So, why have I stopped blogging? Very simply put, tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes. Damned red fruit… As some of you may know, I work for a company which cans tomatoes. This means that the summer, aka The Tomato Season, far from being idyllic and relaxing, is an absolute madhouse and by far the busiest time of…
Eat like an Italian
Italians like to eat. They REALLY like to eat. And who can blame them? Pasta, pizza, risotto, olive oil, parmesan, gorgonzola, pecorino, mozzarella, parma ham, bresaola, speck, salami, tiramisu, Amadei chocolate… not to mention all those scrummy wines, from the well known Chianti and Pino grigio to the less well known but equaly wonderful Aglianico…
Paccheri with swordfish and aubergine
It’s been over a month since I published anything, and I’m quite ashamed of that fact. Therefore I am making a promise to myself and to anyone who sees this to publish ten articles this month. There. I have to do it now… Paccheri con pesce spada e melanzane from Sicily I am a huge…
Rustic Restaurants, punctures and snow in Southern Italy
Il Brigante, Sieti (SA) The name of this restaurant is “the robber”, but it won’t run away with your money, honest! This was one of the very first restaurants I came to with the Italian boy and friends, and where I first experienced a group meal “the Italian way”, that is to say with a…
Pastries with ricotta
La sfogliatella from Campania If you ever go to Naples then there are a few must-tries. Obviously that includes pizza, espresso, spaghetti with clams and rum baba. There is one delicacy for which there is no translation into English however, and it is one of my absolute favourite sweets, and one of the best breakfasts…
Olive Oil
Olio di Oliva Olive oil is not just olive oil here. Nope. You don’t just get standard and Extra Virgin. You get different classifications according to flavour, colour, aroma, regional provenence, use, food pairing…. Sounds a bit complex, like wine, right? That’s because here it is exactly like wine. It is just as important and there are…
O’ pummarola
Il pomodoro… tomatoes! Tomatoes go hand in hand with the typical image of Italian food. You find them everywhere: on pizza, bruschetta and pasta, in lasagne, salads and sandwiches. Italy is the EU’s biggest producer of tomatoes too, both fresh and processed, and they are so important to the Italian economy that they are known…
Pasta allo Scarpariello
Pasta allo Scarpariello from Campania This is probably the simplest yet most quintessentially Italian dish one can think of. The word Scaprariello may for many of you call up images of delicious bites of chicken, flash fried with garlic and white wine, rosemary and various other ingredients, but this dish, while yummy, is actually not Italian. It’s…
When in Rome…
…do as the Romans do. Rome is one of my favourite cities in the world. I love to visit it, and never get tired of walking around looking at the architecture, discovering pretty corners and eating ice-cream. I swear there are more ice cream shops per square kilometer in Rome than anywhere else on the…
Dark chocolate and coconut bites
Morbidosi al cioccolato fondente e cocco You might be wondering what I did with the leftover spongecake after making my Valentine’s day cupcakes… I hope that if you made them you didn’t throw the sponge out because in this recipe I use it to make soft chocolatey bites – I really hate to waste food,…
Valentine’s day in Italy
San Valentino Valentine’s day celebrates love. Italy is the “land of love”, il Belpaese, the most romantic country in the world… So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Italy is also the home of the story of Saint Valentine, and the origin of the Valentine’s day celebrations which take place around the world on 14th February…
Valentine’s day cupcakes
Pasticcini di San Valentino I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s day. Don’t get me wrong, I like the sentiment, the meaning behind it and all of that, but I hate how commercial it has become – it takes away from the spirit of the thing. For me, Valentine’s day is about spending time with…
lovefromitaly 