Did you know that making your own Green Olive Tapenade is really easy? Keep reading to find out how!
Olive Breadsticks
Olive Breadsticks – aka Grissini alle Olive – are a variation of the traditional “grissini stirati” recipe that I have already shared with you a while ago. I often make my own breadsticks, as they taste so much better than any store bought variety. I love the fact that they are crunchy and they are…
Swordfish Caponata
Today’s recipe is a variation of one of the most popular Sicilian dishes: Caponata (click here for the recipe I shared a while ago). This Swordfish Caponata has all the ingredients of the original dish – including eggplant, olives and capers, plus swordfish. Caponata could be described as a cooked salad made up of fried…
Chicken with Black Olive Tapenade
I often cook chicken at home as it is my kids’ favourite kind of meat, so I know they will eat it without making a fuss. Today’s recipe is Chicken with Black Olive Tapenade and it is a variation of a Rabbit recipe I published a long time ago. In this case, I use chicken…
Black Olive Tapenade
Black Olive Tapenade is a Provençal dish consisting of puréed olives, herbs and olive oil. It is a popular condiment in the south of France, where it is generally eaten as an appetiser, spread on bread. Maybe not everyone knows though, that olive based tapenades are very common in Italian cuisine and trace back to…
Olive Bread
Since moving to Australia I have become more and more interested in baking my own bread. When I was living in Italy, buying artisanal bread was easy and convenient. I never lived too far from a bakery. In fact, come to think of it, nobody lives more than a 5 minute walk from one, at…
Tuna, Olive and Caper Pasta with Garlic Breadcrumbs
Today’s recipe is a classic in my kitchen. I make it often and it is one of my husband’s favourite pasta dishes. I cannot believe that I have been blogging for over 4 years and I haven’t shared this recipe yet! But I guess it’s like all the things that you are very familiar with:…
Olive Schiacciate
Olive Schiacciate (or Cracked Olives) are very popular in Italy, especially in the South. They are cracked olives in brine. I remember going to one of the beautiful and colourful markets in Palermo as a child and getting drawn to the stalls that would sell olives. They had so many different kinds. Mountains of delicious,…
Mahi Mahi with Caponata Sauce
I just came back from a wonderful week in Sicily, filled with emotions, as I got to spend time with some relatives and friends I hadn’t seen in 7 years and I got to show my kids places filled with childhood memories that they had never seen before! And to celebrate this moment, today I…
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Finally a pasta dish again! I cannot believe I haven’t published a recipe for pasta in a while! When we were living in Italy, we used to eat pasta once a day… almost every day. Yep, that’s the way Italians do it. But after moving to Australia, we don’t eat it quite as often. Still,…
Olive and Walnut Mini Madeleines
Today I want to share with you the recipe for a great appetiser: mini savoury madeleines made with walnuts and olives. I saw these in an Italian food magazine and I just HAD to make them. Actually, I made these for Christmas and served them as one of our appetisers, with blue cheese and honey. …
COUSCOUS, OLIVE AND ORANGE SALAD
Ohhh I love couscous and I make it in all kinds of ways. My all time favourite is my mum’s (and grandma’s) traditional Fish Couscous, but I also make the pre cooked version and serve it as a side dish. And then there is leftover plain couscous. Which is like a white canvas that can…
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…
SWORDFISH INVOLTINI IN TOMATO SAUCE
Swordfish involtini are a very common dish in Sicily and they are also one of my favourite recipes for fish! A little while ago I already shared with you the recipe of how to make Baked Swordfish Involtini. Today I am going to show you an alternative way of cooking them. This is my mom’s…
PIZZETTE
Today I am going to share with you another piece of my childhood. I don’t remember ever attending a birthday party as a child where there was no focaccia and/or pizzette as part of the buffet. Usually you can buy these little pizze (pizzette actually means “little pizze”) at any bakery and kids love them. …
BAKED EMPANADAS
Today’s recipe is not Italian as you may have guessed. Empanadas are a South American delicacy and are very popular in many countries. I have actually learnt that there are many different kinds of empanadas, many different fillings and doughs and different ways of cooking them too! I guess it is one of those dishes…
LEMON CHICKEN TAJINE WITH OLIVES
I have been sitting in front of my computer for a while now and I must admit I don’t know how to start off this post. There are times when anything you write just doesn’t sound right. If you follow other food blogs, you may have noticed that today there are quite a few posts dedicated to…
RABBIT WITH BLACK OLIVE TAPENADE
I know that rabbit is probably an unusual meat in many households around the world, but it is quite common in Italy. It is very lean and it tastes a bit like chicken. I have always liked it, even as a child. Actually I used to like it a lot more than chicken. Since moving…
GREEN TAGLIATELLE WITH TUNA AND RICOTTA
Today I want to share with you a dish that is very dear to my heart. It is a very simple recipe, but if made with home made pasta it can be a little bit more labour intensive (but so much worth it!). The reason why I love it so much is because it reminds…
BAKED SWORDFISH INVOLTINI
I must admit I am not a huge fish lover. Well, actually that is not exactly true as there is a lot of fish that I do enjoy eating, but the majority of it is very hard to find around here! So, I tend to eat mainly salmon or swordfish, which have always come to…
CAPONATA
After sharing with you the recipe for cabbuci, today I am back with the second part of my Italian Regional dish series. We are back in Sicily and I am going to show you how to make one of the most popular dishes of the island: caponata. It could be described as a cooked salad…
OCTOPUS SALAD
Today I want to share with you a very easy dish. In fact, it is almost a “non-recipe” as all you have to do is cut the ingredients and mix them together. Well, you may have to boil the octopus and potatoes too if you cannot find them ready. But that’s about it. I used…
