The lovely Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler was our July Daring Cooks’ hostess and she asked us to create homemade yogurt in our own kitchens! No incubators needed, no expensive equipment or ingredients, just a few items and we had delicious yogurt for a fraction of the cost and a whole lot…
BAILEY’S MOUSSE
Happy Paddy’s Day everyone! Raise your hand if you love Bailey’s! I DO!!! I am not a very keen wine drinker (I know I know… very un-Italian…), but cocktails, sweet wines and sweet liquors are a different matter. And Bailey’s is one of my favourite… to drink and to cook with. That is why in…
RAITA
The first time I ate raita, I was in Mumbai. I was still quite new to Indian food (we are talking about over 10 years ago!) and everything seemed too spicy for me! That’s when I was served some raita… I loved it immediately as it was refreshing and cooling (the weather was also very…
PEPPA PIG CAKE
My little Georgia is in the Peppa Pig phase… she adores it and would watch it all day long on TV if I let her… So choosing a theme for her 3rd birthday party was quite easy! I immediately decided to make a fondant cake with an image of Peppa Pig on the top. I…
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…
LABNEH
If you follow this blog, you know that cheese is my weakness. I can do without dessert, but if I see cheese… well, I have to have some! After making home made yogurt, I had to try my hands at making home made labneh. I had seen a picture of it on my friend Sawsan’s…
WHEY PANCAKES WITH BLUEBERRY MAPLE SYRUP
As promised, today I will show you another way to use up all the whey you have sitting in your fridge after making Greek style yogurt. If you have any more after making Ayran that is! I did a bit of research online on how to use whey and I read that it is often…
AYRAN
After making home-made yogurt, I was left with quite a bit of whey and no ideas on what to do with it! Luckily, I asked my friend Sawsan from Chef in Disguise and she gave me the perfect recipe: Ayran. Ayran is a savoury yogurt and whey drink commonly found in the Middle East. I…
HOME-MADE YOGURT
A couple of months ago, my friend Sawsan from Chef in Disguise posted a beautiful tutorial on how to make home-made yogurt. Since I saw it, I knew I had to give it a try too! This was my first time at making yogurt, but I remember my mum making it often when I was…
THE LITTLE MERMAID FONDANT CAKE
As I am sure you have noticed, my eldest daughter loves The Little Mermaid so she requested an “Ariel cake” for her 5th birthday party. I must admit, I was a bit worried about it as making a human form out of fondant is not as easy as making an animal… in fact, it could…
THE LITTLE MERMAID YOGURT CAKE
Today is my eldest daughter’s 5th birthday. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 years since I first held her in my arms… she was so small! And now she’s growing to be a beautiful and sweet girl. I will be very busy in the next few days as we will be celebrating her birthday…
WHITE CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY VERRINES WITH MASCARPONE & YOGURT CREAM
I often find that great recipes are born by chance (or by necessity?). Actually, some of the best recipes, like the one I am going to post about today, get to see the light of day because I have a few things in the fridge (or freezer) that have to be finished. I then take…
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…
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…
FALAFEL
The first time I ate falafel I was in Paris… as it often happened with Middle Eastern food that was almost unknown in Italy. I am talking about 20+ years ago! I still remember the shop I bought them from. It was near Place des Vosges, in my favourite area of town: the Marais, which…
MIXED SALAD WITH YOGHURT AND SAFFRON DRESSING
This recipe will help you to spice up your salad with a low fat and delicious dressing. Yes, you read that right… low fat and delicious were used in the same sentence! It is low fat as it is a yoghurt based dressing and it is delicious thanks to the addition of saffron and curry…
HUNGARIAN SAVORY PASTRIES – SALATINI UNGHERESI
These salty pastries (called pogácsa in Hungarian) are a recipe of a dear friend of my mom’s, Judith. She is Hungarian and used to make these often for me when I was a child. I like them a lot and they are very versatile: perfect for an afternoon snack or as an “aperitivo” before a…
MANGO LASSI
This is definitely not an Italian recipe!! Lassi is a yogurt based Indian drink that can be savory or, like in this case, sweet. I had never drunk lassi before meeting my husband; actually I have to admit that I knew very little about Indian food before. He introduced me to many new ingredients and…