Cannelloni with Ricotta and Cherry Tomato Sauce

This cannelloni combines a creamy sharp ricotta filling with slightly bitter greens and a sweet tomato sauce. The contrast between the sauce and filling is amazing Method To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and cook until just turning golden. Add the halved tomatoes. They should hiss as […]

Sea Bream baked in Foil

This sea bream recipe with a fresh, zesty flavour, is perfect for a quick meal but looks impressive enough to ‘wow’ a few friends! Sea Bream baked in foil Serves 4  Preparation 15 minutes Cooking 30 minutes Ingredients 2 sea bream, gutted and scaled but with head and skin on olive oil 2 garlic cloves 3 sprigs of […]

Italia! Icon – The Pizza Margherita

With its red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese and green basil, the margherita is so much more than just a pizza – it is a symbol of Italian identity… Ask anyone who has been on a culinary tour of Naples where the pizza margherita comes from and they will be able to tell you that it […]

Chilli and spinach gnudi

Gnudi di peperoncini e spinaci Serves 2 – Preparation 30 minutes – Cooking 30 minutes – Resting 30 minutes For the gnudi 300g raw young spinach 125g ricotta, preferably ricotta di bufala, drained 25g grated Parmesan 2 pinches dried chilli 1 egg yolk grated, fresh nutmeg 2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for the work surface salt and pepper For the […]

Massimo Bottura’s restaurant: the world’s best

Who would have thought it?! Italian Resturant Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, is the first Italian restaurant ever to have won the title of world’s best restaurant! Congrats Massimo Bottura!     Recently Italian chef Massimo Bottura opened a soup kitchen called Refettorio Ambrosiano in Milan. On Monday, it was revealed that his Italian restaurant Osteria Francescana […]

5 Best Italian Breads

Some 350 varieties of bread originate from Italy, from crusty loaves to unleavened flat breads and the crispy breadstick. Tuck into five of the best as chosen by Italia! 1. Focaccia Of all the breads, this ancient Ligurian bread with a mottled appearance, is popular all over the world. Oven baked, its name comes from the […]

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala may have originated with British residents of Sicily in the 19th century. Certainly its popularity extends beyond Italian shores. Serves 2 Preparation 10 minutes Cooking 35 minutes Ingredients 2 medium organic free-range chicken breast fillets, pounded seasoned Italian ‘00’ flour 15g unsalted butter 1 tbsp olive oil 90ml dry Marsala 2 tbsp chicken […]

Southern Italian potato pie

New potatoes are abundant at this time of year and as well as being great boiled, they also bake very well. This layered potato pie will draw all the family round the table … Serves 2 – Preparation 15 minutes – Cooking 35 minutes Ingredients 450g new potatoes, scrubbed salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 onions, peeled, finely […]

4 Ways to Use Garlic

In her new book on the subject, Jenny Linford describes every imaginable way of cooking with garlic. Here we present four of her recipes with a distinctively Italian twist… 1. Grilled wild garlic mussels / Cozze grigliate all’aglio selvatico A rich, tasty way to serve mussels, this offers a great contrast of textures between the crunchy […]