I am sure that you will agree with me on this: food and memories are linked. When I eat something, my brain starts remembering things connected to the taste I am enjoying. This happens to me all the time. Since moving to Australia though this connection has become somewhat stronger. It’s probably because I can…
MEAT FILLED APULIAN PANZEROTTI
I cannot believe it’s Carnevale time already! Didn’t we celebrate Christmas just the other day?? Anyhow, today’s recipe had to be related to this amazing festivity, which also happens to be the one I like the most. I soooo miss Carnevale… back in Italy we all dress up in masks and go around playing tricks and having…
BISCOTTI DI FICHI – FIG COOKIES
Today, as part of my series on Regional Italian Cuisines, I want to share with you the recipe for a very traditional Christmas Sicilian sweet: biscotti di fichi. They are made with the same dough and filling of Buccellato (the traditional Sicilian cake I have shared with you last year), but they are a bit…
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…
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…
BEEF BOLLITO
Today’s dish is one of my favourite ways to eat beef. It is a very common dish throughout the North of Italy, but it is especially popular in Piedmont and Lombardy (this is why I am tagging this recipe under both regions for my series on Regional Italian dishes). There are many variations of this dish that…
SALSA VERDE
Today’s Regional Italian dish is Salsa verde (“green sauce”), a very famous Italian condiment that is used to serve poached meats, poultry and, sometimes, fish. It is a lovely sauce, slightly tangy and very tasty. It is also quite healthy and full of vitamins thanks to its main ingredient: parsley. This is a traditional recipe from…
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…
POLENTA CONCIA
Rachael of pizzarossa was our August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal! Rachael provided us with some amazing recipes and encouraged us to hunt down other cornmeal recipes that we’d never tried before – opening our eyes to literally 100s of cuisines and 1000s of new-to-us recipes!…
FOCACCIA AL POMODORO – CHERRY TOMATO FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe, the recipe for Focaccia with Olives and the one for Onion Focaccia, today I am going to post the recipe for another one of my favourites: Focaccia al pomodoro (aka cherry tomato focaccia)! I remember as a child going to the baker right after school and buying a piece…
TROFIE WITH WALNUT SAUCE
Today I want to share with you one of my favourite recipes. Well, it is actually a double recipe as I am going to show you how to make Trofie from scratch with a tutorial AND how to make a delicious, very simple and light walnut sauce to serve them with. Trofie are my absolute…
CAVATELLI CON RAGÙ DI MAIALE
Today’s Regional Italian dish comes from the small region of Molise, in the South of Italy (though, to be precise, the same dish with small variations is widespread in many other Southern regions, like Puglia or Campania or Basilicata). Molise is a small but beautiful region, famous for its pasta and extra virgin olive oil. …
FALSOMAGRO
When I think of Sunday lunches as a child, I think of this dish. I guess you could say this was our family’s equivalent of a Sunday roast. My mum would often prepare this when we had friends over and it has always been one of my all time favourite meat dishes. When I moved…
APPLE STRUDEL – APFELSTRUDEL – STRUDEL DI MELE
Today’s Regional Italian dish comes from the northern region of Trentino – Alto Adige that borders with Austria. This region (and some areas around it) was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it shares many culinary traditions with Austria and the surrounding areas. It seems that Strudel was born in the area now known as…
BAKED LASAGNE
Today I want to share with you the recipe for one of the most iconic Italian dishes ever: lasagne. It is a dish for special occasions or Sunday lunches spent with family and friends… so it is more time consuming than a mid-week dish. But I can guarantee you that you will not mind the…
SALTIMBOCCA ALLA ROMANA
Today’s Regional Italian dish comes from Lazio, Rome’s region. In fact, this dish is Roman… so much so, that it is called Saltimbocca alla romana (which literally means “jumps in the mouth Roman style”). This is one of those dishes that you can easily find outside of Italy and that I have seen made in…
GNOCCO FRITTO
Today’s Regional Italian dish comes from the region of Emilia Romagna, an area where you find some of the best Italian food. Prosciutto di Parma, Mortadella, Culatello, Parmigiano Reggiano, Tortellini, just to name a few, all come from here. It is “foodie heaven” and I cannot recommend it enough for a taste of amazing Italian…
CASATIELLO
Today I want to share with you the recipe of what we ate yesterday. In Italy, the day after Easter is called “Pasquetta” and it is usually spent in the open air with family and friends. People have picnics in the city parks or go to the seaside or mountains for a day of fun…
PASTIERA NAPOLETANA
Today I want to share with you the recipe for one of the most classic Italian Easter sweets: pastiera napoletana. As the name suggests, it is a typical cake from the city of Naples and it is a very ancient dish, as it appears to have originated before the Christian era, when it was eaten…
CABBUCI
If you are a regular reader, you will know that I have spent almost every summer holiday in Sicily up until I moved to Australia. I used to stay at a place called San Vito lo Capo, the same place where the Couscous Fest takes place. It is a beautiful little village with one of…
BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA
This week’s region is Lazio and as part of my Regional Italian dishes, I want to share with you the recipe for Pasta all’Amatriciana, one of the most famous dishes from the region. The use of onion in this dish is optional. In fact, it is not used in the original recipe of the town of…
SFINCIUNI DI SAN GIUSEPPE
March 19th is St. Joseph’s Day. It is also Father’s Day in many Catholic countries (Italy included) as St. Jospeh was Jesus’ father and it is considered a symbol of fatherhood. It is also a very important day in Sicily and it is widely celebrated as St. Jospeh is one of the island’s patron saints. …
