Parsley and Walnut Pesto

Earlier this week I wrote about how hard I find it to use up those little packs of herbs when I buy them. I usually purchse them for one specific recipe and somehow forget to use the rest. One solution is to make herbs into a salad with goat's cheese.

Well, I realised something obvious. Another solution would be to use up the whole pack the first time I open it. I could use that parsley spring on the one specific recipe and at the same time, whizz up some parsley pesto.

Making pesto is as easy as throwing items into a food processor. It tastes incredible over meat, fish, (veggie) pasta, and as a dip for veggies. It's like spring in a jar!

Daikon "Risotto" with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts

I have so many ideas to share about how to eat more vegetables! Recently I have been replacing different parts of our meals with vegetables. Last week and this week I made vegetable "risotto". Last week I made turnip rice for a red wine risotto and this week I am sharing a recipe for daikon rice. Daikon is a little like radishes in taste and like a rolling pin in size. It is quite crunchy when raw and cooks up quickly. This risotto made an excellent weeknight meal.

Edible Gift: Homemade Limoncello

Each year I make small, homemade gifts for Anthony's and my colleagues. One favourite is homemade limoncello, a simple lemon liquor. It was extremely easy to make, though it has to rest for a week, so if you want to make it, get started soon! All you need is lemons (organic, preferably), vodka, and sugar.

Born Round by Frank Bruni [book review] & Italian Creamed Onions

I just finished reading Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite by Frank Bruni, a memoir by the former New York Times restaurant critic. It was very engaging to read about his American-Italian childhood. I was enraptured by the stories of the feasts his grandmother, aunts, and mother created for family events. Having a huge bounty of food was a sign of love in his family. Special occasions always merited a massive spread of food for the whole extended family. His grandmother even had two kitchens in her house, one in the basement for creating the plethora of dishes, and one upstairs for guests to marvel at how she cooked it all without leaving the kitchen in a disastrous mess. One of the dishes I made after reading about it was creamed onions.

caponata--a Sicilian aubergine relish

In case I ever run out of new things to try--ha!--I have joined a blogging group called The Velveteers. There were four of them to begin with, and they started by re-inventing red velvet cake. Now, several months later, Alessio, Aparna, Asha, and Pam have opened their ranks to new members, and I rushed in! Each month they try something new--an ingredient, or a theme--and each person is supposed to interpret it slightly differently.

pizza nepoletana (for Fresh from the Oven)

My mother often makes pizza when guests come over. I decided to follow suit as we had some new friends visiting for dinner and to watch the Formula One. The dough recipe is part of the Fresh from the Oven baking group that Lauren from Coffee Muffins hosted this month. Have a look at the round up from the challenge.


I used my dough recipe to make one large pizza and one tray of garlic bread. The dough was fluffy but not too heavy, and it made great bases for both the pizza and garlic bread. The recipe starts the night before, and rests in the fridge overnight. Then it rises and gets pressed onto the pans. There's no kneading, just some heavy mixing on the first day. Overall the dough was simple to make and didn't require much preparation time at all. We topped it with tomato puree, sweetcorn, mushrooms, courgettes, green peppers, caramelised onions, and mozzarella.

I would definitely make pizza dough again. Next time I plan to use some whole wheat flour as well. I remember reading a few years ago about a fast version that uses soda instead of yeast, and I want to try that as well. So all I need to do is keep inviting people over so that we can keep eating pizza!

tiramisu (for the Daring Bakers)

I think my first Daring Bakers challenge has been a success. The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession. Recipes for all of the parts are available from Aparna.


I made the whole dessert from scratch, which led to some scary moments in the kitchen. Making the mascarpone cheese was the first part I attempted and although it looks more like butter, it turned out tasty in the end.


Making the lady finger biscuits was my next challenge. They are beautiful, puffy little things. I wish I had made twice as many so I could use some for another dessert, or just served plain with coffee.


I made the pastry cream, whipped cream, and zabaglione (a sweet paste made with port) and mixed them with the mascarpone. Then the whole tiramisu is assembled with layers of lady fingers (dipped in sweet espresso) and layers of the cream mixture.


Dusted with unsweetened cocoa to contrast with the cream mixture, it is a very sweet dessert with layers of spongy biscuit and smooth, cold cream.