During the wine tour of Australia last year we had lunch at the Nick O’Leary winery in the Canberra district. Both the wines and the restaurant are recommended. One dish we all liked very much was deep fried cauliflower. We … Continue reading Fried Cauliflower with Coconut Milk and Smoked Paprika
This is a very simple recipe that I found in the Italian book “Le ricette di Osterie d’Italia”. The zucchini are boiled in the marinade and then left to cool. It can served as part of a spread of antipasti, … Continue reading Marinated Zucchini (Zucchine marinate)
Vignarola is a stew of the vegetables that grow around Rome at the end of Spring, beginning of Summer. I was reminded of this dish by Jo’s Frascati Cooking That’s Amore. Vignarola can be a contorno (side dish), minestra (hearty … Continue reading Vignarola (Roman Vegetable Stew)
The Mexican feast I was preparing should also include refried beans and rice, as they are staples in Mexican cuisine. For the rice I based my preparation on Irene’s recipe on her Slice of Mexico. Mexican rice is enriched with … Continue reading Mexican Style Rice
I prepared this dish a couple of months ago and neglected to blog about it. Although Stefano presented it as a summer dish, it is great for autumn as well. Celery is often used in Italian cooking together with onions … Continue reading Pasta with Celery (Pasta al Sedano)
The same post on Oven-dried Tomatoes that features Parnsip Planks (which I tried) also features Parsnip Bark. When you make parsnip bark the inside of the parsnip will be left, which you can turn into parsnip puree. Parsnip bark is … Continue reading Parsnip Bark (and Parsnip Puree)
Another recipe with green beans. I haven’t posted a Biba Caggiano recipe in a while; she’s my favorite Italian cookbook author from the time before I could read Italian cookbooks myself. This is perfect for the summer and excellent to … Continue reading Green Beans, Potato, and Pancetta Salad (Insalata di fagiolini, patate e pancetta)
One of my main sources of inspiration for new dishes to try and recipes to discover is other food blogs. One of my favorite recent additions is My Slice of Mexico by Irene, who was born in Mexico and now … Continue reading Mexican Green Beans with Chipotle and Cream
Although I have been to Sicily a number of times and I have tasted local dishes there like caponata, pasta con le sarde, arancini, and busiate, I had never heard of melanzane abbottonate until I read about them on Stefano’s blog. … Continue reading Sicilian Stuffed Eggplant (Melanzane abbottonate)
This splendid method for preparing parsnips was shared recently on Oven-Dried Tomatoes. I turns humble parsnips into something that looks and tastes great. The caramelization brings out the sweetness of the parsnips. He also showed a different method to produce … Continue reading Parsnip Planks
If you go to a trattoria in Rome, chances are that you will find carciofi alla romana on the menu. This way of preparing artichokes is quite simple, but very good. The mint and garlic add a nice fragrance to … Continue reading Artichokes alla Romana (Carciofi alla Romana)
Cilento is an area in the south of Campania, and when I was there I enjoyed a dish called Ciambotta alla Cilentana. There are many versions of ciambotta, but here it is potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, and tomatoes. It reminded … Continue reading Ciambotta alla Cilentana (Campania’s Ratatouille)
This dish was inspired by something we had in a restaurant in Corsica last year: roasted eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers, that are subsequently baked with a generous amount of cheese. The Sardinian pecorino I used for my own rendition … Continue reading Baked Vegetables with Cheese
It is really too warm to be cooking, especially to turn on the oven, but after hardly anything new for weeks I really felt like cooking something. The recipe for this filling is pesto-inspired, with basil, pine nuts, parmigiano, and … Continue reading Zucchini Stuffed with Pine Nuts and Basil
You may have noticed I’ve been posting less lately, and that is because we’ve been having such extraordinary good weather. Summer in the Netherlands tends to be a hit and miss affair with often ‘four seasons in one day’, but … Continue reading Grilled Fennel (Finocchi Grigliati)
Next to the Klöße, the other typical Beilage (side dish) for Sauerbraten is Rotkohl (red cabbage). In Germany red cabbage is prepared in a similar way as in the Netherlands (where it is called rode kool met appeltjes), with a sweet … Continue reading Rotkohl (Red Cabbage German Style)
When I posted the recipe for Sauerbraten recently, I promised I would also share the recipe to prepare the accompanying large potato dumplings called Klöße (singular Kloß). Kartoffel is German for potato. There are many variations of the recipe. The ones I … Continue reading Kartoffelklöße (German Potato Dumplings)
Celeriac, also known as celery root, is a winter vegetable that is easily available here and so it ticks the boxes of seasonal and local. A great way to serve it is as a puree. Now you can make this … Continue reading Roasted Celeriac Puree
Guess what’s in the photo? Celery? Look again, but more closely. It’s cardoon (“kardoen” in Dutch, “cardo” in Italian and Spanish, or “cardon” in French). It is closely related to artichokes, and that is also what it tastes like. It is … Continue reading Cardoon Gratin (Cardi Gratinati)
In the previous post on wild boar with myrtle berries I promised to post the recipe for the side. For such an autumnal dish, I thought I’d choose an autumnal side as well. I decided to roast some pumpkin and … Continue reading Pumpkin, Lentils and Porcini Mushrooms
Samphire (also known as marsh samphire, salicornia, or sea asparagus) is a salt tolerant plant that grows near the sea. In Italy it is called asparagi di mare (sea asparagus), although I don’t think it tastes like asparagus. Samphire is … Continue reading Samphire and Tomato Salad (Insalata di Asparagi di Mare e Pomodori)
Using chard for the filling of the ravioli alla genovese meant I had leftover chard stems. I thought what a home cook from Genoa would do with leftover chard stems, and that is how I came up with this contorno (side dish) … Continue reading Baked Chard Stems (Coste di Bietola al Forno)
I’ve just returned from a short business trip to Bombay in India. There wasn’t time for any specific food research, but I did enjoy the food immensely and even tried Indian wine for the first time (which was unexpectedly good). … Continue reading Simple Shahi Salmon
Brussels sprouts are an acquired taste that not everyone acquires (or has acquired yet). I’m not that fond of them myself. But with game & wine dinner parties coming up, I need to work on my autumnal side dishes for … Continue reading Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Honey
You may have noticed something else on the plate along with the venison and mushroom stew of my previous post. Because the stew was served with a wine from Piemonte, I wanted to serve a contorno (side dish) from that … Continue reading Sancrau alla Piemontese (Savoy Cabbage with Vinegar and Anchovies)
Many recipes tell you to use the white part of leeks, so my attention was caught at once when Elie wrote about Leek Royale on his blog Oven-Dried Tomatoes. Royale de Poireaux is a French side dish that is essentially … Continue reading Leek Royale (Royale de Poireaux)
This recipe is all about the turnips, small purple turnips that we get in spring and are called “meiraapjes” in Dutch. They look very pretty with their nice purple color, which unfortunately will be gone once you have peeled them. … Continue reading Venison with Turnips and Peas
For a vegetable side for our soul food feast of dirty rice and smothered pork chops, we decided on turnip greens (Dutch: raapstelen, Italian: cime di rape). This preparation is suitable for other types of bitter greens as well, like … Continue reading Soul Food, Part 3: Turnip Greens
My co-worker Selena suggested we prepare a soul food meal together, and I thought that was a wonderful idea. I was curious to try it and what better way than together with someone who grew up with soul food?! This … Continue reading Soul Food, Part 1: Dirty Rice
Baking or slow roasting is an original way to prepare kale. It takes a long time to bake, but most of that is inactive time. This version with Italian flavors has great depth of flavor and a nice texture. For … Continue reading Slow Roasted Kale
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