Coming out of lockdown and a recipe for pasta with peas
In the past couple of weeks, Italy has been taking baby steps towards some semblance of normality. Provided we wear masks, we can now venture outside our homes to go for a jog, take our…
Ligurian panissa salad
I’ve gradually transitioned to working from home over the past couple of years. This means minimal commuting and to my great relief, far less office politics to put up with. There’s no more need to…
Robinia flower fritters: a transient spring time treat
Another less-than-wanted obligation has suddenly piled up on my to do list. But I’m still going to go ahead with putting some thoughts about something dear to my heart anyway, as I had planned for…
Cucina conversations: valerian salad with hard-boiled eggs, anchovies and spring onions
The rosettes of dark green leaves I was admiring at the Porta Palazzo farmer’s market was valerian salad. Not that I knew that at the time, during my first few months of perusing the stands…
Cucina conversations: salame del papa
I must admit, I had a difficult time choosing which Italian Easter dish I wanted to write about for this edition of Cucina Conversations. Initially, I thought about preparing one of the ricotta-based specialties typical…
False friends, the trouble with translating and two cicoria recipes
Beware of false friends. And no, I don’t mean the kind that are nice to your face but are mean behind your back. Though, you should probably watch out for those too. What I mean…
Cucina conversations: pansotti liguri
When the Cucina Conversations ladies and I decided to dedicate this month’s edition of our roundtable to dishes named after body parts, I immediately made a beeline for two books. One was Mary Taylor-Simeti’s Sicilian…
Lessons and recipes from a retreat in the Tuscan countryside
‘No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers’….
Florence: a travel journal
Here I am, finally arriving in the city I came very close to moving to almost ten years ago. This time though, I will actually have the chance to explore Florence’s cobblestoned vicoli a little…