One of my favorite cooking blogs in Italian is Primo, non sprecare by Paola. The title can be translated as “First of all, don’t waste anything”. In Paola’s vision this doesn’t only refer to not wasting any food, but also … Continue reading Wholewheat Pasta with Lentils and Pancetta (Pasta con lenticchie e pancetta)
Fresh porcini mushrooms are hard to find, in part because they are so perishable. Luckily dried porcini mushrooms can be kept for a long time and they pack a lot of flavor. The secret to making the most delicious dried … Continue reading Porcini Mushroom Ravioli (Ravioli ai Funghi Porcini Secchi)
Making traditional Italian venison pasta sauce is pretty straightforward, but it does require some patience because of the long cooking time involved. As you only have to stir every half hour or so, this is a perfect sauce to prepare during … Continue reading Venison Pasta Sauce (Ragù di Cervo)
You may have noticed something else on the plate along with the venison and mushroom stew of my previous post. Because the stew was served with a wine from Piemonte, I wanted to serve a contorno (side dish) from that … Continue reading Sancrau alla Piemontese (Savoy Cabbage with Vinegar and Anchovies)
Pasta comes in many shapes. The most common include spaghetti, penne, tagliatelle, orecchiette, and lasagne. Apart from fresh pasta and dried pasta, one of the main distinctions is between ‘short’ pasta such as penne and orecchiette, and ‘long’ pasta such … Continue reading Choosing a Pasta Shape, Part 2: Spaghetti with Bell Peppers and Olives
Pasta comes in many shapes. The most common include spaghetti, penne, tagliatelle, orecchiette, and lasagne. Apart from fresh pasta and dried pasta, one of the main distinctions is between ‘short’ pasta such as penne and orecchiette, and ‘long’ pasta such … Continue reading Choosing a Pasta Shape, Part 1: Penne with Bell Peppers and Olives
This elegant pasta dish can be prepared in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Succulent pieces of sole fillet (I actually used plaice, schol in Dutch) are tossed with linguine pasta in a simple sauce of white wine, … Continue reading Linguine with Sole and Lemon Zest
There is already a recipe for smoked salmon ravioli on this blog, but that one is for hot smoked salmon. Today’s post is about cold smoked salmon. The filling is as easy as it comes: simply blend smoked salmon with … Continue reading Smoked Salmon Ravioli with Whiskey Sauce (Ravioli al Salmone Affumicato con Whiskey)
Spinach and ricotta are a classic combination in Italian cuisine, probably known best as one of the most common fillings for ravioli. I’ve made spinach risotto before, but I had never thought about risotto with ricotta and spinach. Until I … Continue reading Risotto con Spinaci e Ricotta (Spinach and Ricotta Risotto)
The best pork chops are those that are marbled with fat, as the fat provides flavor and prevents the chops from drying out. For this recipe I used some pork chops from iberico pig, the same Spanish pork that is … Continue reading Pork Chops in Piquant Sauce
Spaghetti alla Carbonara is one of our favorite dishes that I make often because it is such great comfort food: filling and full of flavor. If you are a long time follower of this blog with a good memory, you … Continue reading Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Bacalà alla Vicentina is a famous dish from the North Italian city of Vicenza, prepared with dried cod. The cod is cooked low and slow and flavored with onions, anchovies, parsley, milk, extra virgin olive oil, and grated cheese (grana … Continue reading Fresh Cod alla Vicentina with Polenta
There was a butternut squash in my pantry that needed to be used. The best Italian recipes are always the simplest, and so I decided to use the squash to make risotto with no other ingredients except the squash and … Continue reading Butternut Squash Risotto (Risotto alla Zucca)
This summertime ragù is more elegant than ragù alla Bolognese and takes less time. It is best over fresh pasta, but as seen in the photo it is great on spaghetti or other store-bought dry pasta, too. As with many … Continue reading Pork, Fresh Tomato and Fennel Seed Ragù (Ragù di Maiale al Pomodoro Fresco e Semi di Finocchio)
Panzerotti are deep-fried calzone, i.e. deep-fried filled pizza! They are delicious street food from Puglia in the deep south of Italy. In Campania they are called calzoni fritti. The funny thing is that I did not get to know these … Continue reading Panzerotti
Apart from anything sous-vide, homemade ravioli could be considered to be my signature dish. Besides Italian classics I have developed many variations over the years. So many that it is getting hard to come up with something new. White asparagus … Continue reading White Asparagus Ravioli
It’s Spring and when it’s spring I see lambs frolicking in the pastures. And it makes me think of how good they will taste as lamb chops or lamb shank 😉 A part of lamb that is not as popular … Continue reading Agnello alla Romagnola (Lamb Stew with Peas, Pancetta and Tomato)
This is one of those rare cases when the name of a dish sounds better in English than it does in the original Italian. Simona of Grembiule da Cucina always has wonderful Italian home cooking recipes from her region Emilia, … Continue reading Rina’s Ribs (Puntine “della Rina”)
Mushroom lasagna is a classic I’ve been making for years, but I noticed I had never published it on the blog yet. It is a great dish to indulge, rich yet elegant. Its components are fresh homemade spinach pasta, funghi … Continue reading Mushroom Lasagna (Lasagne ai Funghi)
Pollo alla Cacciatora is an Italian classic. It means chicken prepared in the style of the hunter’s wife (traditional recipes usually do not assume that the wife would hunt herself), which is chicken stewed in tomatoes with herbs, wine, and … Continue reading Pollo alla Cacciatora (Chicken in Tomato Sauce)
It is interesting how you can vary even the simplest of Italian recipes. I make pasta with broccoli often, and I often make it like I described in this post with anchovies, garlic, and chilli. I cook the broccoli and … Continue reading Pasta with Broccoli and Pancetta
Many foods we still enjoy today were invented to be able to conserve food before we had refrigerators and freezers. A famous example is dried, or salted and dried, fish. In Italy this is known as baccalà for dried cod, … Continue reading Bacalà alla Vicentina (Dried Cod Braised in Milk and Olive Oil)
This is my favorite kind of food blogging. I thought of something to prepare for dinner on the train back home from work, using what I knew was in my fridge. I prepared and photographed it, we enjoyed it for dinner, … Continue reading Pasta Casserole with Salmon and Spinach (Pasta al Forno con Salmone e Spinaci)
It has been a while since I had last cooked a recipe from Biba Caggiano, my favorite cookbook author. Rabbit in piquant sauce is something I had prepared before more than a decade ago, and I remember the rabbit turned … Continue reading Rabbit in Piquant Sauce, Stovetop Braised or Sous-Vide (Coniglio in Salsa Piccante)
There are many versions of ragù alla bolognese that do not have much to do with the original from the city of Bologna. They may be tasty pasta sauces, but in my opinion they should be given another name such … Continue reading Ragù alla Bolognese: Pressure Cooked, Sous-Vide, or Traditional?
Ragù di Cinghiale is a famous pasta sauce made with wild boar meat and tomatoes from Tuscany and Umbria, served over a sturdy type of long pasta like pappardelle or pici. I’ve already posted a classic recipe for Pappardelle al Ragù … Continue reading Wild Boar Ragù Sous-Vide (Ragù di Cinghiale)
Sometimes fresh borlotti beans are available at the market in Amsterdam. The pods are so pretty that they look like they were designed by an artist. I had picked up some and decided to turn it into a minestra using … Continue reading Pasta and Fresh Borlotti Beans Soup (Pasta con i Fagioli Freschi)
A simple classic from Italian kitchens: spaghetti with sausage and cream. This comfort food is even more simple than pasta with sausage and bell pepper, or with porcini, sausage, and cream. And it can be prepared in the time it … Continue reading Spaghetti with Sausage and Cream (Spaghetti Salsiccia e Panna)
There are two posts about fresh pasta with mushrooms on this blog already: pappardelle with fresh porcini and pappardelle with dried porcini and fresh mushrooms. There are two reasons for yet another post. The first one is that during our … Continue reading Tagliolini ai Funghi di Bosco (Fresh Pasta with Wild Mushrooms)
Vitello tonnato is one of my favorite dishes. The combination of slices of tender veal with a tuna sauce is surprisingly delicious. I’ve posted a sous-vide version of Vitello Tonnato before, but in that version only the veal was cooked … Continue reading Vitello Tonnato Extremely Sous-Vide
