Raspberry - almond blondies

I admit that the first time I heard of blondies (sigh, how long ago it was... my first stay in the States) I thought they were a flat cake, cut into squares, made with white chocolate. And I was completely wrong! But forgive me, I am Italian and this sweet doesn't belong to Italian tradition. Actually now many "foreign" sweets, as well as many other dishes, are popular in Italy too, and sometimes are even more appreciated than local ones, especially by follower of food trends: first cupcakes, then macarons, now something else. But blondies, unlike their dark cousins, are not much familiar to people. Maybe in future ... who knows? They are good indeed, and also easy to make.
I don't know exactly neither their origin and the story behind them, if there is one, nor their relation with brownies. But I think they deserve a try. Whereas brownies flavor depends, obviously, on chocolate, blondies have a molasses flavor, coming from brown sugar combined with butter, that I like even if some recipes are too sweet for my personal, and Italian, taste (actually most of the American desserts tend to be too sweet for me).

The recipe for these raspberry-almond blondies comes, ça va sans dire, from an American cookbook, "Cookies" by Martha Stewart, from which I take inspiration sometimes. But. as usual, I adapted the original recipe to my personal taste: first of all I cut (much actually) the amount of sugar and this means less sweet but also less chewy, more cakey blondies; then, since I am not a fan of nuts, I didn't put any sliced almond into the batter, as requested by the recipe, but just sprinkled some on top, all over raspberries; and finally I added to the batter some chopped white chocolate whose sweetness perfectly pairs with raspberries sourness. And these italianized  blondies came out very good, not too sweet, soft and delicate, perfect with a good cup of jasmine tea.

Almost peperonata

I have a backlog of recipes for the blog - and I mean recipes with pictures edited and ingredients and preparation steps already written - waiting for being published. But the last two months have been a bit odd to me (I don't want to talk of how fast they passed: it seems last week that I came back from my summer holidays!). At the beginning of September my two years old son started going to the nursery, for the very first time in his life. And since then he attended his class less than half the scheduled time. Not because he doesn't like the school - on the contrary he is always very happy and excited to go - but because he repeatedly gets sick: three, maximum four days in school and then fever, cold, cough, sore throat. We are going to the doctor every other week, and she says that everything is absolutely normal: the immune system is developing, there are many viruses in schools (and in Dubai in general), it is the very first time he gets in contact with many other children  ... with time everything will go better. All things I already knew, but when they really happens are a bit annoying. Not much for me but above all for the kid: one whole day at home (and he wakes up at 6.30 a.m. and sleeps at 8.30 p.m.) is really long and it may difficult to find many different activities to do; I said many different, because the interest of a two years old boy lasts no longer than 20 minutes, with cartoons the only exception. So this is how I spent most of my days during the last two months: finding something to do for my sick little boy. I thought that after the beginning of the school I would have had much more time for doing things I was always postponing (exploring better the city because I am still new to it, knowing people/making new friends, and pampering myself sometimes) and above all dedicate more time to my blog. But nothing went as planned and on one side I am still postponing the same activities, on the other I can work at the blog much less then I would (when my son sleeps in the afternoon, in the evenings or during weekends while the child is playing with his dad); but there is also a very positive aspect of all this: I stay with my son, and the time spent with him is the most precious. And another consequence of this, not so serious indeed, is that some of the not-published-yet recipes are no more "in season", in the sense that they would be more suitable for the past summer than for the incoming fall. Considering the concept of seasonality that I have always had as an Italian living in Italy. I try to explain. I have always preferred to use seasonal (and local as I have already said) product and also to make dishes coherent with the current season, but I have to admit that after moving to Dubai I have slightly changed my idea of "seasonal": when living in Italy I wouldn't have prepared a farro salad or a gazpacho in November, preferring maybe a more warming risotto; but here in November the weather is almost the same as in July in Italy (and also the range of available local products). This means that some of  my "expired" recipes are still good for Dubai's fall and winter, like this peperonata, an Italian side dish made with onion, peppers and tomatoes.

Wholemeal no-knead bread

I adore the smell spreading throughout the entire house while bread is baking in the oven.
According to a scientific research, the aroma of freshly-baked bread, besides the obvious power to make your mouth water and stimulate appetite, may have other positive effects: like a sort of aromatherapy it seems to awake a positive mood, make a person more sensitive, and even trigger a benevolent behavior towards other people, even strangers. I am not sure that I become kinder thanks to the delicious smell of freshly - baked bread (need something stronger), but for sure making bread improves my mood and gives me great satisfaction; and this is why I love to make and bake my bread at home.
I have already said here that I do not possess a stand mixer to make dough without much labor, and that I therefore usually prefer to make no-knead breads. But the fact that I don't have an electric machine with planetary mixing action is pretty much an excuse, a banal justification to my unwillingness to do a pretty hard work. Because kneading is not difficult, but requires time and a bit of elbow grease. And I am lazy, like most of the people of my generation (younger people are even worst, but ... that's it). Nowadays everybody is used to get everything (including home-made food) quickly and easily; and I think that it is not always and not only a matter of limited availability of time, but a modern mental attitude. In fact I remember- and with great nostalgia - my nonna (grandmother in Italian) and her extraordinary energy.

Chocolate chip cookie-cake

What can be better than a chocolate chip cookie? Difficult question...even more difficult after trying one bite of this chocolate-chip dessert, that is something in between a cookie and a cake, with a soft and slightly chewy interior and a crunchy exterior. Really nice!
The first time I made it was last summer, while I was in Italy. The occasion was my niece birthday; the girl, who turned seven, knowing my love for baking (and for chocolate too), asked me to prepare her birthday cake. The task was not so easy. First of all, how to guess (and match) the expectations of a seven years girl? Too tricky, I skipped this point. At least I wanted to make a good cake, no matter the girl's inscrutable will. But here came the real problem: I was far from my house, that means far from my collection of cookbooks, magazines and folders full of recipes ripped out from magazines, from which I usually take inspiration; and we were in a holiday home, that means no internet connection. Luckily when I travel I always bring we me, together with my beauty case, at least one of my recipe notebooks; this time I had with me the "baking notebook", containing the recipes for breads, cakes, cookies, tartes & Co. that I make more often  and those never tried yet but labelled as "must try". And I had also a USB pen with some notes for the blog and other recipes. I had enough material to choose both a birthday cake and another dessert (after all, more than twenty people were invited to the party). As a birthday cake, since I didn't want to risk much, I made a chocolate cake filled and covered with a chocolate ganache. And then one of the "must try" recipe hand written on my notebook was this chocolate chip cake that I had copied from a lovely French blog with a self-explaining name, chocolat & caetera. And I chose it with no hesitation.

Ginger Roasted Salmon

Reading the list of fish recipes published so far on this blog, one could think that the only fish my family eats, or at least the one we prefer, is salmon (three recipes out of four, including this, are for salmon). But this is only partially true. As I have already said here, I like salmon and make it quite often. But, how can I say, it is the fish for my "lazy" days: when I want to make something tasty without much effort, when I want to have fish but I don't want to clean more than one pan, when I am not in the mood for trying a new fish, or when, after spending fifteen minutes in front of the fish counter, I cannot decide what to take and go home with two salmon fillets.
And in fact when I buy fish - but it is the same when I buy any other food, especially fresh -  I usually tend to choose, or better to search for local fish, that means local varieties, locally caught. Because local fish is (if seller is reliable) fresher than imported, and consequently tastier, and also more reasonably priced (less travel, less intermediaries). This is sometimes that I like to repeat (have a look at this post) because choosing well the food we buy help us to eat better and helps the environment too.
But let's go back to salmon, which I buy even if not perfectly coherent with the buying philosophy just mentioned.

Milk cream cookies

Like in many other fields, also in the Food and Beverage world there are products which, for some reasons, are so popular and loved to become somehow iconic - and consequently also imitated by many. Often their fame is supported by massive, highly effective marketing campaigns, but usually these products taste absolutely good (oh, yes) and have something original and unique.
While some of these products are "stars" at global level (think for example to Coca-Cola), the majority are recognized on a smaller scale, usually national, sometimes cross-national. This is the case of a cookie, super popular in Italy, whose name, Macine, the Italian word for "millstone", comes from their round shape with a small hole in the center, which reminds just that of a millstone.

Launched in the '80s, these cookies still have a leadership position in the Italian market of baked goods, even if since then many other cookies have been created and many international brands have entered the Italian market with a wide range of cookies. And the imitations? For sure all retailer private labels have these cookies in their assortment, but also other brands have something similar (all with different names, of course). I remember that, as a kid, I loved them with a cup of milk, at breakfast, but also on their own at any time in the afternoon while doing my homework. If my "extended" family living in Italy is representative of an average Italian family, I understand why these cookies are still so popular: they are the favorite of my sister's eldest son who (I saw him directly last summer) can eat half packet each morning helped by his sister; and something similar happens in my husband's sister family where the ten years old boy prefers them as an afternoon snack; and the rest of the family usually helps too.
And they are very simple, no chocolate or other additions, no filling, no cream, just a friable texture and a delicate flavor. According to the label, their unique taste should come from the fresh milk cream used in the recipe. I trust, even the 2% cream claimed on the label is not that much! Anyway, since they are so simple, I wanted to make them at home: it's funny and gratifying to replicate industrial foods at home. And also I love home-made cookies: they always taste more "natural" than the store bought one, and are potentially healthier, of course if high quality ingredients are used: no artificial flavors, real butter, fresh milk and eggs, no preservatives (even when the label says that they do not contain any preservative, industrial foods always keep much longer than home-made, and this is still a mystery for me).

Banana cake with chocolate chips

Before making this recipe I did not take into great consideration banana cakes or breads. I thought of them as "second choice" cakes, made not much for the love of banana cakes as for using some overripe bananas sitting in the kitchen. Maybe because I don't like bananas (probably I didn't eat even as a child) or because most of the banana cakes I've tried had walnuts inside (and I have a sort of allergy to walnuts); or maybe the strange color that bananas give to the cake or... I don't know exactly, but I had never considered to make a banana cake before. But I have a two years old son who has a strange relation with bananas: there are days when I have to go out and buy bananas because he sees another kid eating a banana on the beach and wants one too; but there are also other days - usually when I have plenty of bananas in the kitchen- in which he looks at bananas as they were the last food in the world he would eat. And so the poor bananas, after becoming more and more yellow, finally turn brown and seem to say: "please decide what to do with us". If there is just one too ripe banana, I can throw it, but if they are more I think it's a shame. And just too many overripe bananas are the origin of this cake which made me change idea about banana cakes. Because it is delicious, much more than I ever expected.

Kofta Kebabs with yogurt sauce

Even if I have been living in Dubai for almost one year now, this is the very first time I prepare  a Middle Eastern dish at home. What a shame! But I can always make up for lost time, considering in particular how much I love this flavorful and spicy cuisine.
Kofta (or kofte) kebabs are long meatballs, made with ground lamb or beef (or a mix of them or even other kinds of meat, like mutton), flavored with herbs and spices and grilled on skewers. The name kofta comes from the Persian word kufthe which means mashed (when meat grinders were not available, meat was first cut into small pieces then mashed in a sort of mortar). Koftas are very popular in Turkey where it is possible to find many local versions, but they are a traditional food in almost all Middle Eastern countries; variations occur also in North Africa, the Mediterranean area, Balkans and India. Koftas can be grilled (then they are named kofta kebabs) or cooked in several other ways: steamed, fried, or cooked in a gravy. There are also vegetarian versions (especially in India) where meat is substituted for lentils, potatoes or other vegetables. It is also possible to find kofta made with fish.

I had seen a recipe for kofta kebabs last summer, during my holidays in Italy, while leafing through an Italian cooking magazine (funny, isn't it?) and decided I had to try when back in Dubai, where finding ingredients (spices in particular) is much easier (and of course, cheaper). I did not follow exactly the recipe I had found in the magazine, but added some ingredients (garlic and cayenne pepper in particular) and increased the quantity of the spices. I know that there are several versions of kofta kebabs (as for all traditional dishes), and I cannot say if the one I made may be considered somehow "orthodox"; I only know it is delicious and easy to make.
I used a mix of lamb and beef ground meat, but it is possible to use all lamb or all beef or even other combinations: what I recommend is not to use low fat meat, in order to have tender and moist kofta.
Also I baked the kofta kebabs in the oven but - and probably this is the more traditional cooking technique - they can also be grilled or chargrilled. A yogurt sauce flavored with mint and parsley is a perfect, refreshing complement (also tzatziki works well); and don't forget some Arabic bread.

Potato cakes with smoked salmon and herb crème fraîche

There was a time when I always had in my fridge a package of smoked salmon. At that time - don't think it was decades ago, just three or four years - my life was completely different than it is now: I lived in Italy (but this is not particularly relevant), my son was not born yet, my future husband worked and lived during the week in a different city and, most important fact of all, I worked. And my job conditioned a lot the rest of my life. I know that all jobs do, but working as a business consultant for a big consultancy firm makes a little more difficult to plan the day schedule: I never knew at what time I would have come back home in the evening, when I came back home. Because I often worked at the clients premises, that could be hundreds miles far from Milan, and maybe finished meetings at 7 pm; then I had to take my car and come back home and, of course, arrived very late. Since my days where a little unpredictable - and I am not a huge fan of fast foods/take away/home delivery - I liked to have always on hand some ingredients to prepare me a decent dinner at any time. And smoked salmon was perfect for this purpose: it goes well with salads and other veggies (I always have vegetables in my fridge, and eat them every day, twice a day if possible), it is tasty, has a wonderful, comforting color and, to me, can add a sense of luxury even to a last minute, improvised meal.
As it saved many of my lonely, late dinners, I still have a sort of affection for smoked salmon, and sometimes buy a package of it. But now, not having the problem of improvising dinners in less than fifteen minutes, it risks to arrive very close to the expiry date without being taken into consideration. And a package of forgotten smoked salmon was the input for this "potato cakes with smoked salmon and herb crème fraîche" recipe.
Actually the potato cakes come from a Jamie Oliver's recipe: he serves them with smoked salmon and boiled eggs. I eliminated the eggs (that I prefer to cook differently) and added some crème fraîche, flavored with two herbs,chives and dill, that in my opinion perfectly match the taste of salmon.
I served this dish for dinner with a rich mixed salad, but it would be perfect for a weekend brunch or a lazy, indulgent breakfast.

Jam-filled tartlets

I have one - frankly speaking several - notebook where I take note of recipes I want to try (and after I make one of them, the relative page becomes full of comments: my variations / substitutions, cooking tips and, of course, tasting notes). Many of them are recipes that I specifically search for, but there are some that I stumble upon by chance while randomly surfing the web or flipping through magazines or cookbooks or watching TV cooking shows. And these recipes are usually written down in one go; being inspired by the curiosity or the beautiful picture or by the fact that I have never made something similar, and paying attention not to miss any ingredient or preparation step, I sometimes do not take into great consideration the quantity and proportion of the various ingredient the recipe calls for. And so, when I go through one of my notebooks in search for inspiration, and read more carefully what I wrote, I find recipes (often for desserts) requiring quantities of certain ingredients that, in my opinion, cannot be part of  a as-healthy-as-possible diet (that is the kind of diet which drives me daily, first while shopping at the supermarket/market, then when preparing meals): amounts of butter and/or so exaggerate quantities of sugar requiring a detoxifying period to get back to normal values of cholesterol and glycemia. Don't think that I am obsessed with healthy food or that I banned some ingredients (actually I avoid to buy, use or eat some things for healthy reason but this is not the case of butter and sugar that, to me, are fundamental ingredients, especially when making sweets and baked goods); but, when it's too much...
Well, thanks to this deeper analysis I can eliminate recipes that for sure I will never make; but there are recipes that, even if a little "too rich", for some reason are still inspiring me, and remain in the list of the recipes to try. It is the case of these small cakes, that I have seen in the deliaonline website.

Balsamic roasted red cabbage

Considering the quantity of vegetables that we - me and my husband I mean - eat every day at dinner, most of the time I spent in the kitchen is dedicated to cleaning and cooking vegetables. And I haven't published any recipe for veggies yet. It's time to do it. The recipe I have chosen is for roasted cabbage flavored with balsamic vinegar. Perfect for incoming fall and winter seasons (even if actually here in Dubai these seasons mean staying outdoor, going to the beach and doing other activities that at other latitudes are typical of spring and summer). But, anyway, when weather becomes relatively cooler, it is time to eat cabbage; everybody should because it is a vegetable packed with benefits for our health. Like the more à-la-page kale or the more common broccoli and Brussel sprout, red cabbage belongs to the family of cruciferous vegetables, whose nutrients and properties are scientifically recognized as capable to improve our health and prevent or even treat some diseases, first of all cancer. But what's good in them?