For the month of October, Sawsan from Chef in Disguise challenged us to prepare a rice based main meal that represents our own culture, or one from a cuisine that we would like to explore. Now that’s the kind of Daring Cooks challenge I like! I love rice actually. At first I thought of making risotto,…
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Risotto with Zucchini Cream and Basil
Besides experimenting with Japanese cooking, I have also cooked some good old Italian food. This Risotto with Zucchini Cream and Basil is one of my latest favourite risotto and I have it quite often, alternating it with the Pumpkin and Gorgonzola one. I love the combination of zucchini and basil as I think their flavours…
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Cream of Pea and Mint Risotto
I love playing with risotto and making it different every time. There’s much more than Mushroom risotto in the “risotto world”. You just need to give it a chance. You can actually make risotto with almost any vegetable and/or cheese. Today I played with a classic combination of Italian cuisine: peas and mint. I blended…
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South American Lamb Stew
As you know, I am travelling at the moment, so I thought of asking some of my favourite food blogger friends to come over and share some of their amazing creations with all of you! I told you I would leave you in great company, right? Today I have the honour of having yet another…
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Dried Porcini and Saffron Risotto
As I have said many times, Risotto alla Milanese (Saffron Risotto) is the first dish I have ever cooked all by myself… I was probably about 6 or 7 years old. It’s always been my favourite risotto and I was so good at it, that whenever my grandfather would visit us from Sicily, he always asked…
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Artichoke and Taleggio Risotto
Today I want to share another of my risotto recipes. As you know, I like risotto probably more than pasta and I make it often. Actually, as it can be made so quickly, I often make it for lunch when I am home alone. Yes, you read that right! Unlike what many people think, risotto…
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Pumpkin Risotto with Gorgonzola Sauce
Today I am back with a typical Italian recipe. This is a dish that well represents Lombardy, the region where I was born. Milan is very famous for its risotto and pumpkin is often used in our cooking. Gorgonzola, my favourite cheese ever, is a blue cheese originally from the town of Gorgonzola, very close…
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Zucchini Flower and Stracchino Risotto
A few weeks ago, I went to the markets and managed to find some good deals. I bought a whole tray of artichokes for less than half the price they are usually sold at the grocery store and I was also lucky enough to find zucchini flowers. Zucchini flowers are very common in Italy and…
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Burrata and Truffle Oil Risotto
Maybe not everyone is familiar with Burrata. It is a kind of fresh cheese typical of the Italian region of Apulia, in the south of the country. It is in fact a “composite” cheese as it is made of a mozzarella outer shell filled with soft mozzarella scraps and cream and then closed to form…
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Minestrone
Having grown up in Milan, where winters are quite cold, I have had my fair share of soups. In fact, my mum would often make soup for dinner. My favourite has always been Pasta e Fagioli, but she has always made a fantastic Minestrone. Contrary to what it may seem, Minestrone is actually a pretty…
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Bibimbap
The July Daring Cooks‘ Challenge took us to Korea, where Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado taught us to make bibimbap. This colorful rice dish can be customized to meet any taste, and is as much fun to eat as it is to say! Bibimbap (비빔밥), which literally means “mixed rice”, is one of Korea’s most…
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Risotto with Zucchini and Pesto
I know some people find the idea of making risotto daunting. I have shared many risotto recipes on this blog and it is actually the dish I first learnt how to cook on my own, as it was my favourite dish. I was 6 or 7 years old, so as you can understand, making risotto…
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Pomegranate Risotto
As you know, autumn has come to the Southern hemisphere. I can’t lie… I don’t mind it. I welcome the fresher air and the leaves changing colour on the trees. It is a beautiful season. And I LOVE autumn food: mushrooms, chestnuts, quince… pomegranates. In fact, pomegranates always put a smile on my face: I…
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ARANCINE WITH SPINACH
If you have read my latest post, you will know that I am hosting this month’s challenge at the Daring Cooks! I chose to challenge my fellow daring cooks to make Arancine from scratch, including risotto! I also shared 3 different recipes with them: Arancine al Ragu’, Arancine al Burro and Arancine agli Spinaci. The…
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THE DARING COOKS’ JANUARY 2014 CHALLENGE: ARANCINE
This month’s challenge is very special for a few reasons. For starters, our hostess, Manu, graciously stepped in with very little notice and created an entire amazing challenge in pretty much no time at all. Secondly, Manu managed to do all of this while publishing her very first e-cookbook. Seriously, you simply must check it…
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SMOKED SALMON AND VODKA RISOTTO
Today’s recipe is the perfect dish to make for your New Year’s Eve dinner party: it’s classy and delicious and it is done in 20 minutes! We always have smoked fish during the holidays, both as appetiser and as part of a main dish like this one. I love smoked salmon, and Vodka goes really…
SALMON NIGIRI
I have discovered sushi only in recent years. Growing up in Italy, it wasn’t something I had great exposure to. Now Japanese food (and sushi above all) has become very popular in Italy, but it is really expensive. Australia instead is full of sushi bars and amazing Japanese joints, so eating sushi has become much…
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MUGHLAI LAMB BIRYANI
Grace, one of our talented non-blogging Daring Kitchen members, was our Daring Cooks’ August hostess who shared with us some of her family’s tried and true Bengali Biryani recipes – all of them delicious and all of them prepared fresh from our own kitchens! The first thing I thought when I saw this month’s challenge was…
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GINGER SESAME CHICKEN
I always have chicken tenders in my freezer… they are very versatile, quick to cook and they always please the whole family. I love the fact that they are always moist and not dry. I have never seen these in Italy, where you either buy breast or thighs (or the whole chicken). I stumbled upon…
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SPICY TUNA SALAD SUSHI ROLL
So here you have it. My first sushi roll ever. I decided to go the easy way and make a tuna salad roll as a first attempt and boy was it good! It is really easy and fast to make and it tastes delicious. You can make it as spicy (or as mild) as you…
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SUSHI RICE
I have been wanting to try and make sushi at home ever since I started blogging, but for one reason or another, I always postponed this project. Since my eldest daughter started school, I have so little time to dedicate to the kitchen and with the days getting shorter, I leave all the “important” cooking…
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PUMPKIN RISOTTO
Today’s recipe is from Lombardia, the region of Italy I grew up in and it is a very simple risotto made with pumpkin cream. As you know, it is autumn down here in the southern hemisphere… so what’s better than some pumpkin risotto to warm us up? Don’t you just love that orange colour? I…
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