Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is not a recipe really, more a nice way to eat mascarpone , which is another typical product of Lombardy, Italy. Mascarpone is mostly know overseas as an ingredient for tiramis ù, but it is so nice and creamy that I could just eat it by itself!!! Here I just spooned some mascarpone into glasses, then I added some raspberries and some chestnut honey (one of my favourite kinds of honey, organic, form Mielizia ). Quick and perfect! Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini© Piselli means peas in Italian, and fusilli is a type of pasta. I just like the sound Fusilli with Piselli , it rolls well!!! To make the sauce just chop a small onion and fry with a little olive oil. Add the peas and then a glass of white wine. When the wine has evaporated add some Italian tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Cook on low until the tomato sauce is thick (about 15 minutes) stirring often. Add to the pasta and serve. This is a complete meal, but add some parmesan cheese if you like.

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini© In the freezer I had some artichokes which I had cooked alla romana , with garlic and parsley (you can find the recipe, which appeared on Cuisine Magazine , by clicking here ). They needed to be used, so I defrost them, remove the outer leaves and scraped the flesh out with a knife (lots of work!) I set the flesh aside, collected the juices from the defrosted artichokes (they had made quite a bit of broth), and gently simmered the hearts again in their juices with some tofu cubes. The tofu soaked up the artichoke flavour nicely. Once all the water was absorbed I served the tofu ad artichokes hearts with some steamed carrots and boiled new potatoes, and the artichoke sauce made by heating up the artichoke flesh and adding a little olive oil.

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini© To make the sushi rice I usually follow this recipe , but this time I also added some Japanese dried herbs (the green is spinach and the purple is red shiso, or perilla) and toasted sesame seeds. On top of each rice ball (you need to have wet hands to shape the balls) I put a slice of avocado, soaked in lemon juice. Under some avocado slices I put a little bit of wasabi, and because this may be too hot for some palates, I added a thin strip of nori seaweed to recognize which pieces had the wasabi and which didn't. Avocado sushi is very filling, eat with a drop of Japanese soy sauce.