Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This salad is really simple: I just chopped half red onion and marinated it for 30 minutes in white balsamic condiment of Modena (FYI, white balsamic vinegar of Modena doesn't exist, it can only be called 'condiment') and then I added one can of Italian butter beans and one can of Italian chickpeas (obviously drained and rinsed...), salt, extra virgin olive oil, and flowers from my garden: chive flowers, borage flowers and calendula petals. Easy but yummy! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

Puy lentil, red onion and herb soup Ingredients 300 g puy lentils 1 bay leaf 1 pinch of salt 1 red onion 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more for serving) 1 sprig sage 1 sprig rosemary 1.5 l vegetable stock 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley and chives Served with homemade onion ciabatta Rinse the Puy lentils and place in a pot with plenty of water and one bay leaf. Cook for about 25 minutes, then add one pinch of salt and stir. Drain, discard the bay leaf and rinse again. Chop the red onion and place in a capable pot with the oilve oil, sage and rosemary, and s auté for a few minutes, then add the lentils, followed by the vegetable stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes, and just before serving add the chopped parsley and chives and another drop of extra virgin olive oil. Photo and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I really really like the fried tofu parcels used to make oinari-san, I wouldn't know how to make them, a Japanese friend told me ages ago, but it seemed quite involved... maybe one day, but for the time being they can be bought in Japanese/Asian stores :-). This pack contained 16 tofu parcels.  The parcels are usually filled with sushi rice, but they can also be uses as "containers" (see the image on the packet) and I really liked this brand: not a single parcel broke when I was opening it! I decided to used them with rice and asparagus. The asparagus were simply steamed, and then I cut them and placed then in a bowl with the liquid of the tofu parcels (they are sealed in an sweetish sauce which I thought was a waste to discard). Wash the sushi rice (or Japanese rice) several times in cold water, until the water runs clear, and then cook it by absorption. The doses are about 1 and 3/4 (three quarters) cups of sushi rice for 2 cups of water...

And this is my first video entry for Sweet New Zealand , this month hosted by Emma of My Darling Lemon Thyme . 

Photo and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini  © Well, it isn't a tea as such, maybe just a hot drink? But very nice! Squeeze the juice of one orange into a cup, top with boiling water, add a teaspoon of honey (I used  beechwood honeydew ) and stir with  cinnamon quill.  Also I would like to take this chance to congratulate   J.Friend and Co  for winning the Cuisine Artisan Awards ! Bravi!

Today I want to let you know about  this initiative  (in Italian, but you can find something in English here ). If you have a blog and you would like to join in and have a tree planted for your blog, write a post  about it , use the logo and let the  Doveconviene.it  team know by sending them an email  here , and then they will plant a tree for your blog. I did this in June 2011 (you can find the post -in Italian-  here ), and so far they have planted 927 trees, but if they get to 1000 trees by the end of February  iPlantatree.org  will plant 100 more trees for them.

My daughter is making sugar roses. This was videoed by the Western Leader newspaper when they came over to our kitchen for an interview about our book, Party Food for Girls . I think that we need to make a better video where you can actually see the fingers 'working' and shaping the rose petals! And just the fingers (I wasn't even supposed to be in the video myself, I would have smiled more, if I knew!!); what do you think?