What do you do when you have half a bag of pre-cut salad wilting away in your fridge? You make a veggie frittata! And not only because it’s been zero waste week (last week). At home I often cook with what I have in my fridge and there are always a few sad veggies that need to be used quickly…
This salad is usually made with couscous, one of the many wonderful ingredients you can find on Sicilian menus. Couscous is part of the island’s tradition because over the course of the centuries Sicily got influenced by many different cultures and the Arabic one was one of them (see the history of the Emirate of Sicily). Couscous is typical of the…
Last July I was enjoying a holiday in beautiful Gelderland and I decided to go and visit the Gardens of Appeltern, a huge “garden information park” where you can visit lots of small green plots arranged in many different styles – some of them quite innovative and surprising – that can serve as inspiration for creating or improving your own…
This is definitely my favourite pasta of all. Easy and quick to make and yet very tasty, for me it’s THE Summer pasta, often eaten cold as a salad. It’s called crudaiola from crudo (raw in Italian) because all the ingredients used for the sauce are raw. Technically the cheese is not raw but you get what I mean: this…
This is a super easy baked ricotta that is perfect as a little appetizer and even as a complete meal, for example with a good side dish and a salad. I served it with a side of grilled courgettes drizzled with good extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and it was a delicious antipasto. It can be eaten hot…
This super easy Summer salad is made with beautiful tomatoes and three different types of beans: Italian borlotti, Dutch spekbonen (a huge type of green bean) and broad beans. I’ve used udon noodles because I love them and I like to change my pasta type from time to time. You can of course use thick spaghetti or any other noodles, though…
A simple yet delicious salad for Easter lunch. Without eggs but with a wonderfully delicate mackerel preserved in oil and a vibrant green dressing with a hint of chilli flakes. I’ve steamed the potatoes whole and with their skin on for some extra colour and texture (I’ve used the lovely red baby potatoes by Quiks.nl). You can accompany it with…
Spaghetti is definitely the most loved pasta type in Italy and I bet it is in the rest of the world too. There’s nothing more Italian than a plate of spaghetti al pomodoro prepared with extra virgin olive oil, onion and/or garlic, good tomatoes and basil or oregano. It’s something every Italian eats at least a couple of times a…
This moist, beautifully fragrant spiced triple chocolate and espresso cake is the perfect sweet treat for cold, pre-Christmas days. It’s as good as its name promises: moist, rich, lightly spiced and full of chocolaty goodness, with just a hint of espresso that will totally steal your heart. I’ve used three types of chocolate for a real winning mix: 70% Dark,…
Who’s ever bought a a watermelon that wasn’t sweet? Everybody, I guess. 😀 Watermelon is a wonderful fruit and can be beautifully sweet, but if you get yourself a bland one, then there’s no fun in eating it just like that. Tossing it is not an option, in my home, so I usually juice it and mix it with other,…