italy on my mind

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

Contact me

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Recent posts

Mamma
Cavatelli with sausages, peas and cinnamon
Crostata di ricotta – sweet ricotta pie
Savoury Easter Pie – Torta Pasqualina
Polenta shortcake in the time of a pandemic

Instagram

TRUFFLES are in season right now and this beautifu

TRUFFLES are in season right now and this beautiful specimen is from WA - we had half with creamy gnocchi, and the other half with scrambled eggs. @premier_robert is the truffle man and luckily he does home delivery

RECIPE : A favourite of mine, so long since I have

RECIPE : A favourite of mine, so long since I have made it. Today might be the day! It is a lovely one, with pieces of dark chocolate, pistachio nuts and a pear thrown in for good measure. If you decide to make it, please tag me

Dark chocolate, pistachio and pear cake

200 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
70 g pistachio kernels, plus extra to serve
150 g unsalted butter, softened
150 g caster sugar
3 eggs
150 g plain flour, sieved
1 tsp baking powder
1 large pear, cored, peeled and coarsely chopped
cocoa for dusting

Preheat oven to 160C. Process chocolate and pistachios in a food processor until coarse crumbs form, set aside. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well combined, then stir in flour and baking powder. Stir through pistachio and chocolate mixture, then pear, pour into a 22cm-diameter springform cake tin greased and lined with baking paper. Bake until an inserted skewer withdraws clean (45-50 minutes), cool in tin for 10 minutes, turn out and cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
Dust with cocoa and decorate with extra chopped pistachios. The cake will keep, stored in an airtighter container in the fridge, for 5 days.

My daughter moved to London at the start of the ye

My daughter moved to London at the start of the year and has just landed in Trieste. To say I wish I was with her is a massive understatement

Last weekend I held two cooking classes; I was so

Last weekend I held two cooking classes; I was so happy to be holding them again. I told participants how wonderful it was to finally have them in my home, making pasta together as a group. Well things have sadly changed and Melbourne is back to lockdown for the next six weeks. So if you had a cooking class booked over the next six weeks, I will be in touch with you to reschedule (again!). We WILL cook together - and by then it will be Spring. This was Sunday’s delicious lunch - hand rolled fusilli and a creamy zucchini sauce with mint

Making agnolotti del plin yesterday; little parcel

Making agnolotti del plin yesterday; little parcels of pasta with a filling of pork sausage with fennel, spinach, Parmesan cheese. We ate them with melted butter and a bit more Parmesan

Portokalopita - orange pie with filo and syrup - w

Portokalopita - orange pie with filo and syrup - with a side of Greek yoghurt; I was lucky enough to sample one of the dishes from the new cookbook “Ikaria” by @meni.valle at Meni’s home a few days ago. The dessert was ridiculously good, I could have easily eaten a second (or third) slice. I am so looking forward to getting my hands on Meni’s book, about food and life on the island of Ikaria (one of the Blue Zones) which is being released in a couple of months by @hardiegrantbooks

Washing day in Ercolano

Washing day in Ercolano

A simple crostata with home made plum jam - The pl

Lunch time pasta - I have picked up sfoglia practi

Lunch time pasta - I have picked up sfoglia practice where I left it off last month. Quite happy with the fettuccine which at least were even in thickness. Now to learn to make the sfoglia a bit thinner (or maybe just be more patient!). The sauce was made with excellent Mediterranean lamb sausages made by Matt, my local butcher - I cut these into chunks and cooked them at medium high heat with a splash of olive oil then some white wine. I later added half a tin of peeled Roma tomatoes and let the sauce bubble away on low heat until the meat was cooked through and the tomatoes reduced (and yes there was enough there for two meals)

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