March 22, 2024
Orecchiette with rapini (broccoli rabe). Store bought pasta this time although these are very easy to make. The rapini is bitter so to soften the flavour blanch it once or twice before using. While the pasta is cooking sauté the rapini in olive oil with salt and pepper. When the pasta is ready transfer to the skillet with the rapini with a little water still clinging and toss to combine. It’s okay if a little... View Article
March 22, 2020
Considering we are not running to the grocery store every day now it is good to have a few recipes of good food you can cook from staple panrty items and this soup is just such recipe. Made with beans, canned tomatoes and pasta, you can whip it up in no time and have a delicious and nourishing soup that for us means dinner. You can use canned beans or dried beans but dried beans... View Article
February 6, 2020
If you follow me on social media you may have noticed that I have been busy creating images for an online food photo challenge in the last couple fo weeks. It has taken me outside of my comfort zone which is a good thing, it’s easy to settle into a routine so stretching out a bit and trying new things has been fun. I do however, loved cooking first so I made a bunch of... View Article
October 26, 2019
Ingredients: 8 oz smallish pasta, I used Cavatappi ( tube shaped like corkscrew) 3 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 2 cups milk 10 oz grated cheese (cheddar, parmesan, blue) Salt, pepper, nutmeg Hot sauce optional A handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced 1/2 cup chopped parsley and/or chives 1 cup fresh coarse breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt and pepper Directions: Melt butter in a 4 cup saucepan, add flour and... View Article
October 18, 2019
I used to cook large quantities of everything for years but lately I have been scaling things down because first, there is only the two of us at home, and second, I cook so much every day so I don’t really want leftovers. This lasagna is a case in point. I made small recipe, enough for 4 servings, something we can go through quickly and move on to other culinary adventures. I made this... View Article
July 16, 2019
Butternut squash makes a delicious filling for ravioli and is classically served with brown butter and fried sage leaves. I made some changes to the tradition and combined it here with goat cheese in the filling and walnut crumb as topping for a nice crunchy element. Making the pasta at home is part of the adventure in making this recipe so I encourage you to try. I made egg pasta with 2 1/3... View Article
October 30, 2018
The first time I encountered this dish was at a cooking demonstration by my friend Gaby of Gaby’s Italian Kitchen and I was blown away by the simple elegance and flavour of what seemed like a simple dish of pasta, water and cheese. Where did all the sauce come from? Shortly afterwards we left for Italy where we spend four months travelling around and there I tried the dish at many restaurants and became a... View Article
August 1, 2018
Needless to say, I can eat pasta every day, love it and I never tire of a good pasta dish. One of my favourite sauces is a nut based pesto. In the summer, while I have beautiful fresh flat leaf parsley growing in my rooftop garden I try to use it as much as possible and a pesto is one of the best way to feature it. The combination of walnuts and parsley is perfect in this recipe.... View Article
June 3, 2018
Pasta, pasta, pasta. I can eat it every day although not necessarily with such a rich sauce. Today I was in the mood for ravioli and wanted to try a potato filling instead of the usual ricotta. I also had mushrooms and asparagus that I needed to use as we are off to another “exploring our BC backyard” adventure in the Sunshine Coast so this was an opportunity to use them in a sauce... View Article
May 20, 2018
Israeli couscous is not really a couscous. Real couscous is made with crushed grains of durum wheat and what is known as Israeli couscous are tiny little toasted pasta balls developed in Israel in the 1950s to replace rice which was then unavailable. Israeli couscous is easy to cook and good on its own or combined with other vegetables in salads or warm dishes. I like to brown the couscous in a little olive... View Article
June 1, 2017
You know that saying that you can never be too thin, too rich or eat too much pasta? Well, the last part is my ad lib but that’s how I feel. I am always ready for a delicious and comforting steamy bowl of pasta. I was at the farmers market this week and picked up fresh ricotta from a local organic cheese producer, Bella Stella Cheese from Lumby, BC. The Swiss born Igor and German... View Article
May 23, 2017
When we stayed in Italy, now more than a year ago (how time flies) I attended a private workshop at the home of the fabulous Elvira Zilli in Frascati, on the hills outside of Rome. The entire experience was one of the main highlights of the Italian adventure and I wrote about it in detail here. We made many delicious dishes in that workshop and the underlying theme was pasta making. Elvira and her friend... View Article
