Hello England, I’m not here to blog a recipe but to chat. About the Two Greedy Italians (= Due italiani golosi), to be precise. I’m curious to hear people’s opinions. And Candi, to enlighten you: this is a programme broadcast by the BBC (the second series is under way now. It’s on BBC on a Thursday at 8 o’clock.There has already been one series) about these two Italian chefs, called Antonio Carluccio (he is very famous. He has opened a chain of restaurants in London) and Gennaro Contaldo, who have both lived and worked in England for donkey’s years (there’s a nice idiom for you to learn). For the programme they went on a tour of Italy to see whether things have changed since they were there all those years ago (the simple answer: oh yes!). They also show you some regional recipes while on their travels. For the first two episodes in series 2 they were down in Calabria and in Liguria. In truth it is also a bit of (a lot of) a comedy: Continue reading ‘Due italiani golosi’
Monthly Archive for aprile, 2012
pollo ai peperoni
Once again I’m “cheating” by using the Italian name for the dish I made last night. It sounds much more chic and sophisticated in Italian (despite the photo which doesn’t really do it justice! The peppers look distinctly pink. Yuk! But I guarantee these are not the true colours. Honest! It must have been the artificial light) . Your attention, English people! Peperoni in Italian doesn’t mean “pepperoni” (which is a horrific spicey, hard sausage I haven’t had the courage to try yet!) but peppers! So the boring English translation of the title would be: chicken with peppers. Anyway, this is a simple, no fuss, mediterranean dish which is ideal to make when you haven’t got the time to be messing about in the kitchen (read: nearly always in my case. Busy lives, see? COME ON! Who has the time to be making home made pasta and the likes after a hard day in the office? Or teaching Italian to students, in my case?). It was my good friend Carmelita who suggested this recipe to me. Continue reading ‘Pollo ai peperoni’
lemon curd cupcakes
You have got to try these little cakes! They are UTTERLY delicious!!! And a doddle to make…. The original recipe (from our good friend Hugh Fearnley….who else?) is actually to make muffins but I put mine in biggish paper cases and the result was they looked more…well like cupcakes than muffins. So I’ll blog them as such. Mine are actually a variation of what Hugh does as I have mixed the flour with some ground almonds (in the original recipe there is just flour). They are really light and ever so soft. I love their zesty taste of lemon and their yellow colour. And by the way, if you Italians don’t know what lemon curd is (not even sure whether it exists in Italy) look at this recipe to make it. I confess I bought mine at Marks and Spencer but there is nothing stopping you from making your own. In fact, even better! I hope that my son Mike will have a go at making them to impress girls and colleagues alike…:-) Continue reading ‘Lemon curd and almond cupcakes’
No, Meret non porta le trecce, almeno abitualmente, ma alla domenica mattina può decidere di alzarsi prima e infornare la gloriosa treccia svizzera o Speckzopf (la tradizione dice, chissà, che ha quella forma perché le vedove si tagliavano la treccia e la seppellivano con il marito). Allora avrete la casa che profuma di buono e a pranzo una ricca e fragrante pagnotta che è ottima soprattutto con l’antipasto, per un brunch o anche da sola. W la Svizzera!
Se non avete Meret (la signorina Emerenzia Servitori) sottomano dovrete accontentarvi della sua ricetta. Eccola qui. Continue reading ‘La treccia di pane di Meret. Il vero Speckzopf svizzero’
Certo che dopo la passeggiata siciliana è ben difficile non postare almeno un bel dolcetto a base di mandorle o di pistacchio! Ma ligia al sobrio volere di Lucina ecco qua un sughetto per la pasta che uso spessissimo perché è veloce e gli ingredienti possono essere sempre tenuti in dispensa per salvare la situazione quando arriva un ospite improvviso. Inoltre ormai tutti conoscono le virtù degli omega 3 (e se volete di più fatevi davvero un giro per il bellissimo e utile blog di Gunther Karl Fuchs, Papille vagabonde che si imparano tante cose) e le noci sono una buona soluzione se non sempre c’è una pescheria sottomano.
Ma bando alle ciance (o meglio, ciando alle bande, come diceva mio papà), ecco la semplice ricetta (che viene dalla Liguria) come la faccio io. Continue reading ‘La salsa di noci’
lasagne primavera
Looking back on the recipes we have blogged so far I’ve realized we are very rich in cakes and all manner of sweet things (and I wonder why) but rather poor in pasta dishes. This won’t do! Considering Candi and myself are Italian I’d say this oversight is close to a crime, so here is a nice recipe suitable for vegetarians I half invented (I saw a similar one in a free supermarket magazine in Italy. I get inspired by all sorts!) which I made the other night. I LOVE all types of baked pasta, particularly lasagne. I’ve tried different combinations over the years (traditional, with spinach and ricotta, with aubergines and mozzarella, with salmon and broccoli, the one Candi blogged with pumpkin and gorgonzola…you name it) and, to be honest, you can’t really go wrong with it. It always tastes great! In this particular one I put grilled courgettes, asparagus and peas. Plus a bit of ricotta cheese for some added interest. I always make my bechamel sauce in the microwave, which makes it dead easy to accomplish. For this particular recipe as the theme was spring (hence the name “primavera”, which means spring in Italian. I used the Italian word for special effects :-)) and the dominant colour was green I used spinach lasagne sheets. Continue reading ‘Lasagne primavera’
I absolutely ADORE all types of frangipane tarts but I had never attempted to make one until now. I knew pears worked very well with frangipane and I had a few organic ones which needed using (funny things are pears: one minute they are too hard, the next too soft. I’ve thrown away MANY in my life! But not this time…) plus a group of Italian ladies about to descend on me to discuss our latest book (I belong to two groups: an English one and an Italian one. In both the making of the cake is as important, if not more important, than the discussion of the book. Draw your own conclusions. ha ha). The decision was made for me. I did a bit of research on line for a suitable recipe and stumbled upon this one by the Michelin starred chef Angela Hartnett which sounded promising. Ok, I admit it’s not a “throw everything in and mix” type of cake. In fact it is a bit of a faff, particularly as you need to poach the pears beforehand AND you need to make that shortcrust, crumbly type of pastry that every woman in the right mind hates . Still, I was determined to go ahead (talk about bees in one’s bonnet). I poached the pears the previous night and made the rest the following day. I can honestly say it tasted DIVINE! Ok, I’m blowing my own trumpet a little here BUT there is no point in being accused of false modesty, is there? All Italian ladies praised it to the sky and demanded I blogged it, so here it is. Enjoy! Continue reading ‘Pear and frangipane tart’
Commenti recenti