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
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)
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)
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)
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)
We love risotto and I’m always trying to come up with new recipes. This spinach risotto turned out really nice, and it was even nicer with the garnishes of pancetta and sous-vide egg-yolk. But the risotto is delicious by itself, … Continue reading Spinach Risotto (Risotto agli Spinaci)
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
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
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
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
I got the idea for this fast delicious summery pasta dish from Marina of Le Recette di Baccos. It only takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta and the variations are endless. Raw vegetables, in this version … Continue reading Pasta with Raw Vegetables (Penne con Verdure Crude)
Scamorza is a cheese from southern Italy that is often smoked, and it is this smoked variety that is the star of this recipe. You can think of it as smoked mozzarella. I had picked up this scamorza without deciding … Continue reading Penne with Scamorza, Eggplant and Cherry Tomatoes
Lately I’ve been trying more and more Thai food, using recipes from The High Heel Gourmet. Kees is working on the boat and I promised to prepare dinner for the workers. It was unseasonably cold, so I decided it had to … Continue reading Thai Vegetable Coconut Fritters (Gra Bong Tod)
We love risotto and so it is fitting that the 600th post on this blog is a risotto recipe. I had just finished another batch of homemade pancetta and was looking for a recipe to use it with. In one of … Continue reading Risotto with Witlof and Pancetta (Risotto con Radicchio e Pancetta)
My friend Melvin taught me how to make this dessert from Indonesia. They look great and when you bite into them, there is a nice surprise of melted palm sugar inside. First a dough is made of glutinous rice flour, … Continue reading Klepon (Sticky Rice Balls with Palm Sugar and Coconut)
Pairing wine and food is one of my greatest passions. At home I keep 36 different red and 45 different white wines at drinking temperature so I can always find a matching wine to whatever I prepare. In restaurants I … Continue reading Pairing Wine and Food, Part 1: Introduction
This is more a serving suggestion than an actual recipe, but since I liked it so much I’m sharing it with you anyway. You see, the place where I found imported burrata before, had it again (after a few botched … Continue reading Fusilli with Bolognese Ragù and Burrata
You could probably consider ravioli to be my signature dish. I love serving those delicate parcels that burst with flavor. When Auldo and Teun came over for lobster bisque, I used one of the leftover lobster tails (and a bit … Continue reading Lobster Ravioli (Ravioli all’Astice)
Yet another simple and delicious seafood pasta dish from Biba Caggiano that only takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta: pasta shells with calamari, tomatoes, anchovies, and chile pepper flakes. This is best with fresh squid, but … Continue reading Pasta with Squid (Conchiglie alla Pappagano)
After eating at three-star restaurants and trying complicated recipes, it’s easy to forget that simple food can be great, too. Fortunately I only need to browse one of Biba Caggiano’s cookbooks to be reminded of that, and that is where … Continue reading Gnocchi with Fish Sauce (Gnocchi con Sugo di Pesce)
Babi Panggang is Malaysian/Indonesian for “roasted pork”. So why did I spell it with only one ‘g’ in the title of this post? Because this is the Dutch version that is only known in the Netherlands (and perhaps Belgium) and … Continue reading Babi Pangang (Pork with Sweet & Sour Red Sauce)
Acqua Pazza (which literally means “crazy water”) is a dish from Campania, the region of Naples. It can be either a primo piatto or a secondo piatto. As a secondo, it is fish cooked with cherry tomatoes. As a primo, it is … Continue reading Spaghetti all’Acqua Pazza (Spaghetti with Fish and Tomatoes)
Thanks to Miranti’s blog The High Heel Gourmet, I’ve been getting into homemade Thai from scratch. It is very different to my usual Italian stuff, but just as delicious in a completely different way. With the batch of thai red … Continue reading Thai Fish Cakes (Tod Mun Pla)
I’ve never yet tried my hand at lobster bisque, and so when Auldo claimed his lobster bisque was top notch I asked him to give me a demo. The result was outstanding, and he volunteered to do a guest post … Continue reading Auldo’s Lobster Bisque
