Did you know that making your own Green Olive Tapenade is really easy? Keep reading to find out how!
Black Olive Tapenade
Black Olive Tapenade is a Provençal dish consisting of puréed olives, herbs and olive oil. It is a popular condiment in the south of France, where it is generally eaten as an appetiser, spread on bread. Maybe not everyone knows though, that olive based tapenades are very common in Italian cuisine and trace back to…
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. …
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…
OMELETTE TAHITIENNE
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…
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. …
SOLE MEUNIÈRE
Maybe not everyone knows this, but there is quite a bit of “rivalry” between Italy and France. We call them “our transalpine cousins”, but the truth is there is a lot of competition going on… and not only about soccer! Who has the best wine? Or cheese? Which cuisine is best? French people will tell…
FAR BRETON
Today I want to share with you the recipe of a French dessert: Far Breton. As you can easily guess from the name, it is a traditional cake from Brittany and it is quite similar to a clafoutis as it is an egg-and-milk custard with flour added. It is usually made plain, with raisins or…
TRUFFLE HONEY & VANILLA CRÈME BRÛLÉE
A little while ago, my husband and I went out to have dinner at a delightful restaurant called Chophouse. We ate really well and I was particularly impressed by their Wagyu Tartare with truffle aioli, pear, pine nuts & white soy dressing and by their Wagyu Striploin with harissa… divine! Also, I was pleasantly surprised…
MARRONS GLACÉS
Whenever I think of marrons glacés, I think of Christmas. They are not Italian, as you would have guessed by the name, but these delicious little chestnut sweets are a very common treat at Christmas time in Italy. I am big fan of chestnuts in general and I really enjoy chestnut sweets of all kind,…
CHESTNUT RUM MOUSSE
Yesterday I showed you how easy it is to make your own Chestnut and Vanilla Cream… now that you have such a yummy treat in your fridge, how about making something else with it, if you haven’t finished it off the spoon yet, that is! Desserts in a glass are my kind of treat and…
CHESTNUT AND VANILLA CREAM – CRÈME DE MARRONS VANILLÉE
Chestnuts remind me of winter in Italy. When it’s cold (and it does get quite cold in Milan), you can buy hot roasted chestnuts from street carts to warm you up. The smell of roasted chestnuts always makes me think of Christmas and cozy winter evenings. I soooo love them! When they are in season,…
QUICHE LORRAINE
Today I am going to share the recipe for a Quiche Lorraine. I am saying A Quiche Lorraine because there are many variations of this classic French dish and I am not claiming this to be THE traditional one. Actually, it looks like the original Quiche Lorraine did not have any milk or cheese in…
CRÈME BRÛLÉE
Today I want to share with you the recipe of a popular French dessert: crème brûlée. It is one of those dishes that should be in every food lover cookbook as it is a classic, simple yet sophisticated dish that pleases everyone. I personally love it and it is one of my husband’s weaknesses. I…
MANGO AND PASSION FRUIT MACARONS
And here it goes… another way to use that delicious Passion fruit Curd you have in the fridge! I have made my share of macarons in the last few months, but this was the first time I filled them with a fruit based curd. I can tell you one thing: I loved them, and I…
GÂTEAU BRETON
Bretagne is the area of France I love the most (together with Provence). I went there only once, as a child, but it was so breathtakingly beautiful that I remember it clearly. I have the memory of eating a fantastic fish soup in a restaurant in the walled city of Saint-Malo, while it was raining…
RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE MACARONS
This recipe is long over due! I made these macarons with my mum when my parents came over for Christmas! They were to be given to my mother’s work colleagues on her return to Italy and they were a success! I have also been asked for the recipe… so ladies, here it goes! Apologies for…
BOEUF BOURGUIGNON
Our May 2012 Daring Cooks’ hostess was Fabi of fabsfood. Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France. The last time I have eaten bœuf bourguignon I was in Paris… 10 years ago. I remember it so well, it feels like yesterday. My husband and…
GALETTE BRETONNE À LA FORESTIÈRE
This was my first attempt to recreate a fantastic dish that we ate at Crêperie La Gavotte in Nouméa (New Caledonia) during our holiday in October. A galette bretonne is very similar to a crêpe, but it is made with buckwheat flour and, as the name suggests, it is originally from the French region of…
SALTED CARAMEL MACARONS
This is going to be the 3rd recipe of macarons that I am sharing on my blog. I like all of them: the ones with a White Chocolate and Mint ganache and the ones with Quince Jelly… they are all delicious, but today’s macarons are my all time favourite macarons. I LOVE salted caramel anything…
MONTE BIANCO – MONT BLANC
This is the recipe of a dessert that is quite popular both in France and Italy. In fact, the 2 nations share a border and the highest mountain in Europe (Monte Bianco/Mont Blanc) which gives the name to this dessert made with chestnuts, whipped cream and chocolate. Its shape reminds of a mountain covered in…
DUCK LIVER PATÉ WITH ONION JAM
I love paté. All sorts of patés. It is another one of the goodies I used to enjoy in France and now miss a lot. True, you can find paté here too but there is not the same variety that you find in France. One of my favourite lunch items in Paris is definitely a…
