I must admit that I do not watch many cooking shows on TV, but I do watch MasterChef. I don’t particularly like reality shows, but I have actually learnt a couple of things from it. Remember when I tried my hands at making Hot Tea Smoked Salmon? MasterChef had inspired me to give it a…
Cherry Tomato Tarte Tatin
Tarte Tatins are among my favourite tarts… and I like them both sweet and savoury. The reason is simple: they obviously taste amazing with that hint of caramel on the top, but they also look a thousand bucks. Shiny, luscious and plain scrumptious. I have already shared the recipe for one of my favourites: Red…
Pain au Chocolat
Last year I shared with you the recipes for how to make the perfect French Croissants and Pain aux Raisins. Well… today I am back to show you how to make the missing item to have on a French breakfast table: Pain au Chocolat, my kids’ favourite! I made these when I made croissants and pain…
Lavender Sugar
I love the smell and taste of lavender. It reminds me of when I used to travel to the south of France with my parents. One of our favourite spots was Aix-en-Provence. We always stopped at the morning markets to buy beautiful bunches of lavender, hand-made lavender soap and all sorts of lavender perfumed items. …
Porcini Mushroom Vol au Vents
Vol au Vents, although originally from France, are widely used in Italy and even though they were probably more in fashion a few years ago, they are still often found on buffet tables and finger food dinners. I really like them. There is nothing better than biting into a crispy and flaky shell of puff…
Passion fruit Béarnaise Sauce
This month, the Daring Cooks got a little saucy! Jenni from the Gingered Whisk taught us the basics of how to make the five mother-sauces and encouraged us to get creative with them, creating a wide variety of delicious, fresh sauces in our very own kitchens. I was really thrilled by this challenge! I make some sauces…
Poire Belle Helene
Today’s recipe is a dessert: Poire belle Hélène is a beautiful looking treat made up of vanilla poached pears, served with a warm chocolate sauce, whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream) and toasted almonds. Need I say more? I personally love it. I think pear and chocolate, just like orange and chocolate, is a match…
Salted Caramel Gelato #SundaySupper
This week the Sunday Supper team is sharing recipes for food that is served cold… as the majority of the group is based in the Northern hemisphere and it is a hot summer up there at the moment. It has actually been quite cold down here lately. I do not mind it one bit though, as…
Smoked Salmon Mille-Feuille
A little while ago I have shown you how to make puff pastry at home and how to make a beautiful Mille-feuille with it. So, you should already have a recipe for the classic vanilla custard flavoured Mille-feuille. Today I want to share with you a savoury recipe. You could say it is my take on a…
Verrine Fraicheur
Today’s dish is a very quick recipe. Going through my Visual Archive, I have realised that I do not have many breakfast recipes on the blog. I guess the main reason is because Italians are not big on breakfast. In fact, we mostly have coffee (or cappuccino) and a croissant or cookies. I personally just…
Ficelle Picarde
Today I want to take you to France with a traditional dish: Ficelle Picarde. It is a dish from Picardy in northern France, consisting of a savoury crêpe filled with mushrooms and ham, covered with either cream or béchamel sauce and cheese and then broiled. It is pure comfort food, something I really need during…
Home-made Aioli
Mmmmm aioli! I love it. It’s a condiment that gained a lot of popularity in recent years, but for the few who still don’t know what it is, aioli (also known as alioli or allioli) is basically a garlic flavoured mayonnaise traditionally made in some areas of France and Spain. Having grown up in Europe, I…
Lime and Coconut Madeleines
Recently I went to a houseware shop, just to look around. But you already guessed it. How can I just “look around” in a shop full (and I mean FULL) of kitchen utensils, gadgets, props of all kinds? In the end, I did buy a few things and among these was a madeleine pan. I…
Orchid and Matcha Macarons
I know I already have a few macarons recipes on the blog like my Salted Caramel Macarons and my Lavender and Jasmine Macarons, but I haven’t shared a new one in a while. Today’s flavour combination is yet another winner: orchid and matcha! Yum! Don’t these macarons sound exotic? They really are. I am sure you…
Mille-Feuille
After showing you how to make your own puff pastry, today I will show you one of the hundreds of recipes that you can make with it: Mille-feuille, also known as Vanilla slice or Napoleon. This is a classic French recipe, that is known all over the world and has been adapted many times over. …
Home-made Puff Pastry
I am very excited about today’s recipe, as I will be showing you how to make puff pastry from scratch! For a while I have been debating whether or not to publish it on a separate post or just add it to my Techniques page where I share other basic dough recipes. The reason is that,…
Olive and Walnut Mini Madeleines
Today I want to share with you the recipe for a great appetiser: mini savoury madeleines made with walnuts and olives. I saw these in an Italian food magazine and I just HAD to make them. Actually, I made these for Christmas and served them as one of our appetisers, with blue cheese and honey. …
Peach Melba
Happy Australia Day to all my fellow Aussies! In honour of our National Holiday, I thought I’d share with you a special dessert: Peach Melba. This delicious and very easy to make dessert of peaches and raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream was invented in the 1890’s by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the…
PAIN AUX RAISINS
Remember that a few months ago I shared with you the recipe of how to make the perfect French Croissants? Well, today I am back with another French breakfast classic: Pain aux Raisins. During my frequent Parisian visits as a child, I would always have pain au chocolat for my breakfast, while my parents would…
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…
CROISSANTS
In a “celebration” of past Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we’d like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try! I must confess I was out-of-this-world-happy with this month’s challenge. And so much so as it…
FIRI FIRI
I am very excited about today’s recipe. During our recent holiday in French Polynesia (Tahiti), we ate some amazing food and we literally fell in love with these doughnut-like sweets. We first bought them at the Papeete Markets and we had no idea that they would become our staple for breakfast during the following 2…
