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…
COUSCOUS AND HERB SALAD
Couscous is one of my favourite side dishes. I love the fact that it is so versatile and that it can be easily turned into a light and healthy main dish for a weekday lunch. I usually make couscous to go with my Lemon Chicken Tajine with Olives or my LambTajine with Quinces and I sometimes have…
KOTHEY MOMO
Today I want to share with you the recipe for Momo, the Himalayan Dumplings. I had them for the first time at a Nepalese Restaurant a little while ago and I simply loved them. There are many variations of momos and they can be filled with yak, mutton, chicken, pork, vegetables… The filling varies mainly…
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. …
AUNT FRANCA’S RABBIT
Today I want to share with you another one of my family recipes. This is my favourite way to cook and eat rabbit and when I was a child I would choose this dish over chicken any time! I know that rabbit is an unusual meat in many countries around the world, but it is…
PROSCIUTTO, ROCKET AND GRANA CHEESE PIZZA
My husband adores pizza… so, to please him (and the kids!), I usually make pizza on Sunday evening. Home made pizza can be quite healthy, depending on the toppings you use and it is quite common in Italian houses to make pizza once a week. While my husband enjoys his pizza with salami, I like…
RAITA
The first time I ate raita, I was in Mumbai. I was still quite new to Indian food (we are talking about over 10 years ago!) and everything seemed too spicy for me! That’s when I was served some raita… I loved it immediately as it was refreshing and cooling (the weather was also very…
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…
HORTOBÁGYI PALACSINTA
I know, I know… today’s recipe is NOT Italian. But this specific dish is very dear to my heart. You see, when I was a child I visited Hungary with my parents and I had the best Hortobágyi palacsinta ever in this small restaurant in Budapest. It was 1992… 20 years ago (oh my!) and…
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…
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. …
FAGIOLI ALL’UCCELLETTO
Today’s Regional Italian dish is from Tuscany and more specifically from the beautiful city of Florence. It is a very simple yet tasty recipe that can be served as a vegetarian/vegan main dish or, as it is common in Tuscany, as a side to barbecued Italian sausages. Fagioli all’uccelletto is an ancient recipe made of…
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…
GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA
This week’s Regional Italian dish comes from Campania and more precisely from Sorrento. I am sure that all of you have heard of this beautiful coastal village, which is renowned for its world famous lemons (from which the best limoncello is made). I would love to share with you the recipe for limoncello, but as…
ROAST TOMATO, ROCKET AND MACADAMIA SALAD
This is the salad I served as one of the sides for my “Come have some Aussie tucker, mate!” party for Foodbuzz 24×24. It is one of those salads with fancy names that you could easily see on a café menu, yet it is very easy and quick to make at home. These are the…
SPAGHETTI WITH CHERRY TOMATOES AND ANCHOVIES
Yes! Finally I get to share with you a spaghetti recipe! Strangely enough, I seldom do… I think it must be because for an Italian, spaghetti are a staple and I tend to forget how delicious they are. This is a very simple yet delicious recipe for one of the tastiest spaghetti sauces ever. Like…
FALAFEL
The first time I ate falafel I was in Paris… as it often happened with Middle Eastern food that was almost unknown in Italy. I am talking about 20+ years ago! I still remember the shop I bought them from. It was near Place des Vosges, in my favourite area of town: the Marais, which…
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……
STRASCINATI “TRICOLORE”
This is the second dish from the menu that I have come up with to celebrate the 150 years of the Unification of Italy. It is the main dish of the theme menu and, like the entree already published -“Tricolore salad”- it also has the colors of the Italian flag: white, red and green. This…
BUSIATI WITH PESTO TRAPANESE AND FRIED EGGPLANT – BUSIATI CULL’AGGHIA
This is probably the most traditional pasta you can eat in the area of Trapani, in western Sicily. Both the pasta and the sauce are, together with fish couscous, the most well known dishes of the area. The sauce is very easy to make and it is the Trapanese version of pesto. It is similar…
TEX MED SALAD – INSALATA TEX MED
No, it is not a typo! I really meant “Med” as in Mediterranean. It is summer here in the southern hemisphere and when it is hot, there is nothing better than a light salad for lunch. But who says that light cannot be tasty and filling?? This is the recipe of one of my favourite salads. It can be…
