Ricotta with strawberries, manuka honey, edible gold and cornflowers

 

I have been on a diet recently so this is a pretty low-fat dessert: ricotta with strawberries marinated with lemon juice (a mixture of regular strawberries and tiny Alpine strawberries from the garden) and a tiny little bit of mānuka honey. For best effect the dessert is decorated with edible gold and cornflower petals. It was stunning to look at, and delicious!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Plum and strawberry smoothie

This is the season for plums, and we also have a few last strawberries in the garden, enough to add to smoothies and make them sweet! In fact I love the fact that plums are a little tart, but they do benefit from the strawberry sweetness. As a base I used half apple juice and half coconut water. Perfect breakfast!

And now a few things from my garden!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Strawberries with ricotta - snow on spring flowers

I was back in the Italian Apennines recently and in the market I bought some fresh strawberries and some local ricotta which was so creamy it was almost like mascarpone, so I thought of 'marrying' the two. I marinated the strawberries with lemon juice and a little sugar for a few hours, long enough to make a nice sweet smelling strawberry joyce and enhance their flavour. Then all I had to do was to put a slice of ricotta in a dessert bowl and top it with the strawberries and their juice. Mmmhhh! It was so good I am still thinking about it!

I also loved the colour combination, the red of the fruit with the snow white of the ricotta… which made me think of both spring and winter! In fact when I arrived in the mountains the fields and woods where full with flowers...

…and after a few days I woke up in the morning to find everything covered with Spring snow!

Well, it did last only one day, but it was quite beautiful! 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Yummy green smoothies and first produce from the garden

I am addicted to my new Nutribullet, here three of my favourite smoothies so far:

Baby spinach, kiwi, coconut water

Celery (add a few leaves), frozen mango cubes, coconut water

Baby cavolo nero, banana, spirulina and natural apple juice

And here are the first goodies from the veggie garden: strawberries, rocket salad, pan choi and radishes. The baby cavolo nero in the last smoothie was also from my garden but I blended it before taking a photo. More photos coming up soon :-).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Do you know the name of these Campanula flowers, and Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Sue gave me these beautiful flowers, the purple ones smell like honey, so delicious!

I believe that they are a type of Campanula (bell flowers), but I don't know the exact name. 

Do you?

Vegan chocolate pudding with strawberries and edible flowers

Arantxa picked flowers from the garden: roses, lavender, sage, violets and nasturtiums 

 I made my trusted vegan chocolate pudding, and since we are in season I wanted to top it with some strawberries, and maybe some flowers too? So I asked Arantxa to look after this.

For 4 puddings:

500 ml oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

2 tbsp raw sugar

1 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

1 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence (or a little cinnamon if you prefer)

Strawberries and edible flowers to finish.

Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 4 dessert ramekins or small bowls (or teacups) and refrigerate. Cut the strawberries and place over the puddings, then add the petals of edible flowers (I think that maybe there was a bit much here, with lots of lavender, rose and sage aromas… but it was definitely a very perfumed dessert!).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Strawberries with orange and cinnamon (perfect for Xmas) and Sweet New Zealand

This is the 40th consecutive edition of Sweet New Zealand, and I will be hosting it from this blog.

Last month (October 2014) our host was Lesley from eat, etc. so check out her round up here for some ideas. And I am also entering the first recipe: Strawberries with orange and cinnamon. This is a prelude to the Xmas Season, strawberries are the traditional Xmas fruit in NZ, but being from the Northern Hemisphere I cannot renounce some more traditional and festive winter flavors, like orange and cinnamon. 

Just wash and cut the strawberries (two punnets), add the juice of one orange, a cinnamon stick and one tbsp of sugar. Let the strawberries marinate for a few hours at room temperature, and then a few more hours in the fridge. Serve cold, with cream, or yogurt, or ice cream, or just as they are!

Now it is your turn to enter Sweet New Zealand!

1. This event is open to all bloggers living in New Zealand (even if you’re not a Kiwi), as well as all Kiwi bloggers living and blogging overseas.

2. You can enter anything sweet: cakes, biscuits, slices, desserts, even drinks. You may submit as many entries as you like, including old posts if you want.

3. Your entry must contain the phrase Sweet New Zealand, the Sweet New Zealand badge (choose your own size), a link to the host, and to this post – so if you are submitting an older post remember to update it accordingly.

4. To submit your entry, email me at alessandra (at) clear (dot) net (dot) nz by 28th November 2014 with:

• name of recipe with the link to the post you’re contributing 
• a photo from your post (not more than 250 kb if possible)
• your name, your blog name and a link to your blog
• 
  
• A roundup of all the entries (with links and photos) will be published at the beginning of December. Leave me a message below if you have any questions. 

I look forward to your sweet entries!

Ciao

Alessandra

Photo and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Homemade mascarpone with honey, pistachio and dried strawberries

Making mascarpone at home is one of my favourite occupations these days! A part from the 'magic' of it, and the resemblance to a chemistry experiment (I made this with Max, actually, he made it with me in the background giving instructions and liked doing it!) it is also so much cheaper, fresh and delicious that the one you buy! 

For the mascarpone recipe just click here, it is easier that you may think! When the mascarpone is ready just add a tbsp of honey (I used Tawari) and fold. Divide the mascarpone into 4 cups and it is ready to be eaten or topped with what you fancy. 

This time I just toasted a few pistachios in a pan, then I rub them with a tea towel to take away loose skins and chopped them coarsely. Then I also added some Fresh As dried strawberries, crunchy and full of flavour and aroma. A simple dessert that everyone loved!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand #35, the blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers (living in NZ or overseas) and expats blogging from NZ. June's host is Amanda from Move Love Eat  Click here to share you sweet creations with the Sweet New Zealand team! Also let me know if you are keen to be a host in 2014, and book a month for you!

Strawberry and Banana ice-cream: sugar free, gluten free, raw and vegan

You just need two ingredients: 2-3 bananas, sliced and frozen, and 2 punnets of strawberries, cut and frozen. It is actually better if both the banana and strawberries are quite ripe - jam quality!

Freeze the fruit for a few hours (one day is better) then put in the food processor and blend. Eat immediately. Healthy and yummy!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Chocolate, strawberries and cream pudding

This dessert has three layers, and the first is a velvety chocolate pudding made with 3 egg yolks, 3 tbsp of sugar, 500 mil of full cream milk and plenty of Peruvian cooking chocolate (milk or dark, I used milk here). I didn't measure the chocolate, but you should go by taste, not everybody likes really intense chocolate! Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat well, then put on bain marie (double boiling) and simmer slowly, adding the milk little by little. Use top milk, otherwise use 400ml milk and 100 ml cream. Stir until the mixture thickens (it takes a long time!) then add the chocolate and melt. Pour into glasses and set aside to cool. Refrigerate for a few hours. In the meantime clean and hull the strawberries and cut into small pieces. Add a tsp of sugar and one of lemon juice and set aside for a few hours. Before serving top the chocolate with the strawberries and finally with whipped cream. Decorate with edible flowers (I used borage).

This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand, the monthly blogging event for Kiwi bloggers. Our December 2013 host is Alice in Bakingland, click here to enter. I still looking for a host for January 2014 (and the following months) so if you are a Kiwi blogger and you are keen to host please leave me a message.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Alpine strawberries and Forget-me-not

In my garden right now... a part from lots of onion weed (edible), Alpine strawberries are starting to pop up, just enough for a 'shot' dessert of yogurt, honey, and tiny wild strawberries. It looks good next to another garden treasure: sweet forget-me-not, among my favourite little flowers. Both strawberries and flowers makes me think of home in Italy, where they grow wild everywhere at the beginning of Summer. And I love the colours!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Happy Mother's Day and Alpine (wild) strawberry smoothie

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums!

Alpine (wild) strawberry smoothie

Ingredients:

All the wild strawberries you can find

One banana

Natural apple juice

Photos and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Bence makes strawberry risotto

 Bence and Judit are visiting from Japan (btw, they are Hungarians, not Japanese), and last night Bence made us a yummy strawberry risotto. He chopped half a onion and cooked it in butter and olive oil, then added 500g of carnaroli rice and a glass of white wine. He chopped a punnet of strawberries and added them to the rice and, always stirring, added about 1.5l of vegetable broth, ladle by ladle. At the end he added some grated parmesan cheese and topped the risotto with chopped parsley. More parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper were added to the plates. It was a super delicious risotto, thank you Bence!

Recipe by Bence Kovács,

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©