Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is one of those creations that happened while using up leftover puff pastry and a bit of peperonata I had in the pot. The resulting dish was so pretty and delicious that I decided to share it: Capsicum pastry rolls You must use some cooked capsicums (bell peppers) for this recipes, and I had some  peperonata  ready: Peperonata 2 yellow capsicums 2 red capsicums 1 green capsicum 1 garlic clove half carrot 1 small celery stalk 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more to drizzle at the end) A little water salt to taste (if the capers are not too salty) chopped Italian parsley and fresh basil leaves, plus a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to finish Wash and cut the capsicums into thin strips. Peel the garlic and cut into two. Wash and chop the carrot and celery into small pieces. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the vegetables, then add the a little water and salt. Cover and simmer on the lowest setting for 45 minutes to...

Red capsicums are so nice fried in olive oil, and then sprinkled with a little salt… this time I tried a different pairing though: sage! And it works really well. Of course I really like fried sage, so I guess that that help. (In the background I have some fried eggplants for the parmigiana, but you all know how to make that right?) :-) Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Ingredients: 2 blocks of tofu, frozen for one day and then defrosted 3 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion 1 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp hot paprika (or to taste) 2 carrots 4 large potatoes 1 green capsicum (bell pepper) 1 red capsicum (bell pepper) 2l l vegetable broth Salt to taste If you freeze the tofu and then defrost it it becomes porous and easy to cook in stew without breaking up. Also it will absorb flavors really well! Once the tofu is defrosted cut it in big cubes. Chop the onion and sauté with the olive oil. When the onion is translucent add the paprika, the sweet paprika will give flavour, and the hot one… heat, so use this according to taste. Then add the tofu cubes and stir well. Add the vegetables and the hot vegetable broth. Simmer until the carrots and potatoes are ready, but before the potatoes start to break up. Goulash is more like a soup than a stew. If you prefer a thicker stew just cook it for longer, stirring often and breaking up the po...

You can see them in the deli department of all the supermarkets, little red peppers stuffed with feta, and they are not cheap! But mostly, if you have a big party they go too quickly! But for a fraction of the deli price you can buy a couple of jars of sweet pickled peppers and a block of creamy feta, and then you just need a few herbs from the garden, and a little milk to thin down the feta. And a bit of patience! Cut the feta (goat or cow) and place in a bowl, then with a fork start to mix it, adding some milk until you have a paste as thick as Greek yogurt. If you cannot find feta cheese, or for a milder flavor, use cream cheese. Chop some herbs like basil, dill, chives and/or parsley (or what you have fresh in the garden). You can use just one herb or a mixture of herbs. Or you can use an already flavoured feta, or dried spices like black pepper and cumin seeds (a combo that I particularly like with cream cheese).  Mix the herbs with the feta mixture. In th...

I really like the  mochi cakes , the Japanese glutinous rice blocks that are traditionally found in the traditional New Year soup ( zoni ). Mochi is usually grilled before going into the soup, but I don't have a grill for it, and tend to just boil it into it for a little. I love it. My family less so. And they don't like the idea of mochi in any our miso soups. So I tried to pan-fry it, thinking that they like everything fried, and guess what? Fried mochi is a new favourite! Now I add a block of pan-fried mochi in almost every Japanese meal I make (that is, while my mochi stock last: it is not so easy to find it in New Zealand!).  In my (short) experience one of the best ways is to pan-fry mochi is with something that will also give it a bit of flavour, like capsicums. These are the little capsicums from my garden, small but tasty! Heat the oil in the frying pan, add slices of capsicum and mochi, turn everything a few times (I like to turn the mochi blocks on all six side...

Ingredients 2 yellow capsicums (Bell peppers) 2 orange capsicums (Bell peppers) 1 red capsicum (Bell pepper) 1 garlic clove half carrot 1 small celery stalk 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more to drizzle at the end) 1 tbsp tomato puree A little water 1-2 tbsp capers salt to taste (if the capers are not too salty) chopped Italian parsley to finish Wash and cut the capsicums into thin strips. Peel the garlic and cut into two. Wash and chop the carrot and celery into small pieces. Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the vegetables, then add the tomato paste, a little water, the capers (rinsed) and a little salt (unless the capers are already too salty). Cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time, and adding more water if necessary. Adjust with salt at the end, if necessary, and finish with some freshly chopped parsley and another drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve hot or cold, with some nice crusty bread ...

Or with capsicums... In the last month I had a larger number of visitors form the US for all of my blogs, and I was asking myself if I am using the right English names for them. There is one person who keeps 'correcting' me ("we call them this and we call them that") so for once (once!) I changed the title! On the other hand... maybe I could call this recipe  Paprika Tofu ! :-) I chopped two stalks of celery, one small onion, and sliced a carrot. I put everything in a large pot with olive oil and sautéed for 5 minutes. I added one yellow, one orange and one red bell peppers/capsicums/paprika and then after 5 minutes I added one can of Mutti tomato pulp (like a thick  passata ), one cup of vegetable stock and one block of tofu cut into cubes. I simmered the lot for 30 minutes, then I added salt and smoked paprika to taste (quite a bit of smoked paprika actually, I love it!). I simmered everything again until the sauce was quite thick, and then I added...