vegetarian

Red lentil burgers

| Eva

As this post is being published I am spending a portion of my summer vacations in Poland. Prior to getting here, I had spent a few days in Norrköping visiting a dear friend of mine. I traveled there two days after my job was done, finding it absolutely unbearable to stay in town any longer for some reason. I love the cute little town I live in, but a creeping sense of suffocation had me in its grip and I needed to get away, fast. The fact that my boyfriend was in Rome and I was not enjoying my time alone as much as I usually do (I am an only child and have been raised to love my own company very much) didn’t help either. Well, long story short I hopped on a train and got off in Norrköping. Continue reading →

Creamy pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes

creamy pasta with cherry tomatoes
| Eva

We Italians can be awfully picky eaters. We pride ourselves for coming from one of the places in the world with the best food, and then tend to forget that there’s a whole world out there that is not doing that bad when it comes to preparing food, after all. Sure, Italian food will forever be my favourite, but I think that keeping an open mind is something a few more Italians should consider doing.

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Oven-roasted cherry tomatoes

roasted cherry tomatoes
| Eva

Last week I bought cherry tomatoes with the intention of eating them on Thursday, the day that I start working at 12:00 and I usually have to fit in a quick lunch around 11:00 before I leave home. Cherry tomato and tuna salad was my plan. But then that particular Thurdsay morning I decided to get busy in the kitchen and I just forgot about the cherry tomatoes. I almost forgot to have lunch at all, that day. So a few days later, during the weekend, I opened the fridge and saw that package of cherry tomatoes. Some of them showing off serious wrinkles. Continue reading →

Cilantro Lime Rice

| Eva

It all started two months ago, when I stumbled upon a very interesting recipe on one of the first food blogs I have ever followed, cilantro lime rice by Cooking with a Wallflower. Sometimes I find recipes and I wonder how on Earth I had never come up with such ideas myself, spontaneously. I lovelovelove guacamole and I often think that my big love is mostly for the avocado, but the thing about guacamole is also the peculiar flavours of lime and cilantro that make the avocado mash special. Why didn’t I ever think of adding lime and cilantro to rice? Continue reading →

Rösti

| Eva

I come from a country that has a lot in common with Switzerland, including a shared border, the Alps and a language (Italian is one of the official languages of Switzerland), yet I had never heard of rösti earlier than last year. Never even ate them by chance. I had had something pretty similar in Poland (placki ziemniaczane) but rösti are not quite the same thing, despite being potato-based just like the Polish fritters. I guess that one of the main differences between Italy and Switzerland (even Canton Ticino) is a different main source of starches. Continue reading →

Pizza with feta and zucchini

| Eva

Despite being Italian, I have ventured into making home-made pizza only in my late twenties. I think the reason is partially found in the fact that living in Italy it is so much more convenient to get really delicious pizza from an actual pizzeria, also considering that most pizzerie in Italy have a stone oven with real fire. Which is, in my opinion, the key element to producing a real good pizza and not just an okay pizza. An electric oven will never deliver the same result, as delicious as it may turn out. Yes, I’m very conservative.

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Falafel burgers with halloumi and guacamole

falafel burgers halloumi guacamole
| Eva

Who doesn’t love a good burger? Beef, chicken or vegetarian, I will never say no to one. As much as I enjoy burgers as street food, I also love making my own patties at home. Minced beef is my first ingredient of choice, but I like to alternate my diet and reduce my meat intake, so vegetarian options are becoming more and more popular in my house. I must admit that I am not crazy about “meat replacement” foods like soy burgers, and if I’m to eat vegetarian I’d rather go with something totally different from meat, also in terms of texture. Chickpeas, for example. Continue reading →

Autumn soup with curry and coconut milk

| Eva

I was recently invited for lunch to a buffet that offers both Swedish and world-inspired foods. After filling my plate with a bunch of delicious stuff (I wanted to sample everything that was on the menu that day) I noticed that my friends had also a plate with some hot soup on their trays. I had missed that, so I went back and plated myself some soup. I’m happy I did, because it was labelled as “coconut pumpkin” soup and it was delicious. I felt so inspired that a few days later I decided to try to recreate it in my kichen. Continue reading →

Tuna and feta stuffed zucchini

| Eva

Back in June, when I had not yet started my summer vacations and my boyfriend was already in Italy (I flew to him as soon as school was over), during one of our phone conversations my boyfriend mentioned the tuna stuffed zucchini he had had for lunch. When I have to cook for myself only I tend to get very monotonous and little creative, but when he mentioned tuna stuffed zucchini and I incidentally had one lonely zucchini sitting in the fridge I found the inspiration to cook for myself and not only feed on yoghurt and müsli. Continue reading →

Coconut lentil curry

| Eva

There is only one thing that can beat the good feeling of finishing a book you’ve enjoyed, and that’s finding some reference to it in real life. Reading a novel set in India leaves you with a desire for some nice spicy food and finding Indian recipes in the book came as a great surprise when I turned the last page of the novel and found there was more content. The novel was Ladies Coupé by Anita Nair and it was the spring of 2011. Continue reading →