We love vongole and we love risotto, so risotto alle vongole hits all the right buttons. I opted to prepare it in bianco, without tomato, to allow the vongole to shine. The clams come with their own built-in stock, which … Continue reading Risotto alle Vongole
Sous vide pork belly is great, because the meat will be tender and unctuous. Sous vide belly with crispy skin is even greater, due to the contrast between the soft meat and the crispy skin. It is however not easy … Continue reading How To Make Pork Belly Sous Vide with Crispy Skin
Although the inspiration for this dish came from our latest dinner at the Librije, this is not an attempt to recreate the dish from the restaurant. It is a ‘taco’ of kohlrabi stuffed with foie gras and crab dressed with … Continue reading Crab, Foie Gras, and Kohlrabi
There are two main kinds of Vietnamese spring rolls: deep fried, and ‘uncooked’. The shrimp and meat in those is actually cooked, but otherwise these Vietnamese spring rolls are a fresh appetizer that is served at room temperature. Traditionally the … Continue reading Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Pork and Shrimp (Gỏi Cuốn Tôm Thịt)
The first dish from our trip that I tried to make at home was gnocchetti verdi con ragù di salsiccia, like we had at Due Lanterne. It is a bit of work to make the small pasta dumplings by hand, … Continue reading Fresh Spinach Pasta with Sausage Ragù (Gnocchetti Verdi con Ragù di Salsiccia)
The Pretzhof is a farm with a restaurant in Alto Adige/Südtirol, near the border with Austria. It is 1000 km from home and we can sleep in the camper on the parking lot of the restaurant, so it is the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Pretzhof (2021)
This was our 4th visit to Laite, a restaurant in the ski resort town of Sappada in the North-East of Italy, close to the Austrian border. Just the way the restaurant looks tells you that Austria is not far away. … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Laite* (2021)
When I was planning our trip to Italy, one of the first things I knew for sure was that our route had to include a meal at Ai Cacciatori in Cavasso Nuovo. We had eaten at this trattoria in 2015 … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Danêl Ai Cacciatori
Trattoria La Madia is located in the small town of Brione, near Lago d’Iseo in the North of Italy. It has been awarded tre gamberi by the Gambero Rosso guide for being one of the best trattorie in Italy. It … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Madia
Meeting other food bloggers in person is always a pleasure. Paola is originally from Genova and has a blog in Italian called “Primo Non Sprecare” (First: Don’t Waste), in which she shares recipes that often contain tips to prevent wasting … Continue reading Food Blogging International: Primo Non Sprecare
We like eating at simple but good restaurants, called trattoria or osteria in Italy, as much as eating at gourmet restaurants with degustation menus and Michelin stars. The Gambero Rosso guide awards there highest rating of “tre gamberi” (three shrimp) to only 32 trattorie in all of Italy, and we will be eating at three of them during this trip. The first is Locanda Mariella, located in the middle of nowhere in the mountains near Parma. It is called “locanda” instead of trattoria/osteria, because it also has rooms to stay the night. (We however stayed in our RV (camper) on … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Locanda Mariella
Four years ago we had a fantastic experience at Enoteca Pinchiorri, click here for my review of that dinner. Back then I already decided we would be back for an even better experience at “grand cru” rather than “premier cru” … Continue reading Enoteca Pinchiorri*** (2021)
Pepe Nero had attracted my attention as one of 24 restaurants in all of Italy that had been awarded “best value for money” in the 2021 edition of the Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d’Italia guide. And as the only one of … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Pepe Nero
Trattoria La Coccinella was one of the first restaurants I wanted to return to when I was thinking about what we were going to do this trip. We had only eaten there once before, in 2010, but I can still … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Coccinella
Piazza Duomo is the restaurant with 3 Michelin stars of chef Enrico Crippa in the town of Alba in Piemonte. We haven’t visited this area for a while, and therefore our last visit was in 2014. This was our 4th … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Piazza Duomo*** (2021)
Le Casa della Saracacca is a winebar/restaurant (they also have rooms) in the old town of Monforte d’Alba in the Barolo area of Piemonte. It is housed in a medieval building with a modern construction of steel, cables, and glass … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Le Case della Saracca
Timorasso is a grape variety from the Colli Tortonesi area in Piemonte that was almost lost, because it is difficult to work with and red grapes like Barbera and Croatina were more popular. Timorasso wines have great complexity and aging … Continue reading Timorasso by Vigneti Massa
Restaurant Le Due Lanterne in Nizza Monferrato is included in the Michelin guide with a “bib gourmand” and it is also listed by Osterie d’Italia. We opted for the 45 euro tasting menu, which includes 4 antipasti, 2 primi, 2 … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Le Due Lanterne
One of the joys of blogging is meeting up with other bloggers. Bea owns the wonderful blog in Italian Viaggiando con Bea, in which she shares her travels and her recipes. We have been following each other’s blogs for over … Continue reading Food Blogging International: Viaggiando con Bea
Valtellina is a valley in North-West Italy on the border with Switzerland. The valley is west-east oriented, so the northern slope has southern exposure and is ideal for wine growing. We came here to sample the wines that are made … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Trippi
In Italy you can go to almost any restaurant and the food will be good and you will find local typical dishes on the menu. Only in more touristy areas you have to pay attention, such as where we are … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Aquila d’Oro
Two of the questions that people ask me most frequently are “Why don’t you start a restaurant?” and “How can you stay so slim with all the food you eat?” The answer to the second question is very easy: portion … Continue reading Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice (Post-Workout Meal)
Today is the first day of the 2021 Sous Vide Summit, and I am one of Friday’s speakers. My presentation will be a summary of the blog post below. For me there is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when it comes … Continue reading Combining Sous Vide And Freezing
Our annual dinner at the Librije in December of last year had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Now that most of us our vaccinated, restaurants are back in business and we could catch up our dinner. As usual … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Librije*** (2021)
I’ve only recently discovered this dish, and absolutely love it. It has great depth of flavor. If you have already made the Nam Phrik Phao, then most of the work is in pan frying (or oven roasting) the eggplant. We … Continue reading Thai Eggplant and Chicken Stir Fry with Nam Prik Pao and Basil
Nam Phrik Phao or Nam Prik Pao is one of the Thai chili pastes. Because of the consistency and containing palm sugar, it is sometimes also referred to as chilli jam. This is not the kind of jam you’d have … Continue reading Nam Phrik Phao (Thai Chilli Jam)
Because of the pandemic I haven’t visited any wineries for a while, but luckily the nice people of Bisci Wines contacted me. They were enthusiastic about the recipes I have posted that pair well with Verdicchio, and offered to send … Continue reading Pairing Food and Wines of Bisci
This is what we’ve just had for dinner, or as the primo piatto to be more precise (with a flat iron steak as secondo piatto): orecchiette pasta with slow-roasted cauliflower, capers, anchovies, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and … Continue reading Pasta with Slow-Roasted Cauliflower (Orecchiette al Cavolfiore)
Due to the pandemic I can’t visit wineries, but thankfully sometimes a winery sends over some samples. I will write more about the wines of Bisci from Matelic from the Marche region in Italy in my next post. Their 2017 … Continue reading Lamb with Mint Sauce and Green Asparagus
We had friends over for dinner. She likes fish, but he likes meat and red wine. I ended up preparing Portuguese style cheeks in a red wine sauce for everyone, but we had Iberico pork cheeks, and she had monkfish … Continue reading Monkfish Portuguese Style
