Honey thumbprint cookies

Honey is an amazing product...and for several reasons. First of all let's think of honey makers: the idea that tiny, fragile insects like bees are able to collect / extract nectar and other substances from flowers and plants and transform them into a range of products - honey first, but also royal jelly, propolis, and beeswax- for feeding and sustaining their perfectly organized communities (and not only) may seem hard to believe (like other impressive things we find in nature though). Second honey is packed with nutritive properties: it isn't just a sweetener, a natural sweetener, it is a food. In fact, besides glucose and fructose - that are natural sugars - honey contains minerals and vitamins; it has antioxidant, antiseptic and anti-bacterial properties. The possible health benefits of consuming honey have been documented since ancient times, and in many cultures, honey had associations that go beyond its use as a food, being considered a religious symbol or used in religious celebrations. And even if not all the honey's health claims have been scientifically confirmed by rigorous studies, it is widely used in many home remedies, some of them actually effective: honey is a natural relief for sore throat and cough, helps to sleep better (the popular cup of milk and honey before going to bed...), is an energy booster and therefore very useful before a workout but even everyday physical strain; it can also be used as a natural ingredient in homemade skin and hair care products. The only warning is that honey should not be fed to infants younger than 1 year to avoid the risk of possible allergic reactions.

Pumpkin ricotta gnocchi on beetroot sauce with pistachios and orange

Gnocchi, even if outside Italy are not as popular as other traditional dishes, are very common all across Italy where all families like to eat once in a while their gnocchi, home-made in the best case - in fact they may also be bought fresh from specialty stores or packaged, industrially produced, from supermarkets. Gnocchi, which are classified as primo piatto (first course) like pasta and risotto,  are soft little dumplings that, in the most classic and common version, are made from boiled potatoes; they probably originated during Roman times when potatoes were not available in Europe (as they were introduced from Americas only in 16th century), so were made from a semolina dough, probably very similar to the gnocchi alla romana that we find today, particularly in the Lazio region.

Like for many traditional Italian dishes, there are several versions of gnocchi and each family has its own recipe, usually handed down from the nonne to their daughters and granddaughters. And among the many possible variations are gnocchi made from something else - or something more - than potato as main ingredient, like ricotta, flour, spinach, pumpkin and so on. And gnocchi's versatility is beloved by chefs, in Italy and abroad, who don't stop experimenting with textures and flavors, from saffron to beets to anything in between. But whatever version of gnocchi you choose, to be really delicious they have to be light, airy and delicate; in fact at their worst they can be dense, chewy, or soggy or, even worst, they come apart in the boiling water. So it is important to make gnocchi properly, that may be less easy than it seems; but with some practice, probably a few failures, and perseverance everybody can become a master at making gnocchi. For the pleasure of all family members ...and of course great personal satisfaction.

Chocolate fudge cake

I find it quite funny but every single year, around the same period, food related (but not only) topics are recurrently the same: in late spring light recipes to lose weight before going on holidays to the beach, in December rich traditional dishes for deciding the menu of meals during the festive season, then at the beginning of the year detox foods and recipes to purify the body and get back in shape, and then healthy food resolutions, new regimes and diets, ... and, around February, it's time for fine recipes for the Valentine's Day dinner, and desserts and sweet goodies - most of them with lots of chocolate too. 

To be honest I don't like Valentine's Day and all the celebrations of this sort, and I have never celebrated in my life by my own choice; particularly what I really do not like is all the commercial stuff around them. But let me say that Valentine's Day, whether one's in a couple or not, can be a good excuse to pamper ourselves and our beloved ones. And to me one of the best way to remind people - and ourselves - that we love them is to make (rather than buy) something good, And I agree that chocolate is the perfect ingredient for a homemade treat, and not only for Valentine's Day.

The recipe I'm going to share is that for a rich, decadent and absolutely moreish chocolate fudge cake, one of my all time favorites. Besides being very rich in chocolate, the peculiarity of this cake, which is flour-less and baked in two times, is that it comes out with two layers having different textures: the bottom is similar to a rich brownie, while the upper layer has the consistency of a firm, dense chocolate mousse. A cake for real (dark) chocolate lovers!

Eating out in Dubai - Dining Around Dubai with FooDiva and the Entertainer Dubai Fine Dining App

When I saw in my inbox an email from FooDiva I thought it was the newsletter that, being a subscriber, I regularly receive with updates on the newest reviews published on the website. But the incipit was quite peculiar as it said "Good morning Francesca! This is your lucky day! You are the winner of a spot on the invitation-only Entertainer and FooDiva Dine Around Dubai.." . Winner? Me? Of what? Why?
I had to think twice to understand - or better to remember - what she was talking about. I never win anything and for this reason I'm not used to enter competitions, of any kind, especially if I have to fill forms with lots of information. But this time I had actually entered a competition and, unbelievable, won. And won the best prize!
In fact few weeks ago, one of the mail from FooDiva was about the launch of a new Entertainer product, the Dubai Fine Dining App and guide; in particular the mail said that, in occasion of the launch, FooDiva had been asked to organize a tailored invitation-only dinner on Palm Jumeirah, during which guests would visit four restaurants with different cuisine, all in the same evening. Readers were invited to a enter a competition for getting the chance to win ten apps for the Entertainer Dubai Fine Dining 2015 guide, and one invitation to the exclusive dinner with FooDiva and the Entertainer around Palm Jumeirah. Since prizes sounded interesting and there was no complicated form to fill - just saying the name of the favorite restaurant on Palm Jumeirah and why, and of course leaving the email address - I answered ... and won. So I had the opportunity to join the special dining tour around Palm Jumeirah with FooDiva and other nice guests.

Sablés chocolat à la fleur de sel

I've already confessed my addiction to chocolate, which also explains why most of the sweet recipes I make (and of course share on the blog) have chocolate in it. And today's recipe is no exception.
But these cookies are so good and I have baked them so many times that the recipe has to be published on my blog. Even if, to be honest, these cookies are already renowned all over the world (and the world wide web too). Their story begins in France, where they were created by the famous pastry-chef Pierre Hermé (the recipe is featured in his book "PH10"); the American cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, who worked in France with Hermé, included the recipe in her book "Baking From My Home to Yours" and let them know also on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean; then the web made the rest of the story and these cookies have become iconic, and not just for chocolate lovers. If you google you will find that they are also known as World Peace Cookies, and if you are curious to know why they have been so named you can read the whole story on Dorie Greenspan blog (follow this link). What I can say is that, even if they probably cannot bring peace in the world, for sure they are able to make happy anyone who eats them. Because they are absolutely amazing and (I am afraid) addictive, due to a mix of factors: first of all they have a peculiar, unique texture - like sablés, they are sandy and melt-in-the-mouth but lightly chewy thanks to the presence of brown sugar - then they have a strong chocolate flavor - the dough contains cocoa plus is packed with chunks of hand chopped dark chocolate - and finally they are salty, since there is a relatively high amount of salt, and in particular fleur de sel, which is a white, moist and coarse French sea salt, typically used to garnish and finish dishes just before serving. And the salt enhances the already profound chocolate taste, making these cookies particularly attractive.

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.