I needed a light dessert to conclude a tasting menu. Initially, I considered serving small bowls of strawberries macerated with honey and balsamic vinegar—an easy way to elevate even average berries. But that felt a bit too simple. Instead, I … Continue reading Almond Shells with Honey Balsamic Macerated Strawberries
Although we have been to Campania a number of times, during our latest trip in September it was the first time that we got to enjoy a slice of Torta Caprese, which was at Villa Rosa. It is a flourless … Continue reading Torta Caprese (Chocolate Almond Cake)
Amandelkrullen are classic Dutch cookies and they are very tasty. For Dutch pastry recipes, I always turn to Cees Holtkamps book “De Banketbakker”. Holtkamp is a retired famous Dutch pastry chef, of the pastry shop of the same name in … Continue reading Amandelkrullen (Curly Almond Cookies)
In a restaurant in Évora in Alentejo, Portugal, I had a simple local dessert that consisted of sweet pumpkin puree with pine nuts, almonds, and cinnamon. It was quite nice and prepared something similar back home; less sweet and using … Continue reading Pumpkin Puree with Almonds, Pine Nuts, Honey and Cinnamon (Doce de Abóbora)
Chile en Nogada was created in 1821 by the Pueblan Nuns as a festive food to honor a visit from revolutionary general Don Augustín de Iturbide. Mexico had just won its independence from Spain. The colors of the dish are the same … Continue reading Chile Relleno En Nogada (Stuffed Chile with Walnut Sauce and Pomegranate)
This appetizer was inspired by something we had at Taverna Estia** near Naples in Italy. Deep fried mozzarella is a common appetizer, but here it is enriched in two ways. First, by including tuna in the filling. Second, by using … Continue reading Deep Fried Mozzarella and Tuna with Almonds
We’ve been back home for more than two months, but I am still enjoying the inspiration from our three weeks in Southern Italy. At Cala del Citro we had a wonderful dinner, that ended with almond ice cream. I loved … Continue reading Almond Ice Cream
This is a recipe that I made on the same day that I read it on Paola’s blog, because I happened to have all the ingredients, and needed to use up the carrots. What better recipe to use for such … Continue reading Pasta with Carrots and Almonds (Pasta con carote e mandorle)
Due to the hot climate, Spain has many recipes for chilled soups. Ajoblanco (or Ajo blanco) one is from the southern Andalucia and a great way to use up stale bread, and quite filling. It is more traditional to garnish it … Continue reading Ajo Blanco (Spanish Chilled Almond and Bread Soup)
A sweet spinach tart? Yes, really. It is delicious. I have discovered this original dessert from the North-Italian town of Reggio Emilia thanks to Simona who is from that region and has the wonderful Italian food blog Grembiula da Cucina … Continue reading Erbazzone Dolce (Sweet Spinach and Almond Tart)
I enjoyed the combination of scallops, shallots and almonds so much that I decided to serve it as a sauce on homemade fresh pasta. First the scallops are sautéed in olive oil. Then the shallots are slowly cooked in that … Continue reading Tagliolini with Scallops and Almonds (Tagliolini alle Capesante e Mandorle)
Another delicious seafood antipasto at La Perla in Calasetta was scallops gratin with almonds. The nice thing about Italian cooking is that once you know the ingredients (vocabulary) and cooking techniques (grammar), you can very easily reconstruct dishes (sentences) without … Continue reading Scallops Gratin with Almonds (Capesante gratinate con le mandorle)
Madeleines are classic French small cakes that have to be slightly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with a wonderful aroma of either vanilla, citrus zest, or, as in this case, almonds. They are not difficult to … Continue reading Almond Madeleines
Marzipan and almond paste are pretty similar, as both are made by grinding almonds and sugar together. The differences are that marzipan is sweeter than almond paste (almond paste is 50% of almonds by weight, whereas marzipan is 35-45% almonds), … Continue reading Homemade Marzipan Mushrooms
I always like it when I get requests for a dinner party, because it makes it easier to choose what to make. In this case, the request was something with shrimp and garlic. Because of the season I looked for … Continue reading Shrimp, Pumpkin, and Almonds
I’ve been experimenting with different flavors for the high protein, high fiber, low sugar, and low fat muffins I’m baking for breakfast. My favorite so far is almond poppy seed. This flavor seems to work particularly well with the quark, … Continue reading Oat Bran Quark Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
A while back Silva posted a prune and frangipane tart on her blog that she referred to as Torta Delizia (delicious tart). She used to eat this cake when visiting signora Gigia in the town where she grew up, and years … Continue reading Almond and Fig Tart
Shrimp with almonds and onions is a simple but very tasty appetizer that was inspired by something we tried in Croatia. It reminded me a bit of a preparation from Venice called ‘in Saor‘, but this is even more simple. … Continue reading Shrimp with Almonds and Onions
When I posted the recipe for a great side dish based on the outer part of zucchini, I mentioned to reserve the remaining inner part for another use. This cold soup is a great way to use up those inner parts, or … Continue reading Cold Soup of Leftover Zucchini with Toasted Almonds
When I saw this original way to prepare zucchini as a side dish on the blog of my Italian blogging friend Bea, I knew I had to try it. I’m glad that I did, because it is absolutely wonderful. Zucchini … Continue reading How to Turn Zucchini into a Wonderful Side Dish (Contorno di Zucchine)
One of my co-workers, a nice lady called Heleen, mentioned that she had a great recipe for carrot cake. That got my attention as I was looking for a dessert recipe with vegetables. She lent me a book from Slow … Continue reading Carrot and Almond Cake (Torta di Carote)
When we told Lucia of the B&B we stayed at in Roseto degli Abruzzi that we were going to visit the Calanchi di Atri, a beautiful landscape close to the town of Atri, she advised me to also check out … Continue reading Pan Ducale
You may think I’m obsessed with the combination of almond and amarena cherries. Recently I posted about this meringue cake and these cookies. So why yet another post that features this combination? Well, I really liked the texture of the … Continue reading Almond Cherry Cookies (Bocconcini all’Amarena)
I really like the combination of amarena cherries and almonds, as you may have noticed from this almond meringue cake with amarena cherries. I also really liked the texture of Mimi’s hazelnut cranberry cookies. And so it wasn’t hard to … Continue reading Almond Amarena Cookies
Amaretti are those crispy Italian almond cookies that are crumbled and used for cakes, and in fact are not made of almonds but of apricot kernels. The word “amaretti” means “little bitter ones”. The home made variety is in fact made of almonds and it is initially more chewy than brittle. The recipe is easy: almond meal, egg whites, caster sugar, almond extract, and a pinch of salt. I’ve created my own recipe for cookies that was based upon this, adding lemon zest and coconut to the mix. I’ve been making them for so long that I wanted to make simple amaretti again just to see how I’d like them. The verdict is that I like them, but I like my enhanced variety better 🙂 Continue reading “Homemade Amaretti”
Oops! On November 25, I blogged about Duck Breast Sous-Vide with Duck Red Wine Demi-Glace and promised that my next post would be about the side dish shown on the plate: butternut squash tartlets. Then I got so excited about the homemade Barolo Chinato I had just tried for the first time that I wanted to blog about that straight away and completely forgot about the butternut squash tartlets. So with a bit of delay here is finally the post about butternut squash tartlets… Continue reading “Butternut Squash Tartlets”
Guess whose idea it was to use chile peppers for dessert? Who else but Richard McGary! I found his recipe for Cinnamon Candied Chile Relleno with Red Wine Chocolate Sauce very intriguing, and knew I had to try something similar. I thought it was very appropriate to use the ancho chiles that Richard had sent me to prepare this very unusual but very tasty dessert. The base of the dessert is a chile pepper stuffed with chocolate mousse. Richard soaks the chiles in cinnamon syrup and serves them with pecans and red wine chocolate sauce. I made my own version with an Italian twist by pairing the chocolate stuffed chile with tart amarena cherries and almonds. It was really good, and definitely something I’ll make again. Thanks Richard! Continue reading “Ancho Chile with Chocolate Mousse and Amarena Cherries”
French macarons are almond and meringue-based airy cookies that are commonly filled with ganache or buttercream. The image of two macarons with filling in between has always reminded me of a hamburger, but perhaps that’s only me. I’ve had lots of macarons at the end of fancy dinners in restaurant, but until now I had never made them myself. A great post by the Cooking Chook inspired me to try making them for myself. Lo and behold: my first attempt was successful and they were outstanding stuffed with orange curd. My first attempt looked a bit rustic because I hadn’t piped the meringue very neatly, but that didn’t take away anything from the great flavor. The brittle crispiness of the shells combined very nicely with the creamy curd, and the sweetness of the almond shells went nicely with the tangy orange. Paired with a passito di pantelleria dessert wine, it was sublime. Continue reading “Macarons”
A few weeks ago I dined at my favorite Italian restaurant in Amsterdam: Bussia. The risotto I was served there was a cauliflower risotto and it was the inspiration for the risotto I created. This risotto is very creamy with most of the cauliflower used to make a cauliflower puree and the remainder roasted in the oven for some additional flavor and crunch. As a finishing touch I added some roasted almonds. I was happy with the result and will definitely make this again. If made with vegetable stock, this is an outstanding vegetarian dish. Continue reading “Cauliflower Risotto (Risotto al Cavolfiore)”
I served this delicious cake to my parents for dessert when they came over for dinner, and everyone loved it. I got the recipe from the newspaper a long time ago, and found it when I was sorting out old recipes. It’s so good I regret not making it earlier. Ingredients 500 grams (1.1 lbs) ripe plums 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar juice and zest of 1 orange vanilla bean For the dough 150 grams (11 Tbsp) butter at room temperature 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar 2 eggs 85 grams (1/2 cup) flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 100 grams … Continue reading Cake with Plums, Almonds and Orange
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