After moving to Australia I haven’t been able to eat many of the dishes I grew up with as they simply do not exist. If you have ever moved internationally, you will know the feeling… At the beginning you do not miss the food you left behind as you are too busy discovering all the…
KRAPFEN – MY GUEST POST AT BIG FAT BAKER
Today I am guest posting over at Erin’s blog: Big Fat Baker. I am so happy and honoured to be her guest! I love her site, don’t you all? Make sure you visit it now if you haven’t yet as you will find so many delicious dessert ideas! I always make sure to visit it…
FRIED MOZZARELLE WITH ANCHOVIES
This is a very easy recipe for a very tasty aperitivo. Aperitivo could be considered the Italian equivalent of the Spanish tapas and it is basically finger food eaten along with drinks. It can also substitute a more substantial appetizer for a dinner party. When I first met my husband he would often tell me…
SWEET AND SOUR PUMPKIN WITH GARLIC AND MINT
This is a very versatile dish: it makes a great side dish for meats, but it can also be eaten as an appetizer or finger food on some toasted ciabatta. It is my family’s favourite vegetable dish. We all like its sweet and sour taste and I usually make a lot of it and keep…
BEEF AND VEGETABLE PATTIES
Do you have fussy eaters at home? I sure do… my preschooler just refuses to eat any vegetables at all. So, like many moms out there with the same problem, I have to think of ways to make her eat her veggies. I often “hide” them in foods that she enjoys eating and these patties…
SAMOSAS
Samosas are one of my favourite Indian snacks. You can find them all around the world and it would be hard to find someone who has never eaten one. They are best eaten warm and crispy… I like them so much that I had to learn how to make them at home, as I believe…
FRIED PIZZA – PIZZA FRITTA
This is not a recipe for the faint hearted. It is not light and it is fried… but it is the most delicious of pizza’s! It is my nonna’s (grandmother) recipe and she used to make it for her children and grandchildren quite often. I actually do not remember her making a baked pizza ever……
CHICKEN COTOLETTE WITH CHEESE AND A SHOWER OF AWARDS
This is the chicken version of my cotolette recipe with a couple of differences. In this case I coat the chicken with flour before putting it in the egg wash and crumbing it. And, above all, I add cheese to it. It is a very easy dish that your kids and you will love. This…
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…
FRIED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS – PLAIN OR STUFFED
Zucchini flowers are a staple in my kitchen. I love them and buy them whenever I find them! The first time I made them for my husband he thought I was joking… “I’ll never eat flowers”, he told me straight away. So, I let him be… and started making them. Once ready, I brought them…
CHIACCHIERE
This is a very special time of the year for all Italian children: it is “Carnevale”. It is the time to dress up as a princess or a super hero and go around town to play tricks on people or throw coriandoli (round shaped paper confetti) in the air. There are many famous Carnevali in…
PANZEROTTI
A panzerotto is very similar to a calzone, but it is fried. There is a little shop in the very center of Milano, just behind the famous Duomo (Wiki), that makes the best panzerotti ever. It is called Luini and it very famous among the locals. I would often eat there with my friends during…
ARANCINE – AL RAGU E AL BURRO
This is my family recipe for arancine, a very popular street food dish from Sicily. They are fried balls of saffron rice stuffed with either a meat sauce or a cheese sauce. The cheese version is called “al burro” that literally means “with butter”, but they are actually filled with béchamel sauce, cheese, ham and peas, while the…
