When my children were young I used to make pizza almost every week. We lived in the Welsh hills and there wasn’t a pizzeria for miles. My son Dylan would take the orders, scribbling down the selected toppings of household members, whilst I kneaded the dough. It became something of a weekly family ritual. Since…
Category: Italy
Cinzia’s tiramisu
Last weekend I had an online cookery lesson with Cinzia in Florence booked through Travelling Spoon. Cinzia taught me how to make a delicious ravioli with zucchini and garlic sauce but at the same time she also had me making tiramisu. My kitchen is very small and I struggled at times to find sufficient bowls…
Ravioli with zucchini and garlic sauce
Although I live in Italy and have eaten (and loved) Italian food almost all my adult life, I’ve never actually tried to make my own pasta. Today I put that right with thanks to an online cooking lesson with Cinzia in Florence booked through Travelling Spoon. Together we made ravioli stuffed with ricotta and nutmeg…
Polenta with pumpkin, mushrooms and sage
So this was a difficult week for everyone but perhaps especially for those of us living in Italy who, over the course of just a few days, lurched from facing ‘red zones’ in the North to complete ‘lock down’ as the country battled to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). For me personally it meant…
Da casa a casa: il corridoio italia-filippine
Whilst anyone from the Philippines will tell you that Filipinos are everywhere, so too, it seems, are the Italians! After a morning of snorkelling at the sunken cemetery in Camiguin and a long walk on the beach I was hungry and ready to eat when I stumbled across an Italian restaurant called ‘Luna’ (‘moon’) close…
Tagliatelle con trota e ricotta
This week I had the pleasure to be invited to the Agriturismo Aquadolce for a wonderful lunch with Lorenza Borsarelli. You might remember that in my last blog I wrote about Lorenza’s work with Intrecci, a collective of local agricultural producers who, like me, believe passionately in the power of food produced sustainability and with…
Opening doors and hearts…food, friendship and solidarity in Mondovi
Last week I met with Lorenza Borsarelli – fifth from the right – to find out more about the work of ‘Intrecci’ (interweave), a collective of local agricultural producers who, like me, believe passionately in the power of food produced sustainability and with love to bring together communities and create a shared sense of identity…
Less is more…a morning at Mondovi’s mercato contadino
I’ve always adored Italian food but it wasn’t until we started living in the beautiful town of Mondovi which lies in the foothills of the Italian Alps that I came to understand the vast regional differences between the food produced and eaten in the South of the country – often dominated by tomatoes, soft cheeses…
Torta de mela (Italian apple cake)
Winter in Piedmont means that the local farmer’s market is full of apples grown in the rolling hills which surround Mondovi. And that means I have no choice other than to make torta de mela or Italian apple cake! This recipe is adapted from one I found elsewhere with the main difference being that I…
Ese ne tekrema 