I am a curious person by nature and love to experiment and experience new things in the world of food. However, I have noticed that in ethnic restaurants, I easily tend to order the same dish on each visit: red or green curry in the case of Thai food, kung-po chicken in Chinese restaurants, palak…
Category: Antipasti
A Lesson Learnt (& Rhubarb Burnt) – Insalata Mista con Rabarbaro E Caprino
I have always felt a special affinity with Italy and Italians although I have no Italian roots myself. One of the reasons for this is probably that I possess traits stereotypically considered Italian. Such as impatience. Sometimes impatience can actually be good as it enables you to constantly seek ways to do things more efficiently….
The Taste of Pastes – Bruschette alla Umbra
If I had to describe this June in one word, it would probably be “changes”. Naturalmente as usual, it is the month of the season changing from spring to summer. This year it was also a month of several changes in my life, and – due to those – additionally the first month with no…
The Secret Agent – Parmigiana di Zucchine e Mozzarella
There are many secrets to making a fabulous dish. Sometimes it is gigantic quantities of butter and sugar. Sometimes it is the skill of combining just the right and right amounts of ingredients. Sometimes it is just pure luck (at least in my case). And sometimes it is not even about the dish but the…
The Zone Call – Mini Calzoni al Forno
Even though – for understandable reasons – a bulk of my food-related reading tends to be in Italian these days, I do use some publications in other languages for culinaristic inspiration as well. One of them is a Finnish foodie magazine called “Glorian ruoka ja viini”. Obviously it doesn’t really qualify as a proper source…
Appetizing Aperitivo
When traveling in Italy this summer, I discovered the very pleasant Italian version of aperitifs. Unlike in Finland (and in many other countries where I have traveled) an aperitif in Italy often includes a nice little – or sometimes not so little – buffet of food to accompany your drink. And it can be quite…
The Pumpkin Challenge – Zucca al Forno con Caprino
Pumpkins are not really traditionally part of the Finnish kitchen whereas they play an important role in the Italian diet – especially during autumn and winter time. Fortunately for a Finnish wanna-be nonna such as myself, pumpkins are widely available in today’s Helsinki. Yet that does not solve another traditional challenge with pumpkins. Also this…
Well-Dressed – Insalata di Melanzane
I am one of those women who tried her best to avoid every visible source of fat (such as salad dressings and butter on a piece of bread) in her food for years. When I learned a few years ago that in fact my diet contained too little fat, I had to retrain myself to…
Baking on the Edge – Torta di Pomodoro
It was bound to be una grande catastrofe. I was really asking for trouble. And yet somehow I managed to pull it off. It all started on a stormy late-summer evening when I made the daring promise to be responsible for a lunch of four people on the following Saturday. Without a moment of hesitation,…
Making Same Difference – Crostini Caldi con Funghi & Bruschette al Pomodoro e Mozzarella
Sometimes one can feel quite relaxed about Italian cooking even as a Finn. Even if you dare to try some classics as old as Rome, there are usually at least as many opinions on the proper way of making them as there are capers in my kitchen cabinets. Hence you can usually be sure that…
Cucina Fintastica 