Just a quick post this week as the sun is shining, the bees are buzzing and everyone is excited for summer. It is also my birthday so I want to get back to doing as little as possible. When the weather is warm, the best course of action is to get together with friends and…
Eating octopus and potato salad while wishing we were at the seaside
After the official start of summer last week and the looming economic uncertainty thanks to Brexit and the US Presidential elections, we are missing the seaside and the tranquility it elicits. Many resort to staring at screensavers of the beach but I opt instead for cooking seafood and sitting in the sun. Of all the…
Salone del Gusto 2016 – Not to be missed!
I would be remiss to not share with you all what I think is one of the most important food events of all time. If you love food and drink, particularly Italian food and drink, don’t miss out on Salone del Gusto 2016, from 22 to 26 September in Turin. Salone del Gusto is a biannual event…
Your new favourite summer cocktail: Sgroppino
Aperitvi are a way of life for young people in Italy. They gather at bars to socialise, share small bites of food and enjoy a spritz, glass of wine or a cocktail. Summer is the height of aperitivi season as groups spill onto the streets to enjoy the warmer evenings. I have written before about…
Sour cherries have arrived! It’s time for cherry pie.
The weather is so changeable nowadays. Just when I packed away the winter clothes and hopefully packed my sunglasses in my handbag, this chill came from out of nowhere. I was walking down the road on a particularly grey miserable drizzly day when I spotted a crate of sour cherries. They were a bright, shiny…
The perfect antipasto for warmer nights
Our wedding was at a winery at the end of the summer. After the ceremony, guests mingled outside and enjoyed the sun setting over the vineyards while sharing some bubbly and nibbles. My favourite aperitivo was elegant little brown paper cones filled with crisp, lightly-battered courgette flowers and sage leaves and deep-fried batons of polenta and pressed…
Why you should visit Stresa
Within an easy hour-long drive from Milan’s Malpensa airport is a beautiful and relatively uncrowded holiday spot. The winding road off the motorway leading to Stresa takes a sharp left turn offering panoramic views of the glassy lake dotted with islands and boats, framed by the towers of handsome period villas. Palm tree-lined streets and…
A glimpse of summer: fresh peach tart
I know it’s only May. I can’t wait any longer. I’ll blame it on the changeable weather giving us a glimpse of the summer to come for a few hours on the occasional day. Peaches and apricots are starting to arrive this month but they are not yet sun-drenched, butter-soft and sweet-as-candy. They just don’t…
A quick and simple dish all children love: chicken Parmigiana
This recipe is a favourite with children the world over. We ate this dish with family friends on a scorching summer night in Modena. We dined in a town square watching the locals leaning out half naked from their windows desperate for hint of breeze. Between us we had 5 children who eagerly (and silently)…
Mid-week dinner: Pasta al forno (pasta with tomato and mozzarella)
Baked pasta dishes are typical for major holidays and occasions in Italy. Pasta al forno usually means lasagne in the north and medium to large pasta or wide tagliatelle layered with different sauces and ingredients in the south. This dish is vegetarian, easy to prepare and a favourite with young and old. When it’s baked,…
Lamb chops with courgette ribbons, aubergine puree and salsa verde
I first tried this dish at 10 Greek Street in London. I love the combination of textures and flavours. The slightly smokey, creamy aubergine (eggplant) flavoured with mint and pecorino is the perfect spring combination to match with lamb. The tangy salsa verde whips up quickly and delivers a punch of freshness to the dish,…
Exotic Sicily
We explored the south-western part of Sicilia (Sicily) starting with a drive from Palermo to Erice. The land was arid and rocky dotted with rows of vineyards. It feels more like North Africa than Italy now. Dates grow on the palm trees, rows of pomegranate trees and fig covered cacti line the walls. Dwarf olive…
Arnad: The proud land of lard
Driving from Milan towards the Alps, at the mouth of the Aosta valley you pass the tiny hamlet of Arnad, where there is a sign welcoming you to the Pays du Lardo (land of lardo). This is enough to make the health conscious wary (although new research indicates we should be more worried about carbohydrates…
It finally feels like Spring!
Spring is in the air. The flowers are blossoming, the birds are singing and the sun is shining…sometimes. After the dark slumber of winter, the world seems abuzz with life. We are starting to pack away our jumpers and winter coats with a hopeful eye on the weather. Spring lambs are arriving and what was…
Meet my new love, presenting the chestnut, chocolate and pear tart
Spring has arrived but the winter chill is still lingering. I am savouring the last moments with the flavours of winter- slow cooked beef ribs, hearty stews and the earthy flavours of chestnuts, hazelnuts and mushrooms. We are away for the Easter holidays and I spied on the flight, a pear and chocolate cake on…
One sauce makes 10 recipes
We drove through Carmagnola, the pepper capital of Piemonte, on our way from Torino to the Langhe last autumn. Carmagnola is famed for producing four varieties of peppers including the peperone corn di bue di Carmagnola (the bull-horn shaped pepper from Carmagnola) which comes in bright yellow or red and has a firm meaty flesh….
Easter pizza
The egg is a symbol of Easter because it represents the resurrection of Christ, rebirth and the beginning of Spring. Colourfully painted eggs and chocolate eggs are popular ways of celebrating this festival around the world. In Italy, there are many types of special breads prepared at Easter using eggs, both in the dough and on…
An ancient cooking method revisited: salt baked fish
Sealing food in pastry, dough, salt crust or even leaves is an ancient method of cooking. Before pots and pans were invented, people living near geothermal springs would either wrap the food up and cook it in the springs or bury it in the hot earth near the spring. In Iceland today they still bake…
My favourite winter salad
In the winter, puntarelle (a type of endive typical in and around Rome) begin to pop up in the markets. The long, young, crisp leaves and shoots are dressed with a garlicky anchovy sauce and are the perfect accompaniment to a plate of salumi. The slightly bitter, crunchy leaves contrast well with fatty, silky soft prosciutto…
The joy of alpine milk
I, like many people, find thoughts of melted cheese and skiing in the Alps inseparable. Fondue and raclette are signature winter mountain fare. In Valle d’Aosta the iconic cheese is Fontina, where it is exclusively made amongst the highest mountains in Europe: Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc), Monte Rosa, Cervino (the Matterhorn/Zermatt) and Gran Paradiso. Two…
Alpine living
So we are in the Italian Alps on a skiing holiday working hard to get in all the cheese, glorious cheese. It comes sliced, grilled, broiled, on polenta, risotto, pasta, in veal chops, melted in a bowl- the list is endless. I’ll report back next week on my visit to see Fontina being made. Until…
The Roman grain basket reemerges
A new generation of Sicilians are emerging. While Sicilians are known for being traditional and proud, several of their traditions have been industrialised with the role of the craftsman slowly disappearing. The production of Marsala being an iconic example. Sicily was the grain basket for the Roman Empire under Julius Caesar. There are about 60 ancient indigenous…
The land of milk and honey…..and olives: Valle del Belice
Salemi in Valle del Belice is home to Cucchiara family, where three generations have been making traditional and organic sheep’s milk cheese since 1870. The Caseificio Cucchiara Liborio has 900 sheep which graze on their 90 hectares of land. The Cucchiara family also keep bees to make honey during the Spring and Summer which pairs exquisitely with their pecorino cheese. Their…
The real reason I go skiing
When I say I love skiing, what I really mean is that I love lunch while skiing. Anybody reading this in North America may be unable to relate to this statement. I grew up eating very expensive, dry, burnt hamburgers with frozen fingers before heading back down the piste. Then I came to Europe to…
Sicily’s most interesting but nearly extinct wine
To me, loving Italian wine means embracing diversity; rallying on the rebels who elude the pressure to conform. Ironically, this urge to express originality is at odds with the very survival of many winemakers, for in order to effectively market a “brand” there needs to first exist a uniform identity to which a critical mass subscribe. The…
11 healthy dishes for under £1
It seems everyone is thinking about taxes and diets at this time of year. The weather doesn’t improve the gloomy outlook. So in the spirit of restraint after self-indulgence, here are few delicious healthy recipes you can enjoy while keeping your conscience at ease at the same time as each dish cost less than £1 per…
Top 5 recipes of 2015
Here are our top 5 recipes of 2015 as voted by you. Looking back at 2015, there were a few more modern recipes introduced which we had tried in several restaurants in Italy. The winners however were some of the standby classics: 5. Torta verde (chard and ricotta pie) from Liguria Torta verde is one of…
Ringing in the new year
Another year is almost over. 2015 was full of real highs and then sudden darkness looming. As a mother, one look in my child’s eyes leaves me with only hope for the future. As always, in order to focus on the enjoying the present and hoping for the future, we fix our gaze firmly on…
Where in Italy is a great place for families to spend the Christmas holiday?
Venezia (Venice) has many names and faces. It is known as the city of romance, a UNESCO city of culture rich with breathtaking architecture and art, the City of Water with its canals crisscrossing the city, the City of Masks as shops display the city’s characteristic carnival masks year-round, as where the orient meets Europe…
My favourite foodie presents from last Christmas
Typically I slowly hoard Christmas presents all through the year. Meanwhile my husband spends 363 days of the year in denial that Christmas is always on December 25. I predict that in 9 days from now, he will be amongst the crowds of shoppers desperately trying to remember who and what to buy for. This year…
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 8
- Next Page »