt like it unless it was accompanied by apple cooked in some way. lately i kinda discovered the pleasure of this spice and these cookies are just a good cinnamon flavored recipe.

i have to say that, to roll cookies before baking, i used a mix of sugar, freshly ground cinnamon and nomu sugar. that's one of the best spiced sugars ever to me.. it's a mix of vanilla sugar (some of it powdered, some very thin and some in crystals), cinnamon, cloves, ginger and allspice. it's awesome to rub fruit like peaches and apples before grilling them.
i was so glad when i found this jar of nomu's.. otherwise i have to make this mix by myself eheheh i love to add a bit of ground nutmeg too, it's one of my fav spices and i like the match with cinnamon.

snickerdoodles

100g sugar (+2tbsp)
1tsp baking powder
75g butter (softened)
1egg
200g flour
1pinch salt
1pinch nutmeg
2tsp ground cinnamon

mix cinnamon, 2tbsp sugar and nutmeg. set aside.
beat butter and sugar, add the egg and mix till fluffy. sift flour, baking powder and salt, then add gradually to the butter mixture. make small balls with dough, flatten them a bit and roll in cinnamon sugar.
bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 10-12min.

eggplant and basil clafoutis

2008-08-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

i love sweet clafoutis.. usually i make it with peaches.. or fresh yellow plums, cherries, apples.. but just lately i found out i could make a salty version of this wonderful dish :)
so here is the first recipe of veggie clafoutis! the smell of tomato, eggplant and basil that my kitchen got after 10min baking was itself worth it.

eggplant clafoutis

2big eggplants, chopped
80g cherry tomatoes
150ml milk
100ml fresh cream
2eggs
6tbsp wheat flour
butter
grated bread
fresh basil
salt, pepper, spices (ground mint, chives, oregano, garlic)
olive oil
sugar

cut cherry tomatoes in a half and spread them with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. sautee the eggplant in olive oil and salt.
mix flour with 50ml milk and set aside. beat 100ml milk with cream and spices, whip in the eggs and the flour mixture. add fresh basil, salt qs.
butter a baking tin, spread eggplant and tomato on the bottom then pour the mixture. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 20min. spread the surface of the clafoutis with small pieces of butter and grated bread, then bake for 10min still.

almond paste pt.1

2008-08-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

this is the first trial with almond paste.. looking forward to make the true paste alle mandorle (wonderful pastries made of almonds, sugar and vanilla) i decided to use the ready made almond paste i bought in sicily. actually it would be perfect to be flattened in a sheet, cut and make very sweet confectionery or coating, but i dont like too much that kind of stuff.. besides i dont even like too much marzipan. so i tried something and what came out is some delicious sort of amaretti :)

almond paste amaretti

25og ready made almond paste (almonds, sugar, glucose, vanilla flavor)
10tbsp corn starch
1egg
50g ground almonds

soften the almond paste and mix it with the egg. add corn starch spoon by spoon stirring well. make small balls of mixture, roll them in the ground almons and place on a baking tin.
bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 10-15min.

inciminati cookies

2008-08-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

i have to say these cookies filled my kitchen with an amazing perfume.. i love to enter a bakery and smell the awesome flavor of freshly baked bread :)
we found them for breakfast everyday in our b&b in agrigento.. the man loves them and recalls his grandma used to make this kind of cookies for the kids. i have to admit mine dont look exactly like those we ate there because i used a little bit more baking powder and a little bit less sesame seeds.. but the taste is just the same, besides i love the look of small bread rolls they got.

first recipe from sicily then.. cookies with sesame seeds! down there sesame is widely used, i like it quite but i tried not to spread too many seeds on these cookies, in order to highlight all the different flavors.. i specially love the aroma of lemon zest when the cookies are still warm :)

inciminati

250g wheat flour
80g sugar
100g butter, softened
100ml milk
2eggs
lemon zest
baking powder
sesame

beat flour, baking powder and sugar with butter. add lemon zest, one egg and milk stirring well. knead the dough, make a ball and let rest for about 15-20min.
make small cylinders with the dough (size of a finger), spread them with beaten egg and then sesame seeds. place the cookies on a baking tin and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 15min.

an ode to burrata

2008-08-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

i love burrata. really.

first of all, let's check out what wikipedia says about it.. fresh italian cheese, made of mozzarella and cream.
"The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it a unique soft texture."

right. it's a beautiful white shell that jealously holds its milky treasure, a delicious heart that will melt in your mouth.

to me it's just awesome.. i love mozzarella and this is the best of :D the creamy filling is one of the most luscious things one can eat.. the taste is simple, delicate, outstanding.. involves you like a sweet hug.. palatable, harmonious, mellow..

the best way to eat it to me it's burrata alone, without any other flavor to taint it.. just pure pleasure :) makes an amazing caprese, just some few drops of olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and tomatoes.

that said, sometimes i use burrata for some other dishes.. a few days ago we had 3 or 4 burrate, so i made some pasta with it. first of all one should never heat burrata, so i cooked my pasta (maccheroni to be precise) while i was preparing a rough pesto with pine seeds, fresh basil and black pepper.. then i mashed a burrata (you can use a fork or a mixer.. burrata is already quite soft, but in this way it gets a nice mousse-like texture).
so i mixed pasta with my pesto, took everything off the heat, poured burrata stirring well and that's it! very nice pasta to eat in the summer :)

monthly life update!

2008-08-11T04:59:00.001-07:00

well yep, i finally came back to update this blog! i really didnt have the time and the wish to do something about it in the past weeks.. a lot of things and matters were going on and then i was on holiday for 2weeks :D
i have to say the holiday in sicilia was awesome and all the good food i ate down there brought my inner foodaholic to absolute delight and made me come back to the kitchen loaded for cooking madness eheheheh i bought almond paste, ground coffee, pistachio and almond rosolios, oregan, sicilian pesto and such.. ready to make some of the wondrous stuff we had there :)

i already posted a couple of recipes (that have nothing to do with sicilian food though eheheh) so i guess it's time for a brief update about the rest.
finished the year in helsinki i'm finally home for the summer, by september i'll manage to move to pisa (tuscany come to me, yay!) i'm looking forward to that.. then maybe there will be some more moving in the next years, maybe zurich, maybe somewhere else, anyway for the moment it's pisa :)
holidays went very good.. i love the south of italy and sicily is just beautiful! it was quite hot though and the days we visited ruins it was almost hellish LOL so i'll confess, the day we spent in selinunte we stayed on the beach instead of sightseeing the archaelogical park.. and i have to say it was the best seaside ever.
beautiful places, awesome food, hot weather, transparent water, a troll, some good books and a lot of obsolete pieces of architecture.. soooo good, i guess i would have liked to spend at least 2more weeks down there.. but well, that's the only complain i could have eheheh

i have so many pics i havent had the time to put them in order yet!

lemon caramelized pork loin

2008-08-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

i'm not a huge fan of meat or, to be precise, i often dont eat meat if i dont know where it is from. if i'm eating out, it must be a place where i know meat is good, otherwise i'll stay veggie or eat just some pasta instead. well i have some problems with fresh vegetables too, since i've been used to eat vegetables from grandma's garden.. ah, and if i eat salad it's bare lettuce or rucola, no dressing for me and my fresh veggie.
(i have way more food idiosyncrasies than that, but for today i guess this is enough LOL)

on the other hand i like to cook meat and try flavor combinations. this is something i made today for lunch.. my parents bought this pork loin and i looked up for some recipe, then i didnt have the ingredients to follow the one i chose so i just improvised on that theme.

(when i cook meat usually i dont really have a recipe and i often measure ingredients just with a look, so i cant give precise doses :)

lemon caramelized pork loin

pork loin (i used about 1kg, does for 6-5people)
juice of 3lemons
soy sauce
columbo spice mix (basically turmeric and caraway)
ground chili
1glass white wine
salt and black pepper
some tbsp olive oil
some tbsp honey
fresh lemon thyme, sage and rosemary

brush the meat with olive oil, lay it down in an oven-proof tin and bake for 20min in preheated oven at 220°C.
pour white wine in the baking tin, spread the meat with salt and fresh herbs. lower temperature to 200°C and bake for 50min. in the meanwhile mix lemon juice, soy sauce and spices.
pour some spoons of lemon juice mixture all over the loin from time to time.

check the cooking point of the meat, when it's done spread honey on the surface. let it bake for about 15min at 220°C turning the piece of loin every few minutes in order to get a nice brownish tasty crust.

hazelnut choco cake

2008-08-11T03:27:00.000-07:00

i made this cake yesterday since it was my dad's name's day, san lorenzo.. traditionally the night of the 10th of august should be the best for falling stars watching. too bad yesterday here the sky was not that clear ehehe well anyway i could see my annual amount of falling stars last week in agrigento :)

hazelnut choco cake

100g butter (softened)
120g caster sugar
2eggs
220g dark chocolate
1tbsp orange blossom flavor
50g hazelnut flour
220g wheat flour
2tbsp dark cocoa
baking powder
250ml milk

cocoa sauce:
50g dark cocoa
30g caster sugar
200ml milk

mix baking powder, hazelnut flour and dark cocoa, set aside. whip bitter with sugar, add eggs one by one and orange blossom flavor. whisk in milk, add hazelnut flour mixture and sifted wheat flour, mixing well. stir in dark chocolate, melted and cooled.
pour the batter in a baking tin and bake for 40-45min in preheated oven at 180°C.

prepare the cocoa sauce: mix well cocoa and sugar, stir in milk and heat till the sauce starts to boil. let cool and spread onto the cake.

apple crumble cake

2008-06-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

i love the taste of apple mixed with cinnamon and allspice, so i'm always in search of a new apple cake recipe.. besides i like the texture of crumble mixtures :)

here it is a crumble cake recipe that gets on well with many firm fruits like apple and pear.

apple crumble cake

cake:
450g apples
75g hazelnut kernels, toasted and chopped
150g flour
1tsp baking powder
60g brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp mixed spices
2 eggs
60g melted butter

crumble:
60g sugar
60g softened butter
60g flour

peel and dice the apples, mix them with the hazelnuts and set aside.
mix together flour, baking powder, brown sugar and mixed spices. in a separate bowl whisk together eggs and melted butter, then mix in the flour mixture and the apples and stir well till combined.
pour the cake mixture in a buttered 20cm baking tin. in a small bowl mix together sugar, butter and flour till crumbly, then spred the crumble mixture over the cake mixture.
bake in pre heated oven at 200°C for 1hour, then lower heat to 160°C and bake for a further half an hour. serve warm.

stuffed focaccia

2008-06-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

i find this focaccia just amazing... good to use the leftovers of pizza or bread dough, it is a quick and tasty stuffed bread perfect to be brought to a pic nic or just a delicious easy to make lunch.

the filling can be made of whatever ingredients you like or you have at hand, i usually go with buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomato, parma ham or culatello, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.

wrap a tin or pot with baking paper and once the filing is spread onto the dough, just fold it and put it in the baking tin.
bake for about 18min in pre heated oven at 230-250°C, then spread a little olive oil on the surface and bake for 5min more.

although this bread is pretty good even cooled, when it's still hot imo it tastes better.. the mozzarella is still melting, tomatoes and basil emanate their warm flavors as the focaccia is cut :)

tiramisù

2008-06-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

i just love this dessert :) usually i make it in a big tin, but sometimes when i have just wish of a bit, i make it in small amount and in glasses.

wherever i go, if there's tiramisù i will taste it.. sometimes that's a huge mistake though, if it's not well done this dessert can be just awful eheheh i still recall with pleasure a tiramisù i ate in apulia (south of italy) some years ago.. it was just 3 savoiardi, slightly soaked in a citrus flavored syrup and topped with a liquid mascarpone sauce.. totally different from usual tiramisù, yet it was amazing.
though the recipe is always more or less the same, every cook has one's own recipe.. this is mine, i tried and tried till i've found the best mix to make a thick and delicious tiramisù ^^
i use orange blossom flavor for its fine subtle perfume that suits well this cream, but a good vanilla flavor works good too :) i'm a big fan of orange blossom flavor, so delicate and particular, just beautiful with chocolate or ricotta.. it's surely one of my fav scents to smell and i've always liked the italian words for orange blossoms (fiori d'arancio or zagare)

tiramisù

350g savoiardi (kind of biscuits)
85g sugar
200g ricotta (kind of cottage cheese)
200g mascarpone
dark chocolate drops
dark cocoa powder
5egg whites
4egg yolks
orange blossom flavor
dark coffee (6 to 9 espresso cups)

Beat egg whites till thicken. Whip together sugar and egg yolks, then blend mascarpone and ricotta. Add egg whites and mix carefully.
Pour some coffee in a dish and soak savoiardi in it. In a rectangular tin make a thin layer of cream, spread chocolate drops on it and place a layer of savoiardi.
Make layers till ingredients finish topping with a layer of cream (i use to make 3layers of savoiardi). Pour sifted cocoa powder and then some grated chocolate on the top layer. Serve tiramisù well cooled.

died and went to heaven cake

2008-05-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

This cake is simply wonderful.. soft, chocolatous, luscious ^^ i love the match coffee-chocolate and this is a good recipe for that

died and went to heaven cake

410ml wheat flour
230ml sugar
180ml cocoa powder
baking powder
a pinch of salt
350ml milk
230ml brown sugar
2beaten eggs
60ml olive oil
vanilla extract
230ml hot and strong coffee

Icing:
230ml icing sugar
orange blossom flavor
50ml milk

Whip together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add milk, brown sugar, eggs, olive oil and vanilla extract, mix very well. ncorporate hot coffee and whisk. Pour the batter in a baking tin.
Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 35minutes.

Prepare the icing: whisk together icing ingredients carefully. Spread on the cake when it's cooled.

lemon cheesecake

2008-05-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

lemon cheesecake

crust:
3tbsp sugar
3tbsp softened butter
3/4 cup flour
3tbsp ground nuts
1pinch nutmeg
1pinch cardamom

filling:
1 1/2 cup fresh cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tbps oil
3 lemon (juice and zest)

mix the crust ingredients (add milk if needed) till the mixture crumbles. spread it in the tin and bake for 5min in preheated oven at 200°C. let it cool.
beat egg whites till foaming and set aside. combine with a mixer egg yolks, sugar, fresh cheese, lemon juice and oil. stir in lemon zest. pour the cheese filling in the tin and bake at 200°C for 5 min, then reduce the heat to 150°C and bake for 1hour. let the cake cool in the oven, then chill. serve with icig sugar.

after making the cheesecake i had to finish some lemon juice so for dinner i had some sauteed zucchini and yellow pepper with basil and lemon bechamel :)

apfelstrudel

2008-05-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

this afternoon i made also some apple strudel. when i was a kid i despised this dessert, then lately i found myself just loving it.. apart from the fact that i still hate raisins, so i'm used to make some little "corrections" to the original recipe ^^

Apfelstrudel (serves 4-5)

lukewarm water
2 big apples
50g melted butter
200g wheat flour
2tbsp oil
1pinch of salt
3tbsp confectioner sugar
1/2tbsp cardamom
1/2tbsp cinnamon
2tbsp hazelnut flour
mix of roughly ground pine seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts

mix the flour with salt, oil and cardamom, then start pouring as much water as needed kneading energetically to make a compact and elastic dough. make a ball, oil it slightly and let it rest in a fresh place for about half an hour.
in the meanwhile, chop the apple into small pieces (i even use a mixer) and mix it well to the ground nuts, cinnamon and 2tbsp confectioner sugar. set aside. mix the melted butter with the remaining sugar and the hazelnut flour.
flatten the dough with a rolling pin in a thin rectangle and spread it with a half of the melted butter. distribute the apple and nuts filling onto the dough and make a roll. spread the remaining butter on the surface of the strudel.
bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 35-45min.

veggie pasta

2008-05-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

as you can see, i had some zucchini in storage :D

i love to make pasta with vegetables and zucchini is surely one of my favorites.. it's a quite versatile vegetable and gets on well with many other ingredients.

so.. for yesterday's interpretation i used rice pasta (my fav italian rice brand makes that, it's very light, white in colour and it has a subtle flavor) putting some saffron in the boiling water so that's where the yellowish colour (and wondrous taste) come from. the zucchini are simply sauteed in olive oil, with a bit of seasoning mix (dried mushroom, parsley, garlic and onion).

this evening i decided to mince the zucchini with some fresh sweet green pepper, cooking such mixture with some milk, fresh basil and a mix of spices (saffron, lemon grass, chili, dill and fennel). the pasta i chose is normal rigatoni, that's one of the best shapes ever :D

cabbage and rice

2008-05-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

usually i would wrap a mix of seasoned rice (maybe sauteed with bacon cubes :) but i still have my phyllo sheets to use so today i tried to make a sort of cabbage and rice roll.

first of all i cooked the cabbage, cut in thin stripes, just with some water, black pepper, salt and chopped parsley.
in the meanwhile i boiled wholemeal rice al dente and poured hot water on the phyllo sheets to soften them.
then i mixed cabbage and rice, spread it on the phyllo and fold it like i do when i meake spring rolls.
preheated oven at 200°C for 15min.. it was awesome!

ananas and peppers

2008-05-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

here it is, today's dinner :)

i'm a huge fan of angel hair pasta (capelli d'angelo in italian) but it seems this week i couldnt find any up here, so i tried these mais this noodles. they're not bad at all, though not as good as angel hair to me.

i made them with chopped and sauteed sweet red peppers and red chili, topped with some fresh basil.. it was nice, just a bit spicy (not sure about my perception of spicy though after my misadventures with the habaneros LOL)

then i decided to have a quick and fresh dessert, so i made some ananas mousse! very easy and rough one.. just smashed ananas, cane sugar, vanilla flavor and whipped cream eheheh

chèvre passion

2008-05-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

goat cheese has always been for me one of those flavors i dont dig completely, but for some reason i find myself eating with pleasure.. i know it sounds weird but that's it :D
it's not like milk taste or chocolate or strawberry, which i like very much and anyway.. goat cheese is a strange taste, sometimes it feels like i dislike it so much i cant help eating it ehehehe

anyway one of my fav matchings is fresh goat cheese and dark chocolate.. simply awesome :) there's something salty, something fresh, something sweet and something bitter.. i really love it, i have some sweet recipes including these two ingredients but quite often i just spread the chèvre onto a piece of choco and snap at it!

chèvre-choco brownies

300g dark chocolate
125g cane sugar
4eggs
75g wheat flour
75g white sugar
100g butter
300g fresh goat cheese
10g baking powder
75g almond flour
vanilla flavor

Melt chocolate and butter together in a bain marie. Whip 3eggs with cane sugar, add wheat and almond flour, baking powder, then add chocolate and mix well.
Whip goat cheese with white sugar, 1egg and vanilla flavor.
Pour chocolate dough in a baking tin (around 20x30cm) and pour onto it the cheese cream. With a knife blend slightly the two creams creating a pattern. Bake for 25-35minutes in preheated oven at 190°C.

little finnish update

2008-05-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

so well.. this is not about food but a little update about finland is needed :D

last week finally we got a bit of summer (actually it was better than last summer weather eheheh) but in these last few days it's turned to cold again.. and i mean COLD.
on the other hand finland is getting green and very beautiful, i'm having some very nice walks. i took these pics today on the shore near my area, it's such an awesome place :)

yea right after i took the pics it started to rain badly and i was like 30min walk far from home.. the result is a nice sore throat and frozen feet LOL although the view was amazing and i love the rainy sky colours ^^

about my schedule well i will be here till the first week of june then i'll be back to italy for a couple of months before moving to zurich. there will be time even for a bit of holidays, i'm craving for the seaside after the finnish winter ehehehe

i'm happy for i'm going to spend some few days with the man right before flying home.. and then i will be back to italian food yay!
i already have the topic for my next update.. this week i re discovered my passion for fresh goat cheese, specially spread on dark chocolate.. mmh mh ^^

btw yesterday, crying for the chili, i did some quick search about capsaicin.. i knew something about but i never checked out deep the scoville scale thing O_o i also knew that the habanero chile is one of the hottest but i didnt know i bought exactly the red savina kind LOL oh well, i still have 2 of them to eat tomorrow..

veggie sandwiches

2008-05-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

this week i got some wondrous zucchini, so here they are my last dinner sandwiches!

yesterday i had this sauteed zucchini + sundried tomatoes and goat cheese sandwich. the bread is a mixed cereals finnish bread i like a lot.. not sure which cereals are though LOL

this evening i rather cut zucchini in stripes and sauteed them with some black pepper and fresh basil, adding some water to keep them light and soft. then i spread the zucchini on cereals bread and simply topped with chopped fresh habanero red chili (yea it was hot to tears eheheh) and minced toasted&salted cashew nuts. believe me, it comes out an awesome sandwich :)

risotto and sundried tomatoes

2008-05-06T10:48:00.001-07:00

i'm really fond of sundried tomatoes.. specially if preserved without salt (i like a lot those too but sometimes there's so much of it you lose the sense of taste for a while ehehehe) i also love to make a rough red pesto with them, fresh basil and and pine seeds.. luscious :)

anyway, this evening i decided i was going to have some in my risotto. last time i visited home back in italy, i brought some (well let's say a lot of) sundried tomatoes of my fav kind.. no salt no oil just them in their delicious delight, a cheerful outburst of summery taste filled with sunlight sensations.. their look makes me think of scorched summer afternoons in deep south of italy, thing that i actually enjoy a lot ^^

so here it is.. first of all i prepared some stock with a bit of stock cube (yep i do that sometimes even if i dont like it too much, but i cant make my own beef stock just for a dish of risotto eheheh) chopped carrots and fresh tomatoes. i made a tasty soffritto with butter, strips of dried tomatoes and chopped shallot. then i toasted the rice in it and poured a little bit of white wine from sicily, when that' was evaporated i started to pour some spoons of stock and kept on stirring.
i added some minced fresh basil at the end, as well as a bit of butter. the result was amazing, specially to be just last minute culinary improvisation.. i was kinda impressed by myself LOL

the egg matter

2008-05-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

there you are.. i cant make eggs properly.

when i was a child i despised eggs with all my forces.. the only eggish thing i could bear (and actually loved) was fresh yolk, hand-whipped by grandma with a bit of sugar till it got very light and soft. i still love that. now i like eggs in general and i find them a wondrous ingredient for a brunch.. i'm good at making anything sweet that implies eggs, but dont ask me to make some salty recipe. i cant even make proper scrumbled eggs. the taste is usually anyway good but they just look horribly :D

so this is what i managed to make for dinner, a bunch of chicken bits, apparently scrumbled eggs and brussels sprouts.. i whipped the eggs with a bit of sugar and black pepper because i like the odd contrast between sweet and the slightly bitter taste of the sprouts :)

sort of spring roll

2008-05-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

so.. i bought this wonderful round sheets of phyllo. i looked for them for a while, it seems here frozen phyllo is not that widespread, so i go with this version.
i was so excited that i finally could put my paws on it, that once at home i didnt use it for any of the recipes i wished to try.. i made some improvised spring rolls instead :) the filling is made with sauteed chicken bits, brussels sprouts and fresh chili, some fresh basil leaves to top.

cappuccino foam

2008-04-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

sometimes my cappuccino maker honors me producing a real cappuccino with a huge amount of milk foam on it :D i had some toasted bread slices, spread with butter and some kind of berries jam i love coffee+milk and i really like cappuccino..

it's hard to find a good one outside italy though. when i enter some coffee shops abroad i get dizzy just reading all those odd names of coffee drinks.. i despise them. i never recall what's the difference between a big latte, a caffè mocha and double cafè au lait.. all these words in italian and french, languages that i do speak properly but it seems not enough to get the point in front of a drinks menu O_o i'm awfully curious to find out how orange mocha frappuccino tastes like.. or maybe not. dont get me wrong, i like to mix coffee with something else.. as i said milk and sometimes i put a piece of dark chocolate on the bottom of the cup before pouring hot coffee.. but i need a sound limit to this absurd coffee drinks deviation, call me a coffee snob if you want ^^

pumpkin days

2008-04-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

i'm a big fan of the pumpkin.

this week i've been sick with a bad flu and some few days ago i was wandering like a lost kid in the supermarket when i saw IT. a big chunk of orangish pumpkin was winking at me in the vegetables department.. it suddenly reminded me of pumpkin and rice thick winter soups, kinda warming childhood memory.. i couldnt help putting my paws on it :D

i've always liked this vegetable (or fruit, to be botanic) and its versatility..

i'm fascinated by the shades of orange and yellow it displays and the variated cooking uses it is suitable for.

i also remember eating the seeds like a parrot.. grandma has a nice vegetable garden and in the right period we've always had a good provision of fresh, not GMO, old school pumpkins ^^

too bad said chunk was pretty BIG.

result: in the last days i've been eating pumpkin in all the thinkable ways. i even made a rough chutney to slam on my white bread as take away sandwich for lunch.

of course i made the pumpkin and rice soup, taking care to make very thick it was almost risotto-like :D i also made a tasty, buttery pumpkin sauce to top my beloved angel hair pasta.. and i must admit it was simply amazing ehehehe

the luxury curd

2008-04-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

well since it seems i cant keep a blog properly, i'll make it a bit different :) sometimes i would like to update with some writings, but then i think it's not something i would put on the net because it's just my opinions or maybe it's something i wrote for some friends.. moreover lately i cook improvising quite often and i should write down all the recipes. i've also been pretty busy in the past weeks and in the evening i've been too tired to sit down and think of an interesting blog entry, then write it, complete it with some nice pic and so on.

so for the moment my blog is going to turn into a photo report of what i make everyday, it will be quicker for me to update and will satisfy my food photography mania :D

i'll start with my sunday brunch.. small potato scones with luxury lemon curd and fresh cheese spread on them! i really love lemon curd and imo the best one is the the english provender co. luxury lemon curd.. i tried some others but they were too sweet or not creamy enough for me ^^

the first time i made them i followed a recipe of scottish scones i found on the net.. but then i noticed it was easier for me to measure ingredients just with a look, according to the kind of potato and such. anyway, here is the original recipe.

65g wheat flour
3tbsp melted butter
225g mashed potatoes
1/2 tsp salt

boil and mash the potatoes, add butter and salt. add in enough flour to make it a pliable dough. roll the dough on a floured surface and cut into circles, then into quarters.
prick all over with a fork and cook in a lightly greased pan. cook each side for about 3min or till golden brown. be careful not to burn the outside.

btw this is what i had for dinner yesterday.. hazelnut and bread crumbs coated veal sauteed with sliced potatoes :)

carpets and cookies

2008-02-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

well today i threw my 2 ikea carpets in the washing machine, same exact way i did the last 4 times.. i wonder why the bright yellow one this time came like this O_o
i suppose now i prefer to have green bubbly carpets in my bathroom LOL

i'd like to thank all those who sent me some valentine.. i'm way too bad at festivities but i appreciate when friends spend a thought and some nice words for me :)

this evening headache finally left me! in the last days i was out a lot and this very windy and moist weather slaps my sinuses and make me feel like i've been hit in the skull with a shovel :P

i made these wondrous cookies today.. it was an experiment but it turned out definitely good! so here is the recipe :D they're quite quick to make and the result has been appreciated by those who ate them today.. i guess it's the magic of coffee + chocolate ^^

coffee and almond cookies (makes 20)

1/2cup softened butter
1/4cup powdered sugar
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla or hazelnut flavor
1cupflour
1/2cup ground almonds
1tbsp ground coffee
1tbsp ground dark chocolate

preheat oven at 165°C

beat butter, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl with a mixer until combined. beat in vanilla flavor and ground coffee. stir in flour, ground almonds and chocolate.
shape dough into small balls and slightly flatten them. place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven for about 15min. let cookies cool on wire racks.

update i tried in vain to post on my website :)

2008-02-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

i know i know it's been way too long from last one.. but first i had some matters with the domain (or whatever, i get a half of these things LOL) then i've been pretty busy here (yep sounds incredible but sometimes i do have something to do up here ehehehe) btw i'll try to update quickly about what i've been doing then i'll hopefully manage to upload some new recipes (ah i forgot to say my external hd fucked up with all my html files in it ò_O ergo i have to retype the few recipes i had "queued" to upload :)

talking about food, as always i've made some sweet stuff :D i got a wondrous magazine all about cookie recipes and these dark choco dipped cocoa-coffee stars are my fav atm :)

this apple and cinnamon tart was just an experiment.. no precise doses but some good luck it seems, it was just luscious :D i've also been trying some chip cookie recipes, i'm very fond of buttery chip cookies but i seem to never find a good one.. they're never buttery enough and they always look ugly, whatever i mix ehehehe

i made tiramisu several times LOL this firmly keeps on being my fav dessert ever so i cant resist more than 3weeks without making at least a couple of glasses of it, better if it's a tin ^^

of course i dont live of sweet food only.. so sometimes i find myself making some delicious sandwitch :)

i also tasted some strange (tropical?) fruit.. here you find such kind of fruits quite often and i'd never seen some of them before O_o here a cut dragon fruit or pitaya i guess it was the funniest one..

nothing to remember about the taste though :P

and last but not the least, the fruit monster, the fruity anemone, the uncutable beast *drum rolls* the legendary pomelo :D myth narrates it's a sort of chinese grapefruit.. we think it's a scary giant mix between a mandarin and a pomegranate LOL

it came a bit long and all about food O_o so for the moment i'm done, but i'll update with some of the pics mom and sis took around here last week and some other stuff i've been doing lately :)

first post!

2008-02-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

here i am! i'm still struggling with my website.. there are some few matters i havent been able to solve about it yet so i cant update it for the moment :P anyway i hope i'll manage to asap!

let's see if i can be steady at least on updating this blog :D