Pasta e ceci is typical Italian comfort food. Ceci are chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans. As with all Italian home cooking, many variations exist. Some are with tomatoes, some without (in bianco). Some are more like a soup, with … Continue reading Pasta with Chickpeas and Pancetta (Pasta e Ceci con Pancetta)
Coda alla Vaccinara is a classic dish from Rome: oxtail stewed in tomato sauce. It is usually served as a secondo, but you can also eat the sauce over pasta as a primo before that. Another less common variation is … Continue reading Conchiglie alla Vaccinara (Pasta with Oxtail Ragù Sous-Vide)
Fregola or fregula is one of the typical pasta shapes from Sardinia (the other one is malloreddus). It is like very thick spaghetti made from durum wheat, cut into short pieces and then toasted. It is a bit like large … Continue reading Fregola Sarda con le Cozze (Fregola with Mussels)
Samphire (also known as marsh samphire, salicornia, or sea asparagus) is a salt tolerant plant that grows near the sea. In Italy it is called asparagi di mare (sea asparagus), although I don’t think it tastes like asparagus. Samphire is … Continue reading Samphire and Tomato Salad (Insalata di Asparagi di Mare e Pomodori)
Our vacation to Sardinia provided a lot of inspiration for dishes to cook. Yet another one from La Perla in Calasetta is stuffed calamari braised in tomato sauce. This reminded me of a recipe by Biba Caggiano that I still … Continue reading Stuffed Calamari Braised in Tomato Sauce (Calamari Ripieni)
Frozen pollock or pollack (Dutch: koolvis, French: colin) is amazingly cheap. It comes in unnatural-looking rectangular blocks. At a local supermarket it is 1.75 euros for 400 grams (that is $2.37/lb). It is “frozen at sea”, which means it is … Continue reading Pasta with Cheap Fish Ragù
If it’s too hot right now to turn on the oven where you are, save this recipe for later, because it is easy and delicious. Cod, potatoes, and tomatoes are all cooked together in the oven with garlic and herbs … Continue reading Baked Cod, Potatoes, and Tomatoes (Merluzzo, Patate e Pomodori al Forno)
“Bravo” is a Spanish word that can mean brave (as in courageous), but also wild, rough, or spirited, as in the name of the rough coastline near Barcelona (Costa Brava). And so Patatas Bravas could literally be translated as potatoes with spirit. … Continue reading Patatas Bravas
You can encounter baby octopus in a hot red sauce all along the long Italian coastline. “Alla diavola” refers to the use of chilli flakes. You can make it as hot or as mild as you like. If you are … Continue reading Baby Octopus Alla Diavola (Moscardini alla Diavola)
After reading Conor’s post in which he showed us how to prepare delicious roast leg of goat, I got curious and wanted to try goat meat, too. Now there are a lot of goats in the Netherlands, kept primarily for milking, … Continue reading Goat Stew from Abruzzo (Capra alla Neretese)
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)
One of the questions I get asked the most is whether I spend a lot of time preparing each meal. The answer is no, as when I get home from work I am usually too hungry to wait a long … Continue reading Fusilli with Shrimp, Peas, and Tomato
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 with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes is the only dish that I prepare quite often, but has not appeared on this blog yet. There are two reasons for that: one is that I thought it wouldn’t be interesting … Continue reading Spaghetti with a Fresh Tomato Sauce (Spaghetti al Pomodoro)
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)
How about insalata caprese for dessert? Most of us love the famous combination of tomato, buffalo mozzarella, and basil as a savory dish. But it is also delicious as a dessert with the basil transformed into ice cream. The technique for … Continue reading Basil Ice Cream with Tomato Confit, Mozzarella and Balsamic Syrup
Škampi na Buzaru is a traditional dish from the peninsula of Istria in Croatia and another discovery from our recent vacation. It is prepared in nearby Italy as well, and there it is called Scampi alla Bùsara. Like with many … Continue reading Scampi alla Bùsara (Škampi na Buzaru)
Side by side experiments are a great way to find out if what you are doing when cooking actually makes a difference. For instance, is it worth making pesto by hand with pestle and mortar instead of in the blender … Continue reading Cooking Sous-Vide With(out) Sauce Experiment (Coda alla Vaccinara)
Calamarata is a pasta shape from southern Italy that looks like rings of calamari, and it is most often served with a seafood sauce. This fish ragù is very simple and can be prepared while the pasta cooks (provided that … Continue reading Calamarata al Ragù di Pesce (Pasta with Fish Ragù)
Red Snapper Veracruz is one of the best known seafood dishes from Mexico, but I had never heard about it until I saw it on REMCooks.com. It reminds me of a Mediterranean dish, and clearly shows the Spanish influences in … Continue reading Red Snapper Veracruz (Huachinango a la Veracruzana)
Marinara sauce is the American-Italian term for tomato sauce, but in Italy it usually refers to a sauce prepared in the style of the seaman’s wife and is a tomato-based sauce with seafood. I really liked the risotto alla marinara … Continue reading Risotto alla Marinara (Risotto with Fish)
Panzanella is a perfect dish for the hot weather we’ve been having, as it is refreshing, makes good use of the summer’s bounty, and the basic version doesn’t require any cooking. Originally it is an Italian peasant lunch prepared to … Continue reading Panzanella
Vongole veraci are Italian clams and they are just so flavorful. The best thing is, they come with their own sauce (i.e. the juices they release when they are cooked) and so it takes very little effort to turn some … Continue reading Vongole alla Marinara (Clams in Tomato Sauce)
I got the idea for this fast delicious summery pasta dish from Marina of Le Recette di Baccos. It only takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta and the variations are endless. Raw vegetables, in this version … Continue reading Pasta with Raw Vegetables (Penne con Verdure Crude)
I’ve already posted about homemade ketchup in my most about making my first hamburgers from scratch. I wasn’t completely happy with the ketchup back then, and I’ve been experimenting a bit to find a recipe I liked better based on a … Continue reading Homemade Ketchup
I’ve sung the praises of cooking from scratch before. Sure, you can buy something similar in a jar in the store. But you get to tune this homemade salsa to exactly how you like it, how about that! You can … Continue reading Chunky Salsa for Fajitas
This pasta dish is inspired by Sapori Pugliesi, a humble trattoria in downtown Amsterdam. This place is in walking distance from where I work, and perfect for a quick, delicious and cheap meal after work if I’m going to stay … Continue reading Fresh Tagliatelle with Slow-Cooked Beef Ragù
Yet another simple and delicious seafood pasta dish from Biba Caggiano that only takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta: pasta shells with calamari, tomatoes, anchovies, and chile pepper flakes. This is best with fresh squid, but … Continue reading Pasta with Squid (Conchiglie alla Pappagano)
After eating at three-star restaurants and trying complicated recipes, it’s easy to forget that simple food can be great, too. Fortunately I only need to browse one of Biba Caggiano’s cookbooks to be reminded of that, and that is where … Continue reading Gnocchi with Fish Sauce (Gnocchi con Sugo di Pesce)
Mackerel is a cheap and tasty fish, and healthy because it’s loaded with omega-3 fatty acids. I’ve prepared it as ceviche, in a quiche with sauerkraut, and marinated ‘in saor’. Recently I saw oven-roasted mackerel on two of my favorite … Continue reading Roasted Mackerel (Sgombro al Forno)
