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 […]
Pasta e fagioli: pasta and bean soup (recipe) Read More »
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
Florence at Christmas: a photo essay Read More »
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 »
In my video about bringoli, I promised you a sauce recipe to serve with them, and here it is. This is one of the most traditional ways to serve pici, pinci, bigoli, or bringoli—as I said in the video, take your pick. All’aglione translates as ‘with a lot of garlic’ and that’s the key to this
Salsa all’aglione: Garlic and tomato pasta sauce Read More »
0, 00, 1, or 2? Italian flour can be confusing. Put it all straight with this quick guide. Once, I thought I knew flour: plain, self-raising, strong, wholemeal—each with their own uses, each with their own consistencies. And then I moved abroad. It was while shopping in Switzerland that I first noticed alarming range
A quick guide to Italian flour Read More »
This hand-rolled pasta is popular all over Tuscany with local variations on the name. My local town of Anghiari calls them bringoli and even has a festival dedicated to them in early November. Visit the festival and watch as I show you how to make them, just like an Italian would, in the video above.
Bringoli: Tuscan hand-rolled pasta – Chestnuts and Truffles TV Read More »
