Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This salad doesn't require much explanation: I have mixed salad leaves (lots of mizuna this year) and an variety of flowers. Did you know that you can eat impatient (busy lizzy) flowers too? They taste a bit like rocket, the best for me are the red ones, but the pink ones are so pretty! Mix and dress with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt.   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

One of my favourite kitchen smells is garlic and herbs sizzling in olive oil! Here I used fresh rosemary, sage and oregano, a couple of garlic cloves, and a few long Asian eggplants, cut into halves or quarters (depending on their size). When the eggplants were done I added the asparagus (which take less time) and sauté the lot for one more minute, then added more fresh herbs, a good pinch of salt, a heavy lid, and turned the heat off. If you leave the veggies like this for 5-10 minutes they will just 'finish' cooking in their own steam. I had herbs leftover, so I half-boiled some new potatoes, peeled them (sorry Kiwis, but I love to peel my potatoes, unless they are organic) and placed them on a baking try lined with baking paper. I added rosemary and sage, salt and olive oil. I baked the lot and the kitchen smelled lovely.   Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I love ricotta cheesecake, and it has less calories that regular cheesecake. This recipe is very simple and calls for many variations: here I used rum and raisins, but it is great with lemon zest, or vanilla, or candied citrus peels... Ingredients 1 sheet sweet butter pastry for the base 1 handful raisins (or sultana) 50 ml rum 3 eggs 3 tbsp sugar 500 g ricotta Line a square or rectangular baking tin with baking paper and the sweet butter pastry, pinching the pastry so that it lightly comes up to the borders (it doesn't need to come up all the way through, just about 2 or 3 cm.). Soak the raisins with the rum. Beat the eggs with the sugar until they are foamy and pale yellow, then add the ricotta and beat for one more minute. Fold in the raisins and rum and pour over the pastry. Place immediately in a preheated oven at 160°C for approximately 45 minutes, or until the borders look golden. Let the cake cool down for several hours before cutting.   Photos and recipes...