Cavatelli con gamberi e salicornia (pasta with prawns & samphire)

For ➍
500 g cavatelli pasta**
200 g samphire
4 cloves garlic, sliced*
16 large prawns*
6 tbs olive oil*
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Clean the prawns, remove the carapace and inner tube.
Fry the garlic in the oil, add the samphire and cook for 2 m.
Add the prawns and bake for 3 m per side.
Cook the cavatelli. (4 m when fresh, 20 m when dry, start before baking the prawns). Drain well and add to the prawns mixture.

Full Italian name for name-droppers: cavatelli con gamberi all’aglio fresco e salicornia.
*Serve the gamberi all’aglio as an appetizer.
**Use orecchiette pasta instead.

Read more sea vegetables recipes.

Gamberi all’aglio (prawns with garlic)

For ➍
4 clove garlic, sliced
16 prawns
6 tbs olive oil
salt & fresly ground black pepper

Clean the prawns, remove the carapace and inner tube.
Fry the garlic in the oil, cook for 2 m.
Add the prawns and bake for 3 m per side. Add salt and pepper.
Let cool (covered, out of refrigerator) and serve as a appetizer or tapas with some bread during the aperitivo.

Try the quick microwave version or the Spanish version.

Cavatelli con la rucola (pasta with rocket)

For ➍
400 g cavatelli pasta*
300 g rocket
8 tbs olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
4 anchovies, desalted & boned**
salt
pecorino cheese

Salt some water, bring to the boil. Drop in the cavatelli. When cooked al dente (when fresh 20 m), drain. Drop in the rocket 5 to 10 m before end.
Meanwhile, chop the garlic and sauté in olive oil. Add the anchovies. Let them dissolve in the oil to make a sauce.
Put the sauce over the cavatelli.
Sprinkle with grated pecorino cheese to serve.

*Use orecchiette pasta instead.
**Use shredded smoked ham instead. Make it vegetarian by using capers.

Gota soboro (minced pork soboro)

For ➋
125 g lean minced pork*
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
vegetal oil
1 tbs soy sauce
2 ts sugar
1 ts mirin**
2 tbs of mushroom soaking liquid

Soak the mushrooms in hot water for about 10 m. Gently squeeze out excess water, cut off tough stalks and dice the mushroom caps. Save 2 tbs of the liquid.

Heat some oil in a pan. Brown the minced meat over medium heat, breaking up all lumps.

Add the mushrooms, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and soaking liquid. Turn up the heat and continue stirring until the mixture is almost dry. Let it cool down before packing on top of rice. Add some vegetables as cherry tomatoes or oil-tossed broccoli stalks. Or add peas, chopped spring onions or diced carrots.

Or store it in the fridge for later use (excellent for a stir fry with vegetables.).

*Or use minced chicken, beef or fish.
**Or use 1 ts of dry sherry (with a little pinch of sugar).

The untranslatable soboro is a Japanese classic, made of ground pork (gota soboro), chicken (tori soboro), beef (niku soboro), egg (iri tamago) or fish (oboro). It can also be a combination of pork , beef and chicken. It is seasoned with the standard ingredients of soy sauce, sugar and mirin and will keep well in the fridge for a few days. Soboro is served on its own, or on top of steamed rice in the bento lunch boxes.

Aam ki lassi (mango lassi)

For ➍
75 cl plain yogurt
25 cl milk
25 cl water
pulp of 2 mangoes
100 g sugar
25 g pistachios, ground*

In a pitcher, combine yogurt, milk, water, pulp, and sugar. Whisk briskly until completely mixed. Chill.

To serve, pour over crushed ice. Sprinkle the ground pistachios over the top.

*Use ground cumin instead.
For a quick version for 1 serving: use the pulp of 1 mango, freeze it; mix it in a blender with 15 cl of yogurt.

Lassi is a Indian beverage, originating in the northern state of Punjab. It is generally made by blending yogurt with water, salt, and spices until frothy. Traditional lassi is sometimes flavored with ground roasted cumin. It is sweetened with honey for rituals. Lassi with a little turmeric powder mixed in is used as a folk remedy for gastroenteritis.
The cooling drink has spread all over South East Asia. The combination with mango, the national fruit of India, is extremely popular. You can make a less elaborate quick mango lassi.
The illustration shows the surroundings of the Punjab city of Amritsar, beginning 19th century.

Quick mango lassi

For ➊ serving
1 mango
15 cl yogurt

For a quick version for 1 serving: use the pulp of 1 mango, freeze it; mix it in a blender with 15 cl of yogurt until smooth.

Use any fruit pulp to make a lassi. Or go for the classic yogurt with water and some salt. Whisk it firmly until frothy. Drink very cold.

Persian cucumber & fresh dill salad

For ➏
6 Persian cucumbers*, sliced
2 ts extra virgin olive oil
2 ts rice wine vinegar**
juice from ½ lemon
2-3 sprigs fresh dill, finely diced
salt & fresh ground pepper

Combine ingredients. Cover and chill for 1 h.

*Or 2 very fresh western (seedless) cucumbers.
**Use a slightly sweeter vinegar, e.g. sherry vinegar, instead.

Persian cucumbers are smaller than the seedless available in the west, with a slightly less watery, sweeter taste. Nowadays they are grown all over Europe and the Caribbean, and nobody knows if they were ever Persian at all.
Truely Persian is the similar Persian cucumber yogurt dressing.

Maast-o Khiar (Persian cucumber yogurt dressing)

For ➍
20 cl plain yogurt
¾ seedless cucumber, peeled & grated
¼ clove garlic, minced
¼ shallot, finely chopped
2 tbs dried dill weed
2 ts salt
¼ ts pepper

In a medium bowl, stir together the yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, and shallot. Season with dill, salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 h, preferably overnight, to blend flavors.
Serve with cold, grilled meat or fish. Or simply on good flat bread.

This recipe, contrary to Persian cucumber & fresh dill salad, is truly Persian, though it is served all over the Middle East, Turkey and Greece under several names such as 'tzaziki', after Muslim troops took it all over the Eastern Mediterranean. Persian culture and refinement is a decent forebear of Muslim and Arab culture, with which it is often confused.
Read the Arabian cucumber soup recipe and a variation on this recipe.
Picture from Pasolini's Tales of 1001 Nights, a homage to Persian culture.

Frosty cappucino

For ➋
24 cl low-fatmilk
1 tbs chocolate syrup
1 ts instant espresso coffee powder
2 ice cubes
sugar *
¼ ts ground cinnamon

Use an electrical blender to combine milk, chocolate syrup, espresso powder and ice until the mixture is smooth and frothy. Add sugar to taste.

Pour into 2 chilled glasses. Sprinkle with cinnamon for garnish.

*Optional.

Sour-cherry lambic sorbet

For ➏
100 g sugar
50 g honey
15 cl water
300 g pitted black sour cherries
25 cl good kriek lambic like Lindemans

Heat the sugar, honey, and water in a small saucepan just until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool the syrup completely.

Purée the cherries in the blender until smooth. Mix in the syrup and the lambic.

Pour the sorbet base slowly into your actively churning ice cream maker. After about 30 m, it would be thoroughly mixed.

Pack the sorbet into the chilled container. Freeze until firm, about 4 h.

Belgian kriek-beer is created by adding sour cherries to gueuze or unblended lambic. Avoid cheaper and sweeter brands. Read the anglerfish in gueuze recipe for more information on gueuze.
The sour cherries used in the beer are typical for the borough of Schaarbeek, near Brussels, where a feast of the cherry is organised every year.
Belgian lambic is available with several different fruits added, you could use raspberry lambic with real raspberries, as a variation.

La sallada nissarda (salade niçoise)

For ➏
10 tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, sliced
200 g small broad beans, boiled
12 small artichokes, thinly sliced
2 green peppers, thinly sliced
6 small onions or scallions, thinly sliced
6 basil leaves, chopped
1 clove of garlic
3 hard boiled eggs, quartered
12 anchovies
100 g black olives
6 tbs olive oil
pepper & salt

Slice the garlic, rub a large salad bowl with it.

Put tomatoes, beans, artichokes, peppers, onions, anchovies and eggs in the bowl.

Make a dressing with 6 tbs of olive oil and the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper.

Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 h.

Add the cucumber just before serving, otherwise it will make the mixture too moist.

Serve as an entrée with some good bread, or as a side dish for grilled fish (or white meat or chicken).

The 'original' version of the salade niçoise, or at least a recently established agreement between Nice restaurants on historic ingredients and preparation, cutting the potatoes and green beans of the widely popular recipe, as it was written down by Escoffier.
Picture shows a fragment of a Berthe Morisot painting of the late 19th century Nice beach, accommodating tourists.
Read more Provençal recipes: fresh tuna & salade niçoise, salade niçoise dressing, Provençal garlic sauce, Saint-Tropez (Provençal) chicken.

Japanese rare cheesecake

For ➏
filling:
200 g cream cheese, softened*
20 cl plain yogurt
70 g/5 tbs sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs gelatin powder
5 cl water
crust:
100 g crushed digestive biscuits or graham crackers
3 tbs melted butter
1 tbs sugar

Mix gelatin powder and water in a small cup. Set aside.

Combine crushed biscuits, melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a round cake pan (20 cm).

Stir cream cheese in a bowl until soften. Put water and gelatin mixture into microwave. Heat for 1 m. Add yogurt, sugar, lemon juice and gelatin into softened cream cheese. Mix well. Pour the filling into the crust. Spread evenly. Refrigerate the cake for 3 h.

Serve with your favorite fruits, fruit sauce, or jam.

*Use mascarpone instead.

Japanese eat mostly fruit after dinner, but in recent decades western-type desserts have become popular, such as cheesecakes, from the baked kind to this no bake type. This no bake kind is called rare cheesecake even in Japanese.
This late 19th century Japanese print shows a herd boy with a cow.
read a French go at Japanese cheesecake.
Read more cheesecake recipes: Belgian cheesecake

Banh xeo (Vietnamese savoury crepes)

For ➍
200 g boneless pork loin
16 medium shrimps
8 fresh coriander stems
8 fresh basil sprigs
8 fresh mint sprigs
90 g rice flour
12,5 cl water
10 cl coconut milk
½ ts turmeric (or curry powder)
1 ts sugar
½ ts salt
1 green onion, chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
60 g bean sprouts
½ ts sesame oil
1 tbs vegetable oil
red leaf lettuce
4 small bowls of nuoc cham dipping sauce*

Place pork loin in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer until cooked through, about 20 m.

Allow pork to cool. Cut into tiny strips.

Shell and devein shrimps. Slice each one in half lengthwise.

Rinse herbs and drain. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, prepare batter by mixing rice flour, water, coconut milk, turmeric or curry powder, salt, and green onion until smooth.

Divide pork, shrimp, onion, and bean sprouts into 5 separate little piles for easy access during cooking.

Heat a little sesame oil in non-stick frying pan until hot.

Cook pork, shrimp and onion until it starts to sizzle.

Pour a little vegetable oil in a pan. When almost smoking, add 2 tbs of batter and bake for 2-3 m. Put a small pile of the cooked mixture on one half of the crepe. Place one pile of bean sprouts towards the center of the crepe. Fold the other half of the crepe over the first.

Transfer the crepe to a serving platter.

Repeat process with rest of batter and ingredients.

Do not cover the cooked crepes or stack them, or they will lose their crispness.

To serve, place one crepe on a plate with some lettuce leaves, herbs and a small bowl of nuoc cham. The person cuts a portion of crepe, wraps it in a leaf of lettuce with some herbs, and dips it in the sauce. Serve with a cold blond lager beer.

*Use soy sauce instead.

Banh xeo are very popular in South East Asia. Depending on the region, the recipe might vary a little bit, even in Vietnam. This recipe is the southern variant. The Kampuchean version is called banh chiao. Banh is a whole category of small food items, some of them steamed cakes, but always filled in some way or another, even resulting in some (very American) Viet style pork sandwiches.

Nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce)

For ➍
1 part lime or lemon juice, or vinegar
1 part fish sauce, nuoc mam
1 part sugar
2 parts water (or 1 part water, 1 part lime or lemon juice)
optionally minced garlic, chopped or minced serrano peppers
shredded carrot, to taste

Mix water or juice with sugar. Heat to melt the sugar.

Then cool it.

Adjust the taste by adding lime juice, then add the fish sauce, then other ingredients.

The taste of nuoc cham depends on the ingredients, but should mix sweet and sour, a little hot and tasty, sometimes hot. You can vary the taste by lightly changing quantities of ingredients. It can be served with several Vietnamese dishes like banh xeo, or used as a rather sharp condiment. This preparation will hold for a week, when refrigerated.

Crostata con crema al limone (Italian lemon tart)

For ➑
crust:
180 g flour*
90 g butter
80 g sugar
2 egg yolks
salt
(50 g almonds, shaved)*
filling:
grated rind of 3 untreated lemons
8 tbs (12 cl) (2-3 lemons) lemon juice
3 egg yolks
2 eggs
200 g sugar
250 g yogurt or cream

Mix all ingredients for the crust. Cover in plastic foil and refrigerate for 30 m.
Roll out till 0,5 cm thick. Grease 24 cm tin with butter, put baking paper in, put dough in, cover with baking paper and blind-baking peas. Blind bake for 20 m at 180°C.
Beat the eggs with the sugar, the rind and the lemon juice. Carefully add cream or yogurt.
Remove top baking paper and peas. Pour in the mixture. Bake 30 m at 170°C.
Serve cold with a sweet wine or iced limoncello.

*Replace ⅓ with ground almonds or sprinkle half-baked crust with 50 g shaved almonds before pouring in the mixture.