Panna cotta – my favourite Italian dessert

I have always loved panna cotta. Always loved, but also was afraid to cook, thinking it’s probably a lot of work and mess in the kitchen. How wrong I was… During my journey to Tuscany, one of the best trips I had, I was lucky to take a cooking class in the “In Tavola” school in Florence. Little I knew about the dishes I will learn before I came in, but wow – here it was – panna cotta with strawberry coulis! Spoiler – one of the easiest dishes to make!

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Hummus with musabbaha – Middle East on a plate

When people talk about Middle Eastern cuisine, one of the most popular dishes is hummus. It is mostly considered just a dip, made of chickpeas, but that’s such an underestimation! Hummus can be the entree, the main course – the sky is the limit, really! So this time, I am bringing you one of my most favorite way to serve hummus – with musabbaha topping. What’s that? Read on!

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No-dough ricotta cheesecake

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Hi mates,

Today’s recipe is for a dish I remember since I was about 4 years old. Something very similar was an all times favorite of all the school and kindergarden kitchens in ex-USSR – yeah, I happened to be born in Moldova, one of the republics. This is one of those things you are either crazy about, or consider it your worst culinary nightmare, and I admit, I belong to the former. Yesterday I got 2 kg of fresh ricotta from my local deli – the DeliHub in St Ives, NSW (big shoutout to these guys – there’s no week I am not there!), hence this old times relic was brought back to life by my wife and here we go!

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Quick’n’Easy marinated mushrooms – Russian classics

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It is quite an interesting fact that marinated mushrooms are most known as classic Russian dish, regardless of the fact many world kitchens make an extensive use of this wonderful ingredient. Marinated mushrooms – be it champignons or any other – were mostly considered either as pickles or, more popular, as the bite following a shot of an ice chilled vodka. So, as a tribute to this wonderful dish, here’s my version of it – quick, easy and very tasty!

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Grilled “pizza” mushrooms

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To the most of us grilling is directly associated with meat… Fish, in the best case. But hey, here’s one proud carnivore who loves grilling veggies! And I must admit, I have a confession to make – I love grilling veggies. Be it an eggplant, a capiscum or asparagus – flame charred they all taste much better. Mushrooms, however, are a story of its own. Just grilled they are more of a meaty texture, but you can really take it any way your imagination goes. So here’s what I called “pizza without a dough”, and  trust me, this does taste like a pizza with mushrooms.

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Easy “Philly” cheesecake

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When it comes to sweets and desserts, cheesecakes have special place in my top ten list. Yeah, I do love them, be it frozen, baked, New York style or anything else involving cheese. So this time here’s a recipe for a cheesecake which is super easy, but tasty as anything. It’s the Philadelphia cheese that makes it so different.

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Homemaid hotdog buns, or… I can bake!

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All right, I have a confession to make… I never ever baked anything with yeast. Always considered the yeast dough as too complex, requiring too much effort and, well, just not worth wasting time on. The other excuse was I was too lazy to knead and I had no stand mixer. But here I am, presenting my homemaid crazy soft and tasty hotdog buns, which, when shaped, can easily be made hamburger buns or simply soft bread rolls.

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