Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is not a quick recipe, but require slow cooking, so if you are in a rush just look at the pictures :-). There are several vegan Bolognese sauces around, mostly using soy or fake mince, and some with lentils, but I wanted to try one with cabbage, which is not a veggie I particularly like myself, but it is highly nutritious. It came out better that I hoped! Ingredients Half a cabbage 1 large carrot 2 sticks of celery with leaves 1 large onion 1 garlic clove A few Italian parsley leaves 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 glass wine (white or red) 1-2 tbsp tomato puree 1 l vegetable stock salt and pepper to taste more extra virgin olive oil to serve With a food processor finely chop the vegetables, then put in a pan with the olive oil and sauté for a few minutes. Then add the wine and stir well. Add the tomato puree, cover and cook slowly, stirring from time to time and adding the vegetable stock little by little. Simmer for one to two hours, the m...

Bibimbap is a Koran dish based on rice, and possibly Korea's most famous 'comfort food'. Plain rice is topped with a variety of ingredients, then the diners add chili paste and mix it just before eating. There are many types of bibimbap, some quite complex, other just made with left-overs. This is a very simple one, made quickly after the boy came home for sailing, starving! I cooked some short grain rice, then added some spinach sautéed with sesame oil and a pinch of salt on the side. Topped with a fried egg and some nori seaweed (this nori has been cut to resemble cherry blossom). I usually add some grated cucumber but I didn't have any. To finish add chili paste or sauce to taste, mix and dig in! Quick, delicious and filling! Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

From  Party Food for Girls , eggs colored with natural vegetable dyes, recipe by Alessandra Zecchini (in the  April Dante Newsletter ), photo by Shaun Cato-Symonds Alessi-mania, a  serious talk  about eggs, and breadsticks  instead of soldiers Iced  animal biscuits  for Ester Bunnies?  Fondant and marzipan , or  sushi ? Natural: quail and chicken eggs are beautiful enough as they are, and for an interesting touch, eggs decorated by the children with  Italian prehistoric patterns Wow, a full Easter page without Chocolate! What do you think? Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I love the simplicity and clean taste of Japanese side vegetables, it doesn't matter what you use really, the secret is to cook (or better, blanch) the veggies separately so that they retain their own taste. Here I blanched the carrots and snap peas separately, but I kept the two broths and mixed them together as the base for a miso soup (never trow away anything!). I cleaned the mushrooms and cooked them in a pan with a little butter, then I added soy sauce and lemon juice. Then I used the same pan to sizzle some small cubes of mochi (rice cakes) on all sides (the centre becomes soft while the sides pick up the mushroom-soy sauce-lemon-butter flavor). Decoration: Onion weed flowers (edible!). Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

No raspberries this season, but you can make this pudding with freeze dried raspberry powder! I used  2  free range egg whites (no egg yolks or you will not get a pretty pink colour!), 3 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of flour  500 ml of milk, 20 g butter and 2 tbsp of  Fresh As  Raspberry powder. Stir the first 4 ingredients and then, once the custard is thick, add the following two, stirring well. Turn off the heat and pour into 4 glasses.  Refrigerate before serving.  Top with frozen raspberries if you like. . Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Here is a recipe from my book  Party Food for Girls , I haven't made it in a while, but I needed a sugar hit, and I just felt like baking... it happens! Vanilla Cupcakes Ingredients 120 g butter 3 eggs 130 g sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste 200 g self-rising flour 60 ml milk Italian butter icing for the topping (recipe on page…) Fresh or sugar flowers to decorate (optional) Makes 12 cupcakes Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups. Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the vanilla essence or paste. Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour followed by half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk and keep beating making sure that t...

Two types of puddings with one recipe (and using yolk and whites separately)! For this Lemon puddings I used  2  free range egg yolks, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of flour  500 ml of milk, 20 g butter and the juice of one organic lemon. Stir the first 4 ingredients and the, once then custard is thick, add the following two, stirring well. Turn off the heat and pour into 4 glasses. Refrigerate before serving. Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Tonight's dinner,  gnocco fritto  with the stracchino  Massimiliano (il Casaro)  made! First stracchino made in NZ, Max approves! Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Just cook the soba and top with the rest of the ingredients. To serve just add a drop of soy sauce. To make the nori tagliolini ... well look  here ! For the onion weed... just forage it, wash and cut (you can eat the flowers, stems and bulbs... the lot!). I bought the salted sakura (cherry blossoms)  here , I love them, a bit like salted capers really!   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©