Cooking in Italian

I started cooking my own meals in 2010. In October 2010, I took part in a plant-based cooking course for beginners. That’s how I got started. In 2011, inspired by my teacher in that course, a few documentaries, and books, I decided to become vegan. Since then, I follow a plant-based diet with no animal…

There are many theories on the origin of the Carbonara. Some people claim that it was created many centuries ago, others say that’s a recent invention. This week I’ve heard that it might have started during the Second World War, as a mix created out of the Italian and North American culture. Supposedly, the American…

When I was a child we used to buy pizza at a place that made it with a wood-fired clay oven. The pizza was very thin in the middle and had wide borders. It was just like a pizza napoletana. Except for one thing: they didn’t call it “napolitana” or even “Italian”. It was just…

I have to say I hadn’t never heard of the cannoli siciliani before attempting this cooking project. As I started researching popular Italian recipes, I took note of those that popped up more often. The cannoli were one of those. I looked further into them and I just loved the concept and the presentation of…

Have I already mention how much I like pastry and bakery? I love that stuff! Last year I tried doing my first cinnamon rolls at home. I tried the regular (vegan) version with white flour, and also whole wheat flour recipes. All of them are great 😊. While doing the sfogliatelle, I had a dejavù:…

Did you know that you don’t need to put eggs in your gnocchi? It turns out that gnocchi is one of the easiest recipes to veganize. You just ditch the egg, and there you have it: vegan gnocchi! I have eaten them many, many times. They are just like the non-vegan ones. Most people cannot…

One thing I wasn’t sure about before preparing this recipe was the pasta part. Would I have to make the lasagna sheets myself? Or would it be “okay” to buy the dry ones at a store? After watching a couple of YouTube videos the question answered itself: I would do it with the dry ones!…

How did I pick the recipes for this project? First I searched online for the most popular (or representative?) Italian dishes. I started from there. One other thing was my personal preference. I wanted to try preparing many of these recipes for a long time (such as the “pizza napoletana”, the “tiramisu” or the “lasagna”).…

I got to know about ragù just last year, in 2020. One of my favorite sources to learn Italian, were the comedy videos I found on YouTube (for example, Casa Surace). And that’s exactly where I started hearing time and time again about this traditional Italian recipe. In the beginning, I thought it was something…

To choose this recipe I didn’t have to look further into its ingredients. I didn’t even need to see a picture. It was love at first sight. When I first saw the name, I immediately liked it. With such a sweet name (torta tenerina ~ tender cake), it had to be good. And indeed it…

In Argentine, we know this dish as “arroz con azafrán”. It’s not exactly the same, but I would say it’s pretty close. I’ve eaten it many times, with and without chicken (before becoming vegan). The vegan version of this risotto replaces the usual butter and parmesan cheese with olive oil and nutritional yeast flakes. Following…

I have to admit that in the beginning, I thought this was a very strange recipe. A sweet salame? Made of chocolate? When I first learned about it (three months ago) it made no sense and sounded like a joke. But as I came back to it at the end of this project, after learning…