Crab cakes (with shrimp)

I have been making crab cakes from the same recipe for years, but at my recent cooking bootcamp at the Culinary Institute of America I learned a new one. In this recipe shrimp paste is used as the binder to hold the crab cakes together.

Osso bucco Milanese

Slow braised meats are my favorite type of dish, and the osso bucco is a classic comfort dish – particularly good for the cold winter nights. I first learned my osso bucco from the Terra cookbook and I recently had a “refresher” at the Culinary Institute of America bootcamp.

Technique: Bacon wrapped meat roulade

I learned this technique from the Sierra Mar cook book of Craig von Foester and I have been using it for years now. It works well with any lean meat – poultry, veal, venison, rabbit, or lean pork. The bacon gives lean meats much needed juiciness and smokiness.

Agnolotti dal plin

Agnolotti dal plin (agnolotti with a pinch) are wonderful filled pasta. The “pinch” forms these pockets at both ends of the pasta that catch the sauce very nicely. As most filled pastas, agnolotti are very versatile because you can use almost anything as filling – cheese, ground meat, vegetables, chopped seafood. It is also a…

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Cauliflower soup

This soup is great comfort dish for cold winter days – especially given that your choices of fresh produce a limited. It is very quick and easy to make, and you can store it in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it.

Octopus on patatas bravas

This dish can be served as canapés, as an appetizer or even a main course. I use it mostly as canapés when I host large groups of people for Thanksgiving or Christmas.