There are plenty of delicious sweet recipes with strawberries, but savoury recipes with strawberries are harder to find, usually in the form of strawberry salads. That’s partly because while other fruits such as apple and pineapple have made the crossover, strawberry changes taste so quickly when cooked. Just 15 seconds in the pan increases how sour it tastes by one fold, it seems! Continue reading “Prawns, Sweet Peas and Strawberries Stir-Fry”
Chinese desserts are relatively few and far between, but there are a few special ones that can be hard to get in the shops, and this double layer/skin milk is one such dessert. The recipe dates back to the 1850s, and comes from the Canton region.
The key ingredients are full fat milk and egg whites – so it will give you plenty of proteins! It is also very easy to make, and the prep time only totals around 5 minutes, with a cooking time of roughly 20 minutes. However, there are quite lengthy cooling periods in between. You can also make it the day before and keep it chilled in the fridge! Continue reading “Double Layer Milk (Shuang Pi Nai)”
Easter has come and gone, and in Sardinia many families have cooked a very traditional dish for special occasions: Sardinian panada. Many claim that this pie was created during the pre-nuragic period. I doubt so, judging by its similarities with empanadas, I would say that the idea was probably coming from our Spanish invaders. Legend says that the first place where it was cooked was a small town called Assemini, where back then fishing was the main activity. Hence, the panada di anguille, filled with eels is the classic version, which is also the one I’m presenting to you today. However, ingredients are easy to change: for the Easter holidays for example, the preferred filling would be lamb meat, accompanied by potatoes or other veggies. Continue reading “Sardinian eel pie (Panada di anguille)”
With spring in the air, we’re here to share another light and easy Chinese veggie recipe this week. Pine nuts are not only subtly fragrant but extremely nutritious, and make up the main ingredient of this week’s recipe, along with corn.
I’ve always got some frozen corn in the freezer as it’s so versatile and easy to store (not to mention tasty!), so this recipe is often a go-to if the fridge and food cupboards are looking a bit bare.
Continue reading “Chinese Corn and Pine Nuts Stir-Fry (Song Ren Yu Mi)”
Grilled fish served on a gas fire in a simmering tray of chillies and veg has been getting increasingly popular in Chinese restaurants, and unlike more traditional roast fish, it’s a lot saucier – in that it comes in a bubbling tray of soup. You can then spoon the soup over your bowl of rice as you eat the fish.
We’re making it with enoki mushrooms, celery and bamboo shoot here. In terms of choosing the fish, carp is ideal, sea bass is a good option, though we’re making it with yellow croaker here. Continue reading “Grilled fish simmer pot (Kao Yu) – a spicy Chinese recipe”
Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, is traditionally the day before the beginning of Lent. During this Catholic holiday lasting forty days, followers of Lent should avoid eating meat and other fatty or sweet foods, which is why Shrove Tuesday is the day they feast and treat themselves to a special meal. You might have guessed that we do not eat pancakes on this special occasion in Italy, as each region makes their own traditional cakes. In Sardinia we have zeppole, in dialect Zippuas, very tasty fritters that look like doughnuts and taste of saffron and orange. Continue reading “Pancake Day Recipe: Zeppole Sarde (Zippuas)”
Want to cook with alcohol now that we’re no longer in dry January? This drunken chicken recipe is super easy and as it’s made in advance and served cold, you can make it to soak on a weekend and take it out of the fridge on Monday! Traditionally it’s made with Shaoxing rice wine, and that’s what we’re using here.
It’s usually made with chicken thighs or chicken wings, ideally with the bones removed but the skin on, as the skin keeps the meat together better and it will look prettier at the end. I don’t particularly like the skin in cold dishes, so I’m using boneless and skinless chicken thighs here. Continue reading “Drunken Chicken (Shaoxing Zuiji) – a pressure cooker recipe”
Valentine’s Day is approaching and this year we propose a simple but iconic Italian dessert: Tiramisu. We don’t know for sure where this dessert was originally created, but we know that it’s an all-time favourite throughout the Italian peninsula and all Italian restaurants abroad have their own version too. Just like any classic recipe, Tiramisu would be a perfect reason for an animated Italian argument about who has the best recipe amongst friends or family. Continue reading “Tiramisu – a classic Italian dessert”
It’s going to be the Year of the Rooster in 2 more days,and as food is the main way to celebrate Chinese New Year, we tried out the Emmy-nominated TV chef Ching He Huang‘s tiger prawns, sweetcorn and chilli recipe. It’s a classic stirfry dish – very quick to prepare and cook – and really adds colour to the dinner table! In Ching’s words, “Prawns symbolise happiness as they are homonym for ‘laughter’ and their reddish colour is synonymous with ‘luck’. The yellow colour of the corn resembles small nuggets of gold symbolizing ‘wealth’.”
The prep time is only 5 minutes, as is the cooking time. It’s Ching’s ethos to use fresh ingredients, but all the fresh tiger prawns were sold out (probably in the scramble to buy prawns for Chinese New Year), and we had some leftover frozen sweetcorn left, so we’re cooking these from frozen, using 100g in total. You’d ideally need to defrost these before use, but when stirfrying, the ingredients such as sweetcorn can be added to the wok frozen – just add an extra minute to the cooking time. Continue reading “Tiger Prawns with Sweetcorn & Chilli – a recipe from Ching He Huang”
Chinese New Year is just a week away, and fish is a must on the menu (年年有余), so we’d like to share this simple yet eye-catching steamed fish recipe. Fish cooks really quickly in the steamer, so once you’ve done all the prep work, it only takes 5-10 minutes before it’s done! Not only so, you won’t get all the oil splatters you’d get from stir-frying.
The “must” ingredients are fish (sea bream here, but you can also use other types of smaller fish with white meat such as halibut, pike, sunfish and carp), loads of ginger, spring onions and all the seasoning/sauce ingredients. The carrot, luncheon meat, shiitake mushroom and chillies are optional. However, if you decide to go without fresh chillies, then you can also add a little chilli sauce into the sauce at the end. The amount of chilli included here will make a very spicy version, so please tone if down as per your own taste!
We’re using seafood soy sauce here – you can usually find it with a green label. If you don’t have it, then use a light sauce sauce and add an extra teaspoon of oyster sauce, then 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Continue reading “Chinese Steamed Fish – a simple recipe using sea bream”
Blender & Basil 