If you cook octopus sous vide, you will get tender flavorful octopus, as well as a lot of flavorful liquid in the bag (more than a third of the original weight of the octopus, see this post). Het is a … Continue reading Octopus Risotto (Risotto al Polpo)
This is my favorite way of preparing cod. And so I was surprised to find that I had not yet shared it with you on my blog, when I did the post about what we eat on a daily basis. … Continue reading Merluzzo alla Palermitana (Baked Cod With Crust)
Ravioli are called agnolotti in Piemonte. Every restaurant in Piemonte has them on the menu. As is always the case with traditional recipes in Italy, there are many variations. The most important variations are with or without greens (spinach or … Continue reading Ravioli del Plin al Sugo d’Arrosto (Meat Ravioli from Piemonte)
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
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)
To my surprise I had not yet blogged my recipe for risotto ai frutti di mare. That needed to be rectified as soon as possible, and it is certainly no punishment to have to eat this. There are two important … Continue reading Risotto ai Frutti di Mare (Seafood Risotto)
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)
Another delicious seafood antipasto at La Perla in Calasetta was scallops gratin with almonds. The nice thing about Italian cooking is that once you know the ingredients (vocabulary) and cooking techniques (grammar), you can very easily reconstruct dishes (sentences) without … Continue reading Scallops Gratin with Almonds (Capesante gratinate con le mandorle)
Scaloppine are a popular secondo in Italy because they are delicious and quick to prepare. Thin slices of meat are pounded even thinner and then served with all kinds of sauces, like balsamic, Marsala, with eggplant, mozzarella and tomato, or … Continue reading Veal Escalope with Mushrooms and Marsala (Scaloppine ai Funghi e Marsala)
For Christmas I wanted to make a traditional Italian dish that I had not prepared before, preferably something that involved stuffed pasta. As I’ve already made so many stuffed pasta dishes over the years, I wasn’t sure if I would … Continue reading Ravioli alla Genovese
During our travels through Spain, on many nights we wouldn’t sit down in a restaurant to have dinner, but instead go from tapas bar to tapas bar to sample the tapas with a nice glass of wine. This is not … Continue reading Tigres o Mejillones Rellenos (Stuffed Mussels Tapas)
Although in Italy eel is mostly eaten in winter time, fresh eel is available here in summer. And so I’ve made a summer version of eel ragù by making it with fresh tomatoes and basil. This makes the ragù very … Continue reading Tagliatelle with Eel (Tagliatelle al Ragù di Anguilla)
We love risotto and so it is fitting that the 600th post on this blog is a risotto recipe. I had just finished another batch of homemade pancetta and was looking for a recipe to use it with. In one of … Continue reading Risotto with Witlof and Pancetta (Risotto con Radicchio e Pancetta)
Two typical Dutch ingredients are smoked eel and celeriac (aka celery root). In Dutch cooking, they are sometimes combined in celeriac soup with smoked eel. I thought it would be worth trying some Dutch-Italian fusion and make a smoked eel and celeriac risotto. I loved the result and will definitely make it again. A nice thing about the smoked eel is that it is a “mile 0” product, as the eel is caught and smoked in the town where I live. Smoked eel is a delicacy because it melts on your tongue and has a very nice full flavor. It … Continue reading Smoked Eel and Celeriac Risotto (Risotto Anguille e Sedano Rapa)
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 