olive oil

pasta 'ncasciata

Pasta ‘ncasciata: Montalbano’s favourite

  This post was inspired by my fellow blogger Vanessa who has a site I enjoy very much called Food in Books. It deals with the two things I love more than anything else: eating and reading. Vanessa scours the world’s literature looking for references to food and then she develops a recipe based on […]

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Melanzane ripiene della nonna Checchina: Puglian stuffed eggplants

This recipe is from Puglia.   To fully understand Italian cuisine, it’s important to note the major difference between it and, for example, French cuisine. French cuisine is the cuisine of the chef. Home cooks spend a lot of time trying to live up to the creations and recipes coming out of the important restaurants

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Azime dolci: Venetian passover cookies (recipe)

This recipe is from Veneto. As promised in the last post, here is a recipe for azime dolci, the Venetian jewish cookies I tried in the ghetto at the weekend. Pane azzimo, is the Italian for unleavened bread and these are called azime because they too are unleavened. And like pane azzimo, they are traditionally

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Risotto alla Trevisana: Risotto with radicchio (recipe)

This recipe is from Veneto. This recipe complements my previous post on Radicchio tardivo di Treviso. It’s a very common way of cooking it in Italy. The risotto takes on a lovely pinkish red colour thanks to the radicchio leaves and the gorgonzola adds a little depth of creamy flavour at the end.

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Lasagne bianche ai noci: lasagne with white ragù and walnuts (recipe)

White ragù—Italian meat sauce without tomatoes—is one of my all time favourite dishes. I learnt it as a teenager from my Italian step-grandmother in her kitchen in Venice. She was noted for her ragù and people were forever asking her how she made it but, of course, she wouldn’t tell. But one summer morning while

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Pasta e fagioli: pasta and bean soup (recipe)

  We’ve been waking up to temperatures of about -4°C at La Madera this week, proving that the Mediterranean climate is an extreme one. So, while we wait for the return of the 38°C days we experienced last summer, it’s time for winter comfort food: and here’s some from my childhood, pasta e fagioli, or as they say

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