Recipes


Antipasti - Starters


Arancini alla pizzaiola (Fried rice balls with tomato and mozzarella)
It's been almost two weeks since I made the move to the sunnier climates of Tuscany and today it occurred to me that it would truly be a crime not to document, and indeed share, all that I have experienced in recent days....

Earlier this week I was beside myself with excitement after coming home and finding a basket full of porcini mushrooms on the kitchen table! A family friend and expert mushroom picker had kindly donated them to us




Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (Gnocchi with tomato and mozzarella)
Last week my friend Valeria and I decided to organise a dinner party inspired by some homemade ingredients that she had brought back from her hometown of Bono in Sardinia. Her father had cured some prosciutto....



Gluten-free gnocchi
Wash the potatoes and put them into salted boiling water with the skins on. Leave them to boil for around 30 minutes or until you can easily pierce them with a knife then drain and leave them to cool down a little...



Maccheroni alla n'duja e mascarpone
In tribute to my new pizza topping combo, I decided to make some n’duja (pronounced un-doo-ya) and mascarpone pasta for lunch today. Super simple, super quick and super tasty!


Paella de marisco (Seafood Paella)
My boyfriend Michele and I recently got back from a holiday travelling around southern Spain. We decided to stop off in Valencia to sample the famous Paella Valenciana....




Pappardelle alla Crema di Funghi Porcini
What better way to celebrate the end of the porcini season than by making a variation on the classic porcini e pappardelle. Rather than opting for the classic sautéed porcini version, I decided to really go to town on the mushrooms...




Pesto
I love making pesto. I find it’s one of those things that’s just nowhere near as good when you buy it in the supermarket. It needs to be made fresh and eaten quickly, preferably with a large serving of pasta or generously spread onto some toasted bread....


Sugo di pomodoro fresco (Fresh tomato sauce)
My boyfriend recently observed that Italians growing tomatoes is probably the equivalent of Brits growing their own potatoes. He came to this conclusion whilst my uncle was showing him around his vegetable patch in Cambridge....




Zuppa Ricasoli (Tuscan sausage and bean soup)
Looking for a warm and comforting recipe that's incredibly quick and easy to make? Check out my latest article in The Florentine for Zuppa Ricasoli, a Tuscan soup with butter beans, sausage, pancetta and cabbage.



Secondi - Second Courses



Anatra all'Arancia (Tuscan duck in orange sauce)
For those who don't take an interest in hunting, it is easy to forget that the transition from autumn to winter also marks the hunting season and the delicious promise of la caccia. Although not always readily available in supermarkets....



Contorni - Side Dishes


Fiori di Zucca Ripieni al Forno (Oven-baked stuffed courgette flowers)
Cooking with courgette flowers is still such a novelty for me since, unless you grow your own, they’re not so easy to come by in the UK. Well, not in Lincolnshire at least! For those of you who have never had the pleasure of eating courgette flowers....




Fagioli all'uccelletto (Tuscan baked beans)
With the cold nights beginning to draw in even in sunny Tuscany I decided to put an Italian spin on one of my childhood favourites, sausage and beans, taking inspiration from the classic Florentine recipe, fagioli all’uccelletto.




Dolci - Deserts


Fichi secchi con mandorle (Dried figs with almonds)
It's that time of year again...as the summer comes to an end and our fig tree is so laden down that the branches are dragging on the floor, we have begun the yearly ritual of collecting the figs to dry out in the sun....



Gluten-free Lemon Drizzle Cake
My boyfriend Michele had an operation this weekend so to cheer him up I promised to make him a cake of his choice. Now, being a coeliac (I know, an Italian coeliac, how depressing!), it's always a bit of a gamble when I try and bake for Michele....




Formaggi - Cheese


Ricotta Fatta in Casa (Homemade Ricotta) 
Every Monday morning an elderly lady and her daughter drive down our road selling homemade ricotta out of the back of a little white van. I have to say that before sampling their produce I was never much of a ricotta enthusiast....

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