RECIPES
vanilla Fig jam
When your neighbour gives you a whole lot of super ripe figs (too many to eat!) or if you find some less than perfect figs at the fruit shop, make some jam! This one is not too sweet and totally delicious poured on yoghurt, as the filling for a fig crostata or simply on bread.
CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
If you have a glut of zucchini in the garden at the moment (or a neighbour with some!) and you sick of making savoury dishes, then why not try something sweet? Zucchini are bland enough to work really well in cake batter. I think zucchini cake was a real thing in the 1980s or 90s. I love a bit of retro baking, and if you do too, then this recipe may be right up your alley.
rustic fig and hazelnut cake
Figs seem terribly decadent to me. It must be all those luscious red filaments when you cut one open, eating the soft sweet inner flesh directly off the skin. Such a short season for this heady delight that nature has created with such perfection.
spiced orange and honey biscuits
These are rather delicious and simple biscuits/cookies that make the perfect Christmas gift. That said, it is perfectly acceptable to not give them away, you probably won’t want to! They marry some gently warming spices with orange, making the most delicious combination. Use any cookie cutter shape you have to make them - stars would be very pretty.
lamb shanks braised in red wine
One of the most rewarding things to do in winter is to cook a hearty meal for family and friends, and then sit down and share the meal with them. I am not a big meat eater but I do love the occasional slow-cooked dish and this is a favourite. If you don’t have time to finely chop the onion, carrot and celery for the soffritto, you can use a food processor, though if you do, it helps if you cut the carrot into slices first and quarter the onions. The carob gives a lovely chocolatey depth to the dish and the cardamom is spicy and so wintery. The dish is lovely served on a bed of soft polenta or potato mash.
ricotta gnocchi with peas, fava beans and mint
What a joy it is to find fresh peas and fava/broad beans at the market! It heralds the start of Spring when trees start to bud and the air is lighter and happier. I love podding beans. It is so relaxing. I put on jazz or a podcast and sip on herbal tea as I pod away, a few sweet green jewels finding their way into my mouth. I especially love the “pop” the peas. Fresh peas and fava beans so lovely on their own but I love to marry them with pasta or gnocchi, fresh herbs and cheese. They sing out Spring and the warmth in the air even more.
Blood orange crostata
I adore blood oranges; it feels like I always have. It started in the 1970s when I lived in Italy with my parents and sister. I couldn’t quite believe that in Italy they had red oranges (I mean, weren’t they meant to be orange hence the name?). We didn’t have any in Australia. Now we do, though it hasn’t been that many years, and in late winter, we can find blood oranges at most fruit shops.
Tomato and parmesan tarts
I miss the tomatoes my father used to grow. Dense, sweet, red fruit hung on dozens of vines that were well over 170cm in height. He would prop them up with old wooden stakes that he would retrieve in late spring from the locked cubby hole under the back stairs where they had sat since last summer. He would hammer them in to the earth using a large mallet, tying up the growing vines with strips of old fabric, remnants of mamma’s old sheets. There they would grow, straight and tall, helped along by his expert pruning. You could smell the tomatoes growing from the back door of the house, the sweet and herbaceous scent of summer.
Polenta shortcake
I have many many cookbooks but only occasionally dig them out. And when I do, I wonder why it took me so long. The Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan was one of the first cookbooks I owned. It was published in 1992 and has no photos, but is one of my go-to books for savoury dishes. There is only a small section on sweets and desserts.
pear and blue cheese ravioli
It felt like autumn today. It was wet, windy, people at the market were wearing their jackets again after a long hot summer and somehow it felt just the way it should. I have really been looking forward to autumn this year. It has been incredibly humid and mosquitoes have found me particularly attractive, especially at night when I hear them buzzing around me, waiting to attack.
Radicchio tart
I adore red radicchio not only for its vibrant colour but for its bitter flavour. I qualify it with the “red” as radicchio can also be green, yellow, white or pink and is part of the chicory (cicoria) family. The “radiceto” that I grew up eating is actually called “cicoria zuccherina di Trieste” or sweet chicory from Trieste, a sweet leafy salad green that grows progressively bitter as the plant matures.
Crostata di crema – custard flan with almonds
There are several certainties when you visit the Salento: you will see fields dotted with gnarly trunked olive trees that are over a thousand years old; you will meet passionate and uncomplicated locals who will generously share their shop/home with you, should you stop and talk to them and you will taste some of the best olive oil in the world. And there is a high probability that you will eat superb food. My love for the Salento, a place that is tremendously rich in its simplicity, is strong.
Tiella cozze e riso – rice and mussel bake
It is already November, in full spring in Australia. I am dreaming - and eating - asparagus, the last of the artichokes and the first of the stone fruit (hooray). My weekly dinner at home planning looks something like this: home made pasta 4 times a week (usually egg free); one night of seafood, one night a fortnight of meat (usually beef and sometimes pork or lamb from local butcher Matt), one night of eggs and one night vegan; vegetarian for the rest. We have never eaten much meat and that is the one that often gets dropped back to once every three/four weeks. The seafood component is often tinned sardines but sometimes it is fresh sardines, mussels, flathead or clams.
Mushroom and potato soup with cipolline onion focaccia
A common advertising line is that mushrooms are “meat for vegetarians”. Although I don’t think this is accurate where my palate is concerned they are a big part of my autumn/fall menu at home. My usual go-to recipe is risotto, but a pot of soup hits the spot in colder weather. I used a selection of wild mushrooms (Slippery Jack and pine mushrooms) but you could use any mushrooms you like. Adding potatoes to the soup thickens it beautifully and a dollop of crème fraiche or thick Greek yoghurt gives it a lovely richness.
Mandarin, almond and chocolate cake
Winter heralds citrus fruit season. Although you can find oranges most of the year (as they store well in cold rooms) and lemons, mandarins are usually missing in action. The Imperial varieties are my favourites and it is a bonus when there are no pips. This deliciously moist cake is made with whole boiled mandarins and almonds, so happens to be gluten free. I love the combination of chocolate and orange, I add chocolate pieces to this cake – though you could easily omit these if you like.
Spaghetti al limone – spaghetti with lemon
We landed back in Australia a week ago today, after three glorious months in Italy and an epic road trip along the Adriatic coast.
As the trip was essentially a research trip for my next book Adriatico, days were spent talking to the locals, shopping in markets, taking photos of locations, and lots of eating and tasting the traditional local foods.
Cavatelli with sausages, peas and cinnamon
Today I will be sharing one of my favourite non-vegetarian pasta sauce dishes. I eat very little meat (and fish) for environmental and ethical reasons, usually once a week, and a bit more so in winter.