The easiest fudge ever. Let the holiday season begin!

1

Holidays are getting closer and all I can think about now is what I can prepare for my family and friends. I would love to organize a couple of parties, one with my neighbors and another one with my little boy’s friends and their families. My dream is to prepare many different American Christmas cookies for three reasons; first because they’re sooo good,  second because most of them never ate them before and third because this year we’re not going to the States for the holidays. We’ll feel closer to our American side of the family by preparing all the sweets we eat when we are in stateside for the holidays. I have a long list of things I’m going to make together with my boy and husband, but the first on the list is this incredible fudge and I’m sure they will all love it as much as we do. Continue reading →

The vegetable gratin for excellence

Reply


Before the summer finishes, I want to share this amazing vegetable gratin dish with you. My interest in this recipe started as a way to get rid of my mountains of zucchini and trombetta di Albenga squash. Instead it became my favorite summer dish. I made it so many times this summer and now I’m getting sad thinking that I won’t be able to prepare it again until next year, because my garden is producing less and less every day.

I made few changes from the original recipe I found on America’s Test kitchen and used what is available in my garden. There are only few vegetables in this gratin: zucchini, trombetta di Albenga squash but you can use yellow zucchini, white onions and cuore di bue tomatoes flavored with garlic and fresh thyme. The vegetables are then covered by a crunchy layer of whole wheat bread, Pecorino cheese and minced shallots. Continue reading →

Digestive biscuits? Almost!

2

Digestive biscuits are one of the most popular commercially-baked biscuit varieties in the UK. The name Digestive derives from its high content of baking soda as an aid to food digestion. Digestives are not overly sweet and here in Italy are often used in cheesecake preparations. I personally like their taste, but in the last few years I eliminated a lot of store bought products and started to prepare my own. I prefer to know what the ingredients are and where they’re coming from. Thus, I’ve started making my own digestive biscuits too.

I found this recipe in a site that I often visit for its healthy recipes and interesting posts, and thought they would have been ideal for my breakfast. The original recipe Sonia found used whole wheat flour, but she changed it to whole rye flour, which I also prefer. Oat bran adds a depth and a rustic consistency to the biscuits.
Digestives are not exactly the same as the store bought ones but close enough and I should add much healthier. I added a tiny bit more sugar and also a pinch of baking soda to give the biscuits that tingly sensation that is typical for them. Continue reading →

Let’s party with some grilled pizza!

2

What took me so long to discover grilled pizza? Years ago I  watched Christopher Kimball on America’s Test Kitchen explaining how to make the perfect grilled pizza. I was amazed by it and decided to give it a try as soon as possible. I wrote down the recipe and instructions, then I filed the recipe away and forgot about it. A  few days ago I found the same recipe online and this time though I made it right away.

It was a pretty intense experience, if you consider that the temperature outside was 35° (95°f) and the BBQ was hot. We did it, though, and the pizzas were so good that we completely forgot the  effort and sweat it took us to prepare them. The recipe called for four large pizzas to cook in a round grill. I happen to have a rectangular one, so I prepared smaller pizzas, and I should say that I prefer the smaller size. I don’t have a lid for my grill so I used the lid of my wok, which is pretty big and worked perfectly. Continue reading →

Bacon and tomato dip

Reply

Summer is finally here and for me it means barbecues with friends and family. With my husband being American we like to alternate and organize  either American or Italian barbecues though sometimes we mix up our traditional meals.

In Italy we usually like to grill sausages, salamelle (thicker but shorter than a sausage) pancetta, capocollo (pork neck chops), pork ribs, hot dogs or kebabs (alternating pieces of sausage, chicken, pancetta and bell peppers). The meat is often accompanied with grilled vegetables and grilled polenta, big salads and while the meat is cooking bruschetta is often chosen as an appetizer. We absolutely don’t put any sauce over the meat but we sometimes marinate it with olive oil and fresh herbs before grilling.
I personally like to grill some sausages, my favorite are with fennel seeds, but I also like chicken flavored with thyme, rosemary and sage. Continue reading →

Related Posts with Thumbnails