Shamandar: beetroot salad with yogurt tahini dressing

Beetroot is a vegetable I discovered (and loved) relatively late. In fact it doesn't belong to the culinary tradition of the Italian region I come from, the Marche region. At least until my twenties, when I moved to North of Italy (where instead beetroot are more common), I thought that beets were used just to make sugar (as farmers in my area, including my grandfather, used to grow only the sugar beets) but I had no idea of the existence of other edible varieties. And also, after discovering the table beetroot, it was not love at first sight. Because actually the first beets I tried were the pre-cooked ones sold in supermarkets in vacuum-sealed plastic packages: not that delicious, to be honest! But finally I had ash-roasted beetroot - some farmers use to make and sell, but I could also found them in some vegetable shops - and realized how good they can taste (even better than oven roasted as the flavor is more concentrated and with a light smoked taste). Since then my liking for beets has progressively increased. I have had, both at restaurants and at home, many different dishes made using beets, sometimes as main ingredient, other times mixed with different things: salads (one recipe I love here), risotto, soups, spreads (like this beetroot hummus), drinks, even cakes (beets and chocolate go particularly well together) . And I am always curious to try new ways of preparing and serving them. Middle Eastern cuisine - that I am enjoying much lately, also making some recipes at home - makes a quite extensive use of beets (and I am very glad of this), especially in salads, sides, and mezze, the Middle Eastern appetizer, in which a selection of different dishes are spread on the table for sharing among guests. One dish usually served as part of mezze is Shamandar, a sort of dip made of diced beets in a tahini (a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds) and yogurt dressing. 

Camargue red rice and quinoa with orange, dried apricots and pistachios

Being Italian, I am probably expected to eat more pasta than I actually do. In fact, like it's true that pasta is the most universally renowned Italian food (only pizza is maybe as popular as pasta), so it is also true that the average lunch of the average Italian family usually includes a plate of pasta. 

This being the reality, I have to admit that I am quite peculiar to be Italian as I actually don't eat pasta so often. But don't get me wrong! I do like pasta very much, and I think it is a really wonderful creation of the Italian cuisine: it's so versatile that it can be transformed into a last minute dinner as well as into a sophisticated dish, resulting always tasty and satisfying. The fact is that I get bored: even changing the shape and / or the sauce, to me pasta is pasta (like it would be rice or fish or meat or chicken or anything else eaten every day). I enjoy it much more if I have once in a while (let's say once a week, maybe twice, three times start to be too much). I eat pasta more often - that means almost every day, with few exceptions - only when I visit my family, or my husband's, and have my meals at home with them. And then I usually get bored of pasta ...

What I like to do at home is on one side making always different and new recipes, on the other having different types of dishes during the week, especially at dinner (for lunch I am fine with a salad): this way we have something different every day and always prepared using different ingredients and recipes. It's funny but, excluding some recipes that I particularly love or that I make particularly well, as a result of this habit of mine there are some recipes that I made only once - that is actually a shame for certain lovely dishes, which would deserve to be made again! Also I have to admit to be lucky as my husband is very open to try anything new and different and appreciate my love for experimenting in the kitchen (even if he probably would appreciate more experiments on pasta...); and also never complains when something doesn't come out so appetizing as I wished. 

All this confession of mine is a justification - mostly to myself - for not sharing (yet) a recipe for pasta but for an alternative to pasta, a really good one though: a combination of red rice and quinoa, mixed with caramelized onions, dried apricots, toasted pistachios, rocket and orange zest, in a olive oil, orange and lemon juice dressing.

Pumpkin and beetroot salad with goat cheese

I like to create recipes and do it very often - if "create" may sounds an overstatement, let's say that I often cook without following any recipe; and this happens in most cases with fresh foods, mainly vegetables but also fish, that I buy prompted by their freshness and appearance or just by inspiration rather than the idea of making a specific recipe. And this is something I really enjoy, a bit challenging but much satisfying: I love to find good combinations of ingredients, flavors and textures, to choose the best cooking technique, to add spices and herbs, to experiment something new or different, and finally to make a nice presentation. And what a personal great satisfaction when the dish comes out so good that I wish to make it again! But in this cases, it is important to write down the recipe as soon possible, in order to take note of both ingredients (and possibly the exact amount used) and preparation steps. In fact I know from previous experiences that, if I like something I make, I'd better take note soon because it is much likely that the same, or at least a quite similar, good result won't come out again. And this is what I did with this salad, made few days ago - my Instagram followers have already seen the picture - when I was alone for dinner (husband traveling) but wanted anyway make something appetizing, not too complicated (not worth spending too much time in the kitchen for feeding just one person) and with plenty of vegetables (as I can't live without a huge portion of veggies every single day). I had a nice butternut squash, few beetroots and a bunch of baby spinach bought last Friday at the Farmer Market on the Terrace that I wanted to use. 

Eating out in Dubai - where to eat fresh, organic, locally grown food ... seating outdoor (if you like)

Considering how long I've been living in Dubai (one year and a couple of months now), I still feel pretty new in the city, with many things to do and places and opportunities yet to discover. But I'm working on the task of getting more and more acquainted with the city, as I want to enjoy as much as possible of it during the time I'll have the opportunity to stay here. And one of the important chapters of my personal guide to the city is with no doubts the one dedicated to "where to eat out", in the possible different occasions. One of my family's routines is going out for lunch on weekends, an habit we've always had, also when we lived in Italy and my son wasn't born yet (though at that time we opted for a different kind of places...). Having a two and a half old boy dining with us, we cannot indulge in multiple-courses gourmet lunches, since we probably couldn't completely enjoy. But even if in most cases we have quick meals out, we try to avoid as much as possible fast food- like places, our favorites being  restaurants or, even better for lunch, cafes and bistros where it is possible to have well prepared and presented quality food, good service, nice ambience, possibly fair prices...and the possibility to eat outside is another much appreciated feature. A bit demanding? Maybe, but considering how many options are available in Dubai, I think I can select.

Triple chocolate mousse

I find it very difficult to give up chocolate! I don't have many food addictions but chocolate and salads (I know they're antithetical...but that's it!) must be part of my daily diet. But while I eat tons of veggies, with chocolate I feel satisfied with just a little: a thin slice of cake, a small treat, a truffle (maybe two), but even a piece of the plain dark chocolate I use for baking and making desserts (which I always buy of high quality) is enough. And of course chocolate desserts are my favorite: when dining out, it's unlikely that I take into consideration ordering a non chocolate-y dessert, but also at home the desserts I prefer to make, eat and offer to my guests are those with chocolate, lots of chocolate, preferably dark. I own several cookbooks dedicated to chocolate and my dessert repertoire includes many chocolate-something recipes - cakes, tartes, mousse, cookies - more or less guilty, more or less difficult to make, more or less delicious.
Among these there is this triple chocolate mousse, three layers of different types of chocolate, dark, milk and white, that I made several times all with much satisfaction.

Buttermilk Plum Cake

It sounds a bit weird to me making, and even more publishing on the blog, the recipe for a plum cake in the middle of the winter season! Because in my mind plums are a summer fruit; and they are a summer fruit. As I prefer locally grown foods, especially vegetables and fruits, I am not inclined to buy products if they are not in season. But unfortunately weather and soil conditions here are unfavorable for fruits production, with the exception of few varieties (on the contrary many vegetables can be farmed, so there is a very good availability of fresh, local veggies, that I love to take from The Farmer Market on the Terrace where it is possible to buy organic products directly from the farmers). As almost any variety of fruit is imported, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't make such a big difference buying apples, pears and oranges from Italy or Spain, when it's winter, rather than plums and peaches from South Africa or New Zeeland, where at the same time of the year it's summer (well, actually, New Zeeland is a bit faraway, that means longer travel, higher cost, bigger impact on the environment).
As a consequence of this, while in Italy in January I would have made an apple cake, here in Dubai I made a plum cake, a wholesome, simple plum cake perfect for breakfast and afternoon tea. It can also be served, lightly warmed and with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, as a light dessert at the end of a meal.

Beetroot "hummus"

Hummus is an amazing Middle Eastern creation, a delicious spread never missing at any Levantine table but also popular - and rightly - across the world.
Hummus is an Arabic word meaning chickpeas, and in fact the main ingredient of this dip is boiled and mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. And this "original", classic version is really very good! But, starting from the most simple of the recipes for hummus, it is possible to create almost infinite possible versions, adding spices, herbs or other ingredients or modifying the proportions of the basic ingredients or also, in the most extreme variations, not even using chickpeas. At the moment, one of my favorite interpretations of hummus is exactly of one these alternative versions, where is used beetroot (boiled or baked) instead of chickpeas. Plus the same ingredients as the basic hummus recipe: tahini, a paste made of sesame seeds - a staple of the Middle Eastern cuisine- which adds a lovely nutty flavor; a bit of olive oil (better if extra-virgin) to make the spread moist; lemon juice for a sour balance and garlic which adds a pungent flavor.

Grilled cauliflower with tomato, dill and capers

I eat lots of vegetables, every day. I like almost any kind of veggies and enjoy having them in several different ways: raw in salads, boiled. steamed, roasted, sauted as a side dish, with pasta or rice or other grains, in soups, in quiches ... in short, I eat some kind of veggies at every single meal (except breakfast). For this reason I like to try and create always new recipes containing vegetables and also alternate during the week different varieties of seasonal products. Among all the vegetables I already know - in fact there are some that I have never tried or cooked by myself, because they are not farmed or available in Italy - I have some favorites, that I could eat every day (to name a few, tomato, green salad, broccoli, eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini, and others). But cauliflower doesn't belong to this group. I can't say I don't like it (actually there are only few types of vegetables that I really don't like so far), but I find it a bit tough, so I do not prepare it very often.
But considering that cauliflower is in season (go to The Farmer Market on the Terrace for a fresh local, organic product) and that it contains many nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other phytochemicals) which are so important for our health and well-being, I try to include it in my rotation and prepare it in some appetizing way.
I recently made Grilled broccoli with chile and garlic from  "Ottolenghi The Cookbook" and I liked much the flavor added to the vegetable by the grilling treatment, so I wanted to try a recipe for cauliflower (from the same book) using the same cooking technique. And I did well. The boiled then grilled cauliflower, mixed with other flavorful ingredients in a unusual combination, was a good surprise: an healthy, tasty and seasonal side dish which goes particularly well with chicken or turkey dishes.

Jam crostata (tarte) with spelt and olive oil crust

Happy new year everyone! I wish you all the best for the just welcomed 2015 and hope that you enjoyed the festive season, whether you spent this time of the year with your loved ones, your friends, never met before people or even on your own.
Christmas of 2014 was my real first Christmas in Dubai; last year, in fact, I had recently arrived and spent most of the Christmas period relocating from the residence where we stayed for about two months to the apartment where we are living now; and the 31st of December was the day when we actually moved to our apartment... I can say it was a peculiar Christmas. This year, on the contrary, we had a more "normal" Christmas - even if anyway much different than the kind of Christmas I was used to when living in Italy (where Christmas mainly meant gathering with my family in my home village, eating my mom's traditional recipes - I misses them this year - and having a rest from work). This year we decorated a Christmas tree, part of my husband's family came to Dubai and spent the Christmas period with us, my son enjoyed for the first time in his life the experience of finding and opening the presents left for him by Santa (or whoever on his behalf) under the Christmas tree, we appreciated some of the many different things that can be done in this city during the festive season and we enjoyed the lovely weather spending time and dining outside (our guests appreciated this much more then me and my family....). I enjoyed this time very much. And I also had the chance to go around the city as a tourist, which I like very much.