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Recipes

Hazelnut cheese biscuits – a recipe from Istria
Istria – news, Livia’s ricotta cake and virtual events for my book launch
Mini crescent rolls with jam – baking from Carpathia
A week of lockdown lunches

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Nothing like a giant pot of “sugo” to warm the

Nothing like a giant pot of “sugo” to warm the soul and put a smile on your face - serve it with pasta, gnocchi, turn it into a risotto or just eat it with ‘sope de pan’ (scooping it up with bread) - “che bon che xe’ (delicious)! The recipe for my mamma Livia’s sugo is in “Italian Street Food”

RECIPE TO SAVE - walnut and orange cake - a warmin

RECIPE TO SAVE - walnut and orange cake - a warming and elegant cake based on a recipe by @mimithorisson - serve with a side of mascarpone or creme fraiche for a dinner party (and you can pour a few tablespoons of brandy onto the cake once you place it on the serving platter) - or have it for morning tea with a cup of coffee. Happy Sunday!

Walnut and orange cake

150g walnuts, processed to a coarse crumb (plus walnut halves for decorating the cake) 110g sugar 80g unsalted butter, softened 3 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork 1 tablespoon honey, plus one extra generous tablespoon for drizzling 1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence 1 small orange, zest only 45ml orange juice, freshly squeezed pinch sea salt 60g plain flour 50g cornflour 1 tsp baking powder

Butter a 21cm ring tin or equivalent. Preheat the oven to 180C conventional.

Place the walnuts and sugar in a large bowl and give them a good stir. Add the butter, eggs, one tablespoon of honey, vanilla, orange zest, orange juice and salt. Give it a good stir with a wooden spoon until homogenous.

Place the two flours and the baking powder in a separate bowl and give them a quick whisk to remove lumps. Tip the flours in with the walnut mixture. Give it a good stir until homogenous.

Carefully pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before carefully removing from the tin.

Place the cake on a serving plate. Warm the remaining honey slightly and pour that onto the cake. Decorate with walnut halves and serve when the cake is room temperature

There are dozens of things I am looking forward to

There are dozens of things I am looking forward to seeing in Italy when I land there on 1 July - but the first thing I do in most towns is locate the market - nothing like fresh produce and vendors to connect you to the place and the season

Pan del Doge - recipe from @emikodavies fab new bo

Pan del Doge - recipe from @emikodavies fab new book “Cinnamon and Salt” which I just love. The perfect cake to have with coffee, dense with dried fruit and nuts, the scent of orange and honey. It reminds me of Venice - and I am so happy that I will be able to squeeze in a day there in early August. Emiko posted the recipe on her feed a few weeks ago - so you can search for it there - or even better buy a copy @hardiegrantbooks - Lots of divine and familiar (for me at least) recipes , information and photos - I just love it congrats Emiko

The great joy that is a farmer’s market - yester

The great joy that is a farmer’s market - yesterday in Woodend - featuring (giant) fennel, carrots, cabbage, rhubarb, Swiss chard, purple cauliflower and pumpkin. Needless to say I bought everything - and today we are driving home after 10 days house sitting in Kyneton with the car full of veggies (and wine!)

Fab tomatoes on the vine from Watt’s Fresh in Ky

Fab tomatoes on the vine from Watt’s Fresh in Kyneton - deliciously sweet and plump and just about to become over ripe. Slow roasted with garlic and plenty of extra virgin olive oil and perfect on just about anything. Yesterday I had them over a bowl of spaghetti with basil pesto for lunch on a rather cold day - yes it is feeling decidedly wintery (currently minus 1C outside as I write) but the flavour took me right back to summer. Now I wait for @commissario to bring me a coffee from the moka (how lucky am I!) and then I can get up and drive him to the train station for his daily commute to Melbourne

Huge fun on Saturday making pizze in the outdoor p

Huge fun on Saturday making pizze in the outdoor pizza oven - I made a 36 hour slow prove dough using organic baker’s flour (left out of the fridge as the weather is cool enough here for that) - the crust was divine. And anything baked with a wood fire (especially this fancy one in the backyard of the property we are staying in - keepswiping right to see it in action) is divine!

The most divine mushroom tart from the new cookboo

The most divine mushroom tart from the new cookbook “Your Daily Veg” by @joe_woodhouse - you start by making a mushroom pate with onions, garlic, field mushrooms, wine, herbs, cooked and then popped in the food processor with crème fraiche. I could have (and did) eat it by the spoonful! This is cooled then mixed with eggs and placed in a short crust pastry shell to bake. It is served with fried wild mushrooms on the side and more creme fraiche and herbs. Just delicious. I have long drooled at Joe’s food on his Instagram page, and his book is just fab

High rise sweet ricotta tart - the short crust pas

High rise sweet ricotta tart - the short crust pastry is heavy with egg yolks and orange zest and the ricotta filling has grated chocolate, sugar, almonds and aniseed - a cross between a pastiera (minus the tricky wheat berries) and my “pizza di ricotta” recipe in Adriatico. It was rather delicious, think I will make it again

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About me
- Press
Recipes
Classes, tours & workshops
- Cooking classes
Cookbooks & Italian Travel
- Travel in Italy
- My cookbooks
Blog
Contact me