Bagna Cauda Recipe

Bagna Cauda Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Northern Italian cooking class! From the landlocked region of Piedmont pressed against the Alps in north-western Italy, bagna càuda was originally a peasant dish that made the most of winter’s limited vegetables by dressing them in a rich garlicky sauce. Bagna means ‘bath’ and càuda, ‘hot’, […]

Recipe – Prawns with Bottarga Butter

Prawns with Bottarga Butter Prawns with bottarga butter is perfect for a quick and tasty dinner – even more so if you keep a roll of bottarga butter in the freezer! Use this recipe as inspiration for all sorts of flavoured butter to melt over seafood, meat, poultry or vegetables – or toss through freshly […]

Recipe – Salmon Bisteeya

Salmon Bisteeya Bisteeya is a classic Moroccan pie, traditionally made with pigeon and other poultry. It lends itself beautifully to seafood too, especially gorgeous pink salmon – and a seafood version is even quicker and easier to make as there’s no need to poach the fish before assembling the pie. Traditionally the egg is scrambled […]

Recipe – Potted Trout

Potted Trout Potting is an old English technique for preserving meat or seafood by storing it under a layer of fat, similar to French confit or rillettes. The food was traditionally cooked thoroughly to eliminate excess moisture then packed into a ceramic pot. Meats with a lot of natural fat could be sealed under a […]

Recipe – Lotus Paste Shortbread Biscuits

Lotus Paste Shortbread Biscuits Cheong Liew tells me that these lotus paste shortbead biscuits are typically served with jasmine tea at the end of a Chinese banquet and, while golden lotus seed paste (lin yoong) is traditional, they can be filled with red bean (hong dou sha), black sesame (hei zhi ma xian) or any […]

Recipe – PX Sherry & Date Pudding

Pedro Ximénez Sherry & Date Puddings These simple Sherry and date puddings are inspired by part of a far more elaborate recipe by Cheong Liew in his book My Food. He adds ginger for an extra dimension, so stir 2 teaspoons of ginger juice into the batter if you like ginger’s pepperiness (made by squeezing […]

Recipe – Spungata (Apricot Tart)

Spungata (Ligurian Apricot Tart) 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 family. Apricots are a common filling, but it’s also made with apples, pears and other fruits; […]

Recipe – Radishes with Cultured Butter & Salt

Radishes with Cultured Butter I heard about this way of serving radishes many years ago, but it made no sense. Then one day I was served the most beautiful baby radishes with cultured butter and salt flakes – and it was delicious! So this is one of those recipes that is so basic it isn’t […]

Recipe – Snails in Garlic Herb Butter

Snails in Garlic Butter Escargots à la Bourguignonne. Is there anything more French than escargot? In this classic dish from Burgundy, the snails are really just a vehicle for the delicious garlic and herb butter, so ensure you have plenty of crusty bread to soak it all up. Ideally you’ll have special snail plates and […]

Recipe – Lemon Shortbread Cookies

Lemon Shortbread Cookies I created these lemon shortbread cookies by accident. I started thinking about classic Aussie melting moments – but I didn’t have any cornflour so substituted rice flour, which gave my cookies more of a shortbread texture. I still made the lemon buttercream filling, but instead of using it to sandwich 2 cookies […]

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