Recent content by Dianne

When we moved to Italy, I brought my slo-cooker crockpot with me. I actually thought I'd never use it again, but, on the contrary. I use it all the time to make fresh home made stock, and it's great. You just put in all the ingredients required to make fresh stock, add water, and leave it...

Help! Will you send a recipe for American Bean Stew? Hi Kitchenelf They do good ham in Prague, and we've never been there, so next trip away.... :lol: :lol: ciao dianne

Help! Will you send a recipe for American Bean Stew? Hi folks! Thanks for the replies - lovely recipes, I can feel a beanfeast coming on! Kitchenelf, your Italian beans sound really nice, but the addition of sugar and cilantro are not Italian. What are navy beans? Here we use cannellini beans...

Help! Will you post a recipe for American Bean Stew? Norma You have me drooling at the mouth :lol: And I'm now also interested in the recipe for chili without beans. By the way, how do you usually cook black beans? I know very little about American cooking, and am very interested to learn...

Help - eggplant Just picked up your message - when cooking eggplant, or aubergine, as we call it over here, I always slice and salt it before cooking. This helps to remove the bitter flavour that would otherwise remain. Leave the salted slices for about half an hour, then squeeze dry, rinse...

Thanks for the posts - interesting replies. I was wondering myself if there was such a thing as American bean stew, and it appears not, but the recipes and ideas you've posted are all interesting. Here, they reckon you can cook American beans - I think they mean pinto beans - with red wine and...

Hi everybody! Can anyone send me a recipe for American bean stew? We are having a real debate over here as to what goes into it, and, anyway, now I quite like the idea of making one! Thanks ciao a tutti dianne

Since posting last time I have come across another recipe for 'frittata'. This is a handwritten recipe, passed on to me by a delightful peasant woman, about twenty years ago....I had quite forgotten about it, but tried it again today and it is still delicious: About 2 0z fresh breadcrumbs 3 - 4...

My first trip to Italy was in 1963, when I went on holiday to Rome and Venice with my parents. I had just started learning Italian, but, nevertheless was able to interpret successfully for my parents - the start of a lifetime's career. My 'side' career, though, has always been cookery, and both...

I know posting this recipe may seem banal, but there are so many myths about the preparation of this very simple, classic Roman dish. I first learned it years ago when I was living in Rome. Called 'carbonara' because one of the essential ingredients is the heavy speckling with freshly grated...

Basic Focaccia recipe: 1kg pizza flour 75gr fresh yeast half a glass of white wine half a glass of Ligurian extra virgin olive oil (light and fruity) Extra virgin olive oil salt Pile most of the flour onto a large board, make a well in the centre and put the yeast and. Work and knead into a...

Italian pan-fried bread - Friciula Hello Ironchef The difference between Friciula and Focaccia is that Friciula is thinner and fried, whereas Focaccia is baked in the oven. Focaccia should be about an inch thick, with indentations made by your finger. Then you pour olive oil over it before...

Hi there everyone, especially Oldcoot Here is the recipe for 'Friciula': It's so easy as to be hardly believable!!! First, make your pizza dough. I believe in sticking to the recipe that works best for me, so I'm not going to post a recipe for it. Bought fresh pizza dough also works, though...

Italian omelet Hi there Ironchef Re-reading my msg, I thought I was awful, didn't mean to be, didn't mean to type in upper case, so many apologies for my tone of communication :cry: I think the frittata you refer to is the version they make in restaurants and serve cold as a starter or as...

Italian omelet Sorry to pick you up on things Italian - Italian omelet IS CALLED frittata AND IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER OMELET :D :D Basic frittata: 1 - 2 eggs per person, beaten. Grated parmesan cheese i sufficient quantity to make the whole quantity of beaten egg lool like...