ROSEMARY PEPPERS

Welcome back once again to Italian Grandma Duck Kitchen. 
I hope u enjoyed last week recipe. 
Today I am gonna show you how to cook rosemary peppers. They are a perfect side dish to have when having bbq. Hopefully the weather will improve soon and BBQ season will finally start! 

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 2 yellow or red peppers 
• Rosemary 
• A spoon of vinegar 
• A spoon of white wine 
• Oil 
• Salt  

Method: 

• Wash the peppers and cut them first in half and then in small pieces 
• Use a large pot, add just a tiny little bit of water, add a little bit of salt and wait for the water to boil
• Add the peppers together with a spoon of vinegar and salt 
• Put the lid on and let it cook for 10 minutes 
• Keep checking every now and then the peppers with a fork, they don't have to become too soft 
• Drain the peppers and put them under cold water to stop them to keep cooking 
• Add in a bowl a little bit of extra virgin oil, add rosemary, a little bit of garlic and the peppers.
• Mix everything together and serve as a side dish. 

And here some pics:

 Enjoy Chiara xx

HERBED BREAST CHICKEN

Here we are once again in the Italian Grandma Duck Kitchen. Today I will show how to do a light dinner perfect when someone is in a rush since it can be prepared in the morning and then it just needs to get cooked in the evening. It is an easy dish with an interesting flavour to spice it up a little bit. Hope you will like it =)

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients: 

• Breast chicken
• Rosemary
• Lemon
• Oil
• Salt
• Mustard
• Oregano
• Thyme

Method:

• In a bowl, emulsify the lemon with a little bit of oil
• Cut the herbs in small pieces and add them
• Add a little bit of mustard
• Mix everything and cover the chicken breast with the sauce. Leave it rest for at least 30 minutes
• Put a little bit of oil in a pot and add the chicken breast when the pot is hot. After 2/3 minutes turn the chicken breast on the other side
• When the chicken breast is almost ready take the pot off the stove and add a little bit of warm water to have some extra sauce to add to the chicken

And here the pics of my personal attempt:

Enjoy

Chiara xx

OCTOPUS SALAD

Here we are again in the Grandma Duck Kitchen with a brand new and super healthy recipe: octopus salad! I love this dish, it is easy and fast to do and it is perfect for lunch or dinner during summer time. 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 octopus
• 1 carrot
• Celery
• Onion
• 3-4 potatoes 
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• Lemon
• Salt for seasoning

Method:

• Peel and wash the vegetables: peel the carrot, cut some small onion pieces and peel the potatoes
• Fill 1/4 of the pressure cooker with water to cook the vegetables with steam. Put the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes and parsley into the cooker and wait for it to boil.
• Wash thoroughly the octopus and, when the water is boiling, put it in the pressure cooker, by putting first the ends and then the rest of the body
• Close the pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes
• After 15 minutes turn off the pressure cooker
• Take the octopus out, rinse under the water for a couple of minutes and then start to cut it in small pieces. Put in a bowl
• Add to the bowl a little bit of oil, lemon, salt, cut rosemary and garlic. To add some flavour, you can add also some olives and small pieces of celery
• Mix everything and serve it cold

Here the pics of how it came out for me:

Hope you will like it!
Enjoy
Chiara xx

APPETIZER WITH OLIVES AND HERBS

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Italian Grandma Duck kitchen. I hope you enjoyed last weeks recipe!

Today I will show you how to do an egg appetizer with olives and herbs. It is a simple and fast recipe, perfect for an 'aperitivo', a very popular Italian tradition where we go out before dinner and enjoy appetizers and cocktails. 

Hope you will like it!

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (4 people):

• 6 eggs
• 30 gr of pitted green olives
• A little bit of rosemary or sage
• Sesame seeds
• Leek or some pieces of brown onions
• 2 spoons of milk
• Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

• Rinse the sage or rosemary and cut it in very small pieces
• Throw away the outside leaves of the leek, wash it and cut it in very small pieces (same thing if you are using the brown onion) and cook in a pot with a little bit of oil. Keep stirring and be careful to not make the leek turn black
• Cut the olives in small pieces
• Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk them. Slowly add a little bit of milk, salt and pepper.
• Add the leek to the egg mixture
• Preheat the oven at 180 C degrees
• Get a tray and use some baking paper. Put the mixture on the tray and try to make the surface even
• Cook in the oven for 20 min till the appetizer reaches a golden colour
• Cut the appetizer in small pieces and serve it hot or warm. Add some olives on the side for decoration

Here are the pics of my attempt:

Enjoy

Chiara xx

OVEN BAKED AMARETTO PEACHES

Welcome back to the Italian Grandma Duck Kitchen. 

Today I will post one of my fav recipes of all time: oven backed amaretto peaches. This is an easy and healthy dessert, perfect during colder months.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 5 yellow peaches
• Amaretti di Saronno
• 1/2 glass of white wine
• 1/2 glass of Marsala (alternatively Port or Sherry)
• 1 spoon of sugar

Method:

• Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degree Celsius 
• Crumble the Amaretti
• Wash 4 peaches and cut them in half, pit the peach and with a spoon create a little hole where the pit was
• Wash and peel the fifth peach and cut the flesh in small pieces
• Put the flesh of the fifth peach in a bowl with the crumbled amaretti. Add a little bit of Marsala and mix everything together
• Use this mixture to fill the other four peaches
• Put the peaches in a tray in the oven, add the wine mixed with the sugar, and add a little bit of butter on the top of the peaches
• Cook in the oven for 30 minutes 
• Serve the peaches warm

And here some pics of how it turned out for me:

Enjoy

Chiara xx

WELCOME TO THE KITCHEN OF ITALIAN GRANDMA DUCK

Hi everyone,
welcome to the Italian Grandma Duck Kitchen. 
I chose the name Grandma Duck coming from the Disney cartoons since in Italian it refers to a person that loves to cook and is really good at it. It is also an affectionate nickname for my grandma, which passion for cooking inspired this blog.

I decided to do a blog about cooking given the fact that I am not really good at it.
Having always lived at home with my family in Italy, I never had to prepare any dinner. When I moved to Australia, all of a sudden, I had to take care of myself and had often to Skype my mom asking her to teach me how to cook. 
Hence, I hope with this blog to suggest some easy dishes that uni students can make in order to eat healthier and avoid buying junk food every night. If I can do it, anyone can cook these recipes! 

Hope you are gonna enjoy it!
Chiara xx