time to say goodbye....

... because a brand new domain is hosting my blog ;)

please follow me at:

www.cucinareconlentezza.com

xxx
Miwako

Ugly pictures, good stuff - 4 recipes

I have been cooking a lot of good stuff lately but my camera is travelling to Portugal to be fixed (or re-sold to the back market), so here we go, iPhone camera again 😅

I am attending a cooking school to learn classic Spanish cousine and I am really enthusiastic about it. The teacher is a really cool guy who is not afraid of being direct with us when we are doing bullshits, which happens more frequently than I expected. The rate of burned pans in my team makes us not really popular in the kitchen... but it is a lot of fun. And a lot of eat, which I compensate by promising to myself that I will retake swimming as soon as the course is over (it is called "mental training").

My roommate's family was visiting us and these are all things I made for them. "You always cook thinking about someone; otherwise, it's just making food": I couldn't agree more!

SEA BREAM "ALL'ACQUA PAZZA"

1 big sea bream

1 lemon

~10 cherry tomatoes

salt/pepper

wine

2 garlic cloves

This is something I like to cook when I am in a hurry but next to a decent fishmonger (another pro of moving to Spain). Clean the sea bream, open it in half (head off), place it into a pan with a lid and add: two spoons of oil EVO, two spoons of white wine and two spoons of water; tomatoes cut in half, garlic cloves cut in half and cover with few lemon slices. Let it cook for ~12 minutes and serve with parsley. In the picture, I also added black olives, but just because I ran into them ;)

EMPANADILLAS

Flour

Oil EVO

white wine

250 gr champignons 

Garlic

Chilli

Provola affumicata cheese

Oh, empanadillas! The one and only moment in which the teacher told me I was doing a good job (thousands of ravioli taught me something, after all). Mix the flour with oil, white wine and water and make a ball. Let it rest covered by a tea towel.  Meanwhile, pan fry the garlic with one spoon of oil EVO and the chilli, add the champignons sliced and cook for ~10 minutes. Blend. Roll the dough quite thin and make big circles, which will be filled with the champignons and cubes of cheese. Close like ravioli and fry them until golden.

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

4 green peppers

minced pork meat

1 spring onion

5 champignones

salt/pepper

Cut the champignons and the spring onion in brunoise (it's clear that I am taking cooking classes!) and add them to the minced meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill the green peppers and bake them in the oven for ~20 minutes or until golden.

RISOTTO AI PORCINI

Porcini mushrooms

1 garlic clove

chilli peppers

white wine

carnaroli rice

parsley

parmigiano cheese

Celery-onion-carrot

A super classic! Make vegetable stock with celery, carrot and onion. Gently clean the porcini, slice them and pan-fry them with two spoons of oil, one garlic clove and chilli to taste. Add the rice, let it toast a few minutes, add white wine and let the alcohol evaporate, then lower the flame and start adding vegetable stock until the rice is cooked. Off the stove, add grated parmigiano. I served it in cups made of melted parmigiano and a good sprinkle of chopped parsley. Super!

Cebiche AKA Anisakis I do not fear you

Finally, after 2 months and a half of literally living inside a suitcase, the God of expats has decided to reimburse me for all my suffering and has donated me the biggest wardrobe my clothes ever touched (and they still don't fit, damn it!). As if it were not enough, my new Alicante flat also has the prettiest kitchen ever, that I decorated with the forest green stuff I had in Cardiff. After all, I am glad I didn't burn everything from that period, as I was tempted to do in more than one occasion ;)

Time to re-take my favorite hobby ever: cooking with slowness. Problem is that in the middle of Angkor temples in Cambodia, my stupid and insensitive camera broke and now I am left with my hello kitty iphone :( 

I hope it will suffice for making my readers salivating, and if not believe my words: it was unbelievably tasty. My stomach is ready to pay the price and welcome all the nasty parasites that can attack it after eating raw fish, but if you do not like taking the risk and, unlike me, your mind contemplates the option "I want it now, but I can wait", then just freeze it before ;)

CEBICHE

(serves 2)

half red onion

one medium-sized sea bass

3 limes

2 chilli peppers

salt and pepper

coriander as if there was no tomorrow

extract the fillets from the sea bass and cut them in small pieces (1-2 cm maximum). Add lime juice and the rest of the ingredients sliced. Serve with an obscene amount of freshly chopped coriander. And now I am hungry again!

Bacalao for all the building

We move to Spain. WE MOVE TO SPAIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!

Side-product of this wonderful update is that we need to empty the fridge, which contains bacalao sufficient to try once all the 365 recipes for bacalao that Portugal has, plus repeat a few of the best ones. So I tried this two recipes:

BACALAO FISHBALL

500 gr of bacalao, kept 2 days in water (change the water from time to time)
a handful of pine nuts
1 garlic clove
few slices of old bread
cherry tomatoes (10)
10 dark olives
3 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of honey

In a mixer, place bacalao, garlic, bread (after keeping it 10 minutes in milk and rinsing well) and pine nuts. Mix. Make small balls and roll them in flour. In a pan, place 2 tablespoons of oil EVO and pan-fry the balls. When ready, remove the balls from the pan and add the cherry tomatoes and the olives. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the balsamic vinegar, the honey and 3-5 spoons of warm water. Place the rolls back in the pan for 1 minute. Add toasted pine nuts and serve warm.

BACCALA' MANTECATO

500 gr bacalao
milk to cover
laurel leaves
olive oil
black pepper

Bring to boil the bacalao in the milk (with laurel leaves and black pepper grains) and then cook for about 20 minutes. Dry the bacalao and place in the mixer, add olive oil slowly while mixing until its consistency resemble a spread. Enjoy over toasted bread with chopped parsley.

Caipiriñha noodles

My flirt with the Thai counter of the supermarket is not over yet ;) 

For dinner, I coupled these Thai-style noodles with the Vietnamese rolls: I am not sure how this sounds to someone from South East Asia, pbly like a meal composed by pizza and Sunday roast would sound to a European. But anyway:

THAI STYLE NOODLES

Serves 2

160 gr noodles 

400 gr prawns

200 gr champignons 

1 shallot

2 spring onions

2 spoons fish sauce 

1 tbspoon red curry paste

Coriander

4-5 peanuts

Lime

Sesame oil 

Start by peeling the prawns and using the heads/shells to make some fish stock. Chop the onions and the shallots, place them in the wok with 2 spoons of sesame oil and pan-fry them 2 minutes. Add chopped mushrooms and chopped prawns (leaving a few for decorating). Boil the noodles in the fish stock and when tender add to the wok. Add the fish sauce and the curry paste melted in a coffee cup with some fish stock. Serve with peanuts crumbs, a sprinkle of lime and coriander.

PS

Caipirinha is the aperitif I had before dinner and was fundamental to the cheerful mood I had during the preparation of the plate ;)

FYEO: crumble cake (sbriciolata)

Out of 55 posts so far, not a single one is about dessert, and the reason is: desserts are boring. You need to follow the recipe step by step, for many recipes you need to know the oven and know the yeast, if you do not have isinglass in your cupboard you can't just replace it by adding more something else (as I generally do when I am missing some ingredients). 

Bottomline: in a football match, desserts are the goalkeeper and savoury stuff are the goleador. Buffon vs Totti. And I worship Totti. 

But.

But if your family takes a plane to come and visit you, bringing your nephew along which is the single thing in the world that you love the most, you bake a cake for their breakfast. And when it comes to the task of baking, there is only one option for me that cannot go wrong: the crumble cake. Now, click this link here, replace the word "lasagna" for "crumble cake" and you will see that there is a high emotional content in this post too :)

This is THE cake my babysitter was baking for me over the years. I think my body is made up 50% of lasagna and 50% of this amazing sbriciolata ;)

Before getting to the recipe, let me add that I had the time of my life with my family in the past few days. Adolescence ends when you stop seeing the family as something unavoidable, and it becomes something that makes you richer. For me it was somehow a complicated process, but it is paying off now :) 

All the credits go to two persons. One that is not with us anymore, but his love still is and glues us together. The other one, well, is the guy that is in my bed when I wake up in the morning. For him, and for him only, sometimes I even think that the world is an amazing place to be ;)

SBRICIOLATA

4 egg yolks

500 gr flour

200 gr sugar

250 gr butter

lemon zest

for the filling:

one apple

rhubarb and strawberry jam

I mixed all the ingredients for the shortcrust pastry and leave it to rest in the fridge for one hour. I placed half of it in a circular tray, placed the two jams, the apple slices. I added more flour to the remaining pastry and mixed to make crumbles, that I placed on top of the cake. I baked at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes. Eat with someone you love.

Courgette and leek crumble, champagne and a new toy

I was so eager to try out my new (fake) Le Creuset mini cocotte that I brought courgettes from Rome (zucchine romanesche). I am used to security and airplane staff laughing at my shoulders for the food I bring in the cabin (some flights ago, I had melba toast supply for like six months that wouldn't fit in the upper compartment), plus I wanted to cook a very special dinner to celebrate an equally special night here in Frankfurt. Champagne was already waiting for me :) 

I have to say this crumble was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, but still less amazing than the golden rose champagne!

COURGETTE AND LEEK CRUMBLE

serves 2

3 courgettes roma

1 leek

chilli

50 gr butter

50 gr flour

50 gr parmigiano

pepper

2 anchovies 

fresh mint leaves

In a pan, I cooked the leek sliced in thin slices with 1 spoon of oil EVO until tender, then I placed the leek in a bowl. In the same pan, I cooked the sliced courgettes with 1 spoon of oil EVO and chilli until tender. I mixed the leek and the courgettes, than placed the mix in the cocotte one spoon at time, placing leaves of mint and chopped anchovies.

I mixed the butter, flour, grated parmigiano and pepper in a bowl until sand-like. I cover the cocotte with a layer of this sandy mix. I baked in the oven at 200 degrees until the top layer is golden (~15 minutes)

I have to admit that we eat it with a lasagna made of pane carasau (thin bread from Sardegna), foie gras and mango chutney. You can sort of see it in the third picture. I know, I deeply apologise with all the birds in the planet, foie gras is bad, but if you got it as a present from France, waisting it is even worst..... ;)

Vietnam here we come!

I am committed to increase the visual appeal of my posts. Very committed. Feedbacks are welcome. Monetary incentives too (click the ads! click the ads!)

Oh, Vietnam! We are planning to go to Vietnam next autumn and I am totally into it. I close my eyes and I see pointy hats, small boats crossing Hanoi Bay and tons of noodles everywhere. So I decided to train my palate with these super SUPER healthy vietnamese rolls. I found the recipe in one of my favourite blogs (this) and I am really impressed by the ratio taste/calories: unbelievable (but believe me!)

Actually, the rolls were only the starter of an amazing sunday lunch, which also featured a superb fideuà made by my flatmate. Catalunya meets Vietnam. Spain meets South-east Asia. 

PS

Yes, the fideuà was the best fideuà in the world!

VIETNAMESE ROLLS 

for 8 rolls:

8 sheets of rice paper (asian shops)

mixed salad (red and green)

1 small carrot

1 small celery

2 big spring onion

8 big prawns

8 basil leaves

8 mint leaves

for the sauce:

2 spoons soy sauce

2 spoons water

1 spoon 1/2 white vinegar

1 spoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 spoons peanuts

Crush the peanuts in tiny pieces, add the rest of the ingredients and let it rest. Place the rice paper sheets in a bowl with cold water (2-3 at time), cut all the ingredients in sticks and make 8 rolls. As easy as that!

Moroccan night

Or moroccan late morning, as this pic was taken the day after with the leftovers of the dinner that become my lunch (much better light, no hungry people putting pressure on you to end the shooting session)

Now that this plate belongs to the past, I am thinking that the vegetarian version would probably have been even better. If I were to re-do it, I wouldn't use chicken and perhaps I'd add toasted pine nuts. Or dried apricots. Or both. 

But no way I am doing it again in the next days: I have new toys to try out :) today, during the search for the n-th car for my nephew, I found out that there was an entire floor of the mall that I wasn't aware of. When you get excited for such things, it means that you are >30, living in a boring city, happily married, or a combination of the previous. Anyway, I bought some fancy food containers that I am eager to use for doing mono-portion dinners. When you get excited for such things, it means that you are >30, living in a boring city, happily married, AND a foodblogger :)

MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH COUSCOUS

2 courgettes

1 carrot

3 potatoes

2 onions

2 shallots

1 garlic clove, crushed

celery

the zest of one lemon

mixed moroccan spices (ras el hanout), or alternatively: casually mix all the reddish spices found in the kitchen, like I did

300 gr couscous

5 chicken tights (or toasted pine nuts)

Fry the chicken tights in a pan with 2 spoons of oil EVO using high fire for a few minutes, then turn off the fire. Chop the onions and the shallots and pan-fry them in a large pot at moderate fire with 3 spoons of oil EVO. Add the chicken, the vegetables chopped in large pieces, the spices and cover with water. Bring to boil and then turn the flame to the minimum heath and let it cook for 30-40 minutes. When ready, prepare the couscous and compose the plate, adding fresh mint to decorate. I took off the lemon zest and I chopped it to decorate.

Sunset quiche and resolutions

Mid-year resolution: I really should get better with food shooting. I have read that this is of key importance for the success of a food blog and I suspect this is one of the reasons why I only earned 1.87 euros so far. Ravioli shop still very far away.

This will probably add to the list of hopeless resolutions like: be kind with people early in the morning, drink 2 litres of water per day, buy less toys to my nephew because love can't be bought. But if I don't buy him toys, how can I persuade that little savage to kiss me and hug me?????

COURGETTES AND RICOTTA SALATA QUICHE

2 courgettes

1 leek

200 gr ricotta salata

5-6 sundried tomatoes

pasta brisè

2 eggs

1 glass of milk

oregano

pepper

Pan-fry the vegetables cut in slices in 3 teaspoons of oil EVO until tender. In the meanwhile, prepare the brisè dough. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin according to the tray shape and place it in the tray, leaving some dough for the stripes. Place the vegetables, the oregano, the grated cheese and chopped sundried tomatoes inside the dough. Beat the eggs with the milk and pour the mix over the vegetables, trying to cover the surface uniformly. Place the stripes and bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees. Hire a photographer to shoot a decent pic!

Thai take two - the veggie option AKA I hate mondays

Monday is the worst day not only when you need to wake up and go to work, but also when you work from home. In the last weeks I realised that what affects me is not the post-weekend lack of sleep, but the emptiness that is left in me after 48 hours of quality time with quality people. To prove this scientific theory of mine, yesterday I stayed in bed until 9 (ok, 9:30) and when I got up, I still hated the world. See?

BTW working from home sucks. I hate the lack of human interactions so much that I am seriously considering quitting science and open a ravioli shop (click on the ads! click on the ads!). I am grateful to the lady at the supermarket till when she asks me if I have the costumer card with me. In German. And I do not speak German, but nevermind: those might be the only words that a human being speak to me in hours!!!!

All this moaning just to say that yesterday I wanted to turn a bad day into something decent, so I treated myself with some coconut milk plus red curry paste (BTW, great excuse to go talk with the lady at the till). I did a vegetarian version of this, that was really heart-warming:

VEGETARIAN TOM YAM

1 lime

400 gr broccoli

1 sweet potato

spinach leaves

400 gr coconut milk

1 teaspoon red curry paste

150 gr shiitake mushrooms 

3 shallots

2 lemongrass 

3 spoons fish Thai sauce

1/2 chilli

vegetable stock (made with celery, onion and carrot)

sesame seeds and coriander to decorate

In a pot, I brought to boil the coconut milk and the vegetable stock, then added all the ingredients (mushrooms and spinach leaves at the end). Served with toasted sesame seeds and chopped coriander. Easy-peasy :)

Symphony in green

The season is officially started and our BBQ is working its ass off in the weekend. I might destroy years of fights for gender equality, but I want to say it: BBQ is a man's job ;)

I realised it when I followed my flatmate to buy one. I thought we were looking for a regular charcoal BBQ to bring over to the river in days of sunshine, along with a guitar and few beers, but HELL NO!! We got home with the rolls royce of all the BBQs: two grills, four fires, closing lid with thermostat, option to make cappuccino. I guess the point is that men in front of BBQ have their primordial instincts challenged, and they feel the moral need to purchase the largest fire available to take care of all the tribe ;)

Good point is that I can enjoy the sunshine and do a little work. This sunday I did only a tiny bit of pasta alla norma (only 700 grams for 10 people, I am almost ashamed to confess it....), that was really really good. The problem is that all my good recipes containing aubergines really need to be cooked with slowness :)

PASTA ALLA NORMA

for 10 people, a small portion each

5 aubergines

3 cans of crushed tomatoes

3 garlic cloves

basil

700 gr penne

ricotta salata

Cut the aubergines in small cubes and leave a couple of hours in a bowl with cold water and salt. Rinse and dry them, then deep-fry in a pan with oil EVO. Dry them and place in a colander with something heavy on top. Leave to rest overnight. 

In a large pot, fry the garlic with 2 spoons of oil EVO, then add the crushed tomato. After 20 minutes,   take the garlic off and add the aubergines. Cook for additional 10 minutes, turn the fire off and add the basil leaves. Cook the pasta al dente, add the sauce and grated ricotta salata on top. Enjoy!

No pictures, please.

The drawback of doing something so fancy for dinner is that inevitably you end up eating it cold ("let me just take a good picture... another one.... just the last one.... perfect! - wait, the very last one - ok, now one with the mobile for mum" and so on)

Ok I confess: I totally am into oriental cousine. The quest for less boring vegetables often pushes me towards the fridge with the soy sprouts, and then the teriyaki sauce has such a nice packaging.... - but, of course, the wine can only be italian: Falanghina in the background ;) 

The tuna as well has something italian (sicilian, for the sake of specificity) on it: breadcrumbs and pistachios, plus a balsamic vinegar reduction to decorate. Amazing for the eye, amazing (but cold - damn it!) for the palate. 

SICILIAN TUNA WITH ORIENTAL VEGETABLES

I placed one thick tuna slice in the freezer for about 1 hour and then I cut it in stripes. I "massaged" it with some oil EVO and then rolled it in mixed breadcrumbs and pistachios. In a hot pan with one teaspoon of oil EVO, I cooked the tuna stripes ~40 seconds for each of the four sides, and then sliced it. I served it with two spoons of balsamic vinegar and one teaspoon of honey, cooked for a couple of minutes in a pan. 

For the vegetable salad, I cut one red pepper, one broccolo and 100 gr shitake mushrooms in small pieces. I have pan-fried the vegetables in the wok for some ten minutes, with 2 spoons of sesame oil, two spoons of teriyaki sauce and some chilli pepper to season. At the very end, fire off, I add the sprouts and some toasted sesame seeds, stir and serve in the fancy plate. Enjoy!

Lasagne, aka the taste of my childhood

I warn you, this post has a high emotional content :)

If I were to recall the best taste my mouth ever tasted, no doubts: the lasagne made by my babysitter. Besides being an amazing cook, she is also an incredible woman that over the years has become a second mother for me. I basically grew up above her kitchen table (literally: above the table. I liked to lie on the wooden table, no chances of moving me to the bed), watching her cooking. I am sure my love for food started back then (I was 11 months old!)

She makes the best lasagne in the world, seriously. She doesn't follow the original recipe, so her lasagne are not made with the ragù (bolognese meat sauce) but totally vegetarian.

I am sure many people could be disappointed by this choice, but not me, I actually think that the vegetarian version is lighter, softer, as opposed to the stone brick consistence that generally the traditional one has :)

I have never tried to reproduce that taste until last week. I was feeling inspired & nostalgic of that creamy taste that melts inside the mouth, and I decided to give it a try. Well, we were 9 and we almost finished all the two big trays that I made (with substantial help from my housemate)

LASAGNE
(2 trays)

for the pasta:
5 eggs
500 gr flour
a pinch of salt

for the tomato sauce:
a lot of good tomatoes (if it's too much tomato sauce, keep it for tomorrow's pasta)
3 garlic cloves
4 spoons oil EVO
basil

for the besciamella:
50 gr butter
50 gr flour
1 l milk
nutmeg

to assemble:
mozzarella cut in thin slices
parmigiano

First, make the pasta dough by mixing the ingredients until solid and elastic, then leave in the fridge to rest. Peel the tomatoes (30 seconds in boiling water will make the job easier), chop them in pieces and cook them with the garlic and the oil EVO. When ready, add salt, pepper and basil leaves.
Make the besciamella: melt the butter in a large pot, turn the fire off, add the flour and mix. Turn the fire on, start adding the milk while stirring. When it is boiling, turn the fire off, add nutmeg and salt.
Make the pasta layers with a pasta machine and, when ready, boil them for one minute in water. Assemble the lasagna on the tray: one layer of pasta, tomato sauce, alternating mozzarella/besciamella and parmigiano on top. Repeat it until ~2 cm close to the border of the tray and make the last layer with only pasta, besciamella and parmigiano. Some oil EVO on top. Bake for 45 minuter at 200 degrees + 5 minutes grill. Enjoy!

Tom gnam!

On-the-spot recipe, written while my stomach is still processing it :)

Some time ago I wrote that cooking exotic food is not my cup of tea due to lack of background. Now, I still think my Tom Yam was only a pale westernized imitation of the real Thai soup, but truth is, I have only eaten Thai food in Europe, and compared to my standards it was f**** amaaaaaaaaziiiiiing !

"Knowledge comes at great costs": I pbly won't be able to eat this anymore after a trip to Thailand, but in the meanwhile..

TOM YAM

1 lime

Coriander

8 prawns + mixed fish (1 calamari, 1 pangasius fillet, 1 mullet fillet)

400 gr coconut milk

1 teaspoon red curry paste

200 gr shiitake mushrooms 

2 shallots

2 lemongrass 

3 spoons fish Thai sauce

1/2 chilli

I peeled the prawns and used the heads to make fish stock (~600 ml). I mixed the stock with the coconut milk, the red curry paste and the fish sauce. I added the shallots in thin slices, the lemongrass, the mushrooms chopped in small pieces and after 5 minutes, all the fish (with the prawns at the very end). 

I served with slices of lime and chopped coriander. Gnam!

PS: according to the world wide web, it should only be made with prawns, but they were too expensive and the desperate housewife in me decided to dilute them with less lavish fish ;)

...also, the stock should be chicken stock, but I am fish-etarian during business hours!

Raviolare con lentezza

My 31st bday was all about ravioli this year! I love filled pasta. It gives me so many possibilities, and also can be:
- prepared with the help of your guests to make it part of the social event
- prepared the day before, so that when your guests arrive you simply need to boil it for two minutes... which implies you can wear 12-cm-heels, sip a glass of wine, chat for a while, beg pardon to your guests and come back 2 minutes after with homemade ravioli, leaving the kitchen shining as it was before (clapping hands, lots of compliments, boyfriend proud in an ancestral kind of way)

I did both :) our neighbours, a super cool couple that makes living in grey Frankfurt a bit more tolerable, helped us during the preparation and then, the day of the party, we had 240 ravioli with three different fillings. Quite a ravioli night. For the followers of cucinareconlentezza (so far, officially, 1), my personal winners:

RAVIOLI WITH MUSHROOMS AND CHEESE FONDUE

For the pasta dough:

4 eggs
400 gr flour (half regular white and half semola)
1 pinch of salt

Place the eggs in the middle of the flour (and the salt) and mix until the dough becomes compact and elastic. Leave in the fridge to rest.

For the filling:

400 gr mixed mushrooms (champignons, shitake)
2 bags of dried porcini
oil EVO
garlic
parmesan
1 egg

Leave the porcini in warm water for 20 minutes to rehydrate. In the meantime, cook the mushrooms with 3 spoons of oil EVO and few garlic cloves. Add the porcini. When ready, take off the garlic and blend to get a coarse mushroom cream. Add parmesan and the egg.

Make the ravioli, cook them in water for 3-4 minutes and then serve with a cheese fondue (I used a Spanish cheese, parmigiano and milk) and crushed walnuts.

Rice, lime, Brasil, Frankfurt

This risotto was not one of the best things I have ever cooked (for that, wait next post...) but I can say it is one of the things in which I infused the biggest love while cooking :) (I keep correcting it and I am not sure it makes sense in english - anyway)

The occasion was my friend A visiting my new home in Frankfurt, the home I am sharing with the guy she connected me with a couple of years ago. I once said to her "that's not incredible? I mean, that now I am dating your friend" and she replied that it was absolutely normal: we are friend because we connect, she is friend with him because they connect, so there was indeed a good prior about our compatibility :) that sounds logic, but notwithstanding this touch of rationality, I still was incredibly excited about her seeing my new life. Oh yes because I have a new life (not quite a news, it happens on a regular basis since 5 years ago): I finally left my flat in Maastricht with the hearth full of joy. 

That flat was really nice, the city is incredibly pretty, but talking about connections I wasn't able to feel any of them to anything in the Netherlands whatsoever. Indeed I felt drowning in their perfection most of the time. When I left Maastricht it was snowing: the perfect city, clean, opulent, covered in a blanket of snow... not my cup of tea. Now I realise that out of the many places I have seen around the world, the ones that I loved the most were the dustiest, the most chaotic, the loudest (Lisbon, Rio, Tel Aviv). But anyway - the risotto. 

THE USUAL RISOTTO

1 kg prawns

1 lime

1 shallot

chilli pepper

320 gr riso carnaroli

basil

oil EVO (2 spoons+2 spoons+1 spoon)

1/2 glass white wine

I peeled the prawns and put the shells into a pot with oil EVO, fried some 5 minutes, covered with water and brought to boil to make a nice fish stock. In a large pan, I fried a sliced shallot and chilli pepper with oil EVO and added the rice. After a couple of minutes, I added the white wine and put the heath to its highest. when the wine was evaporated, I started adding the fish stock. In a small pan I pan-fried the prawns cut in pieces for no more than 1 minute. When the rice was almost ready, I added the prawns, lime zest and basil leaves. Salt to season. Serve to a friend you love with all your hearth!