A while ago I published the recipe for sfincione, which can be considered to be the pizza of Palermo. Today I am going to give you the recipe for the pizza from Trapani: rianata. There are a few versions of this pizza, some are made only with oregano (the name rianata comes from origanata which…
ANZAC BISCUITS
This is definitely not an Italian recipe. It is as Aussie as it gets. But then… I am Australian too! I found this recipe on ninemsn.com.au last year and loved it. These biscuits are traditionally baked for the 25th of April. This date is very special for me: for similar reasons, both Italy and Australia…
PRICKLY PEARS – FICHI D’INDIA
This is not a normal recipe post. Actually, it is not a recipe at all. When I went to Leichhardt (Sydney’s Little Italy) last week, I saw these prickly pears (Wiki) and I could not resist: I had to buy them. It is the first time I have seen them here in Sydney and they…
LAMB STEAKS WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES, FETA AND BAKED POTATO
Being that Easter will be here in 2 days, I thought of making a lamb dish for Easter. In Italy we traditionally eat lamb for Easter. I have to admit that while growing up I did not like lamb. I thought it tasted too strong… I changed my mind when I met my husband and…
STROZZAPRETI WITH SPECK AND PISTACHIO PESTO
The last time I went to Italy was in 2008. We went during summer, so we also went to Sicily to spend some time at the seaside in a small village called San Vito Lo Capo (Wiki). Our eldest daughter was 1 year old then and Clint and I could finally leave her with my…
BAKED POTATOES WITH GARLIC AND ROSEMARY
This is one of my family’s favourite side dishes. Who doesn’t love potatoes, especially when they are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside? The best thing is that these potatoes are not even fried, they are baked, so they are also healthy. They go well with everything, especially meats. I personally love…
“AGGLASSATO” CHICKEN – POLLO “AGGLASSATO”
This is a family recipe for cooking chicken that my dad brought with him from Palermo. The Sicilian term “agglassato” (in Italian “glassato”) means glazed and it refers to the glazed look that the onion sauce gives to the chicken. The onions give the chicken a sweet taste that is balanced by the slightly tangy…
GENOVESI ERICINE – MY FIRST GUEST POST
I have recently been invited by the charming Jill to write a guest post for her beautiful site, Mad About Macarons… She has just created a section on her site to publish recipes that require egg yolks. The reason is simple: the more egg yolks you use, the more egg whites you are going to…
TUNA DIP – ANTIPASTO DI TONNO AND AN AWARD!
The first time I have ever eaten this dish, I was at a restaurant in Milan with Clint. It was supposed to be a very good restaurant, yet we were not that impressed with it… the only dish worth remembering was this tuna dip that we had as entree. We actually liked it so much…
PIADINA AND CRESCIONE – MARCO’S RECIPE
A few days ago I made and shared with you the recipe of my first piadina: Homemade piadina with prosciutto, stracchino and rocket. When I shared it on my Facebook page, my friend Marco Drudi, who is from the area in Italy where piadine come from, kindly shared with me his family recipe! The ingredients…
BEIJINHOS DE COCO – COCONUT KISSES
This is not an Italian recipe. It is a Brazilian coconut sweet usually served during birthday parties. Clint ate this at work as one of his ex colleagues was Brazilian and brought it to share with all the co-workers… and as always when my husband likes some food, he asks me to replicate it. I…
FARFALLE WITH SALMON – FARFALLE AL SALMONE
This is a very easy and quick pasta recipe. I really like it because it is one of those dishes that is fast to prepare and looks and tastes very good. I remember eating this at my friend Elena’s house during our high school years and whenever her mom made it, it would be a…
EGGPLANT PATTIES – POLPETTE DI MELANZANE
What I love about eggplant is that they are so versatile and they are sweet inside with a slightly bitter skin. I use them in many dishes, probably because of my Sicilian origin (yes, Sicilians do eat lots of eggplant!). This is my mom’s recipe for what we call “polpette di melanzane” (eggplant patties). They…
HOMEMADE PIADINA WITH PROSCIUTTO, STRACCHINO AND ROCKET
Piadina (Wiki) is a very traditional bread/sandwich from Romagna (Wiki), a historical area that corresponds to the south-eastern portion of the Emilia-Romagna region. Piadine make very tasty sandwiches and they are often filled with cheese (squacquerone or stracchino are among the favorites), cold meats and/or vegetables. The filling that I prefer is the most classic…
CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT TARTELETTES
Last year I was looking for a good chocolate tart recipe and I came across this Rich Chocolate Coconut Tart. The moment I saw it, I knew I had to try it even though the shell worried me… it looked so hard to make and so delicate. Instead it was really easy to make, so…
AWARDS GALORE!
When I checked my blog this morning I found a comment from my fellow food blogger Priyanka from BUON APPETITO telling me that there was an award waiting for me in her blog. That immediately put a smile on my face… who doesn’t like to receive an award? So I went to check it out…
ONLINE BAKE SALE FOR JAPAN – THANK YOU!
I am sure you all know that Manu’s Menu took part to the Online Bake Sale organised by Sabrina from The Tomato Tart to raise money for Japan. The Bake Sale took place on March 30th and 31st. The aim was to raise $2,500 for Second Harvest Japan, the main food bank of the country…
COTOLETTE ALLA MILANESE
Cotolette is a typical dish from Milan. The original recipe is slightly different than mine as I do not usually fry mine in butter, but I use vegetable oil. This is the version that my mom and my grandma have always made and it is the one that I make regularly at home. The traditional…
POTATO FRITTATA – FRITTATA CON LE PATATE
I guess this could be regarded as the Italian “sister” of the Spanish tortilla. We make all kinds of frittata in Italy, but this has always been one of my favourites. It is very easy to make and uses simple and inexpensive ingredients. Parmigiano Reggiano gives it that extra flavour that makes it special. My…
ONLINE BAKE SALE FOR JAPAN – MANU’S MENU SNEAK PEEK
As many of you already know, Manu’s Menu will take part to the Online Bake Sale for Japan organised by Sabrina at The Tomato Tart. More than 90 food bloggers around the world have come together to support the initiative. Each of us will bake one or more goodies that will be put up for…
CRUMBED PORK INVOLTINI PALERMO STYLE – INVOLTINI DI MAIALE ALLA PALERMITANA
This is a dish that I learnt from my dad. He is from Palermo and all the dishes of Palermo that I know to cook, I have learnt from him. He has in turn learnt them from his mother and grandmother, so they are all family recipes, handed down from generation to generation. One of…
SPAGHETTI WITH MULLET ROE – SPAGHETTI CON BOTTARGA DI MUGINE
I have to admit that I have just recently discovered this dish, at least in the way you are going to read below. As you know, my family is from Sicily and the area around Trapani is well renowned for its tuna products, among which the famous tuna roe (bottarga di tonno). It is an…
SPECK AND FONTINA ROLL
When we were still living in Italy, one day Clint came back from work saying: “I have eaten a fantastic thing at work today. It was a puff pastry roll stuffed with cheese and speck. You should try and make it at home!”. When I heard “speck and cheese”, I was sold, he didn’t really…
MARZIPAN – MARTORANA
This is a traditional Sicilian sweet made with almond meal. When my parents were kids, children in Sicily would get presents for “all souls day”. The dead people of the family were seen as “friendly ghosts” who would come back home on the night of “i morti” (“the dead”) to gift the new generations with…
SFINCIONE PALERMITANO
This is another traditional Sicilian dish. This time we are talking about Palermo. For people who like food, Palermo is paradise. People really enjoy their food and there are so many great dishes, that it is very hard to choose what to eat! My dad is from this wonderful city and I have been lucky…
JAPAN – HOW WE CAN HELP
Maybe you do not know this, but my family and I were scheduled to leave for Japan on March 28th. We had been planning this holiday for over 2 years and my husband and I had been dreaming about visiting the “Land of the rising Sun” for a long time… We had planned our itinerary…
PANNA COTTA “TRICOLORE”
This is the last dish of the menu that I have created to celebrate the 150 years of the Unification of Italy. When I decided to make a theme menu for the occasion, this dish was the first I pictured in my mind. I knew I wanted to make a layered sweet to represent the…
