All recipes

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torta capreseFlourless chocolate almond cake

Torta caprese was born on the island of Capri in the 1920s, the story goes, when a baker forgot to add flour to a chocolate almond cake and created a classic by accident. It is now the cake of the Amalfi Coast: dense, moist and fudgy in the middle, with a thin crackled crust and a dusting of icing sugar. Restaurants in Capri and Sorrento serve it with a spoonful of cream or lemon sorbet. It is naturally gluten free. Contains nuts. Chef's tip: take it out while the middle is still slightly soft; it firms up as it cools and stays moist for days.

65 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Asparagi alla milaneseAsparagus with fried egg

In Milan in April, when the first fat green asparagus come down from the farms of Lombardy, they are served "alla milanese": boiled until just tender, laid on a plate with melted butter and Parmigiano, and topped with a fried egg whose runny yolk becomes the sauce. It is a light lunch or a spring starter in old Milanese trattorie. Parmigiano is made with animal rennet; a vegetarian hard cheese works. For pregnant women, young children and older people, cook the yolk until firm. Chef's tip: tie the asparagus in a bundle and stand it upright in the pan so the thick stems boil while the tender tips steam.

20 min

Italian Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SikhyeSweet rice punch

Every Korean jjimjilbang (bathhouse) sells sikhye in little cans, and every grandmother makes a big pot of it before Seollal and Chuseok to sip after the heavy holiday meal, because it is believed to help digestion. Barley malt water and cooked rice are kept warm for several hours until enzymes turn the rice starch into sugar and the grains float up to the top, then the drink is boiled with ginger and chilled until icy. It is mild, lightly sweet and nutty, with soft rice grains to slurp. The usual mistake is letting it get too hot while it ferments: above about 65 °C the enzymes stop working and the grains never float. Contains barley (gluten). Chef's tip: use the rice cooker's 'keep warm' setting; it holds the perfect temperature on its own.

320 min

Korean Drinks

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Takuan (pickled daikon)

Each autumn in the farmhouses of Miyazaki and Kanagawa, whole daikon are strung up under the eaves to dry in the wind before being packed into barrels of rice bran, and the bright yellow, crunchy slices that come out weeks later sit beside almost every bowl of rice in Japan. Homemade takuan is milder and sweeter than shop-bought, with a gentle ferment and no artificial colour; persimmon peel and a little turmeric give the golden tone. The active work is about two hours, but the radish needs 5–10 days of drying and 3–4 weeks in the bran. The common mistake is underdrying: the daikon must bend into a U without snapping, or it will turn watery and soft. Chef's tip: keep the tub somewhere cool (below 15 °C) and press it with a heavy weight, so the brine rises over the radishes within a few days.

120 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Melanzane a funghettoFried aubergine with tomatoes

Neapolitans call this aubergine "a funghetto" because the small fried cubes look and taste a little like sautéed mushrooms. It is a summer side dish from Naples and the Amalfi Coast, made when aubergines are cheap and glossy: cubes fried until golden, then tossed with a quick sauce of cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. It is served warm or cold next to grilled meat or fish, or piled on bread. Chef's tip: salt the aubergine cubes and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes, then pat dry; they soak up less oil and fry crisp.

35 min

Italian Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torta della nonnaLemon custard pine nut tart

Torta della nonna, "grandmother's tart", is on the dessert menu of almost every trattoria in Florence and across Tuscany: a shortcrust case filled with thick lemon-scented custard, covered with a second layer of pastry and scattered with pine nuts and icing sugar. Despite the name it was probably invented by a Florentine restaurant cook in the 1900s, but it tastes of family Sunday lunches. Contains pine nuts. Chef's tip: let the custard cool completely before filling the tart; warm custard melts the butter in the pastry and makes the base soggy.

90 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fukujinzuke (seven-vegetable curry relish)

Named after the Seven Lucky Gods, fukujinzuke was first sold by a pickle shop in Tokyo's Ueno in the 1880s and soon became the crunchy red-brown relish spooned beside every plate of Japanese curry rice. Seven chopped vegetables, here daikon, aubergine, lotus root, cucumber, carrot, shiitake and ginger, are salted and pressed, then soaked in a hot sweet soy and mirin syrup. Mirin is a sweet rice wine; it is boiled in the syrup so the alcohol mostly cooks off, and you can swap it for extra sugar and water. The common mistake is skipping the squeezing: wet vegetables dilute the syrup and the relish turns soft. Chef's tip: pour the hot syrup over, drain it back into the pan, boil and pour again; doing this twice keeps the vegetables crisp but fully seasoned.

40 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sukju namulSeasoned bean sprouts

Sukju namul is the most delicate of Korea's sprout dishes, set out on every ancestral-rite table at Chuseok and on everyday trays in Seoul homes because it takes five minutes and costs very little. Mung bean sprouts are blanched for barely a minute, then dressed with salt, a little garlic and sesame oil, so they stay juicy and crunchy with a clean, nutty taste. It belongs in bibimbap too. The common mistake is overcooking: mung bean sprouts go limp and stringy within seconds of being done, so pull them while they still squeak. Chef's tip: plunge them straight into iced water after blanching and squeeze gently; they keep their snap for a whole day.

10 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Asazuke (overnight cucumber and cabbage pickle)Quick cucumber and cabbage pickle

Asazuke means shallow pickle, and it is the quick, fresh pickle that Japanese home cooks make the night before, tucked in a plastic bag in the fridge door and served with breakfast rice and miso soup. Cucumber and cabbage are rubbed with salt and pressed with kombu, a few slivers of chilli and yuzu or lemon peel, so they stay crunchy, juicy and only gently seasoned. It takes 15 minutes to make. The common mistake is not squeezing out the liquid before serving, which leaves the pickle watery and salty. Chef's tip: rub the salt in firmly with your hands for a full minute; bruising the vegetables a little is what lets them season through in a few hours.

15 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gyeran jjimSteamed egg

At Korean barbecue restaurants in Seoul and Busan, a bubbling stone pot of gyeran jjim arrives puffed high above the rim to soothe mouths burned by grilled meat and kimchi. At home it is a soft, savoury egg custard eaten with rice, especially by children. This vegetarian version uses kelp water instead of the usual salted shrimp or anchovy stock. The common mistake is keeping the heat high once the egg starts to set, which scorches the bottom and makes the top tough and full of holes. Chef's tip: stir constantly for the first minute as it heats, then cover with an upturned bowl over the lowest flame; trapped steam is what makes it rise like a soufflé.

17 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Scarcella puglieseEaster egg biscuit bread

In Bari, Foggia and the Salento, scarcelle are baked in the days before Easter, often by children with their grandmothers: a soft, lemony shortbread-like dough shaped into baskets, doves, hearts or dolls, each holding a whole egg in its shell held down by strips of dough, then iced and covered in sprinkles. They are given as gifts on Easter morning and to children as a sign of new life. Chef's tip: use raw eggs in their shells and wash them first; they cook in the oven while the biscuit bakes. They are decorative, so wash and dry them well.

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shokupan (Japanese milk bread)

Shokupan is the everyday sandwich loaf of Japan, sold by the half loaf at bakeries from Sapporo to Fukuoka and toasted in thick slabs for breakfast with butter and jam. Its feathery, pull-apart crumb comes from a cooked flour paste (yudane-style) that lets the dough hold more water, so the bread stays soft for days. You need a 900 g loaf tin and a few hours of mostly waiting. The usual mistake is slicing it while hot, which squashes the delicate crumb into gummy layers; let it cool fully. Chef's tip: roll each piece of dough into a tight spiral before it goes into the tin, which gives the tall, even rise and those stringy, tearable layers.

75 min

Japanese Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KuromameSweet black soybeans

No osechi box, the lacquered stack of cold dishes Japanese families share over the first three days of January, is complete without kuromame: plump black soybeans simmered so slowly in syrup that they stay whole, wrinkle-free and shining like jet. The word 'mame' also means hard work and good health, so eating them wishes for a diligent year. They are soft, sweet and gently savoury, with a deep bean flavour. The common mistake is letting the beans touch the air while cooking, which wrinkles their skins; keep them submerged under a drop-lid the whole time and top up with water. Chef's tip: soak the dry beans directly in the hot seasoned syrup overnight rather than in plain water, which seasons them from the inside and keeps the skins smooth.

250 min

Japanese Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Su-renkonPickled lotus root

Lotus root is full of holes you can see straight through, so in Japan it stands for a clear view of the year ahead, and these crunchy, snow-white slices of sweet-vinegared lotus are a fixture of osechi boxes on New Year's Day. Often cut into flower shapes, they taste bright and lightly sweet with a satisfying crispness. The common mistake is boiling the slices for too long: more than 2 minutes and they turn starchy instead of crunchy. Chef's tip: add a splash of vinegar to the boiling water as well as to the pickle, which keeps the lotus root brilliantly white.

20 min

Japanese Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Peperoni sott'acetoPickled sweet peppers

In Campania, Basilicata and Calabria, late summer means jars of red and yellow peppers in vinegar lined up in the larder. In winter they are fried with potatoes, chopped into Christmas insalata di rinforzo, or served with sausages. The thick, fleshy peppers stay crisp and turn tangy and sweet. Chef's tip: use thick-walled peppers and cut them into wide strips; thin peppers go soft in the vinegar.

25 min

Italian Chutneys & Dips

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Savoiardi

Savoiardi were created in the 1300s at the court of the House of Savoy in Piedmont, for a visit by the King of France. They are long, light finger biscuits of whipped eggs, sugar and flour, with a crisp sugary crust and a dry, spongy inside, made to be soaked: in coffee for tiramisù, in liqueur for zuppa inglese, or in milk for children's breakfast. Chef's tip: dust the piped fingers twice with icing sugar, 5 minutes apart; this forms the pearly crust that keeps them crisp outside.

37 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Umeboshi (salted dried ume plums)Salted pickled plums

In the ume orchards of Minabe, in Wakayama's old Kishu province, families salt the June harvest of ripe yellow ume in crocks and then spread them on bamboo mats under the hottest days of late July, the doyo-boshi, before the plums go back into their brine. The result is wrinkled, intensely salty-sour fruit, the classic filling for onigiri and the red sun in the middle of a lunchbox of rice. This is a once-a-year project spread over about two months; the active work is about two hours. Do not cut the salt: below about 15 % of the fruit's weight the plums go mouldy, which is the most common failure at home. Chef's tip: use only fully ripe, yellow, fragrant ume; hard green ones turn tough and bitter.

120 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gari (pickled sushi ginger)

Sushi counters from Tokyo's Tsukiji outer market to neighbourhood conveyor-belt bars set a heap of gari by every plate, a palate-cleanser eaten between pieces of fish. The best is made in early summer, when young ginger with thin, pink-tipped skin appears in Japanese and Asian greengrocers; its blush turns the pickle naturally pale pink in the vinegar, with no colouring. It takes 20 minutes and keeps for months. The usual mistake is slicing too thick: gari should be almost see-through, so use a mandoline or vegetable peeler. Chef's tip: blanch the slices for just 30 seconds; any longer and the ginger loses its crunch.

20 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SujeonggwaCinnamon persimmon punch

After a big Seollal feast in Seoul, sujeonggwa comes out ice-cold in small bowls, dark red-brown and fragrant with cinnamon and ginger, with a soft dried persimmon and a few pine nuts floating in each one. It is the punch of the New Year season, made a day or two ahead and kept on a cold balcony. The cinnamon and ginger are boiled separately and then combined, which keeps each flavour clean. The common mistake is boiling the cinnamon too long or too hard: it turns bitter and cloudy, so keep it to a gentle simmer. Contains pine nuts. Chef's tip: soak the dried persimmons in the cooled punch only a few hours before serving, so they soften without falling apart.

60 min

Korean Drinks

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tataki goboSesame burdock salad

In Kansai homes around Osaka and Kyoto, osechi always includes tataki gobo: burdock root boiled, then beaten with a rolling pin so it splits open, and dressed in a thick ground-sesame vinegar. The long, deep-rooted burdock stands for a family that is settled and lasting. The pounding gives rough, fibrous edges that soak up the nutty, tangy dressing, so each bite is earthy, sweet and sharp. The common mistake is overcooking the burdock until soft; it should still be pleasantly firm before you pound it. Chef's tip: dress the burdock while it is still warm, when the fibres open up and drink in the sesame vinegar.

25 min

Japanese Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cannoncini alla cremaCustard puff pastry horns

Every pastry shop in Turin and Piedmont has a tray of cannoncini: puff pastry wrapped around metal cones, baked until golden and flaky, then piped full of vanilla custard and dusted with icing sugar. Little ones are part of the "pasticcini mignon" bought on Sunday morning after church to take to lunch at the grandparents' house. You need cannoncino or cream-horn moulds. Chef's tip: fill them just before serving; custard softens the pastry within a few hours.

60 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gosari namulBraised bracken fern

Gosari namul is the earthy brown namul on every Korean holiday table, from Jeju, where families still pick young bracken on the island's hills in April, to Seoul, where it is bought dried for Seollal and Chuseok. Rehydrated fern stems are simmered soft, then stir-fried in perilla oil with soy and garlic until they are tender and meaty with a smoky, woodsy taste. It is also a core topping for bibimbap and yukgaejang. Always cook bracken thoroughly; never eat it raw. The common mistake is under-boiling the stems, which leaves them tough and slightly bitter. Chef's tip: after boiling, leave the stems soaking in fresh water for an hour, changing it once; it draws out the last bitterness and leaves a cleaner flavour.

105 min