
By Franita in the Kitchen - Articles published in Three Monkeys Online
Drunken Pork with Cous Cous salad
If the vegetarian option of Cous Cous salad leaves a gap in your carnivore's imagination, try combining it with drunken pork....
Pesto
For many, Pesto is a green sauce for pasta that comes in a jar off a supermarket shelf. In reality, though, this basil based sauce, originating in Liguria, is easy and fun to make. ...
Vegetable Cous Cous
Cous cous is a basic food that is used to accompany vegetable or meat stews. It is also a great base for salads, which can be used in turn to accompany meat or fish courses. This is a vegetarian version....
Panir (or Paneer) – Home made Indian cheese
A simple and versatile Asian cheese, that you can make at home! Simple, as it is really easy to make and is based on just two ingredients, milk and lemon juice. Versatile, as you can mix it with virtually anything, sweet or sour, or you may dice, coat wit...
Yorkshire Pudding - A Recipe
My Irish ‘Mum’ does this beautifully and with a subtle grace she managed for years to keep her recipe from me, with the excuse that she does not use a scale when cooking. I managed however to drag up the secret recipe she has been using all along, and...
Cauliflower and chickpeas curry
Now, before you jump on my throat: I know perfectly well that everybody (and their dogs, sometimes, unfortunately) has a recipe for curry. This is mine, and you are welcome to send me yours! ...
Garlic Crayfish
You could actually prepare, in the same way, prawns, langoustines, small lobsters, crabs, or any other crustaceans you manage to fish, find at the market, and/or convince your partner to eat!...
Spicy king prawns (or ‘The shrimp, The hot, The pepper’)
Sometimes the simplest things taste the best, and simpler than this recipe you couldn't get. Inspired by a Cambodian menu, this is an easy and delicious dish to prepare....
Dumplings a la oriental
These are delicious as a starter, accompanied by chilli sauce, soy sauce, or the classic rice vinegar with shallots dip....
Filled peppers (peperoni ripieni)
I took this recipe from Signora Tavani’s entertaining Casalinghe … si diventa! (that loosely translates into ‘Everyone can become an housewife’), with the kind permission of Panozzo E...
Strawberry and pear dessert
Another sumptuous dessert to finish off a dinner party. And it’s relatively easy to make. ...
Chicken and Bacon Bites
Easy, quick, tasty, healthy (perhaps) and tempting, they’re delicious served with fluffy roasted potatoes. ...
Pasta with wild asparagus and shrimps
April and May are perfect months for wild asparagus [Asparagus acutifolius], the uncultivated type that is hand picked in central and south Italian regions. ...
Strawberry and banana smoothie
Until the contrary is proven and publicised, they tell us to eat 5-6 fruit and veg portion a day. When you get sick of lettuce, apples and other ‘boring’ produces, here is a deliciously nutrient fruit mix that keeps in the fridge for a day or two or c...
Stir Fry Chicken
This is my version, though there are millions out there, and most of them are excellent! Please don’t let the long list of ingredients put you off: you most probably have most of them already, and if don’t, you should! Make sure you buy fair trade sp...
Sunday night quick roast
A quick way to cook pork, or veal or turkey. The result should be a tender piece of meat to slice and serve with its delicate gravy and potatoes....
Spicy Lamb Meatballs
Go all eastern with this easy recipe, served with basmati rice or pita bread. If Lamb isn't your thing, you can easily replace with beef, chicken or turkey....
Light Chocolate Truffles
This is the ‘dietetic’ version of Irish handmade chocolate truffles, where the butter is replaced by fresh ricotta cheese and the chocolate is the powder version as opposed to the ‘real thing’. ...
Tortelli alla Rucola
If you've ever wondered what possible use you could put rocket (Rucola) to, outside of a salad, here's a perfect, healthy, pasta recipe....
Raviolacci alla Pancetta
Easy and tasty, though perhaps not so healthy as the vegetarian version with rocket and yoghurt, but - hey - you can’t always get everything! ...
Pork in Coconut Sauce
A dish scented with spices and sweetened by the coconut milk. It’s delicious accompanied by boiled basmati rice and sweet’n’sour baby onions. I prepared it for an Indian friend last week, and he said it reminded him of the dishes you can eat in the ...
Smoked Salmon Risotto - a recipe
Combining the tastes of Ireland and Italy, with a subtle twist of Brandy or Vodka, this Risotto is both delicate and mouth wateringly tasty....
Recipe for Hummus (chickpeas dip)
The perfect appetiser, dip, or light snack. Hummus is not difficult to make, and tastes great eaten with Pitabread or any flat bread, like the Italian Piadina....
Mixed Fried Fish
Forget about heavily battered fish and chips, and instead thinking of lightly fried Sole, Squid, Mullet, or prawns, served with fried vegetables, salad and a freshly chilled white wine....
Sweet 'n' Sour Baby Onions
The humble onion is perhaps the most maligned of vegetables. Forget the raw, breath killing, eye streaming variant - these delicious sweet and sour, stewed onions are delicious on their own or with meats and cold cuts....
Spaghetti alle vongole (Spaghetti with clams)
A dish that will impress any dinner guest, being slightly off the beaten track, outside Italy at least. The true beauty of it though is that it's tremendously easy to make, and tastes fantastic!...
Potato puree - Three Monkeys' style
A simple recipe doesn't have to lack imagination and style, as this recipe for potato puree shows. ...
Aromatic pork chops
Quick, cheap, and easy, a perfect recipe for Pork. Serve with potato puree and green vegetables. What more could you ask for?...
Cappelletti & Co.: A Christmas in Romagna
At the Three Monkeys Christmas Party, the Irish are singing, the Spanish dancing, while the Italians, under the stewardship of Franita, are in the kitchen preparing a wonderful Christmas feast of Cappelleti in Brodo....
Recipe for Salame di Cioccolata (Chocolate Salami)
The first recipe that Italian kids learn how to make - a delicious chocolate desert that's easy to make, but elegant looking, and with a taste like Heaven!...
Bami Goreng - A recipe
This is a tasty and easy-to-make Indonesian dish. Delicious with an ice-cold beer, and to be eaten with fork and spoon a la Indonesian....
Courgette and Curry Risotto - a Recipe
Mixing Italian and Indian cuisine, this is a Risotto with a twist. Perfect for the cold winter evenings....
Tortelli di Zucca (Pumpkin Ravioli) - A recipe.
To give an Italian touch to your Halloween, try this recipes for delicate ravioli filled with pumpkin....
Turkey Rollovers - a recipe
A simple, delicious, healthy and cheap recipe. A nice alternative to red meat or chicken!...
Spicy Pumpkin Chutney
Let the cultures clash - make a bit of Spicy Pumpkin Chutney, to accompany a Halloween feast!...
Pasta dello stivale. (Pasta from the boot)
A dish that unites the flavours and pasta shapes from the whole of Italy, from the Alps to the boot!...
Frittata alle zucchine
A quick recipe, for when you come home from work. Omelette Italian style!!...
Exotic Chicken with Almonds and Coconut Milk
Liven up a chicken with this exotic recipe. It's not quick, but it is tasty! Franita in the Kitchen brings you a Brasilian, Chinese, and Thai fusion!...
Tagliolini all’Aida
In honour of Giuseppe Verdi, Franita in the Kitchen prepars another simple but extremely tasty recipe....
Strozzapreti (Priest-Chokers) from Romagna. Between History, Customs and Recipes.
Strozzapreti, or 'choke the priest', a pasta from the ex-papal state of Romagna in Italy, is full of historical and culinary possibilites!...
Gramigna with Sweet Pepper Sauce
Gramigna, a pasta typical of the Emilia-Romagna region makes an interesting change from more well known pastas. ...
Spaghetti con Olive
Simple, easy to prepare, and most importantly - mouth wateringly tasty! A quick recipe from the Mediterranean!...
The Empanada Trail – a trip around the globe after the world’s best snack ever
Franita in the Kitchen embarks on a Globe-crossing journey in search of the best snack in the world - The Empanada!...


