Food, Travel, and Cooking!
An excellent pasta dish dressed with an asparagus sauce from Julia Della Croce’s cookbook, Umbria. I made it this last spring, it was excellent. It’s worth tracking down really fresh, locally grown asparagus. We get ours from our farmer’s market and I highly recommend doing so. The results of using the freshest you can find […]
Our second morning in Florence a few years ago we visited the Mercato Centrale, a totally amazing place. The sight of the fabulous fruits and veggies on offer; it’s a cooks heaven! The selection of fish, meats, fresh pastas and breads was outstanding. There was a stall devoted to nothing but selling offal! The Mercato […]
I received a Tuscan cookbook a few years ago from my husband, who, I am sure had no ulterior motives! I’ve been reading that Italians have a thing for wild spring greens. Foraging for them like crazy. Eating only root veggies all winter gets a bit tiresome so the new wild greens are most welcome […]
Italians can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to packaging their products! It’s a design thing! I promised myself when we were in Italy a few months ago, there was no way we were hauling home dried pasta! But one day, near the end of our 2 week stay in Roma, we went to […]
I confess, pasta is the only food, upon seeing a photo that actually makes me salivate! A world without pasta is a world without love in my opinion. I have to admit that I have a cupboard full of different shapes, short, long, tubular, whole grain, made with or without eggs and that’s not to […]
Ahh…ravioli, a labour of love filled with mushroomy goodness accented with a bit of prosciutto, finished with a butter-prosciutto sauce and a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano. Makes Approximately 36 Ravioli One 3 egg batch of homemade pasta dough (see below) For The Filling: 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter ¾ lb. Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped 2 oz. […]
I previously posted a recipe for the “Official” sauce of Bologna. This version has the same basics but with the addition of beef stock and red wine. Some recipes use beef, pork and veal but I think the pancetta covers the pork part! Marcella Hazan’s recipe uses a little EVO and butter, all beef, no pancetta, […]
A pasta dish with the scrumptious Greek flavours of cinnamon, cloves and cayenne. The combination of spices remind me of the very first time ever that I tried spaghetti with meat sauce. I absolutely fell in love with that spaghetti taking me on my lifelong journey exploring Italian/Mediterranean cuisines, not to mention my love affair […]
If you like saffron, this one is for you! The flavour and fragrance of the saffron and wine is wonderful! When I make this dish I often serve it in the Italian manner, using some of the sauce to dress the paccheri/pacchero pasta as a primi?1st course, then serve the chicken drizzled with more sauce […]
A warm pasta salad that would go well with lamb, chicken or fish; it’s light, easy to make and fits the bill on a warm evening. Or you could simply serve it as a main course. Makes 4 Servings (2 For a Main Course) ½ lb. orzo 1 ½ Tbsp. EVO 1/3 cup pine nuts […]