The Sunny Kitchen - An Italian cook in Amsterdam

Dutch clouds

Clouds in Amsterdam, July 20, 2008


Music for looking at the clouds

My favourite breakfast - Smoothie Nr. 3

This one is actually a brunch, not just a breakfast. So thick and rich I didn't need to eat anything else for quite some time.
And very much in line with my cardamom phase.

Make it with some ready-made apple juice, 1 banana, half a small mango, 8 sweet black cherries, a handful of blueberries, 10 raspberries, the juice of half a lemon and a little pinch of ground cardamom.

Gezondheid! ("cheers" in Dutch)

Easy, easier, easiest side dish: spinach with feta and cherry tomatoes

What do you do with a big bag of fresh spinach that has been in your fridge's vegetable drawer for a few days already and is staring at you with a menacing look that says: "I'm gonna go bad veeeeeery soon"?
If you're me, you make this veeeeeery easy side dish and eat it as a main lunch course (I had a double portion all for myself so what-am-I-going-to-have-for-lunch was not an issue anymore).

What you need is 500 gr. of fresh spinach, washed and without the thick stems, 100 gr. of feta (I used a Turkish cheese very similar to it, easy to crumble and quite salty as the real feta is) and a few cherry tomatoes plus a couple of porcelain ramekins, some good olive oil, salt and pepper. Niente di più, niente di meno (nothing more, nothing less).

Wash the spinach, don't drain it too well so that it stays quite wet and cook it in a non-stick pan with some of its washing water.
Once it's cooled off a bit squeeze it with your hands to remove the excess water and season it with salt and pepper tossing it with your hands.
Grease the ramekins with a bit of olive oil and fill them with a thick layer of spinach.
Crumble the feta on top of the spinach and season again with black pepper.
Add half a cherry tomato on top of each ramekin, drizzle with some olive oil and put in the pre-heated oven (200°C) for just a few minutes.
Serve immediately directly in the ramekins.

Extra cooking holiday in Tuscany!

The two culinary holidays in Tuscany in program for September and October 2008 are fully booked so Cristina, Michael and I decided to organize an extra one in November to accommodate those who couldn't join the previous two groups (max. 10 people per group).

This new cooking holiday is going to take place from November 9 to November 16 included. Seven days of cultural and culinary pleasures in one of the most beautiful agriturismi of Tuscany, Il Cantastorie, run by my friends Cristina Demagistris and Michael van den Heuvel.

This culinary week includes 4 hands-on cooking lessons given by me, a couple of dinners out, excursions to beautiful and interesting places including lunch and a 7-night stay at "Il Cantastorie".

You can find the whole program here.

Join me for a week of real Italian cooking delight! :)

Nicoletta

Self-made gnocchi ready to be cooked

Wine tasting

Cooking together

The entrance to the kitchen

Risotto with pancetta, cardamom and mascarpone

Of the many exotic, non typically Italian spices cardamom is definitely my favourite one. I must be in a cardamom phase, I seem to be putting it everywhere, from my meat dishes to my fruit salads.  I really love its delicate and yet very specific taste.
And as far as pancetta is concerned, I'm ALWAYS in a pancetta phase.

I cooked this risotto for my French friend Pascal a few days ago, accompanied by a simple rucola-tomato salad and a glass (or two, three.. euh... don't remember exactly...) of Prosecco.

I first prepared a very simple vegetarian stock with some carrots, a few celery stalks, some fresh flat-leaf parsley, a couple of whole peeled onions, a bay leaf, some coarse sea salt and, of course, 5-6 cardamom pods. I use a lot of stock because I like my risotto all'onda, as we call it in Italy meaning quite moist. Rice keeps on absorbing moisture and releasing starch also after removing it from the flame and so it tends to become a bit more compact after serving. That's also why I always make it a bit more moist than needed: before it's on the table it's absolutely perfect!

For the rest I used some good Carnaroli risotto rice and a little bit of mascarpone cheese at the very end to add some extra creaminess to the dish.

To tell you the truth, the result was quite good...

Risotto con pancetta, cardamomo e mascarpone

Serves 2 (main dish)

Ingredients:
170 gr. Carnaroli rice
120 gr. pancetta, diced
2 liters of good self-made stock
8 cardamom pods
1 small onion
a few rosemary twigs
a glass of white wine
butter
2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese at room temperature

Melt a good dollop of butter in a deep pan on a low fire. Finely chop the onion and the rosemary leaves and fry them in the butter with the cardamom pods until the onion is soft, glazy and slightly golden.

Add the diced pancetta and let it cook for a few minutes.

Add the rice and stir it in the pan for about one minute until well covered in fat and a bit translucent.

Pour the wine on the rice and let the alcohol evaporate on a medium flame while stirring regularly.

Add a couple of big ladles of stock (the rice has to be covered with stock) and keep on stirring gently until the rice absorbs almost all the stock.

The most important thing to do while preparing risotto is to add stock constantly. As soon as the rice gets drier you have to add some stock.

Cook the rice until “al dente” and season further with salt and pepper if you wish.

Remove the pan from the fire and add the mascarpone, stirring gently.

Leave the rice to rest for 3-4 minutes with the lid on the pan and serve with grated parmigiano.

Music to go with this risotto, inspired by one of ComidaDeMama's last posts.

My favourite breakfast - Smoothie Nr. 2

Another one after my very first.

To brighten up this rainy Amsterdam summer day (please notice the support candle).

Lots of fruit in a ready-made tropical juice base.

To be precise: 2 peaches, 6 raspberries, a handful of blueberries (I adore berries!), half a small mango, the juice of one lime and a few finely chopped rosemary leaves.

It's a chunky smoothie, just the way I love it. Thick and full of flavours.

Chop the rosemary leaves very finely or it will be even chunkier.

Salute!

Italian beauty

I'm not talking about her physical beauty, no.
Even if that is clearly evident, it's just a secondary thing.

Her voice, her voice...
That's what I'm talking about.

MAGIC.

************ Look. And, most of all, LISTEN.************

Newcomer Giusy Ferreri in all of her beauty.

They call her the Italian Amy Winehouse. Hopefully she doesn't have the same self-destructive characteristics and she's going to make lots and lots of music...

My favourite breakfast - Smoothie Nr. 1

A few years ago I totally changed my breakfast habits.
Not that it's so hard to do since the typical Italian breakfast isn't that exciting - most people have just an espresso or a cappuccino at the local bar, sometimes accompanied by a cornetto, the Italian version of the French croissant, or caffelatte e biscotti, cookies dipped in milk with coffee, at home.
I must admit that for a country of such food-obsessed people breakfast is definitely not a very representative meal but I guess it's because we prefer to concentrate our energy and appetite on more "substantial" things like il pranzo e la cena (lunch and dinner).

I don't eat a lot of fruit during the day because I prefer to do that the "Fit for life way" - meaning that at least three hours have to pass from eating fruit after other types of food like grains or meat. And let's face it, when do I have such long time lapses between meals and little snacks or culinary experiments if not when I'm sleeping? ;)
So for me the best moment for eating lots of fresh fruit is definitely breakfast time.

I first started with whole fruits but I got bored quite soon so I decided to make fruit salads, but that wasn't quite my thing either since I find it a time-consuming occupation. In the morning I'm usually pretty hungry and very much in the "No Time To Waste" mode because I want to take out the dog, check my email, read the latest news, blablabla. Life on the fast lane, you see (haha, NOT!). ;)
Though I love to spend lots of time cooking during the rest of the day - and I usually do - in the mornings I like being fast and furious. So I switched to making (and drinking) smoothies. And what a fantastic solution that is.
I usually prepare my smoothies with season's fruit and some good, ready-made - possibly organic - juice, often made from just apples or apples and cranberry.

If I really crave for the tropical taste I add some creamy coconut milk and I ALWAYS use the juice of a  lime, freshly squeezed and blended with the rest. I just LOVE limes.
I use whole fruits - meaning with their skin - because of the fibers. For the same reason I do not use a fruit centrifuge because all those precious fibers would be lost and just blend my fruit into the ready-made juice.
This morning's version has a summery Italian taste thanks to the fresh basil and the nectarines plus a tropical twist due to the fresh pineapple and the coconut cream.
I prefer fruit at room temperature but I love blending some ice cubes in it on hotter days.
Salute!

Pineapple, nectarine, banana, basil and coconut smoothie

Serves 2

3 dl apple juice
1 banana
2 slices of fresh pineapple
2 ripe nectarines
1 lime, squeezed
1 tablespoon of coconut cream/milk
2-3 basil leaves

Blend everything together and serve immediately.

                                                Tropical-fruity music (real vintage!) :)

The best panna cotta ever with raspberry-lime coulis and a spiritual flavour :)

When my friends Claudia and Cristina gave me these for my birthday last year I had to smile my biggest smile. What a wonderful idea! Little pudding molds in the shape of a laughing Buddha as a symbol of earthly pleasures, happiness and abundance. Absolutely perfect to represent the joys of cooking and of sharing the food you prepare with your loved ones!

And what about the name? Buddino in Italian means 'little Buddha' but it also recalls "budino", the Italian word for pudding. If the copywriter who invented it is not a genius I don't know who is! :)

After forgetting the little Buddhas in a closet - still unused - for too long I rediscovered them while "space clearing" my kitchen - a very necessary operation seen the limited room in my cupboards and drawers and the huge quantity of culinary attributes and gadgets I own - too many!

Seeing the four happy little fellas smiling at me inspired me to experiment with cream and other ingredients so that I would find the great panna cotta recipe that I was looking for since a couple of years but was too lazy to concoct. Up to now I used a relatively satisfactory recipe with cornstarch instead of gelatin as thickening agent (I never liked gelatin since it's made with bones, skins, cartilage and other by-products of the meat industry) but I wasn't completely convinced about the fact that this combination of ingredients was the "final" one. I decided to substitute cornstarch with agar agar, made with tiny seaweed and thus perfectly suitable for my vegetarian clients and friends. Yes, this is a vegetarian panna cotta and now it's simply divine!

To tell you the truth, my first experiment was NOT a success. I used too much agar agar and the panna cotta had a pleasant taste but was too hard, not as nice and wobbly as it's supposed to be and with that lovely, smooth texture this dessert HAS to have.
A second try with a lot less agar agar (a little sachet goes a long way!) gave far better results and now I can definitely say I've found the panna cotta of my life.
Eating the little Buddha's head made me feel a little guilty (just a little!) but then I found THE perfect excuse for keeping on gobbling down the dessert: I thought that with every bite I would take in a tiny bit of the great Buddha's wisdom. Clever, huh? ;)

So here's the recipe. The combination of honey-sweet - but not too sweet - panna cotta and luscious, slightly tart and verrrry sexy raspberry-lime coulis is definitely a winning one. Try it and then you tell me.

Panna cotta with raspberry-lime coulis

For 4 big or 6 small portions

Ingredients for the panna cotta:
6 dl. whipping cream
40 gr. granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of powdered agar agar (3 gr.)
1 tablespoon of honey
1 little pinch of vanilla powder or 1 tablespoons of vanilla essence

Ingredients for the coulis:
250 gr. raspberries
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of lime juice
blueberries and raspberries to garnish


Pour cream and sugar in a medium-size saucepan and mix well with a whip or a wooden spoon.
Bring the mixture to a simmer and keep on stirring without letting it boil. The cream has to simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the flame and add the powdered agar agar stirring well until it's completely incorporated into the cream. Leave to rest for about 5 minutes.
Reheat the cream once again and let it gently simmer for a few more minutes stirring from time to time. Make sure the cream does not reach a boil.

Turn off the heat and wait until the cream is lukewarm. At this point you can add honey and vanilla powder and mix well.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve using a wooden spoon to push down the agar agar that didn’t dissolve properly and mix again. If you use powdered agar agar instead of flakes you'll have less to sieve. I have tried both types and can definitely recommend the powdered version.

Pour the cream into four-six wet panna cotta molds (they have to be really wet so that the pudding will not stick to the mold), cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
Serve with the coulis prepared blending together raspberries, sugar and lime juice and then passing this mixture through a fine sieve to smoothen it.
Garnish with a few fresh, plump berries.

************** ************** Music for cool little Buddhas (click) ************** **************




Isn't he cute?

Rembrandtpark yesterday

This is where I walk every day with my little dog Mirtilla. Too bad that the blue sky has turned out a bit  "flat" and white despite my camera's back light option.

Nice and cool in the water. With ball, of course.