Serves 4

Ready in 10 mins

8 thin slices of lean beef (carpaccio)

8 slices of cheese (such as edamer or gouda)

100 ml sweet soy sauce (ready or prepared as indicated below*)

8 skewers

1 tbs vegetable oil

*To prepare the sweet soy sauce, in a small casserole bring to a boil (and let simmer 10 miniutes) the following ingredients: 200 ml soy sauce, 50 ml water and 100 gr white sugar

Let cool before use.

Cut the slices of cheese into smaller strips, roll each slice of cheese into a slice of meat as shown in pictures (and on a skewer). Make sure the cheese in well wrapped.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan. Dip each skewer into the sweet soy sauce and fry them, both sides, for a couple of minutes or until the cheese is starting to melt.

Serve with sweet soy sauce.

Serve 4

Ready in 15 mins

300 gr pineapple diced (fresh or canned, the latter not in syrup)

450 gr shrimps shelled and cleaned

3 tbsp vegetable oil

5 ripe tbsp yellow curry paste (recipe here) – home-made or ready from international foodstores

500 ml cocount milk (you can add up to 800 ml if you wish more sauce)

3 tbs fish sauce

20 grams fresh basil leaves

7/8 kaffir lime leaves

half lime

salt

Heat the oil in a casserole. Add the yello curry paste and fry for 4/5 minutes stirring continuously.

Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes (the sauce has to thicken).

Add the pineapple and the shrimps. Cook for 4 minutes.

Add the basil and kaffir leaves and cook for further 2 minutes. Season with salt if necessary.

Retain from fire and add the juice of half lime. Stir well and serve with steamed rice.

for 6 sandwiches

ready in 4h

1 kilo boneless pork shoulder

3 tbs bbq dirt (BBQ Dirt recipe)

1 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs ground pepper

1 tsp salt

1 onion in quarters or 4 full spring onions

half glass of water

half glass of white vinegar (wine/apples or rice at your pleasure)

6 buns (or tortillas)

Clean the meat and cut the skin (but leave the fat).

In a small container mix the dirt with sugar, salt, pepper and garlic, mix well and coat the meat throughoutly.

Ricoprire la carne con questo composto, porre in una casseruola e unire tutti gli altri ingredienti (escluso il pane ovviamente).

Put in a casserole with the oil and add the water and vinegar. Bring to a boil on high heat and then let simmer at very low heat, covered for 3 hours circa, or until the meat is tender and soft.

Let cool. Extract the meat and retain the juices. Shred the meat with a fork (or your hands). Add the juices.

Heat the buns (or tortillas) in hot oven or toast it in a hot pan, fill them with the shredded meat and add any other ingredient of your choice: cheese, tomatoes, salad or bbq sauce (or all of them).

Welcome to a wonderful trip to the South of China. The first time I tried this soup I was in Hong Kong, then I was told is a very rare recipe, cause it requires hours and hours (and nowadays is found in reastaurant, rarely into homes).

We akll know from our grandmothers that the best stock is the one boiled for at least 3 hours. Can you imagine what can happen to a stock, boiled twice for 3 hours in total?

Magic for your palate and, also for your eyes.

4 young coconuts

600 ml  chicken stock*

4 tsp goji berries

1 – 2cm stick fresh ginger

4 small bunches of shitake mushrooms (or 4 pleurotis mushrooms)

* Chicken stock

2 chicken tights cu tinto 2 cm pieces

1 liter water

1 onion

(if you like: half carrot and half celery stalk)

1 tbs salt

* To prepare the stock, put everything into a pot and bring to a boil. Leti t simmer for 3 hours at very low heat. Set aside.

Cut the coconuts at three quarters of their height (help yourself with a strong knife), pour the coconut water into a container and keep the top parts (you wil use it as lids).

In each emptied coconut, put the 1 bunch of shitake mushrooms (or 1 pleurotis mushroom) , one tsp of goji berries, 2 pieces of chicken. Add the coconut water (to reach half of the coconut and pour in the chicken stock up to 1 cm from the edges of the coconut. Close the coconut with their original tops.

Put them in a casserole big enough to fit them (or put them into 2 separate casseroles). Put water into the casserole 4 centimeters of water. On high heat bring to a boil, cover the casserole(s) with a lid and lower the heat to minimum. Simmer and cook covered for 3 hours (check every now and then that the water does not evaporate fully – in case add some).

Retain from fire, take the coconuts gently out of the water and let sit for 20 minutes before serving directly at the table. The soup must be eaten directly from the coconut.

Per 4 persone

Pronti in 40 minuti

8 capesante (2 capesante per persona o una se lo servite come antipasto)

500 gr di topinambur

300 gr di patate

10 gr di aneto tritato

30 gr di burro

Sale e pepe nero macinato

Olio EVO

Pepe bianco macinato

8 scallops (2 per serving or 1 if served as an appetizer)

500 grams Jerusalem artichokes

300 gr potatoes

10 grams dill

30 grams butter

salt

ground black pepper

ground white pepper

Boil separately potatoes and the jerusalem artichokes. Peel them and mash them with a potato masher. Set aside.

Clean the scallops and retain the red coral. Wash the sacllops under running water and pat the dry woth a cloth or kitchen paper. Set aside.

In a casserole, heat the butter wtih a pinch of black pepper, add the potato and jerusalem artichokes puree and mix well at high heat until the exceeding water evaporates. Season with salt and set aside.

Chop finely the red coral, put it in a heat-resistant container, add 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, and put the container into a casserole with soft-boiling water. Mix the red coral until it starts to become hard. Set aside and stir every now and then until you serve it.

Heat 2 tbs of oil in a pan. At high heat, reach the smoke point (when you see the oil starting to create a burning smoke), add the scallops (side up down). Keep high heat and let it fry for 1 or 2 minutes maximum per side. Season with salt and retain from fire.

Put a ripe tbs of puree in the center of a plate, top with the scallops and top the scallops with a teaspoon of its caviar. Season with a little olive oil and a pinch of white pepper. Serve.

This is my Proust’s Madeleine. It reminds me of my first holidays by myself in Spain. Almost everyday I was nuying them at the supermarket and it was my official meal. Many variations in the marinade (chilli pepper only and /or with other spices), the pinchos are meat skewers that need to be grilled on a charcoal bbq to taste them at their best. Simply wow!

Serves 4

Ready in 10 minutes + time for the marinade

700 grams meat (chicken, beef, Pork, lamb at your choice) diced

1 medium sized onion

half lemon – squeezed

2 garlic cloves finely minced

2 tbs chilli pepper flakes

2 tbs ground cumin

half tsp ground black pepper

1 pinch of saffron

the tip of a tsp on ground cinnamon

half tsp salt

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

optional: 1 tbs fresh cilantro finely chopped

Heat the saffron on a tablespoon heated directly on the fire, until it gets toasted – it should take a few seconds. This step intensifies the taste of saffron (not necessary but nice to do, after all details make a difference!)

Mince (or better grate) the onion and the garlic, put in a container and mix all the ingredients (excluding the meat), or use a mortar and a pestle to have a very smooth sauce.

NOTA: it would be ideal to use a pestle to do this operation.

When the sauce is smooth, add the meat, mix well and put in a plastic bag. Refrigerate 24h or keep at room temperature 4h.

Put the meat onto the skewers and bbq them 2 or 3 minutes per side. The bbq should be open fire and very hot (so the outside gets flamed and the inside is still juicy).

American turkey. Thanksgiving, Christmas, NYE, any day is a good excuse to have a juicy and tasty roast turkey. I tasted it a couple of times in the States and I was always impressed by the incredible taste that Americans can give to the simple boring turkey meat. Anytime I went to the States, as I usually do, I have asked the recipe, the tricks, the way you should cut it, etc. And I have put all suggestions I received together in this recipe. On Thanksgiving usually the turkey can be stuffed with a chestnuts and bread mixture but I prefer this super-juicy and simple version with no stuffing at all. Voice to the meat!

You will need a big roasting pan with a roasting rack into it and  a meat thermometer

Here we go.

Time: 24H to 36H in brine; 3H cooking time

Serves 10

Brine

1 6,5 kilos tureky

1 bunch of rosemary

1 bunch thyme

250 grams salt

150 grams sugar

3 lemons cut in quarters and squeezed

1 tbs pepper grains

2 bay leaves

3-4 liters cold water

1 bunch rosemary

1 bunch thyme

1 garlic head (cut horizontally)

2 onions

5 carrots

4 celery stalks

1 tsp salt

half glass peanuts oil

200 grams of clarified butter

2 tbs maple syrup

salt

water as needed

In a small casserole put half liter of water, and all the ingrdients for the brine. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. Bring back to room-temperature.

Put it into a container or a pot big enough to contain the turkey, add the water. Mix well and lower the turkey into the brine – make sure the turkey is fully covered (in case add some extra water).

After 24 to 36 hours, take the turkey out, discard the brine. And drain it completely. Set aside for 30 minutes and then dry it with a clean cloth.

Meanwhile cut the vegetable into chunks (2 cm each), mix them well with the oil and put them into the roasting pan, cover with the roasting rack (the vegetables should not touch the turkey). Retain 1 handful of vegetables (you will need them to stuff the cavity of the turkey).

Pre-heat oven to 180° C (fan off).

Stuff the turkey with the bunch of vegetables you kept aside, the salt the garlic head (cut horizontally), the rosemary and thyme.

Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. And tie the wings as well as close as possible to the back of the bird. Put it on the rack – breast up.

In a small casserole, heat the butter and the maple syrup until all is dissolved. Brush the turkey all over with the butter+maple syrup mixture and place into the oven. After 20 minutes, pour one cm of water into the bottom of the pan and brush the turkey once again with the butter.

Brush the turkey every 20/25 minutes.

Cook for 2H15 minutes – if it gets too dark, cover with aluminium foil. Turn the pan every now and then to cook evenly. After 2H15 ninutes, keep the temperature and turn the function to ventilated (this will make the skin crispier), brush the butter and sprinkle generously with salt. Again, make sure you turn the pan to cook evenly. Cook for furthern 20 minutes. With a thermometer, check the inside temperature – if it is 75° C, the turkey is done. You should insert the termometer in the area between the breat and the thigh.

In 2H45 minutes, the turkey is done. (the timing is based on a 6,5 kilos turkey – different size of turkey would mean different timing. Either way the inside temperature at 75° C means done and still juicy).

Take out from oven and let it rest for 30 minutes before serving, Meanwhile transfer into a casserole the vegetables and the liquids at the bottom of the pan.

Add 2 cups of water – season with salti f necessary. Add a tablespoon of butter mixed with a tablespoon of flour. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 2/3 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.

Carving a turkey is a religion. J

First you cut the full legs separating the thigh and the drumstick. The thigh then need to be deboned and sliced up (1,5 cm thick).

The breast can be sliced directly (but in this case someone will get the biggest portion of crispy skin!). First you cut down the half along the breast bone then slice horizontally or take the half breast off the bones (cut all the way down starting from the central breast bone) and slice it on a cutting board – the slices will be smaller and easier to serve. Last you carve the wings.

Serve with salt or the sauce above.

The first time I had Pannekoeken I was 18 and was on a ‘leisure’ trip to Asmterdam (yeah, of course!). I had them on the beach in Zandvoort on the Atlantic coast. At that time I was still thinking I would be a chef.  J

Thicker than a French crepe but thinner than a pancake they are a balance compromise. The thing that impressed me the most was that they are served mostly for lunch or dinner (not for brakfast) and very often associated with bacon and cheese (even though syrup and chocolate are also possible).

Serves 6/7

Ready in 45 minutes

250 grams all purpose flour

500 ml milk

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

200 grams speck, bacon or whatever cured meat you prefer

150 grams sliced cheese (Cheddar or Gouda)

(the base is the same both for sweet and salted versions)

Sieve the flour and put i tinto a container, add the egg, a pinch of salt, and whisk adding gradually the milk. You will have a semi-dens batter. Set aside and rest for 20 minutes at least (ideally for 1 hour).

On medium-high heat, melt a teaspoon of butter into a low pan, add a spoonful of batter and spread it evenly on the whole surface by moving the pan.

Add the slices of ham or bacon on the batter when it is still liquid. Cook on a side for one minute, then flip it and cook the ham side for 1 further minute.

Flip it back again, add the sliced cheese and let it melt down on a medium-low heat for a further minute or until brown. Close the pancake (roll it or just fold it).

Serve immediately.

Cooking fish is amongst the most beautiful things: few minutes to cook and few simple steps to follow to compose a restaurant-like plate, home. Pairing fish and vegetables in the same plate (a north European habit), works perfectly with mediterranean ingredients too.

This combination mixes a mediterranean inspired gratin with eggplants thai style. The two world work very well together also because they share ingredients familiar to both food traditions.

The decoration in the picture is made with a soy sauce and sugar reduction (you can find it ready to go in supermarkets).

Serves 4

Ready in 30 mins

4 fillets of monkfish 250 grams each (circa 2 cm thick)

50 grams of breadcrumbs

100 grams panko Japanese breadcrumbs (if unavailable 150 grams of plain breadcrumbs)

grated zest of 1 lemon

juice of half lemon

1 garlic clove minced

2 tbs capers minced

20 grams minced parsley

water (as needed)

salt and pepper

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

Eggplants Recipe here: Eggplants Thai-Style

Pre-heat oven to 250°C-

Place the fish onto a dripping pan, coated with parchement paper and lightly oiled with a few drops of olive oil.

In a container mix well all ingredients above unitil you reach a moist yet crumbly mixture (add water if necessary). Season with salt.

Top each slice of fish with the mixture above making sure it sticks to the fish (careful not to press too much though, otherwis you will loose the crunchyness).

Cook 15/16 minutes in hot oven. Take out from oven and let it rest for 2 minutes before putting i tinto the plate (the wait is important to avoid release of unaesthetic watery juices into the plate. When the fish cools down the water will be kept inside and not released anymore).

Put the eggplants into the plate and posiotion the fish on top of the eggplants. Serve.

Vietnamese specialty, the Goi Cuon are spring rolls filled with shrimps, noodles and vegetables, prepared directly at the table with edible rice paper.

The rice paper, once kept for a few seconds in cold water, softens and becomes a transparent and elastic film. The rice film has to be put onto the plate and filled freely with all the ingredients available.

Once filled, it has to be close and rolled up. First by folding the lowest side of it until you cover half of the filling, then folding the two side and finally rolling it up on itself.

The filling will be trapped inside but visible from outside.

The Goi Cuon must be eaten with hands and dipped into one of the two sauces below. In Vietnam they prepare in advance and serve as they are, I prefer to give the chance to guests to make their own directly at the table. Entertaining is key.

A wonder for the eyes and the palate.

Serves 4

Ready in 45 minutes

Peanut Sauce

200 grams penauts butter

100 grams water

juice of 1 lime

5 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp chilli pepper paste

half tsp minced garlic

Whisk the peanut butter with the water and the lime juice until you have a smooth and liquid sauce (add water if necessary). Add the remaining ingredients and set aside for one hour before serving.

Spicy Lime Sauce

Juice of 3 limes

Half glass of fish sauce

3 minced garlic cloves

3 minced shallots (or small onions)

one third of glass of sugar syrup

1 hot chilli pepper finely sliced

In a container mix all ingredients above and set aside for 1 hour before serving.

For the spring rolls

20/25 edible rice paper

2 carrots (julienne cut / small sticks)

1 cucumber (julienne cut / small sticks)

16/20 cooked tropical shrimps

1 hot chilli pepper finely sliced

20 grams clean and fresh leaves of cilantro

20 grams clean and fresh leaves of mint

20 grams clean and fresh leaves of basil

1 small red bell pepper in sticks

100 grams of rice or glass noodles

(cooked, washed under running cold water and well drained)

half small lettuce in slices

50 grams soy sprouts

Other fresh vegetables at your choice

Bring all fresh and clean vegetables, shrimps and noodles directly at the table in a big tray or on a big cutting board. Each guest will need a flat plate to fill in the rice paper, a bowl to drench the rice paper sheets, and 2 small bowls each guest with the two sauces. The filling is according to taste, no limits to creativity, is to be eaten with hands dipped into one of the two sauces.