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…
WATERMELON GELATO
Today, for my Regional Italian dish series, I am going to take you all back to Sicily with the perfect summer recipe. I know, I know… it’s winter down here and it’s also been quite cold lately, but my family and friends are enjoying summer in Europe, so I thought of publishing this today. I…
CRESCENTINE – TIGELLE
For this week’s Regional Italian recipe, I want to take you to the region of Emilia-Romagna, a culinary heaven. Suffice it to say that it is the region where Balsamic Vinegar, Mortadella, Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano are produced… just to mention a few of the amazing delicacies that this region is famous for. …
Kothey Momo (Pan-Fried Dumplings)
Ready to upgrade your dinner? Kothey Momo brings together crisp bottoms, soft dough, and juicy filling in one perfect bite that’s simple to prepare and always worth the effort. I first tried Kothey Momo at a Nepalese restaurant and loved them from the first bite. My version uses pork and ginger to give the filling…
CASSATELLE TRAPANESI – CASSATEDDI TRAPANISI
Today’s recipe is another one of my Sicilian recipes. Cassatelle (or cassateddi in Sicilian) are sweets typical of the town of Trapani, where my mum was born. They are usually eaten in winter and spring, which is when the fresh local ricotta cheese is at its best. They are traditionally made with sheep milk ricotta,…
FRIED CALAMARI
I know I haven’t posted enough seafood recipes!! So today I will try and remedy that. Have you ever eaten fried calamari rings at your local Fish and Chips eatery? Well, forget about it as today I will show you how easy and quick it is to make them at home. Besides, when buying your…
PROSCIUTTO, ROCKET AND GRANA CHEESE PIZZA
My husband adores pizza… so, to please him (and the kids!), I usually make pizza on Sunday evening. Home made pizza can be quite healthy, depending on the toppings you use and it is quite common in Italian houses to make pizza once a week. While my husband enjoys his pizza with salami, I like…
SALAME COTTO
For the January-February 2013 Daring Cooks’ Challenge, Carol, one of our talented non-blogging members and Jenni, one of our talented bloggers who writes The Gingered Whisk, have challenged us to make homemade sausage and/or cured, dried meats in celebration of the release of the book Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing by Michael Ruhlman…
MEAT FILLED APULIAN PANZEROTTI
I cannot believe it’s Carnevale time already! Didn’t we celebrate Christmas just the other day?? Anyhow, today’s recipe had to be related to this amazing festivity, which also happens to be the one I like the most. I soooo miss Carnevale… back in Italy we all dress up in masks and go around playing tricks and having…
PASTEIS DE BACALHAU
When I was 18 I went on holiday to Portugal with my parents. It was one of the best trips I took as a child and one I will never forget. We flew to Lisbon, rented a car and drove around the country… in spring. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue! …
HONEY CHICKEN
I must admit I had never eaten honey chicken before moving to Australia. I do not recall seeing it on the menu of any Chinese restaurants in Milano and I am not even sure whether it is an original Chinese dish. All I know is that I was hooked to it from the first time…
ITALIAN STYLE HOT CHOCOLATE WITH WHIPPED CREAM
Italian winters can be really cold. I miss the short days, cosy evenings and heart warming food that we used to have during those cold months. The truth is, it never gets that cold here. One of the special treats we would have in winter was hot chocolate. The Italian hot chocolate is creamy, thick and sinful. …
JALEBI – जलेबी
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Diwali (दिवाली), the “festival of lights”, a 5-day Indian festival that celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. Light is the symbol of the celebrations, so much so that many candles and oil lanterns are lit during the 5 days of the festival. Another very important…
PIZZETTE
Today I am going to share with you another piece of my childhood. I don’t remember ever attending a birthday party as a child where there was no focaccia and/or pizzette as part of the buffet. Usually you can buy these little pizze (pizzette actually means “little pizze”) at any bakery and kids love them. …
BAKED EMPANADAS
Today’s recipe is not Italian as you may have guessed. Empanadas are a South American delicacy and are very popular in many countries. I have actually learnt that there are many different kinds of empanadas, many different fillings and doughs and different ways of cooking them too! I guess it is one of those dishes…
GRANITA AL CAFFÈ CON PANNA
I am very excited about sharing today’s Regional Italian recipe. You can easily guess that this week’s region is Sicily… granite (plural for granita) are the quintessential Sicilian breakfast, especially in summer. There are so many flavours, it is hard to choose only one when you sit at one of the local cafés… my favourite…
FOCACCIA AL POMODORO – CHERRY TOMATO FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe, the recipe for Focaccia with Olives and the one for Onion Focaccia, today I am going to post the recipe for another one of my favourites: Focaccia al pomodoro (aka cherry tomato focaccia)! I remember as a child going to the baker right after school and buying a piece…
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,…
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…
PAPRI CHAAT
So, here you have it! Today I am sharing with you the recipe of our favourite Indian chaat: papri chaat. As I wrote in my post on Sev, chaats are snacks served with chutneys (typically Hari chutney and Tamarind chutney) and spices. It is a very common street food that is sold from carts all…
SEV
I always talk about our favourite Indian restaurant in Sydney (Abhi’s), but there is another place that we love to go to. It is called Billu’s Indian Eatery and we like to go there on weekends when they serve some of the food we enjoy the most: Indian street food. They have some of the best…
MUSHROOM AND ASIAGO CALZONI
The other day I had some Asiago cheese left in the fridge and while trying to figure out what to do with it, I stumbled upon this recipe. I also happened to have all the other ingredients, so I thought of trying it out for dinner. It was really tasty! I loved the contrasting flavours…
SOPAIPILLAS CON PEBRE Y PASADAS
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…
ROSE LASSI
Today is Mother’s Day!!! I will be celebrating this special occasion with my family and we will have lunch at our favourite Indian restaurant, Abhi’s Indian Restaurant about which I wrote a review a few months ago. One thing that we will surely have is lassi. My girls LOVE mango lassi and that’s the thing they…
AUSSIE BURGER WITH “THE LOT”
Today I am going to share with you the recipe of what is known as “Aussie burger with the lot”. The reason for the name is evident: this isn’t your everyday cheese burger… it is made up of A LOT of goodies! And it is irresistible! What’s not to love about a sandwich filled with…
BRIOCHE BURGER BUNS
I made these buns to serve with the Aussie Burgers I prepared for my “Come have some Aussie tucker, mate!” event that I organised as part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 program. They were sensational! Soft and brioche-like… just like a burger bun should be. You can see what I mean from the pictures below… the dough…









































