As the last post of the year, I had to share with you a cotechino recipe. That’s because Italians always have at least one slice of cotechino on New Year’s Eve! It’s a tradition that I love to keep alive even down under. I often make my own cotechino (you can find my tutorial and…
Archives for December 2013
JASMINE AND MANGO PANNA COTTA SHOOTERS
These panna cotta shooters are a very elegant and exotic dessert. I believe they would be the perfect dessert for any New Year’s Eve dinner party. When I smell jasmine, I am always brought back in time… you see, in the house I used to spend my summer holidays in Sicily, we had a beautiful…
SMOKED SALMON AND VODKA RISOTTO
Today’s recipe is the perfect dish to make for your New Year’s Eve dinner party: it’s classy and delicious and it is done in 20 minutes! We always have smoked fish during the holidays, both as appetiser and as part of a main dish like this one. I love smoked salmon, and Vodka goes really…
PASTA BAKE – PASTA AL FORNO
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! I hope you are all having a fantastic holiday season, full of laughter and love. I hope you are spending more time with your family and friends and that you take some time to slow down and really savour each moment of this special time of the year. I am blessed as…
TIRAMISÙ
Today I am going to share with you my family’s recipe for one of the most classic Italian desserts: Tiramisù. I still can’t believe that I have been blogging for almost 3 years without publishing my Tiramisù recipe! Especially considering that it is one of my all time favourite desserts! The reasons are many: I…
PROSCIUTTO AND PARMIGIANO REGGIANO GOUGÈRES
I made these Gougères for my daughter’s birthday party and my husband said they were amazing. I really liked them too and I also liked the fact that they can be made in advance and frozen… I am always on the lookout for these kind of recipes when planning parties and get-togethers. I am not very…
MINI CARROT CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
I always make cupcakes for my kids birthday parties as I love how festive they look and kids always devour them! As my youngest daughter’s birthday party was all about Miffy (and bunnies), I thought of making carrot cupcakes in the hope of keeping things on the “healthy side” (well… at least they did have…
PIZZA STICKS
These are addictive! They taste like pizza snacks… I have bought some of the ready made pizza snacks here in Sydney and I must admit that these sticks are even better and, being home-made, you know what you are eating. They are as easy to make as cookies and I am sure that if you…
MANU’S PODCAST – THOUGHTS ON THE TABLE
I am thrilled to announce that today I am a guest on Thoughts on the Table, at my friend Paolo’s Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu! And the biggest news is that it’s a podcast – my first EVER! So, if you are curious to know what we sound like… head over to…
COFFEE AND VANILLA LIQUEUR
Like every year, I made some edible gifts to give my friends for Christmas. Last year, I had successfully made some Bailey’s Irish Cream, so this time I wanted to experiment with other flavoured liqueurs. I love Kahlua, so I thought I would try that. I found lots of recipes and in the end I…
CABBAGE ROLLS
November’s Daring Cooks’ Challenge had us on a roll! Olga from Effortless Lessly challenged us to make stuffed cabbage rolls using her Ukrainian heritage to inspire us. Filled with meat, fish or vegetables, flexibility and creativity were the name of the game to get us rolling! This was the first Daring Cooks challenge I took…
MIFFY CHOCOLATE COOKIES
I made these cookies for my daughter’s 4th birthday party. If you follow this blog, you will already know that the theme was Miffy, the little bunny. I made some Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, some Miffys/Bunny Marshmallow Pops, a Miffy Cake and these cookies. They were quite successful and they were all gone…
SUN DRIED TOMATO PALMIERS
Palmiers, also known as Elephant Ears, are usually sweet pastries, but I love little savoury treats for parties… they are the ones I usually turn to, since I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. These were no exception: yummy and very easy to make. And they also looked quite pretty, which doesn’t hurt, especially…
MIFFY MARSHMALLOW POPS
I love making marshmallow pops for my girls’ birthday parties. They are very fast to make, fun and versatile: you can make almost anything out of marshmallows (check out my Sea Marshmallow Pops and my Pixie Dust Marshmallow Pops). What I like the most though, is the fact that they are easy and quick to make…
MIFFY CAKE
My little Georgia loves Miffy. She has had a Miffy doll since she ws very little and has never separated from it. She sleeps with it and takes it everywhere she goes… it even came with us to Tahiti! So when I asked her what cake she wanted for her 4th birthday party she had…
GEORGIA’S 4TH BIRTHDAY
On the 1st my youngest daughter turned 4! If you read this blog regularly, you will know that my family has been hit by a bout of flu that put my husband and daughters in bed for a week. We had planned Georgia’s birthday party for the 1st of December. Her nonni were meant to…
MURUKKU – CHAKALI
Today I will share with you the recipe for an Indian savoury snack that is always eaten for Diwali, but that we also like to eat during the rest of the year at tea time: murukku – முறுக்கு (also known as chakali or chakli). Murukku is a Tamilian word that means “twisted” and even though these…
CHAI
Today is the time to share the recipe for one of the most comforting beverages ever: Indian chai. I see all kinds of chai drinks around and it’s become quite a fashionable drink… so much so that it’s often not the original Indian chai any more and it can get quite confusing. So, what is…
CHAI MASALA
You probably don’t know this, but my family has been hit by a brutal bout of flu… the kind that gives you 104F fever. It is so irritating as it is summer here and it’s really not the time you would want to catch the flu (if ever there is a time!). Also, both my…
