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Posts Tagged ‘cooking for dummies’

  1. Pearls of the summer – Ricotta truffles

    August 10, 2012 by Giulietta

    The queen of false promises came back.. each time, in fact, more and more time passes between a post and the following one. I am a genius of evil, no doubt about it!

    But what can I do, summer took me, and so did the miles travelling up and down Italy, dinners with friends, days by the pool and out in the mountains … and it's not that I cook less than usual (on the contrary, I'd say), but certainly I document less and, as you can see by these pictures, with a minor (could we say nonexistent?! Let's say nonexistent) aesthetic eye. Maybe it's the hot weather or the vacation atmosphere (despite my holidays are long gone), but I'm lazier, and I admit it without any problems.. quite the opposite, almost with a sense of pride!

    The recipe I am presenting you today, a summer family classic, it's easy to make, very quick and cold: it doesn't require an oven or stove (just the fridge, my friends) and you'd need only very basic kitchen equipment (bowl, fork, dishes), but you'll have a fresh and delicious dessert, low fat and suitable for all palates. Well, I post less and less, but I hope to make it up to you with some ideas to facilitate you in these hot days.
     

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    Category Cheese, Chocolate, Cold dishes, Cooking for dummies, Dessert and Sweets, Dried fruit, Pralines | Tags: ,,,,,,,,, | 4 Comments

  2. 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

  3. The pleasures of the flesh: beef medallions hugged by lardo

    January 31, 2012 by Giulietta

    I am not a voracious meat eater, I don't stuff myself with steaks, stews, burgers, chickens and patties, and it's not because I don't like them (on the contrary), but simply because I eat many more vegetables than proteins or carbs. What can I do if I go crazy for every single vegetable?!

    But (and I've already told you, there's always a but) I can't say no to a great piece of meat cooked like it deserves, aka not overcooked. I believe that, under the right conditions, I could kill for a Fiorentina, or a nice Frisona (a Piedmontese cow) T-Bone steak.

    But I'd settle even for "less", for example a nice piece of sirloin, briefly and simply cooked. Here, if you're searching for a dish that has these two traits, the beef medallions hugged by lardo are just perfect.

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    Category Beef, Cold cuts, Cooking for dummies, Meat, Second course | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 20 Comments

  4. I reinvented hot water (aka “my stupid idea on Tuesday”): rustic crostini with chopped lardo and black pepper

    December 20, 2011 by Giulietta

    Last weekend could be renamed "Fear and Loathing in the Kitchen" … an entire Saturday (and I mean the whole day) spent between the four walls of a kitchen, dealing with five different Christmas sweets, with an exaggerated multi-tasking and, of course, with the inevitable mistakes made because of the performance anxiety (I still can't tell you my mistake, but it includes aluminum foil and a long series of curses). But, when you share everything with a good friend, and you season it with a large dose of irony (and I assure you that it was absolutely necessary), even mistakes turn into a laugh and everything goes by, even a 12 hours cooking frenzy.

    And then, on Sunday, an epic "polentata" (a meal in which you eat only polenta, with different dressing) in the mountains, taking turns to stir the polenta on the wood stove, with a stew made as nature intended, mushrooms, cheeses and a good red wine.

    And so, in a kitchen or around a table, with new or old friends, I believe that everything finds the right balance, everything comes back to the right place.

    The next weekend it will be Christmas, many of us will spend this week to cook elaborate, long, full-bodied, meals, and some of us will fast (except for the inevitable dinner/afternoon teas/after-dinner to exchange Christmas wishes and gifts .. ok, so basically none will fast) to prepare ourselves for the upcoming holidays. Today I don't propose you a traditional recipe (although in some places in the Asti province this starter is more or less typical) or a complex recipe, but just a stupid, quick and effective one.

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    Category Appetizer and Finger food, Cold cuts, Cooking for dummies, Spices | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 14 Comments

  5. A lazy Tuesday – Vegetable stock-cube

    December 6, 2011 by Giulietta

    I return to the charge with my lazy posts .. and this is lazy squared!

    Why lazy squared? First of all because this is a quick preparation: it won't waste much of your time or attention. And, secondly, because once you've got your cube, you can afford to be lazy for four to five months (it will last this long), you can get a vegetable broth in a second (for risotto, to add to meat preparations, for a broth if you're ill) and you can have always at your fingertips a great seasonings (I often use it instead of salt) made ​​with fresh and healthy ingredients (ok, I sound like a baby food advertising).

    Believe me, if you already use stock-cubes, this will change your mind about what a stock-cube really is. If you don't use stock-cubes, you'll begin to use this one.

    I learned this recipe at a recent cooking class about meat preparations, and I won't leave it!

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    Category Concentrated, Conserve, Cooking for dummies, Herbs, Vegetables | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,, | 18 Comments

  6. A simple cake for breakfast: apple and yogurt cake

    September 19, 2011 by Giulietta

    Now that the weather starts to be cooler and consequently turning on the oven is more appealing (I don't know about you, but here in Turin Friday I was wearing shorts and sandals, while yesterday I wore jeans, sweatshirt and shoes… sudden changes, uh. Let me say it: there are no more middle seasons!), I can finally start the endless series of breakfast sweets.

    Oh, yeah, I'm a strenuous supporter of the do-it-yourself breakfast, which doesn't include silicone and wooden planks, but a series of delicacies, from cookies to muffins, from tarts to mini pies, passing through plum cakes and pantry cakes. Well, cold and dark times have some advantages, too!

    So, to start a series of breakfast-friendly recipes, here it is: a simple apple and yogurt cake, an almost banal recipe (as in "recipes you could find on the back of flour packages"), but its result is rustic to the right point and everyone would agree with it, at breakfast or not.

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    Category Breakfast, Cakes and pies, Cooking for dummies, Dessert and Sweets, Fresh fruit, Pantry cakes | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | 113 Comments