I am very excited about today’s recipe! I am partnering with Pasta Garofalo to bring to you Ziti with Neapolitan Meat Ragout, the quintessential Sunday supper meal. As the name suggests, this mouth-watering dish is typical of the beautiful southern city of Naples. This is a city that has been ruled by many different people…
Meatball Marsala
A few weeks ago, I shared with you the recipe for Veal Marsala. Today instead I am back with a modern twist to the classic recipe. In fact, I will show you how to make Meatball Marsala. The sauce is not exactly the same as the one used for Veal Marsala, so make sure you…
Goulash
Who doesn’t like a good stew in winter? I sure do! And Goulash is one of my favourite stews. It’s tasty, hearty, packed with flavour and easy to make. When I think of Goulash, 2 things come to my mind: Hungary and my grandmother. No, she wasn’t Hungarian, but she loved Goulash and it was…
Danubio
Today I am going to share with you a traditional recipe from Naples: Danubio. It can be considered the “cousin” of both savoury baba and casatiello. Danubio is a savoury brioche made up of many small balls filled with a variety of fillings. It is often prepared for Easter, but not only. It is traditionally…
Cicatelli all’Arrabbiata
If you follow Manu’s Menu you will very luckily know by now that I have just written a book about pasta: Homemade Pasta Made Simple. It’s been available for pre-order on Amazon for a few weeks, and it has now been officially released! Yay! Click here to get your copy now! So, to celebrate such…
Pasta with Baby Eggplants
Finally I am back with another pasta recipe! This Pasta with Baby Eggplants is a dish my grandmother used to make in Sicily. I have always loved it… it’s very easy to make and whenever I find baby eggplants at the grocer, I always buy them to make this pasta. What sets this sauce aside…
Dolci Pellegrino
Today I will share with you the recipe for Dolci Pellegrino, traditional lemon flavoured cookies from the city of Naples. Apparently these cookies, like many other Neapolitan and Sicilian sweets, were created by the nuns of a convent. These nuns were also helping out at the Pellegrini Hospital (thus the name) and would make these…
Pignoccata
Tomorrow is Mardi Gras or, as we Italians call it, Carnevale! Carnevale is a big thing in Italy and all kids dress up for almost a week and go on parades with all kinds of floats. It’s a little bit like “our Halloween”, when kids tell jokes, make pranks and throw coriandoli (coloured paper confetti)…
Pine Nut Cake
Today’s recipe is one of my favourite cakes. It is a Pine Nut Cake, traditionally from the southern Italian city of Naples. I love anything made with crostata crust as base, but this cake takes it up a notch, with its creamy semolina, milk and pine nut filling. Like the majority of my favourite recipes,…
Sicilian Bell Pepper Involtini
Today’s recipe is a very simple appetiser or side dish idea: Sicilian Bell Pepper Involtini. I love capsicums (or bell peppers), I always have. I have already shared a Bell Pepper Involtini recipe before, but this one is different. They are filled with what we call the ”Zangaras’ trademark”, as we use this same stuffing…
Bruschetta with Eggplant and Matarocco
With summer just around the corner, ML Spell from Dry Spell invited us to play with fire! She challenged us to make some mouthwatering eats on the grill for the June daring cooks challenge. Well, as you are probably aware, I live in Australia and even though the weather is usually not extremely cold,…
Panino con la Salamella #SundaySupper
Today the Sunday Supper group is inviting everyone to a big Virtual Picnic! It is summer in the Northern hemisphere and a picnic is in order. Even for us down here, stuck in the coldest months of the year, picnic food is fun and always great to pin and bookmark. I love “dreaming” of summer time and…
POLPETTE DI SARDE ALLA SICILIANA – SICILIAN SARDINE PATTIES
I know I have said this already, but sardines are my favourite fish. Unfortunately it is not easy to come across fresh sardines in Sydney. I find it weird as they are so common in Italy, but that’s just the way it is. So whenever I see some, I buy them! Today I will share…
GELATINA DI CAFFÈ – COFFEE JELLO
I have been blogging for almost 3 years now and when I look back at all the the things I learnt, I almost can’t believe it. I am talking about cooking techniques and also about computer skills and photography! But what I am the most grateful for are the friendships I made along the way. …
MOSTARDA MANTOVANA
Today’s recipe is a traditional recipe of the Italian region of Lombardy, where I was born. There are a few different kinds of mostarda, which is not the same as mustard as you may have noticed from the pictures in this post. The 2 most famous varieties are Mostarda Cremonese (from the town of Cremona)…
PESCHE DOLCI ALLA SICILIANA
I am very excited about today’s recipe. I am taking you all back to Sicily for this Regional Italian dish… a very special one. These are among my favourite Sicilian pastries. They are not as famous as cannoli, but they are just as delicious. The filling is in fact the same sweet ricotta filling of…
ABBACCHIO A SCOTTADITO
Today’s Regional Italian recipe is from the region of Lazio, the region of Rome. It is a very simple dish made up of grilled marinated lamb cutlets. The term abbacchio indicates a little lamb in the local dialect and “a scottadito” literally means “à la burning finger”… I know it sounds funny, but these cutlets…
CASSATELLE TRAPANESI – CASSATEDDI TRAPANISI
Today’s recipe is another one of my Sicilian recipes. Cassatelle (or cassateddi in Sicilian) are sweets typical of the town of Trapani, where my mum was born. They are usually eaten in winter and spring, which is when the fresh local ricotta cheese is at its best. They are traditionally made with sheep milk ricotta,…
SARDE A BECCAFICO ALLA PALERMITANA
Today’s Regional Italian dish takes us back to Sicily… to Palermo to be precise. It is a very popular dish and like all popular dishes, every family has its own recipe or twist. Also each Sicilian city has its variations. This is my family’s version, from my father’s side… and it is the Palermo version. …
FISH BROTH WITH GARLIC CROSTINI
Today I want to share with you the recipe for a delicious fish broth. It is the same recipe of the broth we use for Fish Couscous, but instead of being used to make couscous, it is served plain with some grilled crusty bread. I love this soup as it is simple, yet full of flavour….
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…
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…
