Zucchini and Pumpkin flowers are a favorite “flavor” here in Italy. I see pizza’s with zucchini blossoms and anchovy, there are fritters with zucchini flowers, I even see pasta and frattata adorned with the bright yellow flowers.
At the end of 2019, in November, we woke up at the Airbnb we stayed at in Luxor, Egypt and walked up to the rooftop dining area. We were promised a true Egyptian breakfast and the personal chef certainly delivered! As we stumbled into the glorious morning sunshine we were welcomed by our Egyptian chef with a big smile.
This is Classic Italian Ragu, the “Saturday Sauce”, the slow cooked traditional meal for lunch with family on the weekend. It’s served with Tagliatelle, not spaghetti and it doesn’t have garlic, basil or oregano.
This is a recipe that came as a direct result of the 2020 Quarantine. We found ourselves at home without hope of eating the “Cornetto” and Cappuccino that we had become so accustomed to on Saturday morning. So on our Anniversary morning I was thinking what I could make for Jeff that was special.
This is such a simple recipe, I learned it before the quarantine started when friends could still stop by and whip up an informal lunch together. My friends Davide and Giulia came by and wanted to prepare lunch for us. We stopped by the little local market before heading home, Giulia perused the pasta isle carefully, looking for the perfect pasta.
You can’t visit Italy’s seaside without stopping into a waterfront restaurant and ordering a plate of Fried Calamari to be enjoyed with a squeeze of lemon and a view.
What can be better than Apple Pie? Not much, ….but maybe Apple Crisp! If my husband is going to request a dessert, it’s going to be Apple Pie, but then sometimes he hesitates and changes it to Apple Crisp. I’m always happy to make Apple Crisp instead of Apple Pie because it’s so much easier! No crust to roll out and form, just oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and flour tossed together and dumped on top of sliced apples and baked. I actually agree that it is better than Apple Pie, I mean, all of that brown sugar goodness mingled with fragrant cinnamon and crunchy oats! So delicious with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, it’s even better the next day for breakfast! Ice cream and all!
Crepes have been a favorite breakfast for me for many years. It’s so delicious and decadent! My favorite is chocolate strawberry banana crepes! I love them so much it was the breakfast I had with my Bridesmaids the morning of my wedding!
The other day I saw a post from a friend, she was eating an Éclair, and I thought, “Wow! It’s been a long time since I have made Cream Puffs….” of course Éclairs and Cream Puffs are made of the same Choux Pastry but did you know that Mexican Churros and British Yorkshire Pudding are also creations made from Choux pastry? All of these pastries sound quite exotic, foreign and difficult but actually they are not hard to make at all.
Continuing on the theme of “Things we have time for while in quarantine”, I would like to share with you my experience of making homemade tortillas. This has also always alluded me, it seemed like something only those with a Mexican birthright could do. I always just bought flour tortillas and left the making of them up to the professionals.
