Chicken Cacciatore
Tuesday, October 01, 2024Chicken cacciatore is a rustic, warming and hearty chicken stew in a rich tomato-based sauce with vegetables, herbs and wine. Serve this earthy hearty stew with crusty bread or on a bed of polenta or pasta, sprinkled with some freshly grated Parmesan. I have used white wine, but you can definitely use red wine instead.
Chicken cacciatore, literally meaning “hunter's style chicken,” has origins that date all the way back to the 14th century. The primary meat of cacciatore back then was rabbit, but other versions add meats like salami and sausage as the protein of choice. Since then, chicken has evolved and become the crowd-pleaser.
Matcha Pistachio Cake with Mascarpone and Figs
Monday, September 30, 2024This cake is something very special and less guilty as it doesn't contain refined sugar and flavoured with antioxidants-rich matcha. The bright green, Japanese-inspired creation is not just a visual eye-catcher, but also very delicious with its subtle flavour, which contrasts beautifully with the rich mascarpone cream. The fresh sweet figs do the rest to create an unforgettable dessert experience. For the cake batter, I used a mixture of white spelt flour and ground pistachios, but you can replace them with regular wheat flour and the blanched almond flour. Other seasonal fruit can be used instead of figs.
Pumpkin Diane
Sunday, September 29, 2024In the 19th century, sauces made “a la Diane” were dedicated to Diana the Rome goddess and was originally served as an accompaniment to venison, giving it a luxurious and rich flavour. The sauce is mainly made with shallots, Dijon mustard, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and cream. It was originally cooked tableside and sometimes flambéed. Though the sauce is a classic accompaniment to meat dishes, you can certainly use the sauce for vegetables too. This recipe, adapted from Taste, put a vegetarian spin on it with a carnival pumpkin (the skin of a carnival squash is entirely edible), lentils and oyster mushrooms. You can use other wild mushrooms like shiitake, chanterelles or just regular button mushrooms.
Clementine Salad with Figs and Goat Cheese
Saturday, September 28, 2024This wonderfully light, bright and fruity is packed with easy-to-find seasonal produce and loaded with delicious flavours and textures. It makes a perfect appetizer or as a light lunch. The sweetness of the clementine and figs pair perfectly with the bitterness of the arugula and tartness of pomegranate arils. If you don't like goat cheese, tangy and salty blue cheese would be an excellent alternative.
Pollo Fritto with Saltimbocca Salt
Friday, September 27, 2024Pollo fritto, Italian for fried chicken, is a Tuscan-Jewish dish (without Saltimbocca salt) traditionally enjoyed for Hanukkah, where the chicken is simply marinated in a mixture of lemon juice, garlic, herbs and spices, then coated with flour and egg before deep-frying until golden crispy. Traditional recipes use a whole chicken, cut into parts, but you can simply use a mixture of wings, drumsticks and thighs.
What makes this chicken recipe a standout is the Saltimbocca salt. A simple but genius condiment made with crumbled crispy Prosciutto, sage and salt and black pepper. Saltimbocca, Italian for “leap into the mouth”, is an Italian classic made with thin cutlets (chicken, veal, or pork) wrapped or topped with prosciutto and sage.
Pumpkin Soup with Apple and Ginger
Thursday, September 26, 2024This Hokkaido pumpkin soup is cosy and comforting on a cold night and autumn / winter melancholy is a thing of the past. Adding apples to the soup lends an interesting fruity flavour to the usual pumpkin soup and the slightly spicy chilli note also makes it perfect for warming up on cold days. The soup tastes particularly delicious with butter fried apple slices (deglazed with a little of Calvado if desired) and some homemade bread. Use tart apples like Pink Lady, or Granny Smith or Braeburn for the soup.
English Granary-Styled Bread
Wednesday, September 25, 2024A simple homemade granary bread recipe that is delicious when straight from the oven. It's excellent toasted and buttered for breakfast and sandwiches.
Granary bread is a classic English brown bread made with a mixture of whole wheat, rye and white flours, with cracked grains of malted barley and wheat. This recipe, adapted from Delicious Magazine, combines an oaty topping, a handful of seeds and a mix of white bread, wholemeal spelt and rye flours to give your bread more substance. Since I don't have malted barley or wheat on hand, I added two teaspoons of malted barley extract powder to give the granaary bread that characteristic taste and aroma.
Beef Short Rib Rendang
Tuesday, September 24, 2024Rendang is a popular dish made with meat (usually beef but sometimes chicken or mutton) stewed in coconut milk and spices such as ginger, chilli, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, shallot or/and onion, kaffir lime leaves and turmeric. It is believed to originate from West Sumatra, Indonesia, by the Minangkabau people, the dish is commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is usually served with rice and steamed greens. You can add some toasted desiccated coconut flakes to help thicken the sauce if you prefer it an even drier stew.