just pasta savoury delights

grey sky & tagliatelle gratin

Let’s start w/ the obvious! Today is one of these grey days – last week we had lots of them w/ lots of rain. Now it’s getting really cold. During the coming days it’ll be below zero day & night, however, almost no snow. (This – the lack of snow – may be horrible if you crave for a walk in crisp white snow surrounded by snow filled trees under a clear blue sky –…

Continue reading

sweet delights

orange cake w/ olive oil

It’s an olive oil cake w/ orange flavor – the basic recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipe defines cake for 2 rather small round cake pans – I used a larger springform. I made some rough calculation & decided that the area covered by 2 small cake pans or by a larger springform – like mine – was almost the same. So there were no changes necessary due to the dimension of…

Continue reading

sweet delights

chocolate cake & the importance of eating healthy

This is a chocolate cake. A simple chocolate loaf.(It’s a chocolate cake w/ chopped pistachios which are optional.) Is this a healthy cake? Maybe you’ve already made an educated guess … This isn’t a brand-new post – I published it about 4 years ago. Then I’d like to present a recipe for chocolate cake & some insights – my very own! – about healthy food in general & especially about posts featuring the It-word healthy.…

Continue reading

sweet delights

lemon cake & moving … & winter blues

This winter we had an especially grey & dull time (my private experience). The sky was so grey (most of the time), the days were grey & filled w/ rain (too often), it was cold & humid about 5° C (… & sometimes below zero) – and we had some snow (for about 3 days!). I felt winter blues … In addition … after living in the Mediterranean area for most of 2023 I missed…

Continue reading

sweet delights

it’s just bread & butter, milk & eggs

I came across this simple treat years ago when watching Jamie Oliver in one of his early TV shows: Panettone in a bread & butter pudding provides a flavorful basis loaded with raisins & candied lemons & candied oranges  – so you only need to add eggs & milk & … I started w/ a medium size panettone of about 500 g bought in my trusted food store. At first I thought about using the whole…

Continue reading

savoury delights

royal potatoes

Royal potatoes aka gratin dauphinois aka potatoes dauphinois aka potatoes au gratin aka a creamy potato bake … Lots of names for one of the most delicious side dishes ever known! Le Dauphin used to be the title of the heir to the French throne for centuries … while dauphinois is related to the French region Dauphiné where this side dish originates. Dauphin is French for dolphin – a dolphin is part of the coat…

Continue reading

savoury delights soups

lazy butternut stock

I had a fine butternut sitting on my kitchen desk for some days & decided to try an approach for a soup w/ lots of vegetables. I had some carrots, some frozen peas & some spring onions. What else? There was some bacon in my fridge & I thought it might be a fine add-on concerning the flavour. … & of course I had some of this dark green, intensive pumpkin seed oil for the…

Continue reading

sweet delights

clafoutis w/ morellos

It was beginning of autumn when I tried a clafoutis w/ cherries i. e. morello cherries. Of course there weren’t any more morello cherries in the market so I relied on a jar filled w/ already pitted morellos (only slightly sugared!). Morellos are great in a clafoutis, however, I think you may also work w/ plums or blueberries or raspberries … More coming soon – at least in my home. When looking for a recipe…

Continue reading

sweet delights

morning treats

I’m sure you figured out – in the meantime – that my better half & I spent some weeks in Mallorca. We had a great time & made lots of excursions … there is a lot to be posted. However, there were some baking adventures before we made our Mallorca stay. So … You remember: my better half & I had a splendid fortnight in the Netherlands, in Zandvoort. In the morning we sat at…

Continue reading

sweet delights

out of the moment spice cake

We are still approaching Xmas – the ultimate time of the year for baking! It happened that I suddenly on an afternoon thought about baking … some cake? So I checked my kitchen, the pantry, the fridge … Fortunately I’ve always got some supplies on flour, sugar, eggs & all the trimmings of baking like baking powder, vanilla extract etc. Aside from that …Some days ago I got a glass jar w/ mixed spice from…

Continue reading