Carpaccio is a dish of thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a salad and a vinaigrette or a sauce. The beef version is one of my favourite appetisers. Carpaccio was invented in the 1950s by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry’s Bar in Venice and it soon became very popular throughout Italy. He named it…
Pasta with Baby Eggplants
Finally I am back with another pasta recipe! This Pasta with Baby Eggplants is a dish my grandmother used to make in Sicily. I have always loved it… it’s very easy to make and whenever I find baby eggplants at the grocer, I always buy them to make this pasta. What sets this sauce aside…
Blueberry Lavender Syrup
I love today’s recipe. I am a huge fan of using edible flowers in cooking, especially in desserts and this Blueberry Lavender Syrup is a must-try recipe. It is very easy to make and the lavender adds a special touch to the (already delicious) blueberry syrup. Besides, I love how versatile this syrup is. You…
Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry
Sweet and Sour anything is my favourite Chinese dish. In fact, I really love my Sweet and Sour pork fritters and the other day I was severely craving them. The fact is that, after having my gallbladder removed, I am trying to avoid deep fried food (at least for the time being ;-)). That’s when…
Chicken Tonnato Wrap
If you follow my blog, you will know that I have recently been operated to remove my gallbladder, as I had gallstones. In the weeks before the surgery, I had to follow a strictly low-fat (fat-free, really!) diet. This Chicken Tonnato Wrap was one of my favourite lunches. It was filling, healthy and satisfying. I…
Turkey Eggplant Caviar Lettuce Wrap
If you follow my blog, you will know that I have recently been operated to remove my gallbladder, as I had gallstones. In the weeks leading to the surgery, I had to follow a strictly low-fat diet. As such, I had to come up with alternatives for my meals that included no more than 2…
Eggplant Caviar
Eggplant is one of my favourite ingredients when it comes to make anything with vegetables. It is a very common ingredient in Italian cooking, especially in the south where it is present at almost every meals during the summer months, when eggplant is at its best. Today I will share with you a recipe for…
Shredded Chicken Salad with Ranch Dressing
It must be quite hot up in the Northern hemisphere. It’s the middle of winter here in Australia, but as it never really gets “cold” (not the cold I am used to anyway), I still like to have salads, especially for lunch. Today’s salad is a very easy one and it uses leftover chicken. I…
Monica Sandwich
Today’s recipe makes me a little emotional, as it brings back lots of memories from my teen age years. We used to have a cafe in our high school from where we could purchase food and drinks and one of my favourite sandwiches was called “Monica”… I think it was named after the girl who…
Chicken Scaloppine with Gorgonzola
Today’s recipe is a classic of Italian cuisine and one of my all time favourite dishes: Chicken Scaloppine with Gorgonzola. I absolutely adore Gorgonzola, so I love anything made with it! What are scaloppine (please not the spelling as I have seen it spelt in all sorts of ways on the Internet!)? They are thin…
Home-made Ranch Dressing
I must confess that I had never heard of Ranch Dressing before I started blogging. It’s definitely not an Italian thing. We use more vinaigrette based condiments for our salads and vegetables, so I never really knew it. After trying it though, I must say that I fell in love with it. I am a…
Salmon Sashimi with Ponzu
I love Salmon Sashimi! In the last couple of years I have learnt to really appreciate Japanese food. Even more so after our trip to Japan last year, where I learnt that Japanese food is so much more than what the majority of people who live abroad think it is.
Fiordilatte Gelato #SundaySupper
Welcome to this week’s #SundaySupper event! This Sunday the #SundaySupper team has organised an Italian Fest! Being Italian, when the Italian theme was announced, I knew I had to host it. This is the first #SundaySupper event I host and I am really excited, especially since it will be showcasing some amazing Italian food! I am very excited about today’s recipe…
Orange Caramel Sauce
Who doesn’t like a gooey, sticky, decadent caramel sauce?? I am a huge fan of caramel anything and this Orange Caramel Sauce has quickly become my favourite sauce! It’s sweet, slightly tangy, salty, bitter… all at the same time. The flavour is so intense and complex that it is really hard to explain… you just…
Cajun Burgers
With both the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras around the corner, how about putting some cajun spice into your life? As you know, I love to come up with different combinations of flavours for burgers and this recipe is an absolute keeper. Remember I shared my home-made recipe for Cajun Seasoning in my last post?…
Spiced Potato Wedges with Easy Sweet Chilli Sauce
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…
Home-made Mustard
For the month of December Jenni from The Gingered Whisk challenged us to make our own condiments. Ketchup, Mayo, hot sauce… nothing is too challenging for the daring cooks. Ah condiments! Growing up in Italy, I never really used/ate any of them, apart from Mayo and Ketchup. They are not really part of Italian cuisine, but…
Sticky Chinese 5 Spice Wings
You can never have enough chicken wings recipes! That’s one of my favourite mottos. They are great for entertaining and for footy night and I am yet to meet someone who doesn’t like them. Today’s recipe is delicious: sticky, sweet, spicy, tangy and hearty thanks to the Chinese 5 Spice Mix. These wings are baked…
Parma Burger
My kids love burgers, so in an attempt to keep their meals as healthy as possible, I usually make them at home. I always make my own beef patties as I like to play around with flavours and these Parma Burgers were an instant hit. These burgers have an Italian twist. The patties are made…
Troccoli with Nonna’s Pork Ragu
Today’s recipe is very dear to me. It was my grandmother Maria’s speciality and, as I have recently shared my guide on Palermo, I thought it would be the right time for me to share this recipe, that has been sitting in my archives for a little while now. I learnt how to make this…
Home-made Ketchup
And here I am with another one of my DIY projects. Only, this one is really easy. Did you know that making ketchup at home only took 20 minutes? And it is as easy as stirring all the ingredients together and put the pot on the stove. That’s it. It probably takes longer for it…
Bruschetta with Eggplant and Matarocco
With summer just around the corner, ML Spell from Dry Spell invited us to play with fire! She challenged us to make some mouthwatering eats on the grill for the June daring cooks challenge. Well, as you are probably aware, I live in Australia and even though the weather is usually not extremely cold,…
Salmon Confit with Aioli
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…
Tsukune
I am back in Sydney, after a few weeks travelling around Japan and Italy! Hopefully you have followed my adventures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! I had an amazing time, visiting beautiful places, meeting family and friends and tasting awesome food! I will be sharing some of these adventures and photos in the next few…
Mahi Mahi with Caponata Sauce
I just came back from a wonderful week in Sicily, filled with emotions, as I got to spend time with some relatives and friends I hadn’t seen in 7 years and I got to show my kids places filled with childhood memories that they had never seen before! And to celebrate this moment, today I…
Gyoza
I love potstickers and Japanese Gyoza – 餃子(ぎょうざ) are my absolute favourite! I love the crunchy skin and the soft and tasty filling.
Ful Medames
I made this dish for the Middle Eastern breakfast we were asked to prepare for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge. Ful Medames is an Egyptian dish made with cooked and mashed fava beans, tomatoes, tahini, lemon juice, fresh coriander leaves, spring onions and extra virgin olive oil. It is a staple meal in Egypt, but…