I remember it coming as quite a shock, a few years ago,  when discussing what to have for lunch with my English partner that my suggestion of pasta was met with an incredulous, ‘but we ate that yesterday. We can’t have it every day. It will get boring.’ For me, having been brought up on an […]
Quick guide to Italian ingredients: Pasta secca Read More »
This classic recipe comes from La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene by Pellegrino Artusi, first published in 1891. Not widely known outside Italy, this book is considered to be the definitive text on traditional Italian cooking, however, a great many of the recipes are from Tuscan cuisine. Artusi was born in Forlimpopoli
Torta di noci: walnut and chocolate cake – Chestnuts and Truffles TV Read More »
Salami is one of the most famous of all Italian ingredients and forms part of antipasto platters and pizza toppings up and down the peninsula. Travelling around Italy however, once again, you notice that every region has its own variations and varieties. Perhaps the most famous Tuscan salami, and certainly my favourite, is finocchiona,
Quick guide to Italian ingredients: Finocchiona (fennel salami) Read More »
Tozzetti are the Umbrian version of cantucci (aka biscotti or biscotti di Prato) and are slightly different containing hazelnuts as well as almonds and being flavoured with aniseed. I first had these at the Saio Winery in Assisi, where they served them as part of the food to taste with their wine. Cantucci are traditionally dipped in
Tozzetti all’anice: Aniseed biscotti – Chesnuts and Truffles TV Read More »
Long long ago, before the lemon was a twinkle in mother nature’s eye, there was the citron. One of the four original citrus fruits, from which all the others developed naturally, or otherwise, the citron (citrus medicus)—cedro in Italian—looks like a large, knobbly lemon, but is in fact a distinct fruit. When you cut
Quick guide to italian ingredients: citron (cedro) Read More »
Exploring the wines of the new Tuscan revolution When people think of Tuscan wine, they think of Chianti, and rightly so because the Chianti region occupies the majority of the wine producing area of central Tuscany, and is the third largest Italian region in terms of DOC/G production. Most people are aware also that forty
Tuscan wines: Panaccio 2011 Read More »
