ExperiencePlus! Blog


Food

  • Cotechino Sausage with Lentils

    Cotechino Sausage with Lentils Though our recipe is a little late for your New Year’s celebration, we thought we’d go ahead and share this traditional New Year’s dish that combines two of Italy’s culinary symbols for good luck, the lentil… Read full article

  • Daube Provençale or Beef Stew with Wine

    Daube Provençale or Beef Stew with Wine This month’s recipe comes to us from Josette Smyrl who coordinated hotels and meals for ExperiencePlus! trips in France for a number of years. Now retired and living near Aix-en-Provence with her gardening… Read full article

  • Risotto with pears, gorgonzola and walnuts

    Risotto with Pear, Gorgonzola, & Walnuts

    This month’s recipe comes to us from tour leader Enrico Dal Monte who you may have met on tour in Belgium, Italy, France or Spain.  Pears are in season so it’s the perfect time to make this delicious cheesy risotto.… Read full article

  • Piadina or Flatbread

    Piadina* or Flatbread Ingredients: 5 cups (500 grams) of unbleached flour, soft flour if you can find it 2 teaspoons (10 grams) salt 5/8 cup (70 grams) of rendered lard (or scant half cup of olive oil if you prefer)… Read full article

  • Josette's Cherry Clafoutis

    Josette’s Cherry Clafoutis

    Josette’s Cherry  Clafoutis Preheat oven to 400F Ingredients: 1/2  pounds pitted Cherries 3/4  cup flour 2/3 cup  sugar 3 eggs 1 cup milk or light cream 1/3 cup melted butter 1 teaspoon powdered or brown sugar In a bowl, mix… Read full article

  • Strawberries are in season. Time for Strawberry Lasagna with Cream

    Strawberry Lasagna with Cream

    Serves Four Sponge Cake: 3 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar pinch of salt 3 egg whites 3/4 cup flour Zest from half an orange The Filling: 1 cup of fresh strawberries 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 2 tablespoons of powdered… Read full article

  • Image courtesy of http://guildwoodgardens.blogspot.com/

    Ramsons or Bear Garlic Soup

    Philipp Alexander Schmitt, one of our Tour Leaders in Germany and Spain, recently shared his version of Bear Garlic Soup which some of our travelers will remember fondly from their adventure  Bicycling Bavaria’s Back Roads. Bear garlic is also known… Read full article

  • Interview with Chef Erick Vedel

    A local Provençal chef tells us about his passion for food and how it has pervaded other areas of his life. Each year he opens his home to us on our 8-day Bicycling through the Best of Provence and 11-day… Read full article

  • Camargue Red Rice with Ginger and Chickpeas

    This recipe comes to us from Chef Erick Vedel and was served on the ExperiencePlus! Bicycling through the Best of Provence tour October 2010. Clinical studies have proven that red rice helps lower cholesterol and is also famous for its… Read full article

  • Photo byExperiencePlus! Traveler John Clevenger

    Per la Cena or What’s for Dinner?

    An interview with Bea Tassinari who coordinates meals on ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours in Italy. Bea can you tell us a little about the process of deciding what’s for dinner on a tour? The first step is to ask each restaurant… Read full article

  • Soufflé of Parmesan Cheese

    Sformato di Parmigiano or Soufflé of Parmesan Cheese We often receive requests from customers who have eaten something fabulous on tour and are hopeful that we can find or have a recipe for them. A recent example is a Parmesan… Read full article

  • ragu-tagliatelle

    Ragú Pasta Sauce

    Ragú is comfort food Italian style for the Malpezzi Price family. Simple ingredients combine to form a delicious sauce for your favorite pasta. The meat sauce is a Bolognese style meat sauce, preferably made with ground beef or a mixture of ground… Read full article

  • Beet and Feta Salad with Honey-Oregano Vinaigrette

    Beet and Feta Salad with Honey-Oregano Vinaigrette This month Paola invites her colleague, Ellen Brinks, to share her beet recipe. “Beet and Feta Salad works well as a side dish, but easily serves as a main-dish summer salad when accompanied… Read full article

  • Potato Soup with a Mediterranean Twist

    The common potato is a simple winter vegetable that makes an innovative, warm and creamy soup if paired with a tangy Mediterranean fruit like the olive. The best type of olive to use is one that is flavorful, dark and… Read full article

  • From Paola’s Kitchen: Cold Borscht Soup

    When Rick and I were in Poland about to begin our Krakow to Budapest bike tour in 2009 I tasted a delicious borscht soup. This recipe reminds me of that soup, although my memory may be faulty after a year!… Read full article

  • Summer Couscous with Seafood

    This recipe comes from the kitchen of Paola’s nephew, Claudio Malpezzi and the staff at the Titon Restaurant in Cesenatico, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Some of you may be interested in the Malpezzi family background to this recipe. Claudio is the youngest… Read full article

  • Classic Italian Minestrone Soup

    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

  • Panettone, Italian Christmas Bread

    Panettone, Italian Christmas Bread My father would bring home at least two or three brightly colored boxes -the color blue dominated – inside a delicious, rounded mound of a cake-like, light and spongy mixture wrapped in a clear plastic bag.… Read full article