Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This is a great vegan main, full of flavour and proteins. I cooked it for Bence and Judit, they like tofu and they asked for the recipe, so here it is: Ingredients: 10 pieces of dry tofu (Japanese) 500 ml vegetable stock 2 shallots 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp smoked paprika (or more, to taste) 1 can Italian cherry tomatoes (I used Mutti) 1 cup of water (to rinse the tomato can) 1 carrot Salt to taste I used ten pieces of dried tofu (like  this one ), soaked in 500ml of vegetables stock. Dry tofu is like a sponge and it will absorb flavors well (so use some good vegetable stock!). Then I sizzled a couple of finely slices shallots with 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, then I added the tofu (soft after soaking in the vegetable stock) and sautéd it on both sides for a minute, then I added one tsp  (well, probably a bit more...) of smoked paprika, sizzled the tofu in the spice for a little longer, and finally one can of Italian cherry tomatoes, one cup of water,

These lovely and aromatic little onions can be served hot or cold, as an antipasto or side vegetable. I should have used little Italian flat onions, like the  borrettane , but they don't sell them in NZ so I used some normal pickling onions. Peel the onions, soak in water for two hours, drain and then cook very slowly with a dollop of salted butter (vegans use extra virgin olive oil), a few fresh sage leaves and a pinch of salt for a long long time. I cooked them in a Le Creuset pot, with the lid on, stirring often. Check to see if you need to add just a little water half way through, but personally I didn't need it, mostly they cooked in their own steam (Le Creuset pots have great lids!!) and they caramelized a little too, becoming sweet and fragrant. All in all they took about 2 hours. Once they were cooked I turned the element off and added a drizzle of  Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Extra Vecchio (25 year old) , covered them again with the lid, and let them

  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  ©

Did you ever play with walnut shells as a child? I spent many hours making little boats, and recently I have been dreaming about baking inside them... not very practical, I admit it, and difficult to eat, but absolutely adorable to look at!! Walnut and Nutella cupcakes Ingredients 120 g butter 3 eggs 130 g sugar 1/2 tsp lemon zest 200 g self-rising flour 60 ml milk 15 walnuts A little nutella (optional) Topping (optional): mini cupcakes baked inside walnut shells, and topped with royal icing Makes 12 cupcakes Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups. Melt the butter in a jug, either in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes). Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater, until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted butter and the lemon zest. Keep beating at a low speed now; add half of the flour fo