Roasted Fennel Agrodolce
Wednesday, November 20, 2024This Roasted Fennel makes a great side dish because it’s incredibly easy to make, and so delicious. Raw fennel is sharp and tastes like aniseed, but it transforms when roasted, losing all of its anise flavour and crunchy texture to become buttery and caramelized.
Agrodolce is an Italian sweet and sour sauce with a sticky consistency. Its name is Italian for “sour” (agro) and “sweet” (dolce). A classic agrodolce recipe contains reduced honey (or sugar), vinegar, pine nuts, red onion/shallot and a mixture of dried fruits, such as raisins, cranberries or dried apricots. The sauce is fantastic with Brussel's sprouts, cauliflowers or broccoli too.
Pogača Butter Bread
Sunday, November 17, 2024Pogača, or pogacha is a white bread that Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians and other Balkans, Turks, and Hungarians claim as their own. There are as many recipes and variations for it as there are shapes, although round is traditional. There's also a fasting variant that contains no eggs, milk, or butter. You can make this bread using white plain flour, or a mix of wholegrain and plain flours. They are soft, pillowy and buttery. It's ideal for a party or to take to a gathering. To make it even more decadent and interesting, add some cheese, ham and herbs after brushing with the butter.
Bacon Roasted Hokkaido with Spinach Apricot Salad
Saturday, November 16, 2024Colourful, flavourful and easy to make, these bacon roasted pumpkin wedges with spinach salad are great as an appetizer, side dish or even a light lunch. Anything wrapped with bacon is superfood if you ask me, and the spinach salad with dried apricot and toasted pine nuts is a star on its own too. This is one ultimate cold weather comfort food you’ll treat yourself to again and again. Use other types of winter squashes (acorn, kent or butternut are all great) if you can't find hokkaido.
Chicken Satsivi
Friday, November 15, 2024Cooking and eating is a great way to get to know different food cultures and national cuisines. If you're looking for a new idea for a quick and easy meal, then this Chicken Satsivi, a Georgian culinary gem, is definitely something you must try.
Satsivi aka Chicken in Spiced Walnut Sauce is generally characterised by its delicious sauce, whose main ingredient is walnuts. Together with garlic and some spices, they create a wonderfully creamy and aromatic sauce, in which the chicken (breast or thigh) cooks until tedner to absorb the flavour of the sauce. It's a perfectly healthy comfort food that will make you warm and cozy on cold winter evenings. If you want to use a whole chicken, then it's better to precook and cut the chicken before infusing them with the sauce.
Apple and Fennel Salad with Pecans
Monday, November 11, 2024Salads are not just good for the warm weather. They can also be enjoyed at any other time of year, even the chilly season. They are packed with vitamins and nutrients if done right. The apple and fennel salad with pecans is a wonderful accompaniment to roast meat or fish. The simple dressing with olive oil, lime juice and apple juice also goes well with many other salads. If you like it a little creamier, you can also stir in a tablespoon of cream. Instead of pecans, you can also use walnuts, or almonds for the salad.
The beautiful fennel, native to the Mediterranean cuisine, is often overlooked by home cooks. The versatile bulb has virtually no calories, but is packed with valuable minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium, which can help improve digestion, lower blood pressure, and strengthen the immune system.
Tahinli Çörek Turkish Sesame Roll
Sunday, November 10, 2024Tahinli çörek or simply tahini roll/bun is an absolute must for every fan of yeast dough! You probably know Swedish cinnamon rolls, don't you? The wonderfully fragrant tahinli çörek shares the similar concept, but is filled with a mixture of sesame paste and xylitol or caster sugar. This combination gives the bun a delicate nutty flavour and paired with an enriched tender yeast dough is simply melt-in-the-mouth delicious. The best accompaniment is a Turkish coffee which balance out the sweetness fantastically with the bitterness. You can make 6-8 small tahini buns from the dough like orginal recipe or make two big ones that I made here to share and enjoy with tea or coffee.
Chocolate Wreath Cookies
Saturday, November 09, 2024These cookies are sure to take your festive celebrations to the next level: chocolate wreath cookies with freeze-dried raspberries, pistachios and eidble flowers. They look simply gorgeous on the tree and can also be eaten while decorating. So if you ever decide on edible Christmas decorations, these wreath cookies are a must. The possibilities for the toppings are endless--holiday sprinkles, edible glitters, or M&M chocolate.
Tahini Butternut Squash Soup
Tuesday, November 05, 2024When the weather turns and the thermometer dips, a hot bowl of soup is just delightful. Though so creamy and rich, this gluten free butternut squash soup contains no cream (except a few drops of coconut cream for the garnish). The secret lies in the add of tahini. Serve with a slice of homemade bread and top with a few crispy sage leaves, for a hearty bowl of creamy goodness. It’s one of the easiest meals to make with just a handful of ingredients, and it’s almost impossible to mess up.
Mozart Cookies
Monday, November 04, 2024Deliciously festive cut-out cookies inspired by the classic Mozartkugel, a praline made from chocolate, pistachios, marzipan and nougat. It was created by Salzburg / Austria confectioner Paul Fürst in 1890 and named after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The heart of the Salzburg Mozartkugel is made from green marzipan. Use raw pistachios for a better result.
Snow Peas, Cashews with Ginger and Chilli
Friday, November 01, 2024Fresh, crispy and sweet snow peas are really ideal for a quick stirfry. You can also add protein (chicken, prawn, egg or tempeh) to this simple dish. It's easy to prepare and ready within 15 minutes. Just simply shred the trimmed snow peas and toss with chilli and ginger for maximum flavour and crunch.
Snow peas, aka Chinese pea pods, are young and flat with very small peas inside (different from rounded snap peas) and typically available all year-round, but the peak season is spring through early winter. As their name implies, snow peas can survive frost and snow.
Carrot Salad with Truffle Balsamic Glaze Dressing and Smoked Almonds
Monday, October 28, 2024Biscotti Reginelle
Saturday, October 26, 2024Biscotti Reginelle, aka Biscotti Regina or Biscotti Inciminati, are classic cookies from Palermo (the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo), but they are popular all over the island of Sicily. They were named after Queen Margherita di Savoia, hence the name Biscotti Reginelle, which means Queen Cookies.
These delicious Italian cookies are not too sweet and are loaded with sesame seeds. The crunchy texture makes them the perfect accompaniment to coffee, hot chocolate, or sweet wine. To make these cookies even more authentic, use 100% of lard instead of a mix of butter and lard. Once completely cooled you can store these cookies in an air tight container for at least two weeks. They freeze well too.
Seedy Pretzel Wedges
Friday, October 25, 2024Making those seedy pretzel wedges at home is easy peasy with this straightforward recipe. Made from yeast dough, brushed with a baking soda bath, then sprinkled with a mixture of seeds, this pretzels bread is as good as those from the bakery. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and go well with soups, salads or as a snack! Instead of a springform ring, you can of course also use an ovenproof cake ring and adjust it to the right size. They are best when eaten warm, but will keep fresh in an airtight container at room-temperature for 1-2 days.