Today I want to share with you one of my favourite recipes. Well, it is actually a double recipe as I am going to show you how to make Trofie from scratch with a tutorial AND how to make a delicious, very simple and light walnut sauce to serve them with. Trofie are my absolute…
Archives for July 2012
MINI CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES
I love cheesecake… who doesn’t? I have made my share of no-bake cheesecakes, but to tell you the truth, I still have to make a baked cheesecake at home. Don’t ask me why, but baking a cheesecake always intimidated me. After making these little gems though, I think I am going to have to bake myself…
CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA SHARK MINI CUPCAKES
I made these mini cupcakes for Victoria’s 5th birthday party. The theme was The Little Mermaid and the sea, so I decided to make the icing blue, like the sea. I decorated them with some shark fins made out of chocolate. As I had already made many sweets for the party, I kept the flavours of…
SWEET SUSHI
I have been wanting to make sweet sushi for a while now! I always thought that it looked great. My daughter’s birthday party was the perfect occasion as it was a “sea themed” party. I have to say that this was probably the most successful dish of the buffet as it did look quite real and impressive,…
SEA MARSHMALLOW POPS
Organising a little girl’s birthday party can be lots of fun… but it also requires a bit of research. Especially when the little one has a clear idea of what she wants (and she’s only 5!). The theme HAD to be The Little Mermaid. So I started looking around the web for ideas (thank you…
SOFT PRETZEL BITES
And it is time again for the “Secret recipe club” reveal! I am sure you all know what the club is about, but for the few of you who still don’t know about it, here goes a brief explanation. Each month you are assigned a participating food blogger to make a recipe from and in…
THE LITTLE MERMAID FONDANT CAKE
As I am sure you have noticed, my eldest daughter loves The Little Mermaid so she requested an “Ariel cake” for her 5th birthday party. I must admit, I was a bit worried about it as making a human form out of fondant is not as easy as making an animal… in fact, it could…
VICTORIA’S 5TH BIRTHDAY
On the 16th my eldest daughter turned 5 and I have been quite busy organising her birthday parties. She celebrated in school with her friends on the 16th itself and I made her a Little Mermaid Yogurt Cake to take along and some Flounder Shortbread Cookie Pops to give as party favors. When she came…
MASALA DOSA
The first time I ate a masala dosa I was still quite new to Indian food. I think it was the second Indian dish I had ever had (the first being tandoori chicken) and I loved it so much that it quickly became one of my favourite take-away dishes. More than 10 years have passed…
DOSA AND COCONUT CHUTNEY
Over the next couple of days I am going to share with you some South Indian recipes. Today I will show you how to make a “basic” dosa from scratch. Dosas are very thin and crispy crêpes, made from a fermented batter of blended lentils and rice. They are delicious and I can never get…
FLOUNDER SHORTBREAD COOKIE POPS
As I have written in my previous post, yesterday was my eldest daughter’s 5th birthday. She had a small celebration with her friends at school and I made her a Little Mermaid yogurt cake to take with her. You may remember that last year I had made Hello Kitty cake pops to give to her…
THE LITTLE MERMAID YOGURT CAKE
Today is my eldest daughter’s 5th birthday. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 years since I first held her in my arms… she was so small! And now she’s growing to be a beautiful and sweet girl. I will be very busy in the next few days as we will be celebrating her birthday…
FRUIT SALAD EN PAPILLOTE – MACEDONIA AL CARTOCCIO
Our July 2012 Daring Cooks’ host was Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie! Sarah challenges us to learn a new cooking technique called “Cooking En Papillote” which is French and translates to “cooking in parchment”. As I already said in my Baked Feta post (the first of the recipes I created this month), I was really…
BAKED FETA
After hosting the June 2012 Daring Cooks’ challenge and making a few batches of Cannelloni, I was even more curious to see what this month’s challenge would be! I must admit, I had never thought about what goes “behind the scenes” of one of these challenges, but after hosting one I can tell you… it’s a…
CAVATELLI CON RAGÙ DI MAIALE
Today’s Regional Italian dish comes from the small region of Molise, in the South of Italy (though, to be precise, the same dish with small variations is widespread in many other Southern regions, like Puglia or Campania or Basilicata). Molise is a small but beautiful region, famous for its pasta and extra virgin olive oil. …
MANGO AND PASSION FRUIT MACARONS
And here it goes… another way to use that delicious Passion fruit Curd you have in the fridge! I have made my share of macarons in the last few months, but this was the first time I filled them with a fruit based curd. I can tell you one thing: I loved them, and I…
PASSION FRUIT CURD
I have to decided to set out on a mission: try and find out as many passion fruit based dishes as possible… and then cook them! Hehehehe After posting my Passion fruit and Coconut Crème Brûlée a little while ago, today I am going to share with you the recipe for a delicious Passion fruit…
BABY SHOWER SHORTBREAD COOKIES
I made these shortbread cookies for a friend’s baby shower. Her baby (a girl!) is due anytime when I write this and we can’t wait to welcome her in our little circle of friends. The baby shower colours were pink and yellow, so I decided to make some ducks, some baby clothes and bottles in…
FALSOMAGRO
When I think of Sunday lunches as a child, I think of this dish. I guess you could say this was our family’s equivalent of a Sunday roast. My mum would often prepare this when we had friends over and it has always been one of my all time favourite meat dishes. When I moved…
PUMPKIN GNOCCHI WITH BUTTER AND SAGE
I love making flavoured gnocchi and these pumpkin gnocchi are particularly tasty. They are actually made with a mix of potatoes and pumpkin, so they are as soft and pillowy as potato gnocchi, with a hint of pumpkin flavour and colour. Don’t they look beautiful? I like to make these especially in autumn/winter when pumpkins…
CHICKEN SALAD
I must admit that I had my very first chicken salad when I visited the USA in 1997. Yes… quite late in life (well, I am not THAT old, but the point is, it is not a dish I grew up eating!). I am not sure why, but it is not something my family would…
WHOLE WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD
I know I have said this before… but before I started bogging I do not recall baking bread at home. My husband and I do not eat a lot of bread (I am very “un-Italian” in this aspect) and I always thought that baking bread at home was too complicated and not worth it. My…