Fish is easily overcooked, and so the precise temperature control of sous-vide cooking is great to always obtain tender juicy fish that is perfectly cooked. Moreover, vacuum sealing the fish with a marinade allows the marinate to penetrate optimally while … Continue reading Thai Style Sole Sous-Vide
The secret to a great linguine ai frutti di mare is to use fresh seafood and to use the juices of the vongole and a stock made from the shrimp heads and shells for the sauce. It is a bit of … Continue reading Linguine ai Frutti di Mare
We love to eat seafood and I prepare it at least twice a week, but for a food blogger with an Italian inclination it doesn’t provide much material to blog about. The Italian kitchen is very diverse with different dishes in each … Continue reading Fish Sous-vide Cajun Style
Marinara sauce is the American-Italian term for tomato sauce, but in Italy it usually refers to a sauce prepared in the style of the seaman’s wife and is a tomato-based sauce with seafood. I really liked the risotto alla marinara … Continue reading Risotto alla Marinara (Risotto with Fish)
One of the ways to recognize ice cream with natural ingredients is by the color of pistachio ice cream. You see, the natural color of pistachio ice cream is brownish green, so when it looks bright green it means that … Continue reading Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream
At the Asian market I also picked up Chinese eggplants. They are thinner, have a milder flavor, and a more smooth texture than regular eggplants. I thought it would be appropriate to prepare it Asian style with ginger, soy sauce, … Continue reading Chinese Eggplant with Chicken
I was feeling adventurous at the Asian market and bought this vegetable that I had never seen or heard of before. It looked like a cucumber with ridges and the sign said “terroi”. When I googled that on my phone, … Continue reading Stir-fried Loofah
Mussels are in season again. This recipe is so simple that it is hardly worth calling a recipe, but it sure is a delicious way of preparing mussels and so I’m sharing it with you anyway. It was Alice of … Continue reading Mussels with Pepper (Impepata di Cozze)
Crostata is a very popular Italian fruit tart that is eaten both for dessert and breakfast. When we visited Jo of My Home Food That’s Amore, she gave us some goodies to take home including two jars of homemade apricot … Continue reading Apricot Jam Tart (Crostata alla Confettura di Albicocche)
Fish soup is prepared all along the Mediterranean coast. There are many varieties such as bouillabaisse from France and zarzuela from Spain. Cacciccuo alla Livornese is a fish soup from the Tuscan coast that has three distinguishing features: it is made with … Continue reading Cacciucco (Tuscan Seafood Soup)
This dish doesn’t look all that great, but it sure was tasty! I got the idea for polenta (or grits) with corn from Mimi. When I saw her post, I responded that I had never seen local fresh corn on … Continue reading Double Corn Polenta with Ham and Pickled Chipotles
One of the questions I get asked most is where I find the time to cook. Although I do spend a lot of time cooking (and shopping for ingredients), I also make a lot of very quick dishes. This delicious … Continue reading Pistachio-Crusted Guinea Fowl
Eggplant and shrimp is a combination I had never tried before, but I did try thanks to Marina of Le Ricette di Baccos and it was wonderful! The eggplant is first turned into what the French call caviar d’aubergines (i.e. … Continue reading Jumbo Shrimp with Eggplant Dumplings (Gamberoni con Gnocchetti di Melanzane)
As a good patriot I’m looking for ways to eat more tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. And so I thought of a wonderful solution: gazpacho. This is a cold soup from Spain that is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, … Continue reading Gazpacho
In most cases I plan what I am going to prepare for dinner and shop accordingly in advance, but for tonight I wanted to finish some leftovers I had in my fridge and created this dish. I had some Chinese … Continue reading Rice Noodles with Shrimp, Shiitake and Cabbage
After enjoying pigeon with cherries at Povero Diavolo, I thought it would be nice to create my own version of it. I made a sauce of pureed cherries and reduced pigeon stock. For some more cherry flavor I deglazed the … Continue reading Pigeon with Cherries
The idea for this antipasto came from ChgoJohn from the Bartolini kitchens. It was served to him in a restaurant in Florence, and he blogged about it. It is simply two sage leaves with anchovies in between, dipped in batter, … Continue reading Fried Sage with Anchovies (Salvia Fritta con Acciughe)
One of the goodies I brought from my trip to Italy was a new pasta shape: soqquadri or a square version of mezzi rigatoni. (If you can’t find the square version, you can also make this recipe with the usual … Continue reading Soqquadri Pasta with ‘deconstructed’ Eggplant Parmigiana
The idea for this rice salad with seafood came from Biba Caggiano, my favorite Italian cookery book author. This salad is brimming with tender morsels of tasty seafood, crunchy vegetables, a nice zing from the dressing, gherkins and capers, and a … Continue reading Rice and Seafood Salad (Insalata di Riso e Frutti di Mare)
We have lots of mint growing in our garden, and I love mint ice cream (especially when combined with chocolate). So why not make mint ice cream from scratch? Mint ice cream is very refreshing and perfect for the summer. … Continue reading Homemade Mint Ice Cream
Panzanella is a perfect dish for the hot weather we’ve been having, as it is refreshing, makes good use of the summer’s bounty, and the basic version doesn’t require any cooking. Originally it is an Italian peasant lunch prepared to … Continue reading Panzanella
Vongole veraci are Italian clams and they are just so flavorful. The best thing is, they come with their own sauce (i.e. the juices they release when they are cooked) and so it takes very little effort to turn some … Continue reading Vongole alla Marinara (Clams in Tomato Sauce)
Octopus cooked sous-vide and then finished on the grill is one of my favorites. Octopus and squid go well with bell peppers. It is so hot that I wanted to serve something refreshing, and so I thought: “Why not make … Continue reading Grilled Octopus with Roasted Bell Pepper Ice Cream
Clafoutis is a flan-type cake from France, usually stuffed with cherries. I’ve stayed very close to the recipe of Stéphane’s great grandmother, which he posted on his wonderful blog My French Heaven. It is quite easy to make and it … Continue reading Clafoutis
After all the decadent restaurant meals, it is time for something very simple. This plate of pasta takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish. The list of ingredients is very short: pasta, zucchini, parmigiano, salt, pepper, olive oil. … Continue reading Quick Pasta with Zucchini
When I made my first batch of ravioli with a cauliflower stuffing some weeks ago, I contemplated whether I would make it with red wine or with white wine and ended up making a delicious red wine version with great depth … Continue reading Cauliflower and Lemon Ravioli
We love fajitas, Tex-Mex flour tortillas stuffed with chicken or steak, bell peppers, onions, salsa, and cheese. At least that’s how I like to prepare them. We usually have them with chicken, but I was curious to try them with steak. … Continue reading Sous-Vide Steak Fajitas
When I saw venison short ribs available, I couldn’t resist buying some as I really like beef short ribs cooked sous-vide and was curious what venison short ribs sous-vide would be like. It is important to note that these were … Continue reading Venison Short Ribs Sous-Vide Roulade with Fava Beans and Mushrooms
Lately round zucchini have shown up around here. After seeing Marina using them to make stuffed zucchini, I thought I’d try that too. My version is vegetarian, but I did use her idea of using coriander seed to give an … Continue reading Stuffed Round Zucchini
Yesterday’s dinner featured two unusual ingredients: grey mullet and wild asparagus. I served them as simple as possible, dressed only with extra virgin olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper. It was delicious and … Continue reading Hot Smoked Grey Mullet with Steamed Wild Asparagus
