The “Ossobuco alla Milanese” is absolutely one of my favorite recipes, I simply love it, and the particular taste given by the so called “gremolada” makes it special and delicious 🙂 (The gremolada is a mixture of lemon zest, parsley and garlic added in the end, which is the special ingredient absolutely needed in this recipe).

Moreover it’s a dish made with a cut which is sold at good prices, that makes it a dish of great value too.

It’s an old recipe typical of Milan cuisine and famous through all Italy (in the dialect of Milan it’s called “òs büs“), the first recipes date back some centuries and in the oldest recipes there was no tomato because it was not yet a common ingredient in northern Italy at that time, only later it has been added. But someone still prefer to cook this recipe without tomato.

This is a very tasty and juicy recipe, typical of Tuscany and more precisely of Florence area.

It’s a very old recipe, and its complete name is “Peposo alla fornacina” or “Peposo dell’Impruneta“, because it was created in the XV century by some brick cookers at the kilns situated at Impruneta, a town on the hills surrounding Florence and well known for terracotta productions. The story says that in that period, at the time of Brunelleschi, during the construction of the very famous cupola of Florence Cathedral, there was a higher request of bricks and as a consequences there were more “fornacini” (the workers) working at the kilns. These workers were working hard from morning until evening and didn’t have much money, so some of them started to put what they could manage to find inside some terracotta pots and place it…

This is a recipe I like to do when I don’t want to think too much about how to cook a whole gilt-head sea bream (or a sea bass, a dentex or other similar fish) 🙂

The recipe is really easy and simple, so it’s perfect to cook a delicate fish: I don’t usually like too elaborated recipes for fish, I always like to keep it simple and to fully appreciate the real taste of the fish, I never want to cover it too much, just a good extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs.

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 1 gilt-head sea bream of 600-700 g
• 3-4 potatoes
• 1 clove of garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• a couple of lemon slices (not treated)
• half glass of dry white wine
• fresh rosemary, sage, thyme and dill 
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

1. First of all clean well the fish, remove every blood trace inside and with…

Sunday was Easter, and as always I cooked lamb 🙂 (actually at my home in Italy in Easter I use to eat kid goat meat bought from some neighbors, usually, and I even prefer that but here in Hungary is hard to find).

I had to understand also which are the local cuts, because they cut the animal in a different way here, but in the end I found a nice cut from the back (gerinc) at my usual butcher.

I use to like it in the simple way, roasted with potatoes and rosemary, which is always perfect, but this time I added also some mustard, and with a tzatziki sauce it turned out really good.

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 1 kg lamb (I used the cut of the back, so there was also a big part with bone, the spine)
• potatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoons of mustard (I…

I know that nowadays many people, meat eaters I mean, don’t like the idea to eat lamb, but even if I eat much less meat than the average, I’m not vegetarian/vegan so in Easter traditionally I also eat lamb. Actually in my family we use to eat the kid goat (always bought from a farmer, neighbor of my father’s field), but in Hungary I can’t find it easily.

Usually we do a roast, but this year I opted for an easier and faster recipe, but also very delicious. Indeed the chops need few minutes and they are ready 🙂 actually the real recipe “costolette di agnello a scottadito” are made on the grill, but also in a good iron pan or cast iron pan you can have a very good result. Why scottadito? Literally it means “burning your fingers”, because you have to eat them with hands…

The summer seems already going away, but since it was still sunny we decided to have another grill in the garden, and since the fisherman brought us a 4,5 kg pike we also knew what to grill 😀

You can eat it next to whatever you prefer, but for me grilled vegetables are perfect, and this time I also prepared a beurre blanc sauce using a mountain butter…so I added a French touch too 😀

It’s not too difficult, let’s see.

INGREDIENTS (4 people):

• 800 g of Pike fillets
• extra virgin olive oil
• the juice of one lemon
• 1 clove of garlic
• freshly ground black pepper
• fresh herbs (I used sage and rosemary)
• salt

For the Beurre Blanc sauce:

• 150 g of good butter, very cold (in this case I used a mountain butter)
• 2 shallots
• 5 cl white wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 5 cl white wine
• freshly ground…

This a great recipe for two reasons: it’s delicious, and the ribs are quite a cheap cut 🙂

To cook well the ribs, having them soft and still juicy, it’s not always easy. First of all you need a good quality beef, so ribs coming from an animal that has a good level of marbling. Indeed this is what will keep the meat juicy.

Then we have to cook it gently, slowly and at a temperature not too high. In this way the cartilages inside will turn into gelly, but for this it’s important also the final resting part.

If you have a BBQ it’s perfect because you can add also the extra flavor given by the wood, but also in the oven they will be very good too. In this last case, if you don’t have a BBQ you can add some smoke flavor for example by passing…

Finding a good salad dressing can be challenging, and I particularly picky about it. I am bored with the basic vinegar or balsamic and olive oil because even if I use a good quality olive oil or balsamic, it still tastes “basic”. So I researched and tried out a few different recipes and finally came out with a salad dressing that has a little taste of “Asian”, which I enjoy very much. I find the sesame oil adds a nice fragrance to this dressing. Be careful with the garlic, if you don’t like fresh garlic or about to meet someone, you can replace it with garlic powder. I hope you like it as much as I do! 🙂

INGREDIENTS

3 tbsp Lemon juice (about ½ big lemon, or 1 small lemon)

3 tbsp Rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp Soy sauce

½ tbsp Sesame oil

½ tbsp. Olive oil

1 tbsp…

We’ve all heard of Taco Tuesday, right? In our house, we’ve expanded the whole Taco Tuesday thing to incorporate anything with a Mexican flavor. Tacos, burritos, chilies, seafoods, pork dishes, beef dishes – it’s a free for all of Mexican Favorites. I know, Frito Pie isn’t exactly authentic Mexican, it’s more Mexican-American. Still, it’s quick, easy and oh so delicious. Served with slices of avocado and a few pitches of Margarita and you’ve got all the makings for a great night!

Chorizo Chili Frito Pie
1 can refrigerated Crescent Rolls
1/2 lb Mexican Chorizo (see note)
2 cans Dennison’s Hot Chili
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 cup Frito Corn Chips

Note: This dish is only as good as the ingredients used, so using a good quality chorizo is very important. Make sure the chorizo is in bulk, that it crumbles and cooks up like ground beef. Get your chorizo…