Tales from the kitchen, culinary techniques, cultural practices, recipes,travel, health and life
Being a working woman in India, my mom always prepared some staples like tomato ketchup, ginger garlic paste, idli dosa batters etc every weekend to get through the work week. Likewise, I have developed a habit of making some staples over here in the US like hummus, pesto, almond butter etc that help us with our... Continue Reading →
Originating in Italy , this dish is simply a fried rice ball of risotto.Risotto made with Arborio rice is a creamy and nutty rice porridge from Italy.The leftover Risotto is shaped into balls with meat of stuffed with cheese and other flavorings and deep fried after coating in a flour, egg and bread crumb mixture.This... Continue Reading →
Im starting to incorporate the techniques learnt at Culinary school into the mainstream dishes now and already see it working,that makes me so exited that I am able to put out restaurant quality plates.This recipe is for Chicken Marsala, where chicken cutlets are pan fried and then soaked in a Marsala based sauce served with... Continue Reading →
Mezzelune is a type of stuffed pasta from Italy.These are half moon shaped and very versatile to make stuffings and serve with sauces.I have used a butternut squash and blue cheese stuffing here and served it with a sage and brown butter sauce.If you are a blue cheese lover you will fall in love with... Continue Reading →
Ravioli is an italian stuffed dumpling.It is made with a variety of stuffings like spinach, cheese, mushrooms, ground meat or seafood in a casing made of dough.I had taken my husband to a restaurant in February where we tasted a delicious mushroom ravioli,I tasted the stuffing and could figure out there was mushroom and walnuts... Continue Reading →
Lasagne /Lasagna is an Italian pasta dish which uses flat sheets of pasta layered with vegetables, meats and various types of sauce with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and baked and served like a square piece of pie. This recipe looks like a lot of cheese, but when it comes to Italian dishes it's all about... Continue Reading →
Here is a super healthy,low calorie, filling food with all vegetables and no carbohydrates from grains.Eat this for dinner when you are trying to lose weight,or as a tasty side when you do not want too many calories and want to get a lot of vegetables in your diet.Add a poached egg on top for... Continue Reading →
Ravioli is an italian pasta dish which is filled between two layers of pasta.There are a million varieties of filling ranging from meat,vegetables,cheeses etc.I will do a recipe on how to make homemade ravioli at a later time but this recipe uses pre made ravioli bought from the store.Preparation time:15 minutesServes:2Ingredients:2 cups ravioli(you can use... Continue Reading →
Sformato is of italian origin and is similar to a custard/flan made savory.This can be made with any vegetable. The difference between baked eggs/frittata and sformato is really the texture.Baking in a bed of water gives it a soft flan like texture.Preparation time:30 minutesServes:12Ingredients:10 Eggs2 cups chopped spinach1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese(optional)Oil to spray the... Continue Reading →
Polenta is of Italian origin.It is cornmeal cooked with water or cream.Served usually the starch in a main course.Polenta goes well with marinara sauce or other italian sauces.This recipe uses cooked polenta and bakes them to crisp them and topped with a sundried tomato goat cheese spread for an appetizer.Preparation time:1 hourServes:12 moonsIngredients:1 Polenta logor1... Continue Reading →
Prathima Koneru 