Recipes from a passionate home cook

Author: Michiel Steur

Recipe for the perfect spaghetti cacio e pepe with pecorino and parmesan cheese

The perfect cacio e pepe

The traditional Roman pasta recipe for cacio e pepe – ‘cheese and pepper’ in Italian – could not be more simple and only requires three ingredients: spaghetti, pecorino romano and black pepper, therefore it is often referred to as an adult mac and cheese. These are ingredients I usually always have in the house and I used to make this quick dish so often when I didn’t have time to pop to the supermarket and needed to quickly whip something up in the kitchen. While an ...

Recipe for chicken teriyaki noodle salad

Chicken teriyaki noodle salad

Teriyaki glazed anything must be one of my favourite Asian dishes, so it was kind of bizarre that I had never attempted to make a teriyaki sauce myself. I’m not a fan of the store-bought version, so when I was craving a noodle salad with chicken teriyaki, I knew I had to try making it myself. My chicken teriyaki noodle salad recipe turned out to be one of the most delicious things I have made in a long time. The great thing about this recipe is that you can experiment endlessly, and ...

Recipe for red pepper dip

Red bell pepper dip

On the last day of the week, I open my fridge and let whatever I have left be my inspiration to create new recipes. Last week this was a red bell pepper and I saw it was starting to go old, so I knew I had to come up with something quickly to make sure it wouldn’t go to waste. This is how my red bell pepper dip recipe was born! This dip (or spread) recipe literally only takes 5 minutes of cooking and 5 minutes of prep and honestly, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by ...

Recipe for pea and ricotta ravioli with fresh mint pesto

Pea and ricotta ravioli with mint pesto

Ah, very little feels more rewarding than a delicious plate of fresh homemade filled pasta after hours of hard work in the kitchen. Admittedly, no matter how often you practise, making fresh pasta (and filled pasta in particular) takes a lot of time and effort. It is however really not very difficult, and if you have enough time and patience, it can be a stress-free process (though I’ll be honest and tell you this is rarely the case for me). I already shared with you my recipe for ...

Recipe for courgette cake with cream cheese frosting and pistachios

Courgette cake

I’m not going to lie, I was sceptical when I first saw this recipe for courgette cake with cream cheese in Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess cookbook, for a few different reasons. Firstly, I sort of struggled with the idea that with the relatively large amount of courgettes, this recipe was going to deliver a sweet cake (though, as the book explains, nobody questions the amount of carrots in a carrot cake). Secondly, I couldn’t discover any butter in this ...

Recipe for red pepper and tomato soup

Red pepper and tomato soup

Quite literally the only secret to a perfect soup is the use of great ingredients. I like my soups straightforward and easy, with my favourite vegetables and as few ingredients as possible. My recipe for fresh red pepper and tomato soup delivers exactly that. Now I realise that the internet is filled with countless red pepper soups already, so why the need for another one you might ask? Well, red bell peppers are my absolute favourite vegetable, so you can image how passionate I am about ...