The Flowery Skirt: Cooking

Yesterday evening

Mmmmmm

Right out of the oven.

Feb 27, 2010 9:26:00 AM | Cooking

New recipe - Fusilli with dried tomatoes

Dried tomatoes are a Sicilian invention. They found the way to preserve the tomatoes for the winter months when there was food shortage. So when you visit this sunny island you make sure to bring some home with you. As we did. And pine nuts, too.

Today I made up this recipe (for three). I just went with what I had at hand having in mind what I saw in Sicilia. It is very quick and easy. You can almost literally prepare the sauce while the pasta cooks. Not really liquid as a sauce, but I couldn't think of another word to describe this. Help me if you can, please, to improve my English! Thanks!

One small onion, a clove of garlic, a hand full of pine nuts, some parsley and celery

One chicken breast cut into strips

12 pieces of dried tomatoes

To soften the tomatoes you have to cook them in boiling water for 3 min

Above you can see: left - diced goat cheese (in Sicilia they would probably use sheep cheese or ricotta), center - drained and chopped tomatoes, right - chopped celery, parsley, garlic and pine nuts

Stew the onion and lightly salted meat. Add salt sparingly because the tomatoes and cheese are already salty. When done add all the other ingredients. I also added pepper and a pinch of curcuma. If the sauce is too dry add more olive oil.

Cook the fusilli (or any other pasta you prefer)
Add the sauce

Buon appetito!

Very tasty and unusual. Great with a sip of good white wine. :-)

And, can you think of a nice name for this recipe? I just didn't want to call it "Fusilli alla Siciliana"...

Jan 10, 2010 10:50:14 PM | Cooking, Recipe

Whole wheat apple cake

Another cake. Made with whole wheat flour and a diced apple.
Not so sweet and high in fiber. A healthy cake indeed! :-)

Dec 5, 2009 7:32:44 PM | Cooking

Upside-down apple cake

Like a crostata, only upside-down. :-)

This is how the cake looks baked. The shortbread crust goes on top.

The cake turned over.

Tastes like a biscuit with jam. Yum.

Dec 4, 2009 9:36:45 AM | Cooking

Half a cake

Half a mandarin Pavlova

I only had one crust (bought) and wanted two layers. :-)

Did you know that the there is a debate about whether New Zealand or Australia invented this cake? I didn't!

The name was chosen in honour of the Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who toured both New Zealand and Australia in 1926.

Nov 28, 2009 9:54:00 AM | Cooking

Cake?

I used a muffin batter to try my new silicone mold. Not bad, eh?

Nov 24, 2009 10:59:45 AM | Cooking

Juha od tikve - recept/ Pumpkin soup - the recipe/ Minestra vellutata di zucca - la ricetta

Let's try again now. Hopefully the post won't disappear today.

I made up this recipe for a really tasty and aromatic soup. The pumpkin I used was green with sweet orange meat.

Ingredients for two:

- 250 gr pumpkin - frozen or cooked till soft, and then mixed

- parsley - chopped

- 1 medium size onion - better if red, finely chopped

- 1 spoon flour

- 0,5 l water

- 1 buillon cube -I used chicken

- salt, pepper, curry, allspice

- milk, sour cream

Cook the chopped onion in some oil and butter until soft. Add the pumpkin, parsley, 250 ml water and cook for 15 minutes. In a small bowl mix the flour and spice, dilute with the remaining water and add the mixture to the pumpkin. Add the buillon cube. Cook until dense. You can correct the density by letting the liquid evaporate to get it thicker or thinning it by adding milk (soya milk will also do) and sour cream.

Serve the soup warm as is or with croutons. Bon appetit!

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Pokušat ću opet. Možda danas ne nestane cijeli post. Stvarno ne razumijem šta se dogodilo.

No, vratimo se sad na recept za juhicu od tikve koju sam smislila, ukusnu i mirisnu, jednostavno za ne propustiti.

Tikva je bila jedna od onih zelenih sa slatkim narančastim mesom.

Za dvije osobe:

- oko 250 gr tikve - odmrznute ili skuhane da smekša, pa izmiksane u kašicu

- peršina - sitno nasjeckanog

- 1 luk srednje veličine - bolje ako je ljubičasti, sitno nasjeckan

- 1 velika žlica brašna

- 0,5 l vode

- 1 kocka za juhu - ja sam koristila kokošju

- curry, piment, sol, papar

- mlijeko, kiselo vrhnje

Popirjajte luk na malo ulja i maslaca dok ne požuti i smekša. Dodajte tikvu i peršin, 250 ml vode i kuhajte 15 minuta. U zdjelici pomješajte brašno, začine po ukusu, umješajte preostalu vodu i sve skupa ulijte u lonac s juhicom, dodajte i kocku. Prokuhajte dok se ne zgusne. Gustoću možete regulirati dodatnim kuhanjem dok se ne zgusne ili dodavanjem mlijeka (može is ojinog) ili vrhnja da se razrijedi.

Servirajte toplu juhicu samu ili uz preprženi kruh. Dobar tek!

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Ecco che ci riprovo. Speriamo che oggi il mio post non svanisca nel nulla. Non riesco a capire cosa sia successo.

Ecco allora la ricetta per la gustosissima e profumatissima minestra di zucca che ho inventato ieri. Veramente da provare. Ho usato una fetta di zucca di quelle verdi con polpa dolce arancione.

Per due persone ci vogliono:

- 250 gr di zucca - scongelata o cotta e poi passata

- prezzemolo tritato

- 1 cipolla di media grandezza - meglio se scalogno, tritato finemente

- 1 cucchiaio grande di farina

- 250 ml di acqua

- 1 dado per brodo - io ho usato quello di gallina

- sale, pepe, curry, pimento

- latte, panna acida

Disfriggete la cipolla ben tritata in poco olio e burro. Aggiungete la zucca, il prezzemolo e 250 ml di acqua. Cucinate per 15 minuti. In una ciotola aggiungete la farina e le spezie e diluite con l'acqua rimasta. Versate il tutto in pentola con la zucca, aggiungete il dado e cucinate finche' si addensa. Potete regolare la densita' facendo evaporare il liquido o aggiungendo latte (anche di soia)e panna acida.

Servite la minestra calda, da sola o con crostini di pane. Buon appetito!