Pasta with Ham, Mascarpone and Green Peas

I myself am surprised I didn’t written this post earlier because this pasta dish has been a classic in our family for many years. It is so easy and quick to prepare yet so delicious! I have served it to our friends on some informal occasions but – probably more importantly – it is a hit with children. When my daughters were small and they had their friends over in our house, I could be almost sure that if I had cooked this meal, all...

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Meringue with Dark Chocolate Filling

As it was the case with my previous meringue recipes (with strawberries and raspberries), this one has also been inspired by a cake I had in a confectionary. I ate it for the first time many years ago but somehow for a very long time I didn’t even try to make it myself and only enjoyed it when I went there occasionally. The cake I enjoyed so much consisted of meringue with dried figs and dates, and dense, dark chocolate filling. When...

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Mussel Soup with Vegetables

Fresh mussels are not widely available in shops here so whenever I go shopping and see them at the counter, I straightaway buy them. As you may know from my earlier posts, I am still a rookie as far as mussel recipes are concerned because I have prepared them only in two ways so far: with white wine and pasta. Therefore when I bought them last time, I wanted to prepare them differently and cooking a soup with mussels seemed to be an...

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Fruity Chicken [Korma Style]

Although in my family we have always used a word korma to describe this dish, I have realized that curry specialists may not approve of this so I decided to investigate the subject further. From “Ultimate Curry Bible” by Madhur Jaffrey I learnt there are three variations of korma. In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh name korma suggests a rich dish cooked with loads of yogurt, expensive spices (nutmeg, cardamom or saffron) and nuts....

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Bolognese Sauce [ragu]

Spaghetti Bolognese is probably the most popular pasta dish and, as such, it has lots of variations as everybody cooks it their own way. For a long time that was the case also for me but everything changed when an Italian lady taught me how to make it the real, Italian way. And the most important tips I learnt from her are: you should use 3 times as many tomatoes as the amount of meat you are cooking your sauce with, 3 quarters of a...

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Spicy Parsnip Soup [vegetarian]

Parsnip is a much underrated vegetable. At least that was the case in our (Polish) family for a very long time. I can remember my mother using it in 2 dishes only: as one of the ingredients of stock and of Polish vegetable salad. Actually, it was my husband who introduced me and my side of the family to roasted parsnip and we all were surprised how delicious it tasted just by itself. Since then I have been more open minded and used...

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