One thing we enjoyed over and over in Italy, especially in Tuscany and Rome, was a dish of slow cooked white beans cooked in a glass flask over low heat for many hours. It was such a treat. We ordered it wherever it was offered and always ended up wiping the plate clean with a piece of bread (expected to be done as the food is so good). Most of the time these were white... View Article
I have been waiting with anticipation to visit Copenhagen, it being a food city and home to the famed Noma. Since we are on a cruise this time I did not expect an in depth experience as we had on a recent stay in Italy, but I planned my day so I can at least check out some of the food scene and get a sense of what the city is about. I was ready... View Article
I am not going to wax poetic about the change of season. Or am I? We bloggers tend to do that. I will say however that summer seems to be retreating and fall is in the air. The mornings are cool, the sun sets early, the days are shorter. A trip to the farmers market makes you wonder where the green beans and summer berries go. Apples and pear are piled on the stands now... View Article
Eggplant, peppers, onion and zucchini are a classic mix in Mediterranean cuisines and very much the kind of foods I grew up with. I was reminded of this dish in a Spanish class recently (taught at VOM FASS by Heather of Heather’s Kitchen) and in the process of cleaning out the fridge before we left on a trip, made this dish for dinner one day. Even if you don’t usually like eggplant, I think you... View Article
With the abundance of ripe and delicious tomatoes out now we use them every day in some form: salads, sauces, jams, gazpacho, tarts and more. We haven’t tired of them yet and by the time we do, it will be the end of their season and we will move on to something else. This is the beautify of eating seasonal food, before you have had your fill, they are gone. Since for me a meal without... View Article
Here is a recipe for yellow beans using the tomato vinaigrette from the previous post. Serve it warm or at room temperature but not cold as the oil in the dressing needs to be liquid (it thickens in the fridge). Yellow beans are soft and buttery and the acidity in the vinaigrette compliments them beautifully. Substitute green beans if you don’t have the yellow variety. To cook, steam the beans or cook them in boiling... View Article
I would venture to say that this vinaigrette is so good that it doesn’t require a salad. Give me this dish with a crusty baguette and leave me alone and I would finish it right off the skillet, still warm and you will hardly need to rinse the skillet. As all good food tends to be, it is super simple and depends on the quality of ingredients. I was watching a food show on Netflix... View Article
Here is a recipe for a simple potato salad that works well with any summer meal. It can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a couple of days without diminishing its quality and travels well to a boat or a picnic. I don’t know about what it’s like where you live but here certainly it is beginning to feel like fall. We wake up to cooler temperatures and a little rain... View Article
Summer beets are completely different species than their winter counterpart. In the summer beets are fresh, cook quickly and their natural sugars come forward in a subtle and delicious way. I prefer roasting beets (unless I intend to pickle them) as roasting brings out their flavours beautifully. I don’t trim them too much before cooking, to avoid the juices from running and some of the flavour with them. It’s not a bad idea to wear thin... View Article
Corn hardly needs an introduction. Nothing says summer more than fresh corn on the cob with a little butter and a generous sprinkling of sea salt. A corn feast of eating a bunch of corn freshly picked that morning and bought directly from the grower is the best food memories of our summers. Leftover cobs can be stripped of their kernels with a sharp knife and the kernel used on their own with a little... View Article
What cake did Marie Antoinette have in mind when she said “Let them eat cake”? What she supposedly said was “Qu’il mange de la brioche”, not exactly translated to “let them eat cake” but close enough in the sentiment. Perhaps she never said that at all and the phrase was unfairly attributed to her, but in any event, had she been alive still she’d be “eating her words” as that phrase is seen as the... View Article
Baking bread feels so authentic, so fundamental to cooking. Just think of all the cooks over millenia baking bread for their families and communities all over the world. I don’t bake bread all the time but as is my style, every now and then I go all in and bake all kinds of breads for a while and then move on to something else until I revisit this art again. The inspiration for this round... View Article
