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‘Holidays’ Category

  1. Once on shore we pray no more, pt. 3 – Stuffed capon

    February 7, 2013 by Giulietta

    This recipe marks the end of my “once on shore we pray no more” serie, born to remember Christmas holidays, which now are just a distant memory.

    Between the recipes I proposed starring Mr. Capon (with capital C), perhaps this one is the most holiday-related … sure, tortellini are no joke, but I think that you could eat tortellini any day of the year, while stuffed capon immediately recalls Christmas holiday. Stuffed capon is a sort of culinary party:  how else you can call, in fact, a fat and tasty, when you stuff it with other delicious things?! It’s a party, there is no other definition.

    For my stuffed capon I drew inspiration from this Piedmontese recipe, making some changes here and there.

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    Category Capon, Christmas, Holidays, Meat, Piedmont, Regional Italian cooking, Second course | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,, | 4 Comments

  2. Once on shore we pray no more pt. 2 – Capon salad Sicily-scented

    January 25, 2013 by Giulietta

    As promised, here I am with the second recipe to remember the Christmas holidays. The protagonist is Mr. Capon (again), this time in flesh and blood, not as a stock.

    This recipe, in fact, is born to reuse the capon’s boiled meat once you made the stock for your tortellini.

    I immediately thought of a salad, light and perfect as an appetizer or a delicious second course, and also immediately I decided to make it Sicily-scented, by adding oranges (slices and juice) and almonds.

    Recipe doesn’t have doses: it goes to the taste.

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Capon, Christmas, Citrus, Dried fruit, Fresh fruit, Holidays, Meat, Nuts, Second course | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  3. Once on shore we pray no more pt. 1 – Tortellini in a capon broth

    January 19, 2013 by Giulietta

    In Italy, especially in Southern Italy, there is a famous saying, which reads “passata la festa, gabbatu lu santu” (something like “once the holiday is gone, the saint is duped“, more or less the same meaning as “once on shore we pray no more“) … in a nutshell, when somebody obtains something he/she really wanted, he/she often forget very quickly the thing he/she obtained.

    So, quickly after Christmas holidays, it’s easy to forget the relax and the sumptuous lunches we had at Christmas.

    But I say NO to this bad habit to forget too quickly, so I’m publishing now three recipes to remember Christmas when it’s already gone (sooooo gone). Two of these recipes are very traditional one, while one is a “leftovers” one, but all have something in common, Mr. Capon (which has already suffered castration in life, and deserves a little celebration, uh?!).

    The first of these recipes, a very traditional one (and very festive), typical of Emilia region (but there’s a “war” between Modena and Bologna about their origin), tortellini in a capon broth. Needless to say, this is not a family recipe.. well, not my family, at least. I “stole” Sara’s family recipe (Sara aka Fiordifrolla), and I slightly modified it.

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    Category Christmas, Earth first course, Emilia, First course, Fresh pasta, Holidays, Home-made is better, Pasta, Regional Italian cooking, Soup | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 9 Comments

  4. Finishing 2012/starting 2013 with a bang: gastronomic panettone

    January 10, 2013 by Giulietta

    I published this recipe on my Italian blog on New Year’s Eve: in fact, this was my contribution to a New Year’s Eve dinner with friend.

    A few days before the 31st I decided that I wanted to end 2012 with a bang, astonishing my dining companions, and so I made my attempt with a gastronomic panettone (a semi-savoury panettone, stuffed with anything you can think of).

    Of course, my panettone wasn’t perfect (it resembled an alien -at least an alien in the ’80 filmography’s stereotype), but for me it was simply beautiful.

    The recipe came from Adriano of Profumo di Lievito, a real expert on leavened preparations. As for the filling, you can find my choices in the recipe’s notes, but you can use everything you like.

    This panettone is my little gift for you, and with it I wish you all a GREAT 2013!

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Holidays, Leavened, New Year's Eve, Party, Senza categoria | Tags: ,,,, | 6 Comments

  5. 12 recipes for a happy new year

    December 29, 2012 by Giulietta

    As a wish for a happy new year I prepared for you a report of this year in recipes: this 2012 brought me great changes, it was a year marked by my appearance and disappearance from the blog (but I have never abandoned you, and this should count for something, uh?) and it definitely was (and you’ll see it very soon) a very sweet year, and not just from the culinary point of view.

    With these 12 recipes, one for each month of 2012, I wish a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

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    Category Holidays, New Year's Eve, Thoughts and words | Tags: ,,, | 6 Comments

  6. A festive dessert – Pistachio mille-feuille

    December 3, 2012 by Giulietta

    Did I ever tell you that I have a passion for pistachios? No?! Well, now you know it: I am a pistachio-addicted! I can’t say no to a couple (a couple?! Who believes that?) pistachio nuts, at any time and situation, I believe that “if a dessert has pistachio in it must be good” (and not just desserts… I’m not a racist!), I strongly believe that “Sicily is the promise land”.

    So when last summer I went to Calabria, even without setting foot in my promise land (I admit it, I haven’t been in Sicily, yet), I found out that pistachio flour was very easy to find. Could I ever come back home empty-handed? I definitely couldn’t, so, while a part of that treasure still lies in my wardrobe/pantry (yes, sometimes I keep food and clothing together), a part has already gone away, but it was for a good cause.

    Our heroine, in fact, sacrificed itself on a special occasion, the birthday of two people who are very important to me and who, like me, love pistachios. So I chose to prepare as a birthday cake a mille-feuille with hand-made puff pastry, pistachio custard and then garnished with a sprinkling of pistachios and a chocolaty writing (as I said, there were two party boys: no one turned 2728).

    To accompany the dessert I could choose to stay in Sicily, with a Pantelleria passito (did I ever mention my passion for passito wines?! Well, I still have many secrets), but then I decided to serve it with a Piedmontese passito, the Sulé Caluso Passito doc produced by Orsolani. This wine, sweet and fruity, would marry even better with pastries, but I think that pistachios created the right conditions for a perfect wedding, even if this dessert is made with custard and whipped cream. And, maybe it’s my love for the Sicilian land, but I’m always in favour of a marriage between Sicilian food and a Piedmontese wine, as I already shown in the past.

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    Category Birthday, Dessert and Sweets, Dried fruit, French cuisine, Holidays, Home-made is better | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | 5 Comments

  7. Sciué sciué – friselle with cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella

    July 28, 2012 by Giulietta

    Live from Calabria (haven’t I said that I’d write from somewhere else, this time?), in a seaside-holiday mode, I leave you a sciué sciué (it means “quick quick” in Naples) post, sciué sciué as the dish that I made, with a few (but good) ingredients, without cooking, without special equipment (just a dish, a bowl and a knife), but with a great taste.

    Furthermore, this simple dish reminds me of distant echoes of that bread and tomatoes that my grandmother made for me and my cousin as a snack, that we ate in the hammock in the shade of a thorn bush; but, even more, it reminds me of the hundreds of summer lunches that my father and I had with friselle, when the weather was so hot to get close to the stove. Maybe it’s because bread (or frisella), tomatoes, salt, oil and oregano (now I added something a little more sophisticated) it’s a mix both simple and perfect, maybe it’s because of this tender and fuzzy childhood memories or maybe it’s because the memories that from now on I’ll tie to this dish, but frisella for me is and will stay a summer must I’ll hardly give up … and why should I?!

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Breads and pizzas, Cheese, Cold dishes, Cooking for dummies, Extra-virgin olive oil, Herbs, Holidays, Regional Italian cooking, Southern Italy, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,, | 6 Comments

  8. Happy birthday to me – Meringue pie in a cup (sort of)

    July 9, 2012 by Giulietta

     

    A very quick post, with a very clear intention: wish a HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY to me (I wish it to myself, 'cause you never know)! Oh, yes, I fall into the birthday's post cliche, too, but I won't keep going (at myself, of course) stating my desperation for the advancing age (but the age advances, though) or describing everything that I prepared for the celebrations in my honour. Well, actually I didn't prepare anything, there was no special celebration, I refused to cook, at least on my birthday (what the heck!).

    But, for my non-birthday (aka birthday celebrated in advance), I prepared this meringue pie in the cup (sort of), which had some success .. why did I prepare meringue pie for my non-birthday, when I don't go crazy for meringue? This remains a mystery to solve. But that's another story, which I think has something to do with mental tares I mentioned in my previous post … look on the bright side, at least I didn't turn on the oven!

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    Category Birthday, Dessert and Sweets, Egg yolks only, Holidays, Ice cream semifreddo and sorbet | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,, | 10 Comments

  9. Risolatte, I love you

    May 27, 2012 by Giulietta

    Did you honestly think I would disappear on you?! Ta-daaaa, here I am, again! You won't get rid of me so easily, my dears! I know that I'm less and less present, but life there are highs and lows with everything, and right now I don't really stay much in front of the PC, so the blog suffers a little, but as you can see, I always come back.

    And this time the word "return" takes on new meaning … yeah, 'cause in the meantime I have been in Belgium for a few days, a trip I took all by myself. I won't lie to you, it was a bit strange being so alone, and my trip was marked by the absence, but it's been quite a journey. And, being alone, I kept up with an exhausting pace: in 4 days I visited four cities (Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and Gent), I never took public transportation (except for the train to travel from one city to another one), I often ate street food (above all frites or waffles) and I tried to see as many things as possible, walking, walking, walking and photographing.

    I can't complain about this trip and this experience has been positive, but I admit that this time the coming back had a special flavour, much better than the bittersweet one that usually every coming back from a journey has.

    And, talking about sweet, but not cloying, flavours, just like I love them, here it is the recipe for risolatte (rice milk), a dessert that I love beyond all reasonable doubt: fresh, light, delicate, customisable, full-bodied and easy to make.. What could I say more? Enough words: eat it, at least with your eyes or, preferably, with your mouth.

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    Category Dessert and Sweets, Holidays, Pudding | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 28 Comments

  10. Fly, white dove, fly: Easter Colomba (dove) with brewer’s yeast

    April 5, 2012 by Giulietta

    A year of great success with leavened dough. And, if Christmas in Italy means Panettone, Easter means Colomba (Italian for dove).
    At this point I could talk you about the Christian meaning of the dove, I could talk about peace and olive branches .. but let's be honest, these things are not for me, since my religiosity and my closeness to the Christian religion in particular are very thin. Therefore, I face Easter like any other holiday, in a very secular and festive way, the one that rejoice over a few days home from work, some relax, some movies to see, some hours to spend with friends, some time available for cooking and baking.

    So, when I hear the word "dove" I don't think about a symbol of Christianity (I hope nobody feels offended by my spirit, or lack of spirit, depending on your point of view), but I think about this old Italian song (despite this reference to the 50s, I swear that I am not 80 years old … and anyway, if I was 80, I would be a hell of an eighty-year-old) and I think about this Italian Easter dessert.

    Therefore, because of the same secular and festive spirit above, for me celebrate Easter was about taking a weekend off, shopping and then locking myself in the kitchen with a good friend to prepare the Colomba, between a laugh, a look at some cookbook, a chat and a few other trials (between risings we made some delicious pitas, but I'll talk about them some other time), even managing to carve out some time for a beer in the evening. And, unlike the making of Panettone, we didn't even cursed so much .. perhaps, somehow, the Easter spirit manifested itself, for sure in the miracle of this dove, which is simply amazing.

    I am posting the recipe today (instead of my usual post on Saturday), so you're gonna make it for Easter Sunday, if you want to try it.

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    Category Dessert and Sweets, Easter, Holidays, Leavened | Tags: ,,,,,, | 10 Comments

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