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…
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…
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…
CHICKEN BALLOTINE
For the April Daring Cooks Challenge, Lisa from Parsley, Sage and Sweet has challenged us to debone a whole chicken, using this video by Jacques Pepin as our guide; then stuff it, tie it and roast it, to create a Chicken Ballotine. Wow! What a challenge! I was absolutely thrilled when I saw it! I had never…
LAVENDER AND JASMINE MACARONS
I have a few macarons recipes on the blog and I like them all, but to tell you the truth, today’s flavour combination is my new all time favourite. Yes, I like these even more than my Salted Caramel Macarons and my Mango and Passion fruit Macarons! I made these a little while ago to take…
HOME-MADE CHÈVRE
Sawsan from Chef in Disguise was our March 2013 Daring Cooks hostess! Sawsan challenges us to make our own homemade cheeses! She gave us a variety of choices to make, all of them easily accomplished and delicious! Yessss, you read that right: one of my best blogger friends was this month’s Daring Cooks hostess! I was…
DULCE DE LECHE MACARONS
I suddenly realised that I haven’t shared any macaron recipe in a while! While going through my archive, I found this recipe that had somehow skipped my attention! How terrible! How could something with Dulce de Leche ever skip my attention?? And that too… macarons, filled with Dulce de Leche! So, today I am here…
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…