Ever since I came back from Modena, I’ve been dreaming of this pie. Having grown up in England, I love big, traditional, English pies such as pork pies and the game pies you see in TV costume dramas weighing down many a seventeenth-century table. This is the closest thing I’ve found in Italian cuisine to …
Pasticcio di tortellini: tortellini pie from Modena Read More »
One of the things that surprises most English-speaking tourists, when coming to Italy for the first time, is that in restaurants main dishes don’t come with vegetables. That’s not to say that Italians don’t eat vegetables with main dishes, but you have to order them separately. You find them on the menu in a …
Finocchio gratinato: oven roasted fennel with parmigiano (recipe) Read More »
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 …
Melanzane ripiene della nonna Checchina: Puglian stuffed eggplants Read More »
Radicchio tardivo di Treviso is an extraordinary looking vegetable, rather like a red and white octopus. Once cut, it is a kaleidoscope of red and white leaves which are extraordinarily beautiful. Grown in the provinces of Treviso and Venice, this plant now has protected name status from the European Union. It differs from other …
Quick Guide to Italian Ingredients: Radicchio Tardivo di Treviso IGP Read More »
Farro can refer to wheat from three different plants: triticum monococcum, triticum dicoccum, and triticum spelta. These are usually referred to as farro piccolo, farro medio, and farro grande (small, medium, and large) due to the size of their grains.
When the seasons change in Tuscany it happens with a bang. In the case of autumn, quite literally. Every year on August 31 we are treated to a thunderstorm which sends cool winds down the valley on September 1, shushing the leaves from the trees. This week it was the turn of spring. Overnight the …
