I am sure you remember that last Christmas my husband got me The Complete Bocuse as a present. It is a huge book full of recipes by Paul Bocuse which I am going to dig into. There are so many dishes I want to try, even more after making his Sole Meunière! It is one…
Archives for July 2013
ZUCCHINI AND BLUE CHEESE SAVOURY PASTRIES
As I wrote in my previous post about the Pizza flavoured Savoury Pastries, Italian birthday parties always have some sort of savoury pastries in the menu. After taking care of the kids with Pizza, I though I should make something more suited for the adults (even though, let me tell you that many of the…
PIZZA FLAVOURED SAVOURY PASTRIES
Italian birthday parties always have some sort of savoury pastries in the menu. I remember my mum buying a huge tray filled with all sorts of what we call “rustici” (small puff pastry parcels filled with different goodies) at our local bakery. I have always had more of a savoury tooth rather than a sweet…
CHOCOLATE ACORNS
I have seen these on Pinterest and I just could not get them out of my mind. I think they look really cute and they fitted in perfectly with my fairy theme for Victoria’s birthday party. I have seen many “recipes” online and they all pretty much use ready made components that get assembled into…
PARMIGIANO REGGIANO COOKIES
I love savoury cookies and I love cheese! I had been wanting to make these cookies for a very long time and I finally got a chance for my daughter’s party! These taste AMAZING… so much better than the cheese crackers you buy! These are made with Parmigiano Reggiano and anything tastes better with the…
SMOKED SALMON AND PROSCIUTTO CRESPELLE SNAILS
For my daughter’s 6th birthday party, I wanted to make a few savoury items as well. As the theme was fairies and nature, I thought of playing around with shapes. My first thought was to make sandwiches and cut them into cute shapes, but then I changed my mind as I wanted something a bit…
LEMON CHEESECAKE BARS
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. It is a great concept… each month you are assigned a participating food blogger to make a…
PIXIE DUST MARSHMALLOW POPS
Pops are always a great idea for kids parties. I love cake pops, but they can be quite time consuming to make and as I was already making quite a bit of time consuming food for Victoria’s 6th birthday party, I decided to go for marshmallow pops instead. They were a great hit at her…
BUTTERFLY CUPCAKES
My eldest daughter requested some cupcakes for her Tinkerbell birthday party. I love cupcakes, I think they are the cutest little things, but I was making a cake covered with fondant, serving marshmallows, chocolate and lots of other sugary items already. The thought of making frosted cupcakes too, was not really appealing to me. I…
TINKERBELL CAKE
My eldest daughter Victoria loves Tinkerbell… she has all 4 movies and watches them endlessly together with her little sister. They sit together on the couch, under a blanket and watch these movies with great pleasure. When the time to choose her birthday cake came, she requested a “Tinky Cake”. I immediately decided to make…
VICTORIA’S 6TH BIRTHDAY
On the 16th my eldest daughter turned 6!!! I cannot believe how fast time flies. Before I had kids, a year seemed to last forever… now it’s finished before I even get used to saying “Victoria is 5”!!! She is turning into a precious little girl and she can look so “grown up” at times……
SHRIKHAND – श्रीखन्ड
The lovely Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler was our July Daring Cooks’ hostess and she asked us to create homemade yogurt in our own kitchens! No incubators needed, no expensive equipment or ingredients, just a few items and we had delicious yogurt for a fraction of the cost and a whole lot…
SPINACH, ROCKET AND STRAWBERRY SALAD WITH STRAWBERRY VINAIGRETTE
I have seen quite a few recipes of salads that include strawberries lately and I was very curious to try one myself. I usually enjoy having fruits in savoury dishes and I think strawberries (and berries in general) make for fantastic savoury ingredients as they are slightly tart and not overly sweet. I have even…
STRAWBERRY BALSAMIC VINEGAR
I love strawberries, always have and always will! I am lucky enough to live in a country where strawberries are in season all year round. It wasn’t like that in Italy, where fresh and sweet strawberries were only available in summer. The great thing about Australia is that it is a huge country with many…
PURPLE GNOCCHI ON A PARMIGIANO REGGIANO FONDUE WITH TOASTED HAZELNUTS AND CRUNCHY SPECK
I love experimenting with pasta and gnocchi. I love the fact that you can make them of many shapes, flavours and colours. I saw these amazing purple Congo potatoes at the market and I could not resist buying them. They are not imported from Congo as they name might suggest, but they are grown in…
MATAROCCO
For this week’s Regional Italian dish I am going to take you back to Sicily. Today’s recipe is really easy and really tasty, it is one of those family recipes that we would always have during our summer holidays. It is hearty and delicious, full of “local” flavours as all the ingredients are easily available in…
RICOTTA CROSTATA
After showing you how easy it is to make “ricotta” at home, I thought I would also show you an additional way to cook with it. I love ricotta, both in sweet and savoury dishes. Sicilians are famous for their ricotta desserts and I must admit I love sweet ricotta. It is lighter (also in…
HOME-MADE RICOTTA
A few months ago, my friend Sawsan from Chef in Disguise challenged the Daring Cooks to make our own cheese. She gave us a few recipes for cheese and at that time I chose to try my hands at making Chèvre. On the side though, I tried to make ricotta as well and I was…
CHERRY CLAFOUTIS
Not too long ago I shared my recipe for Far Breton, a baked custard-like French dessert. I remember saying that it was quite similar to clafoutis, another classic French dessert… so here goes my Cherry Clafoutis recipe, so you can make them both and compare them, if you wish! 🙂 I like them both equally. …