There are a lot of pumpkins in our house following our visit to the Fiera della Zucca di Piozzo last weekend so I’ve been hunting down new pumpkin recipes. This one for a rich creamy pumpkin soup also makes great use of the sweet chestnuts that have started to fall in the woods around our…
Pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with garlic sage butter
It’s pumpkin season here in Italy and this weekend we finally made it to the Fiera della Zucca di Piozzo just a short drive from our house. This regional pumpkin festival has been held for more than quarter of a century and this year more than 550 varieties were on display. The town has trademarked…
Fried halloumi salad with baked pomegranate grapes
I found this recipe a few weeks ago on Fuss Free Flavours when I was looking for something to do with the piles of red grapes picked from my vine and the block of halloumi cheese that I found in my local supermarket during their ‘Greek week’. I adore halloumi, it’s squeaky texture and creamy…
Foraged fig jam
It’s been a wonderful season for fruit and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to pick wild figs from a tree close to our house all summer long. Last year I tried my hand at foraged fig chutney which was delicious with cheese, but this year I decided to go down the sweet route,…
Garden vegetable soup
As Summer slides into Autumn here in Italy, I’m busy picking the crops that I planted as seeds back in the Spring. Last month I harvested more than 30kg of tomatoes…of which more later! I’m now moving onto the root vegetables, beans and leafy greens including iron-rich cavalo nero which I’m growing for the first…
Plum and apricot jams
Life has been pretty difficult since catching COVID-19 after travelling to the UK for the first time in nearly a year. One of the worst things was completely losing my sense of taste and smell for nearly a month which meant I also lost my appetite and desire to cook. Fortunately the return of my…
Warm potato salad with feta and fava beans
I grew up in a tiny farmhouse in the Welsh hills and one of my strongest memories as a child is sitting at the wooden table in the kitchen with my mum and dad popping broad beans out of their soft white furry pods. But I really didn’t like the taste of broad beans –…
Torta rustica ai luvertin
The weather has been very changeable here in Italy over the past few months. After a long hard winter with seemingly endless snow we had a few very warm weeks and now the weather veers between sunshine and heavy rain – which may sound very familiar to those of you living in the UK but…
The power of food to connect us
I’ve taken a couple of online cooking classes since the COVID-19 lockdown started, making ravioli with zucchini and garlic sauce and tiramisu with Cinzia and Lebanese mezza with Tania. I’ve also led an online cooking lesson of my own making lentil and mushroom cannelloni with a couple of friends and regularly cook via Zoom with…
Soft choc chip cookies
It’s more than 6 months since I saw my grandson Rex and his mum Jaz, who also happens to be one of my very best friends. In fact I have only seen them half a dozen times in the last 18 months due to my busy travel schedule before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the…
Ese ne tekrema 