I think it is quite fab how in the Italian kitchen a side dish isn’t considered just your obligatory portion of veggies but taken as seriously as all the other components of your meal. This doesn’t yet necessarily mean that you should spend many hours preparing it but rather that it should be tasty too!…
Category: Contorni
Miss Bean – Fagioli in Umido
In addition to the Italian kitchen being a wilderness of culinary adventures, it can also sometimes represent a bit of a jungle linguistically. At least for a Finn. I still haven’t forgotten the nightmares of briciole and often spend sleepless nights wondering what an earth a sformato is supposed to be (well, ok, not really…
Music to Tastebuds – Rosette con Pane alla Menta e Limone
One of the disadvantages of living in a city apartment is that there is a fairly limited amount of space available for your pots, kitchen utensils and gadgets. At least if you prioritise things like a dining table and living room sofa over them. I still possess items such as a wok pan that I…
The Competitive Carrots – Carote al Latte
Having used quite a bit of different herbs in my cooking recently, today I found my fridge looking like a jungle. As I do not have a beautiful garden à la Jamie O. or James Martin where to transfer them, it was time to take some serious cooking action. The first two herbs to catch…
Something Not Borrowed – Insalata Improvvisata
The idea of my blog is to learn about Italian cooking by testing recipes I have found from different sources. Yet in real life, I do come up with my own little recipes from time to time too. And since for this blog I have no manager to answer to, I can really post here…
The Most Unphotogenic Dish in Helsinki – Fave al Pecorino
Today I think I may have found something that is even more unphotogenic than I am: this dish. I apologise for the silly faces posing with it but I felt compelled to add something to distract from the ugliness of the peas. Yet, if you leave aesthetic questions aside, it is in fact quite a…
Cheesy Sale – Patate Taleggio e Rosmarino
A couple of months ago, I tried making a risotto that included a cheese that I was not familiar with: Taleggio. As this cheese isn’t really included in your grocery staples in Finland, I couldn’t find it in my local corner store either and used Swiss Gruyere as a substitute (well, not exactly a grocery…
Stunning Simplicity – Insalata di Melanzane e Menta
Sometimes the best things in life and cooking are simple. This is certainly the case with this salad. With little effort, the maximum yum (well, I guess yum really isn’t a word but it kind of rhymes nicely with maximum). It is a side dish to accompany fish or meat. I have tried this with…
Fintastic Fennels – Cartoccio di Finocchi e Mandarini
Over this weekend, I discovered that there is in fact a fairly impressive range of Italian magazines available in Helsinki. Despite also being quite impressed with their prices (costing about 2-3 times as much as in Italy), I decided to invest in an Italian cooking magazine called La Cucina Italiana. It appeared to be one…
Cucina Fintastica 