Spungata (Ligurian Apricot Tart) Join one of my food & wine tours to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! This delicious fruit tart, called spungata in Liguria and spongata in neighbouring Emilia-Romagna, is similar to what other Italian regions call crostata. In Liguria spungata are often given as a gift when visiting friends and […]
Pinolate (Ligurian Pine Nut Cookies) Join one of my food & wine tours to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! Pinolate are simple Ligurian pine nut cookies with a wonderfully chewy soft centre, a crisp outer and delicious nutty flavour. Also called pignoli or amaretti con pignoli, they’re traditionally made with a mix of […]
Benne Wafers (Sesame Cookies) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class featuring the food of America’s Deep South! Benne (pronounced benny) is the heirloom ancestor to modern day sesame seeds. Morgan McGlone, who worked with renowned Southern chef Sean Brock at Husk in Charleston (South Carolina), tells me that even raw they have […]
Fruit Leather Walnut Rolls Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Turkish cooking class inspired by Somer Sivrioglu! Fruit leather – qamar al deen in Arabic, pestil or bastik in Turkish, lavashak in Farsi, pastel in Armenian and pastilos in Greek – is popular all over the wider Middle East and Eastern Europe. It’s fruit […]
Miso & Sesame Cookies Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Japanese cooking class Inspired by Hideo Dekura! Japanese sweets often have an intriguing blend of sweet and savoury, and I love these miso-spiked ones. I like white miso for its mild taste, but you can experiment with different ones if you like a more […]
Lebanese Pink Pickled Turnips Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Lebanese cooking class! Pickled vegetables are always on a Lebanese table. Olives, chillies and turnips are most common, and small stuffed eggplants (makdous), cucumbers and cauliflower are also popular. The most distinctive are the pink pickled turnips, traditionally stained bright pink with beetroot. These […]
Hong Kong Walnut Biscuits Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Chinese cooking class! While lard is traditional in these deliciously crumbly Hong Kong walnut biscuits, I’m more likely to have butter on hand so that’s what I use, I also like the flavour Pepe Saya’s gorgeous butter adds. Substitute extra castor sugar for the […]
Masala Nuts Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Indian cooking class inspired by Ajoy Joshi! Spicy salty masala nuts are a popular treat in India, especially during Diwali. Use any nuts you like, just one kind or a mixture, and mix up the spicing to suit your taste. Use rice flour instead of potato […]
Preserved Lemons Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Middle Eastern cooking class inspired by Michael Rantissi! Preserved lemons, a Moroccan specialty, are super easy to make, a great pantry staple to spice up many dishes and a wonderful homemade gift. It’s a great way to use excess fruit from a backyard lemon tree; or […]
Butterscotch Cookies Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Australian cooking class inspired by Matt Moran! I love having something homemade to serve when friends drop by for a cuppa – but sometimes I just get caught short. That’s when I whip up a batch of these butterscotch cookies in less time than it takes […]
