As Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought of putting together a roundup of a few of my favourite recipes. It’s always hard to choose, as I like everything I publish (what I don’t like doesn’t get on this blog… ever!), but I think these are all fantastic ideas for a romantic dinner. Some…
CAPPELLACCI WITH SAUSAGE AND PORCINI
Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a fun (and food) filled New Year’s Eve and I wish you all the best for 2014!!! Today I want to celebrate the beginning of the new year with a special recipe. We had these on Christmas Eve and they were a huge hit. Every year we…
PASTA BAKE – PASTA AL FORNO
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! I hope you are all having a fantastic holiday season, full of laughter and love. I hope you are spending more time with your family and friends and that you take some time to slow down and really savour each moment of this special time of the year. I am blessed as…
ORECCHIETTE WITH SAUSAGE AND FENNEL TOPS
I know many people find making bread relaxing. And I do understand why… kneading is good for you and it does take your mind away from everyday worries. I have a very similar experience when making pasta. And more precisely when shaping pasta with my hands. I find it a very relaxing and fulfilling activity. …
LASAGNE WITH ZUCCHINI PESTO, SPECK AND SMOKED SCAMORZA
Mmmm Lasagne! My favourite dish ever. Growing up my parents and I would make Lasagne for big occasions, like Christmas or birthdays. And they would always be the classic meat version (you can find my recipe here). Well, lately I have been making all sorts of Lasagne. Remember my Pesto Lasagne (my all time favourite!), or…
SPAGHETTI WITH MUSSELS
Today’s recipe is yet another classic of Italian cuisine. It is originally from the South, where fresh mussels are very common, but it is one of those dishes that is now widely eaten throughout the country. It is a very simple recipe, which doesn’t require many ingredients and, like all simple recipes, needs to be…
TORTELLI DI ZUCCA – PUMPKIN TORTELLI
In my last post I had promised you a recipe to use up some of that beautiful Mostarda Mantovana that I showed you how to make. Well… here I am to keep my promise. Today’s recipe is yet another recipe from Mantova, in Lombardy and it is an honour for me to showcase it on…
SAFFRON GNOCCHI WITH SAUSAGE AND PORCINI
Todd, who is The Daring Kitchen’s AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook, is our September Daring Cooks’ host! Todd challenged us to make light and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of goodness and go wild with a sauce to top them with! YESSSSS! I love gnocchi of all sorts,…
PURPLE GNOCCHI ON A PARMIGIANO REGGIANO FONDUE WITH TOASTED HAZELNUTS AND CRUNCHY SPECK
I love experimenting with pasta and gnocchi. I love the fact that you can make them of many shapes, flavours and colours. I saw these amazing purple Congo potatoes at the market and I could not resist buying them. They are not imported from Congo as they name might suggest, but they are grown in…
TROFIE WITH TALEGGIO AND ZUCCHINI
It’s getting cold down here and when it gets chilly, I find myself craving for cheese… better if it is melted! I also like to spend some time in the kitchen making pasta with my youngest daughter (she is quite talented I must say) and the pasta we have the most fun making together is…
SPAGHETTI WITH VONGOLE
Today’s recipe is one of my favourite pasta dishes! Back in Italy, I would make it regularly as I could easily find fresh vongole at the market. Finding them here in Sydney instead is not easy at all. And even when I find them, they are often frozen… So when I saw these at the…
PRAWN AND ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI
I must admit I am not a huge fan of prawns… but I am the only one in my family. My mum would make this pasta often during our holidays in Sicily as we were able to get amazingly fresh prawns over there. It is a very easy recipe and the sauce takes just a…
SPAGHETTI WITH HOME-MADE TOMATO SAUCE
I cannot believe it! I have blogged for over 2 years and I haven’t posted this recipe yet! Spaghetti with home-made tomato sauce form the BASE of Italian cuisine. So much so that Italians refer to this dish as pasta “al sugo”, which means “with sauce”, taking for granted that the sauce is tomato sauce. …
BREAD MALFATTI WITH BUTTER AND PUMPKIN CREAM
Last year, my mother gave me one of my grandmother’s cookbooks. It is full of notes and extra recipes that my nonna would pin down in all the white areas in between pages. I love it. I love being able to read her comments, I love being able to once again see her curvy handwriting,…
BUSIATI WITH EGGPLANT AND GARLIC & THYME BREADCRUMBS
Today’s dish is a recipe I came up with a little while ago. Do you ever have a day when you want to use up ingredients that are taking too much place in your pantry or fridge? It happens quite often to me and when it does, I take them all out, put them on…
GORGONZOLA FILLED POTATO GNOCCHI WITH BUTTER AND SAGE
When I saw these gnocchi, I could not resist. If you follow this site, I am sure you know that yours truly is a gorgonzola-holic (?!) and just the thought of biting into soft pillowy potato gnocchi to find a gorgonzola treasure made my mouth water. I must admit I had never even contemplated filling gnocchi, but…
PASTA CON LE SARDE ALLA PALERMITANA
I am quite sure I have said this already, but just in case you have missed that specific post, I will repeat myself… 😉 I like fish, but I am not a HUGE fish lover. If I had to choose only one thing to have off a menu, fish would always be at the bottom…
CHESTNUT GNOCCHI VALCHIAVENNA STYLE
Today’s Regional Italian recipe comes from the region I grew up in: Lombardy. To be precise, this recipe is from Valchiavenna, an Alpine valley to the north of Lake Como. It is a truly beautiful area and the food you can eat there is genuine and very much linked to the territory and local produce. …
PENNE WITH SALAMI AND PROVOLONE
Today I want to share with you one of my husband’s favourite pasta recipes. He loves salami and provolone, so when he first tasted these penne, he told me “this is the best pasta I have ever eaten”. Now, that’s a complement! It is very tasty indeed: salami does not require any “introduction”, but what…
GREEN LASAGNE WITH STRACCHINO, ARTICHOKES AND SAUSAGE
When I think of comfort food, the first image that comes to my mind is a plate full of lasagne… no matter how they are made (with a classic beef sauce, with pesto or with any other ingredients), lasagne represent comfort food to me (and the majority of Italians). They are easily going to be…
LASAGNE VERDI
Today’s recipe is a variation on the classic Baked Lasagne that I have already shared with you in the past. The main difference is that this dish is made using “green” pasta sheets that are made with spinach. You can find a tutorial on how to make your own green pasta dough here. I can…
MINT & POTATO TRIANGOLINI WITH BURNT BUTTER
Today’s recipe – Mint & Potato Triangolini with burnt butter – is about simple ingredients. Actually, come to think of it, authentic Italian cooking is often about simple ingredients. I really wanted to make some stuffed pasta, but I did not have a lot of time (nor the ingredients) to make a traditional filling for it. …
PAPPARDELLE WITH RADICCHIO AND SPECK
Radicchio (pronounced rah-DEE-kee-oh) is a chicory very specific to certain areas of Northern Italy, especially Veneto. There are a few varieties, but Chioggia (the round kind) and Treviso (the elongated kind) are the most common. I have only ever seen Treviso in Sydney, so that’s what I have used for this recipe, but the round variety…
PASTA WITH SICILIAN STUFFED ARTICHOKES
Today I am sharing a pasta recipe – Pasta with Sicilian Stuffed Artichokes – in a guest post at Chef Dennis’ blog, A Culinary Journey. I think pretty much all food bloggers know Chef Dennis. He is a very talented chef, but above all he is a very kind person and someone who is always ready…
PESTO LASAGNE
I am very excited about today’s recipe. The reason is simple: it is one of my all time favourite dishes. I have always loved lasagne, but growing up I had always only eaten the classic meat version. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I had my first lasagne with pesto. I was at…
BAKED JUMBO SHELLS FILLED WITH ZUCCHINI AND MUSHROOMS
Today’s recipe is the perfect recipe to make for a Sunday lunch or any special occasion. It does require a little work, but it is definitely worth it and it is a dish that can be prepared in advance and then baked on the day. Needless to say, it is delicious. My 5 year old…
POTATO GNOCCHI WITH TALEGGIO AND ORANGE FONDUE
There are many sauces that you can make for potato gnocchi, but my favourite ones are cheese based. I think the creaminess of a cheese based sauce goes perfectly well with those pillowy bites of goodness! I have already shared with you the recipe for Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola, which is one of my favourite, and…
