Monthly Archives: January 2011
Biscotti!!! There is quite some difference, I believe, between cookies and biscotti. Wanna guess which one of the two I am fond of? :P Biscotti to me are half-way between the american cookie, too soft for me, and Oreo, way too crunchy, even though they taste great!! In italy the cookie aisle at the supermarket is huuuuge!! I was very disappointed to discover that in the US there is not the same culture for cookies. So, just like a lot … Continue reading
Oh man this lasagna is amazing! What makes it green? Pesto and zucchini: very green! I tried it for the first time at Christmas, at my boyfriend’s. You can tell how much I liked it from how quickly I tried to make it!!! I was quite skeptical at first, do these ingredients match well?? But Maurizia baked it, and she is a very good cook so I overcame the skepticism and tried it. Good thing I did :D To make … Continue reading
The origins of besciamella sauce are debated between France (bechamel) and Italy. I don’t feel there is the need to claim it as Italian, although it is indeed the base of every lasagna recipe, and baked pasta as well ;) This is a base recipe, it is used in the preparation of many other recipes so I believe it is better if it has its own post. Here is how I make it… in the microwave :) You can use a pot … Continue reading
This cake was such a find, I made it tons of times already, I even tried some variations of it, all turned out fantastic! It has a crunchy, breadish texture so I like to bake it in a loaf pan :) It can last a number of days, just as crunchy and not dry as it is right out of the oven. Keep it at room temperature in an air tight container and slice as needed. The oil released by … Continue reading
One easy, quick pasta recipe is what I chose to publish today. This pasta sauce is particularly flavorful even though to make it you just need the time it takes your pasta to cook: about 10 minutes! Isn’t this great?! Italians eat pasta every single day, so you can imagine we have tons and tons of different sauces to eat it with… and tons of different pasta shapes for that matter ;) Some of them take quite a long time … Continue reading
Sweet, I crave sweet stuff. Don’t you crave sweets all the times? OK, sometimes I crave Indian food, and Thai (Max knows something about this :P). But I often crave those melting in your mouth sweet treats. To cope with my sweet tooth I bake the healthiest cakes I can… only sometimes, some other times I go with straight chocolate :P What can be better than a carrot filled cake? It has plenty of vitamins :) Can we consider it … Continue reading
When I went to Boston the clam chowder was just everywhere! But Boston has a lot of fantastic Italian restaurants and I crave good Italian food all year, so why would I eat anything else?? At the airport waiting for my flight, at lunchtime, there was no interesting Italian restaurant in sight, but the famous clam chowder was again in the menu of every single place, so I finally tried it. Oh it was so good! And if something you … Continue reading
I’m back!!! I have been gone for a while… not entirely my choice though. It’s coooold outside! And when it’s cold I feel like soup. So let’s not waste any more time and go right into the details of this warming dish. Ingredients 3 tbs olive oil 1 garlic clove 1 sweet onion 1/4 lb white mushrooms (125 gr) few dried porcini mushrooms -optional (8 gr) 1 can chickpeas (439 gr) 2 cup water (500 ml) 3 bay leaves 1 … Continue reading
