Ragù is an Italian meat-based sauce normally served with pasta. For the meat, I chose duck breasts and as for the pasta, I decided on pappardelle which is a large, very broad and flat pasta. The “ruggedness” of the pappardelle goes very well with the peasant-style ragù. To spruce things up a bit, I added aubergine and fava (broad) beans.
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Continuing my Caribbean cuisine spree from Jamaican Pork with Pineapple and Banana and Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin, I decided to make this Trinidadian pork curry. Packed with lots of green herbs it doesn’t make for the prettiest dish, but it’s surely very tasty and layered with flavours.
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As mentioned in the Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin post, I recently got hold of some well-priced pork tenderloin and decided to create a couple of Caribbean dishes. This island style dish is very easy to make (15 minutes) and provides that sweet, rich and fruity flavours which are synonymous with Caribbean cuisine.
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I recently got my hands on some well-priced pork tenderloin and decided to go with some Caribbean cuisine. One thing about Caribbean cooking I love, is the abundant flavours and spiciness associated with the dishes. Apparently this dish was created by runaway slaves as a means of preserving meats without proper refrigeration.
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We decided to have a shootout between Rogan Josh and Punjabi Tariwala Gosht and see which curry we prefer.
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Bourbon chicken is a bit of Cajun and Chinese cuisines mixed together. There are quite a variety of recipes for bourbon (or whiskey) chicken, but my aim was simplicity and a short preparation time as well as a good sauce with a hearty starch.
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Rancho is a dish typical of Portuguese cuisine and originates from the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Province where “Trás-os-Montes” translates to “behind the mountains”. It is casserole-type of dish consisting mainly of beef, bacon, chorizo, garlic, chickpeas and pasta, although there are many variations on this. Rancho is a rich, hearty dish and should be enjoyed on cold, winter’s days with a good wine.
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I think even the Italians will not all agree on the origin of puttanesca, but most will agree that it originated in Naples in the mid-20th century. “Puttana” which translates to “prostitute” led to the theory that the sauce was invented in one of the many “bordellos” in Naples. The twist, which I add to this dish, is the use of guanciale instead of olive oil.
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This is a creamy and wholesome Italian dish which is very easy and quick to prepare. The dish is said to originate from western Sicily in the 19th century with English families, where Marsala wine is produced. A heavy French influence is also suspected together with American influence in the modern version. This will probably explain why Chicken Marsala is more popular in the Unites States than Italy these days. See this article.
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This is a very easy dish which can be served as a main or a starter or a side dish.
Green beans or string beans, are at their best when picked young and tender for a fresh, crunchy texture. The guanciale can probably be replaced with pancetta or bacon, but it offers a much more complex and rich flavour.
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