Nasu-Miso (Fried Eggplants with Miso)

Since I frequent Japanese restaurants, I always loved the way they cooked the eggplants. What I didn't know was that their "nasu-miso" (fried eggplants with miso sauce) was so easy to prepare. The recipe that I've followed is this one (in Italian though). There is a similar one here (in English).

Buttermilk Mini Scones

For those of you who have taken the habit to make the american pancakes (here), and don't know what else to bake with leftover buttermilk, here is a good recipe. It's also fast and easy. What more do you want?

Feta and Spinach Triangles

They are soooooo good. The recipe itself is pretty simple. The trickiest part is that the dough is so thin it dries quickly and sometimes breaks. To avoid this inconvenience put a damp cloth on them. There are endless possibilities for the filling. My favorites are the ones filled with spinach and feta. It's also a good way to make kids eat spinach.

Almond Brown Butter Cake with Plums

A cake "crunchy on the outside, moist and tender inside" (Everyday Greens Cookbook). And it really is! It is also a good recipe to use your spare egg whites.

Spicy Parmesan Green Beans + Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

My CSA box was great last week: lots of wonderful green beans, chards, and kale, tiny fingerling potatoes, juicy pears..... To enjoy their freshness right away, I went for a large casserole recipe (this one adapted from Giada Laurentiis is pretty good). I also added some roasted fingerling potatoes.

Homemade Yogurt (without a yogurt maker) - Greek Style

Same recipe as the one I've already written about (here) + one step: after the yogurt is done, let it drip on a fine sieve for 2 hours or so in the fridge. The yogurt becomes firmer, creamier, and smoother. Greek Style. I've stolen this trick on this lovely blog (written both in English and Italian).

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi with Sage Butter

Finally a savory entree and not a dessert! Instead of being made of potatoes+egg+flour like the "regular" gnocchi, these "green" gnocchi are made of spinach+egg+ricotta+Parmesan. They can (should) be frozen. Be patient. The effort you spend doing the work is worth it. You will recover it later, when you will save time by having the gnocchi ready to eat out of the freezer.

Le Brioscine di Cristina

Cristina and Giuseppe came over this Sunday for lunch. It's a pleasure to invite them:  they always bring tons of delicious homemade food to share with us! That day in addition to 2 succulent "focaccie alla genovese" (one with cherry tomatoes and another with onions) and some "frittelle di fiori di zucchini" coming straight out of the Farmer's Market, they brought these "brioscine" filled with apricot jam. They were still warm and so good... It was such a big success that I've baked them today as an afterschool snack. Half of the pan disappeared in less than 5 minutes. I had to freeze the rest to make sure that there will be some leftovers for tomorrow's breakfast.

Chocolate and Nut Cake

This summer in Italy - Piemonte - I've eaten a cake made with nuts instead of flour. I really liked it. So when I saw the recipe of a chocolate and nut cake on the net (La Tartine Gourmande), I immediately wanted to try it. I must also say that the pictures from the blog were so inviting... Take a look.