What I’ve been making on repeat 🍳
Here's what I've been making in repeat lately - including a fantastic apple cake, airfryer roasted peppers, and quick pickled onions.
Enjoy, and happy cooking :)
Rosemary brown butter apple cake: this is my favourite easy apple cake recipe so far. It's fragrant and sticky and exciting. This is a one bowl cake that only requires mixing all your ingredients together before baking... except you'll have to brown the butter first. If you’re short on time, I recommend starting with that—by the time the butter has cooled a little, your oven will be hot and ready, and you can go straight into mixing and baking. One small note: if you’re in Italy, you won’t need to add extra baking powder. Our self-raising flour here is already strong enough on its own. Link to recipe.
Crispy sage fried eggs: These are everywhere on Instagram, and for a good reason: the milky quality of the sage complements the eggs so beautifully. Here's how I do it: fry a large handful of leaves in a generous layer of evo oil. When they're crispy remove and set aside. Crack the eggs into the hot pan, scatter the fried sage on top, then add a pinch of salt and a grating of good quality cheese (I use Grana Padano). Fry until frothing and crispy at the edges.
Air frier roasted peppers: Baby Francesca loves munching on glistening strips of roasted red peppers. To speed things up, I make them in our small Airfryer. First, preheat it to 160°C. While it warms, wash the peppers and massage them with good extra-virgin olive oil. Throw them in the basket and roast for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. If the peppers are especially thick, give them a few extra minutes. Then let them cool inside the Airfryer for 10 minutes - the skin will slip off like melted butter.
Tomato sauce pantry pasta: Always keep a stash of your favourite tomato salsa, and a few jars of brined capers and olives. They turn into an excellent low-effort dinner. And if you're a ricotta fan like me, just a sponful stirred in will transform a plain, summery red sauce into a thing of comfort.
Quick pickled sumac onions: this little gem comes from Tin Magic by Jessica Elliott Dennison. In Venice and the Veneto, we love our onions! And wine vinegar! And all things sweet-and-sour! The sumac really enhances the pickly vibe here, adding a much welcome layer of novelty with its lemony kick. And boy, does it deliver. You’ll need: 1 sliced onion, 1 tbsp very fresh, ruby red sumac, 2 tbsp white or red wine vinegar, and salt to taste. I use a cheap mandoline to slice my onions super fast. Then just mix everything together and leave to marinate for at least an hour.
Fennel seeds morning pastries w ready made puff: I'm increasingly reaching for intensely aromatic spices and herbs lately. They make the simplest things sing. You can keep your home cooking logistics straightforward, while kicking flavour up a notch with just a teaspoon or sprinkle of something. These fennel seed pastries embody this new style of cooking so well: roll out a sheet of ready-made puff pastry, divide it into eight squares (mine is round, so I cut it into slices instead), spoon in some zesty, fennelly frangipane, then roll them up with a final sprinkle of fennel seeds on top. The full recipe can is in Lazy Baking by Jessica Elliott Dennison.
Beans with leftovers: Around this time of year, I buy a large chest of fresh borlotti beans in their pods and proceed to shelling them with a nice glass of wine in front of me and something interesting on the telly. I freeze most of them to make my pasta e fasioi in the winter. But I also like to stew a big batch right away, with bay leaves and any other aromatics I have at hand (plus maybe a carrot, onion and some celery). They turn into my go-to quick mom lunch, paired with yesterday’s leftovers and, of course, a piece of good cheese.Tip: you can stew canned or jarred beans too (I often do). The jarred ones are slightly pricier, but the flavour is worth it.
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