Tag: seasonalcooking

Wild wholewheat spring pizza

Food no Comments

Spring is a wild season, an awakening season, so full of new, fresh perfumes. One of the top ingredient of the season is the wonderful asparagus. So delicious, so versatile, so rich of minerals and vitamins, and so joyfully green, or sweetly pale. Love it on the pizza with eggs, creamy cheese and parmigiano cheese, maybe with an egg, and some parma ham. This one is a wild one, topped with pea pesto as well, pine nuts and detox artichoke. Feta or fresh goat cheese on top. Whole grain pizza loaded with greens.

Continue Reading…

Ricotta filled fried zucchini flowers

Food no Comments

Fried zucchini flowers are one of Italy’s most elegant and graceful street foods. Like so often in Italian cuisine, the variants are numerous, and every region has its traditional recipe. Then you can make your own variations to the theme of course. When its delicately crunchy surface gives in to the soft filling, is a magical moment for the senses. It’s an authentic sensation, unique. Normally sparkling water is used in the batter, but I made a sparkling wine variant to the theme, that I thing is matching perfectly with the mild flavor of the flower dumplings. The chopped chive is also giving a mild contrast to the cheese in the filling. A romantic tête-à-tête dinner or an elegant appetizer. This is your dish.

Continue Reading…

Steamed shrimps with aïoli

Food no Comments

This is one of the easiest and fastest recipes I know, as one of the most rewarding one. Ready in less than 10 minutes, this simple seafood dish, is the perfect refreshing nutritious lunch on a hot summer day in good company or as a starter in the summer party. Of course it’s great in any season. Important that you get the freshest shrimp available, to enjoy at the most the natural flavor of this precious ingredient. Taste them on their own or with fresh sauces of choice. I love them dipped in home made aïoli garlic mayonnaise or cocktail sauce.

 

Ingredients

  • 900g medium sized shrimps with shell
  • 1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp lemon pepper or normal ground pepper
  • some lemon wedges

Method

  1. Sprinkle the seasoning all over the shrimps and let it rest for marinating for 5 minutes.
  2. Arrange the shrimps in a steaming basket (or a steamer) and bring 2 cups of water to the boil in a pot of same diameter. The shrimps should not touch the water.
  3. Steam the shrimps for about 3 minutes (5 if they are particularly large).
  4. Remove the shrimps from the steaming basket, squeeze some lemon juice on top, and serve alone or with aïoli garlic mayonnaise or cocktail sauce.
    *Put some bowls next to plates with hot water and extra lemon wedges and a small towel for washing hands that you will need for removing the crunchy shells.

Soma d’Aj

Food no Comments

Soma d’Aj is a typical recipe from Piedmont. It’s a quite simple slice of country bread rubbed with garlic and then topped with extra virgin olive oil. In Piedmont dialect aj means garlic (abbreviation for aglio) and soma is related to the load put on the back of a beast. An approximate translation for this gastronomic metaphor could be: “Loaded with garlic”.

Continue Reading…