Spaghetti alla Carbonara is a delicious and simple dish from Rome made with pancetta or guanciale and eggs. There should absolutely be no cream in carbonara: this is in fact a very good way to check the authenticity of Italian … Continue reading Spaghetti alla Carbonara
My love for the Italian kitchen has partly originated from a woman whom I’ve never had the pleasure to meet: Biba Caggiano. She is an Italian from Bologna who moved to the USA in 1960 and later opened her own restaurant in Sacramento (where I have eaten in 2009, but sadly she wasn’t around herself because she was sick at the time — best authentic Italian food I’ve eaten in the USA despite her absence) and wrote many cookbooks. I received one of her first books, Modern Italian Cooking as a birthday gift in 1998. Trying the recipes in this … Continue reading Tagliatelle Verdi con Ragù Bianco
A classic and delicious dish from Venice is pesce in saôr, which does not mean ‘sour’ fish but ‘flavored’ fish (saôr comes from ‘sapore’). The recipe was invented in Venice as a way to preserve fish, and even though we have refrigerators nowadays we still make it because it is so tasty! In this modern version I’ve made two changes to the classical recipe: I’ve used mackerel rather than the more usual white fish (such as cod or hake) and I’ve cooked the fish sous-vide. When you use white fish, the subtle flavor of the fish will be overpowered by the … Continue reading Venetian marinated Mackerel ‘in saor’ sous-vide
I just made this risotto with Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchoke, French: topinambour, Dutch: aardpeer or topinamboer) and it was so good that I wanted to blog about it straight away. Ingredients For 2 servings I used: 400 grams (0.9 lb) Jerusalem artichokes 120 grams risotto rice (arborio) 4 tbsp freshly grated parmigiano reggiano 1 tbsp butter 2 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley salt and freshly ground black pepper 500 grams (1 pound) mixed aromatic vegetables for the stock: leeks, onions, carrots, celery stalks 1 bay leaf 1 shallot 1 glass (100 ml) of dry white wine olive oil optional: bit … Continue reading Jerusalem artichoke risotto (Risotto al topinambur)
On December 23 we had dinner at one of the best restaurants in Italy, La Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense. The chef Gennaro Esposito is a master at making very simple local dishes with high-quality but simple ingredients taste delicious. The simplicity can be a bit misleading, because you don’t get two Michelin stars for ordinary food. Since we liked one of the dishes with oysters, cauliflower, pecorino cheese and pasta so much, I decided to have a go at recreating it from memory. I did not ask the chef how he had made it, I just tried to … Continue reading Attempt to recreate Torre del Saracino dish from memory
Note added August 28, 2022: This was one of the first recipes that I published on my blog, over 10 years ago. This still remains one of my favorites, even though I don’t prepare it very often anymore. I’ve recently … Continue reading Tiramisù
Rabbit is often dry and sometimes tough. By cooking the rabbit sous-vide, the meat will be very tender and moist. To be able to cook the rabbit with tomato sauce sous-vide, I use the trick to freeze the sauce before sealing it into a bag to prevent the sauce from being sucked out by the vacuum sealer. I chose to use fresh tomatoes rather than canned to preserve the delicate flavor of the rabbit. Canned tomatoes would be too strong. This dish is simple, delicious and healthy (high in protein but low in fat). Ingredients For 2 servings 2 rabbit legs … Continue reading Rabbit with tomatoes sous-vide
As primo for our X-mas dinner this year I made these wonderful ravioli stuffed with scallops and parsnip. The inspiration for this recipe came from Niki Segnit’s The Flavour Thesaurus. The combination of parsnip puree and scallops works really well, and to enhance the flavor I also added chopped tarragon. If you can obtain fresh scallops in the shell, consider using those for the seared scallop that is served with the dish. Fresh scallops in the shell are more expensive, but taste better and will also sear more easily. The recipe will work well with scallops sold out of the shell … Continue reading Ravioli with scallops and parsnip
For the 12th anniversary of our first date, I surprised Kees with a visit to La Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense, near Naples. We had been there twice before (in 2008 and 2010), but this was the first time we went there straight from home without going anywhere else. La Torre del Saracino of chef Gennaro Esposito has two Michelin stars (worth a detour), but according to us that should be three (worth the journey). La Torre has two degustation menus (Proposta di Ciro of 6 courses and Proposta di Salvatore of 8 courses) that change with the seasons, … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Torre del Saracino
Whenever I have guests over for dinner I always bake this bread. Even though it’s straightforward bread, since it’s fresh out of the oven it has a great taste, texture and smell and is therefore always very well-received. I use my breadmaker to make the dough, but use the oven to bake it for a superior crust and shape. It is not a lot of work at all to make your own bread if you own a breadmaker to make the dough for you, but you do need to consider that it will take about 5 hours from start to … Continue reading Italian bread
Bounet, bunet or bonet is a traditional festive dessert from Piemonte. The name is thought to be derived from “bonnet” (hat), since the dessert is the ‘hat’ of the meal. Bounet is delicious and very good with any dessert wine … Continue reading Bounet sous-vide
Today I felt like cooking something vegetarian. I had bought an eggplant and buffalo mozzarella, and had some very nice Paccheri di Gragnano lying around (given to me by Gennaro Esposito, the chef of our favorite restaurant in Italy (Torre del Saracino) during our last visit). The combination of eggplant, mozzarella, basil and tomato is classic. There are many different versions, the most common being melanzane alla parmigiana. This version has a different texture because of the use of pasta. Instead of Paccheri, you can use any kind of large pasta shape that can be stuffed such as shells or … Continue reading Pasta from the oven with eggplant and mozzarella (Paccheri alla parmigiana)
I had some left-over gorgonzola and had bought some witlof (chicory, belgian endive) and decided to try something new: ravioli with a filling of gorgonzola and witlof. It turned out great and is definitely a keeper! The Italian version of witlof is radicchio and red instead of white, but they are related to each other and the taste is very similar. The wine pairing with the 2009 Orsolani Erbaluce di Caluso La Rustìa was also excellent: this dish needs a dry white wine with a light bitter tone (preferably mineral like this erbaluce di caluso) to go with the witlof … Continue reading Ravioli al Radicchio (witlof/chicory/belgian endive) e Gorgonzola
With some practice, fresh pasta is quite easy to make and does not take that much time. Especially if you are not making a large quantity. The taste and especially the texture are better from what you can buy in a store, and the best thing is: you can make your own stuffed pasta such as ravioli and tortellini. Store-bought ravioli stuffing very often mostly consists of bread crumbs and other ‘fillers’. Home-made stuffed pasta is always a big hit at my dinner parties because of the wonderful light texture of the pasta and the delicious filling. Some people think … Continue reading How to make fresh pasta
Tonight my friend Esther came over for dinner. As primo I tried a lighter version of a favorite dish: gnocchi al gorgonzola. Instead of butter and cream I decided to use chicken stock. The result was not as creamy, but … Continue reading Gnocchi di Patate al Gorgonzola
