July 5, 2017
After watching an entire season of Masterchef Australia where home cooks prepare amazing foods and seeing them make ricotta within a short time frame to use in ravioli and other dishes , I decided to give it a try and make the cheese myself. Now, considering that I try to stay away from dairy in my daily cooking, this is a pretty adventurous move for me. The process is very simple and the cheese really... View Article
January 10, 2017
Since I am on cucina povera and street foods “kick” at the moment here is another simple recipe, this one for pasta without a sauce, made more hearty with crispy bread crumbs and enriched with pine nuts (not so povera after all). I love what you’d call “dry” pasta simply tossed with olive oil, perhaps infused with garlic and hot pepper and served without a sauce. This is similar to spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino... View Article
September 9, 2016
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
September 23, 2015
I have had a couple of dinners out this week and both times selected the gnocchi dishes on the menu. One of these was at Waterfront Wines, probably my choice for top restaurant in Kelowna. Chef Mark Filatow works his magic in the kitchen and it’s always special to go there. The dish I ordered was not called gnocchi, it was described as house made ricotta cavatelli with grana padano and sage brown butter and... View Article
April 26, 2014
What do you make for a quick dinner? For me it’s pasta hands down. It goes with just about anything and I can almost make it with my eyes closed. You know where the pot is and you just need to scoop a piece to taste if it’s al dente, right? For this dish I combined red pepper penne with sautéed onion, cabbage and kale, a little white wine and then some mascarpone to round... View Article
