Recipe for Rice Pudding
Filed Under Food History, Recipes United Kingdom, USA
Rice pudding is at heart a type of porridge like any other. It incorporates a grain (rice), a liquid (usually milk or milk and water), a sweetener (sugar, honey), and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, ginger). It can include fresh fruit, fruit zest, dried fruit, nuts, and egg (which gives it a custard-y texture). I've read it hearkens back to Tudor times in Great Britain, but it is popular where… Read
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What Are Crêpes? And a Recipe for Savory Crêpes
Filed Under Food History, Recipes France
What is a crêpe? Many cultures have a form of pancake, and the French are no exception. crêpes are a thin, unleavened, and can be served in a multitude of ways! They originally hail from the Brittany region of France, where they are made of Buckwheat flour. The recipe below, like many others, uses wheat flour, but if you are gluten free, using a buckwheat flour is a great alternative.… Read
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Pappardelle with Mushrooms and Sage
Filed Under Food History, Recipes Italy
We love pasta in almost any shape or size, and homemade egg pasta, or "pasta all'uovo," is one of our favorites, and one you will probably learn during our cooking vacations in Italy. There are versions of this pasta made from Tuscany to Puglia, from Sicily to the Veneto. You can use the same pasta recipe for lasagna noodles, or cut the pasta sheets to make long noodles of different… Read
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Recipe for a Classic Croque Monsieur Sandwich
Filed Under Food History, Recipes France
These days we're all about comfort food at The International Kitchen, and there are few sandwiches more comforting than a classic Croque Monsieur! We're using Richard's favorite croque monsieur recipe today. The classic croque monsieur sandwich has been around in French cafes for over a hundred years and always combines a delicious mixture of ham and cheese. But from there the preparations can vary. Sometimes it is grilled, sometimes baked,… Read
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The History of Tortellini: Emilia Romagna Cooking Vacations
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History Italy
Pastas abound in Italy, but none quite have the legend that tortellini does. The navel-shaped pasta has an origin story unlike any other. And while tellings of this legend vary, the basics remain the same. That is, when a sixteenth-century innkeeper in the Italian town of Castelfranco Emilia once saw the naked navel of Venus, the goddess of love, he created a tribute to her in the form of a… Read
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A History of Croissants – Plus a Recipe!
Filed Under Food History, Recipes France
Happy National Croissant Day! We all know what a croissant is, right? It's a flaky, butter, crescent-shaped pastry ("croissant" means crescent) from France. But a croissant is so much more. It is perhaps one of the most quintessentially recognizable French foods, a symbol of the nation itself as surely as is the baguette. Learn to make croissants during a baking class in Paris. What Defines a Croissant? We would say… Read
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