lemons

Cantalamessa, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Fave dei Morti: Almond biscuits – Chestnuts and Truffles TV

A repost of a popular video I made a few years back to show how they celebrate November 2 in Umbria.   These almond biscuits from Umbria are traditionally served on November 2, the feast of All Souls day, hence the name which means beans of the dead. Fave dei Morti Ingredients 250g (2 2./3 …

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Cotolete de sardele: Venetian fried sardines

    Cotolete de sardele (or cotolette di sarde in Italian) is another dish I tried for the first time in Venice while researching cichéti and discovering that I liked sardines, It’s simple, can be prepared in a few minutes and served as an appetizer, starter, or even a main course depending on the quantity.

Hugo Spritz: elderflower and prosecco cocktail (recipe)

  At this time of year the hedgerows around Caprese Michelangelo turn white with what seem to be bunches of tiny snowflakes. Luckily they are not since subzero temperatures in May would not be welcome. They are in fact fiori di sambuco or elderflowers. As well as looking pretty, they have a sweet, delicate fragrance that you’d wish …

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La Colomba Marietta: Italian Easter cake (recipe)

  This recipe is from Tuscany. The colomba is to Italian Easter what the panettone is to Christmas. The name, which means dove, comes from its shape, representing the Holy Spirit, who in the New Testament of the Bible appears in the form of a dove. Like the panettone, the colomba is ubiquitous in the …

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Florence at Christmas: a photo essay

  The magic of Florence is legendary. The city, with its red-tiled roofs fills the wide valley of the river Arno, straddled by the ponte vecchio, literally paved with gold shops. The enormous cupola of the duomo, also red-tiled, has given Florence one of the most recognized skylines in the world, to rival, Paris, London, New York, but …

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Quick guide to italian ingredients: citron (cedro)

  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 …

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