Italian Kiwi – Recipes, Travel, and More!
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Spaghetti with Herbs, Cannellini Beans and Bacon
An irresistible spaghetti sauce When you don’t have fussy kids hanging around who only like pasta with sauces in which the main constituent is tomato (writing from bitter experience here), this sauce with dried beans, bacon and herbs makes a wonderful change. It suits long pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine perfectly. Even…
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Trappe d’Échourgnac
The history behind the making of Trappe d’Echourgnac cheese This cheese is very special as it is made in a monastery in the Dordogne region of France and nowhere else! The brown colour on the rind is there, as the cheese is washed with a walnut liqueur. You eat it with the rind…
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Comté cheese from France
Comté: one of the most common cheeses in France Comté is as ubiquitous in France as Cheddar is in the United Kingdom, or Monterey Jack is in the United States. In the supermarket it comes in block form and already grated; aged or young. Of course, as with all hard cheeses, there is a…
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Taupinette cheese
A special cheese called Taupinette I was at the shop of my cheese guy the other day (I love it that I have a cheese guy!) and he suggested I try this special cheese that he had just got in recently. The name of the cheese is Taupinette, which is a funny name…
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Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Why it’s time to make your own cookies My kids have been eating way too many commercial cookies out of a packet recently, so I decided it was time to get baking. I often make ginger/cinnamon cookies with this recipe that I am going to share with you, but decided it was time…
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Ricotta al Forno cheese from Sicily
All about ricotta al forno from Sicily Most of you have probably heard of ricotta cheese, or even use it in cooking. In its fresh form it is white, soft and quite bland tasting. In Sicily, Italy, where it comes from, fresh ricotta is fluffy, light and has a wonderful taste. Ricotta al Forno…
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Castelmagno
Where does Castelmagno cheese come from? Castelmagno is a very prized cheese that comes from the Province of Cuneo. The Valle Grana where the small village of Castelmagno is situated winds its way up into the alps that form the border between Italy and the South-East of France (where I live). My 80 year…
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Spaghetti With Pesto, Potatoes and Green Beans
Making fresh pesto takes no time at all! Pasta with pesto is the fall-back meal in our household for when I can’t figure out what to make for a meal, or don’t have much motivation to cook. It’s easy (especially if you get it out of a jar!), and nobody complains about it…
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Cellentani with Radicchio, Bacon and Olives
Time to make pasta with some radicchio I’m a little late, but happy New Year to you! Sorry….things got a bit busy over Christmas and New Year so I haven’t had much time to write anything. My blog has been sitting in a corner sulking from all this neglect, so I thought that…
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Root Vegetable and Kale Soup
The joys of scraping ice, cycling in the snow, and kale It’s getting a teensy bit colder….not as cold as it should be at this time of the year, but cold enough to start making soup every now and then. I feel cheated: I’ve only had to scrape ice off my car window…
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Spinach and Ricotta Self-Crusting Mini-Quiches
Even spinach haters like these Spinach is one of those poor maligned vegetables that everyone loves to hate, but happily eats when it’s mixed in with other ingredients, such as eggs or cheese. Even my kids, who vow and declare that they detest spinach, gobble it up when it’s “hidden”. I put…
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Hazelnut Meringues
I often make recipes that need egg yolks, but not the whites. What to do with them? Well, now I have my wonderful KitchenAid mixer, I usually make meringues. This time, since I had some hazelnuts from Piemonte, I decided to add them into the mix to make hazelnut meringues. The hazelnuts from…
