ExperiencePlus! Blog


Recipes

  • Recipes

    Super Easy Bruschetta

    Super Easy Bruschetta This is a quick and easy appetizer that is consistently pronounced wrong by wait staff in restaurants in the US. Say “brew-sket’-ta” not “brewsheta.” Note that the “ch” is a hard “k” sound in Italian, not a… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Risotto alla Primavera, from Northern Italy

    Risotto alla Primavera, from Northern Italy This is a favorite spring recipe, especially in the Northern regions of Italy, where rice is on an almost equal standing with pasta. While this recipe calls for asparagus and peas only, you may… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Ceviche a la Tica

    This traditional dish is served, with different variations, in all Latin American countries with coast on the Pacific (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile).   It was popular in ancient Peru 2000 years ago, where the fish was marinated… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Eggplant Mediterranean Style

    Eggplant Mediterranean Style During a recent visit to Greece and its islands on our Bike, Walk and Cruise our, I rediscovered, among other things, the great flavor of eggplant with Mediterranean spices. Back in Italy I tried to reproduce the dishes… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Rødgrød med Fløde (Danish Red Berry Pudding with Cream)

    Rødgrød med Fløde (Danish Red Berry Pudding with Cream)   Danes love to ask foreigners to say "Rødgrød" because it is nearly unpronounceable to those not familiar with this guttural language. The Erslevs coached their children to say it correctly… Read full article

  • Recipes

    French Béchamel Sauce

    Ingredients: 3 tbsp butter or margarine 1/3 cup flour 2 cups milk 1/2 cup grated cheese or more salt and pepper to taste la technique Melt the butter or margarine in sauce pan. Add flour and stir with wisk, or… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Torta Negra Galesa (Black Welsh Cake)

    Torta Negra Galesa (Black Welsh Cake) Rick and I recently returned from our ExpeditionPlus! tour in South America from Coast to Coast across Patagonia. It was a great experience, and a great way to get to know in depth several… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Beets with Garlic and Walnut Sauce

    Beets are root vegetables with edible, leafy green tops. The most common beets are deep red, but there are gold, white and candy-cane striped varieties. I really enjoy the flavor of the green tops, which remind me of Swiss chard.… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Arugula Salad with Lemon Dressing and Pine Nuts

    Arugula Salad with Lemon Dressing and Pine Nuts   It’s starting to get hot in Colorado as summer comes along.  Rick and Paola are in Italy for a couple of months, but before leaving they planted some arugula seeds and then… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Pâte à crêpes salée – Savory Crêpes

    Pâte à crêpes salée – Savory Crêpes     Recipe provided by John Giebler   This month Paola invites John Giebler to share his crêpe recipe. John is our Country Coordinator and Head Tour Leader in France. He came to… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Sicilian Caponata

    Sicilian Caponata Rick and I enjoyed this dish in Sicily last summer, while we were doing the research for the Sicily bicycle tour that we will first offer in 2004. The following recipe is taken, with some editing, from the… Read full article

  • Pasta making demonstration.

    Recipes

    An Easy, Fresh Pasta Recipe

    An Easy, Fresh Pasta Recipe A former tour leader, photographer, bike mechanic, and web guru extraordinaire came up with a quick pasta recipe. Ingredients: use about 1 cup of flour, 1 egg, and 1 tablespoon of water per person eating 3… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Sicilian-Style Pizza with Focaccia

    Sicilian-Style Pizza with Focaccia This is the most basic way to make a Sicilian-style pizza, but we recommend adding any sort of toppings you find tasty. Also, this recipe is even better when served with salad or fresh vegetables! Serves… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Acquacotta or Tuscan Soup

    Acquacotta or Tuscan Soup Literally, ‘acquacotta’ means ‘cooked water’. This is the Tuscan version of ‘Stone soup’. This was once a very humble soup made out of a little tomato, onion and celery boiled in water and poured over old… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Caffé Sciaccherato

    Caffé Sciaccherato means “shaken coffee” and is the Italian equivalent of an iced coffee or “blended latte.” Even when it gets hot outside, Italians still have their espresso – but they simply cool it down with some ice! Like many… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Baked Fennel

    Finocchio al Forno (Baked Fennel) I grew up eating fennel, raw in salads or cooked. When I moved to the States I was surprised to realize that many people did not know about fennel, had never eaten it or did… Read full article

  • Classic Italian Minestrone Soup

    Recipes

    Classic Italian Minestrone Soup with Pesto

    Classic Italian Minestrone Soup with Pesto Every family in Italy makes its own variation of minestrone, which means literally “big soup,” from the word “minestra.” One may insist on using spinach, while another may argue for leeks and swiss chard.… Read full article

  • Recipes

    Gallo Pinto

    Gallo Pinto   If you ask any Tico what the national dish of Costa Rica is, chances are they’ll mention Gallo Pinto. Pura Vida!   Ingredients:     3 cups "day old" cooked rice   2 cups black beans –… Read full article