Baking and raw meat

We're a bit behind in the posting game here, but I really wanted to post these three things before the next round of great stuff still to hit TGL. First, for Andri's farewell dinner, Laura cooked a meat-theme meal, the starter of which was this carpaccio. Elia and me (and I think the rest) agreed that it was almost perfect (except perhaps for a millilitre of too much lemon juice). We had it with the focaccia here as well.

Later that week, I rediscovered baking in tins, which is actually a great thing, although for many years I didn't do it. At this point, I still had some fresh yeast and I used a left-over of yogurt, which I always find makes the bread really nice. Andri taught me a trick of how to fold up the dough in a way so that when it gets baked in the tin it becomes really evenly shaped and gets this line at the top which one knows from the bakery shops. Great stuff, indeed.

Silver Spoon

Re my last comment, I thought I'd just post the book cover and give people the link to the Amazon place for this encyclopedia Italian cook book. So here it is: 

 

It's a perfect Christmas gift, if you're still searching. This book also contains a whole section with 'Menues from Famous Chefs', which we've yet to try out, although we definitely should - at least some of them.

Gnocchi Dinner

Yesterday was one of the last few dates in the year that we are all gonna be around so I thought it would be nice to have dinner all together and cook something big. I also invited Maria and Javier and it was a great night. I did homemade gnocchi. The previous night I had cooked parsnip and honey soup just because they needed to be used up, and turned up so nice that I added to the menu. Last minute I decided to make some sweet potatos crisps to go on top. They were so tasty.


I also made a Semifreddo for first time (something in between a mousse and an Ice cream) which is extremely easy to make and results in a delicious velvety cream. I made it with greek honey and almonds. I regret I forgot to take a picture of it though.

Tofu and grilled courgettes lasagne

Tofu and grilled courgettes lasagne
Originally uploaded by Mr. Akwekwe

Let me just blog that lasagna! It was really nice. Just look at this sea of cheese. I guess it's understandable that Lau wanted a light week after this.