Rome – Food, Coffee, Gelato & Culture

April 17, 2013 By sujatha 5 Comments

We spent the last week in Italy. Driving through the still snow covered Alps we left a temperature of -2 in France and drove to Rome looking for some sunshine and with expectations of a good time. The journey included a 2-night stop at Corvara (a region near the tourist hotspot of Cinque Terre in Liguria) and this time, we were accompanied by our in-laws.

Peter’s mom and stepdad are absolute lovers of art and culture and Rome has been at the top of their must-visit destinations. They’ve always wanted to visit Rome together with Peter mainly because it would then not just be a family trip but one with a free tour guide in tow (Peter lived and worked as a tour guide in Rome a long many years ago). The foodie in me has always wanted to travel to Italy to enjoy authentic Italian food first hand. And thus, we made a lovely combination – me looking for great spots to have some good food, Miep and Rien (the parents) researching what sights they wanted to visit and Peter at the head, prioritising our choices and steering us clear of tourist traps of which there are many.

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Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Roasted Tomatoes & Cheese

April 5, 2013 By sujatha 3 Comments

Sometimes you get the urge to not follow a recipe and create a dish as you go along. One of these last evenings, I had the very same urge and decided on a supper dish based on what I saw in the supermarket. I did not want anything fancy and so, a pack of chicken breasts, some spinach and mushrooms along with some lovely taleggio cheese found its way into our shopping basket.

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Suikerbrood – Dutch Sugar Bread

March 30, 2013 By sujatha 1 Comment

This is my first serious kitchen project in more than 2 months. We spent the last couple of months travelling through Asia and while it was a memorable trip, I’m glad to be back in the kitchen among the pots and pans.

Suikerbrood is a sticky sweet loaf of bread that’s traditionally eaten during Easter in Holland. I’ve never had an authentic Dutch one but since we’re in a cosy little corner in France with Peter’s parents nearby, it seemed like the perfect setting to bake a loaf of this sugary bread.

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Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

January 13, 2013 By sujatha 1 Comment

I’m a big fan of slowly braised meats. We’ve always loved a slow roasted leg of lamb and have made it on numerous occasions. We’ve also always wanted to try out slow roasting other cuts of meat such as a pork shoulder but the limited availability of these cuts made it an impossible task.

Recently when we were in a supermarket, Peter chanced upon a whole pork shoulder sitting on the counter. After much debate, mainly because it was just after Christmas and everybody had their fill of roasts and comfort foods, and the not so daunting fact (!) that it weighed a whopping 6 kilos, we decided to go for it.

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Sablés – French Butter Cookies

December 21, 2012 By sujatha 1 Comment

Exactly a week ago, we had a brand new stove with a brand new oven installed in our kitchen. Our existing one was quite old and its gas oven had broken down causing me much grief. I was ecstatic when we got the new one especially because it has an electric oven which is the kind I’m used to and I find it less temperamental than a gas oven. It’s not a fancy cooking range, just a simple four burner stove at the affordable lower end of the price range. So for the last week I’ve been, almost fanatically, scouring websites and magazines, looking for baking, roasting, stewing recipes especially with the holiday season in mind.