Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

The original recipe is  here , and I have to say that I make it often because it is one of my favourite potato creations. A curious fact: when I published this recipe the first time I pointed out that it didn't have anything to do with Nigella Lawson, I that I called it nigella potatoes because of the nigella seeds. But funny enough after a few days I started receiving the Nigella Lawson newsletter in my inbox. I never signed up for it, so some web robot must have picked up my blog reference and details, and signed me in! Nigella must have a great PR team! Anyway, back to the potatoes: the recipe is the same but I cooked the potatoes differently because my husband presented me with a big tajine :-). Nigella Potatoes slow cooked in a tajine Ingredients: 500 g potatoes (Agria or similar ‘floury’ potatoes) 2 tbsp vegetable oil 2 garlic cloves, peeled 1 tsp nigella seeds Half tsp ground coriander Half tsp cumin powder 1 tsp turmeric Salt to taste Wate

The original recipe is  here , but this time I didn't roast the pumpkin because... I had time to cut it! (I don't like cutting pumpkin...). Also I had some celery so I put that in too, plus one carrot and one onion. I added water and organic veggie stock ( Rapunzel ), and when the veggies were soft I blended them with an immersion blender.   At this point I usually add the coconut milk/cream, but I didn't have any, so I used this coconut powder my husband brought me from a trip to  Hainan  in China (the place is famous for coconut!). he was told to place the content of a sachet in a cup and add hot water to make a hot coconut drink. We did, and it is ok, basically it is just coconut... but I am not really used to drink hot coconut milk, so I added 4 sachets to the soup instead (we still have plenty more). I simmer everything for a bit longer and then added coriander and Vietnamese mint to flavour. I love this soup!! Photos and Recipes by Ale

This is too easy! I just used some  Fresh As   mandarin segments (they are freeze dried) and dipped them in melted dark chocolate (I used Whittaker's 72% Dark Ghana). That's all. Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Yes this is different! Just try it! But don't think that is something completely new! Where I come from in Italy they make a tart called Erbazzone Dolce, filled with spinach, ricotta, almond and flavored with an aniseed liqueur called Sassolino. Here in NZ it is difficult to find Sassolino so I use Sambuca. If you like the recipe for Erbazzone Dolce you can find it in  Sweet As , or it was recorded on Radio New Zealand (ages ago, when I was interviewed by Kim Hill on  Saturday Morning),  and the recipe is also on the Radio NZ website  here .  But the time instead of making Erbazzone Dolce I made a Spinach Frangipane: For the base: - 200g plain flour - 100g  butter, soft - 100g sugar - 1 egg  - tbsp sambuca Mix together and then spread (I couldn't be bothered rolling it, I spread it with fingers) into a 23 cm round baking tin  lined with baking paper.  The MT Challenge said that for the frangipane filling we had to use  this recipe  (in Ita

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This recipe is for the September 2012 edition of Sweet New Zealand .  If you are blogging in NZ, or you are a Kiwi blogging from overseas you are welcome to take part too! You can fine all the i nfo by clicking  here . When I was little in Italy there was a sachet to make strawberry pudding, and I used to fantasize about it. My mother always bought the chocolate one, and rarely the vanilla one, while I was dreaming of trying the strawberry because it was... pink! In the end Mum got it but we were all disappointed: it tasted quite artificial, and the pink colour too was ... too artificial. Since then I only made strawberry pudding with real strawberries. Well, until a week ago, that is. After the  plum powder  I tried the strawberry powder, the ingredient list is pretty short: it only says strawberry! This time I wasn't going to get that 'artificial' feeling! I made the pudding twice, the first tasted good...  but I used whole eggs and the yellow from the