A family favourite: meatballs in sauce
It’s never easy trying to decide what to make for our family meals. I eat pretty much everything – well, at least when I’m not pregnant – and am always willing to try my hand…
A pignatta for Christmas and some lentils to inaugurate 2017
I got lots of lovely presents this Christmas. There was the gorgeous waxed canvas handbag with leather trimming that doubles as a camera bag from TP. Friends, colleagues and students gave me some handmade cards…
Cucina Conversations: castagnaccio for Ognissanti
That time of year is upon us again. It’s the season Giacomo Castelvetro, Inquisition refugee and author of the 1614 manuscript The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy, described as per la bocca (‘for tasting’)….
Cucina Conversations: Italian cuisine, a new blogging roundtable and Sicilian grape must pudding
I had quite the epiphany a couple of years ago when I first read John Dickie’s highly readable account of Italian food and culinary history, Delizia. In the book’s second chapter, after describing Palermo’s totemic…
Snapshots from a Summer Holiday: Siena, Bolsena, Orvieto and Pitigliano
In Italy, the month of August means three things: intense, unrelenting heat; putting chiuso per ferie (‘closed for holidays’) signs on the doors of shops and small businesses because it’s impossible to work; and, escaping to a…
Rice-stuffed tomatoes and forgotten Italian foodways: an interview with Karima Moyer-Nocchi
Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for food. Few things make me happier than when I’m chopping vegetables, stirring a risotto or kneading dough in my kitchen. I’m always looking for new things to…