Friggitelli are all over the place at the moment. It is exactly the right time of year for them – the end of summer / beginning of autumn as the days begin to shorten but there is still enough heat and sunlight to not feel like putting your woolies on yet… although in all honesty…
Tag: Food
Orecchiette pasta with turnip tops
Orecchiette con le cime di rapa from Puglia I was on the telephone to my Gran the other day talking about the availability of certain ingredients in the UK and in Italy, and she was reminiscing about certain foods that were available in wartime Britain but which have now all but disappeared from the market…
Halloween in Italy
Happy Halloween to all of you! Halloween is a funny one… I really love this time of year, and when I was a kid (and when I was a student to be fair) it was a fantastic excuse to dress up in as silly and as outlandish a costume as I could possibly conceive and…
Roman Holiday part II
I did mention that I would be back to discuss the most important parts of my visit to Rome with my parents, and for those of you who know me at all, either in person or via the internet, will surely be aware that for me this means the food and drink. Rome, like all…
Organic food, Italian style
Organic food. Good for you? Yes. Environmentally friendly? Yes. Tastier? According to enthusiasts… Expensive? Absolutely! Yes, organic food is costly and despite the best of intentions if you don’t earn a high salary it is difficult to eat organic without having to give up on many of life’s little luxuries. Ironically, the more natural a…
Torta di fichi freschi e noci
Fresh fig and walnut pudding from Campania Well, I say Campania, because I was in Salerno when the idea came into my head, but it’s not exactly traditional… I had a load of fresh figs in my fridge because my green grocer knows I love figs and the season is almost at an end. However,…
White wine escalopes
Scaloppine al vino bianco from Lombardy Scaloppine originally were a Northern Italian dish reserved mostly for holidays and parties. Nowadays, because they are so quick and easy to make as well as being relatively cheap they are eaten every day by many families the length and breadth of the peninsula. You can make these with…
Stuffed zucchini flowers with anchovies and mozzarella
Fiori di zucca ripieni di mozzarella e alici from Lazio Another Roman dish! This dish was immortalised in fact by Julia Robert’s in the film adaptation of the book Eat, Pray, Love. When she sits at that table in Rome, outdoors on the street, and cuts into the crispy shell of the flower so that the rich,…
Tagliatelle with langoustines and fresh tomato sauce
Tagliatelle ai scampi e pomodoro fresco Think Italian food, and you think messy spaghetti in tomato sauce (not as messy as in Naples perhaps, but still). Think classy and you think seafood. So this, my friends, is the perfect combination of classic Italian pasta and elegance. Not to mention tasty. Fish: also known as “the…
risotto with prawns and courgettes
Risotto con zucchine e gamberetti from Lombardy In Italy, it used to be said that if you ordered risotto in the South and pasta in the North then you would get exactly what you deserve – wallpaper paste. This may have been true at one time as risotto certainly hails from the Milan area and…
Rich man’s carbonara
Carbonara con salmone affumicato Sorry it’s been a bit slow again over the past few days, I’m really not feeling well at all to tell the truth – sore throat, no voice, impacted wisdom tooth… the list of my health woes goes on, but that isn’t what anyone wants to read so now I’ve got…
Learning how to eat
Sounds daft, doesn’t it? Eating should be natural, in fact it is natural and in the Western world many of us do far too much of it. However, there is a difference between simply eating mindlessly and REALLY eating, savouring the aromas, textures and nuanced flavours. I am quite lucky really in that I grew…
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