Boldly setting itself apart from traditional Italian recipes by shunning pasta in favour of gnocchi, polenta and rice, Mario Matassa leads us into the world of Aostan cuisine… Aosta is Italy’s smallest region, a valley nestled in the cradle of the Alps, bordering France and Switzerland to the north and its regional neighbour, Piedmont, to […]
Alyson Cook talks to Enrica Rocca, an Italian aristocrat who loves nothing more than sharing her passion for food and Italian recipes from Venice… Traditional Venetian cooking tends to be very simple and is primarily based on regional produce: fish (especially sardines and stockfish) from the famous lagoon, as well as vegetables and game. Although […]
The orto is the Italian vegetable garden, an essential part of the fresh food culture. Mario Matassa digs his last seasonal treats, and shares his homegrown Italian recipes… There’s an old man in a string vest with a worn and battered straw hat tending to neat rows of tomatoes. Wicker baskets, filled to the brim […]
We rustle up some Italian chestnut recipes from the Vegetarian Society for some hearty and wholesome meal ideas perfect for autumn… Chestnut and pumpkin seed cups with butternut squash Coppe di castagna e semi con zucca Serves 4 | Preparation 1 hour | Cooking 1 hour 175g wholemeal sliced bread, made into crumbs 1½ tsp […]
It is often mistaken for being from Abruzzo, but this lesser-known Italian red wine from a village in Tuscany is an absolute gem, as Paul Pettengale discovers… Tuscany is, as any wine lover will attest, one of the most important of Italy’s wine-producing zones, especially when it comes to the reds. The various Chianti wines […]
Named after the region in which it is produced, delicious Parmigiano Reggiano is by far Italy’s most popular cheese. We test seven and give you a flavour of our findings… The recent earthquake in northern Italy has deeply affected the production of Parmigiano Reggiano. During the disaster, high stacks of shelved cheese wheels – each […]
Look no further for authentic Italian pasta recipes than Lucio Galletto’s and David Dale’s The Art of Pasta… From the culinary luminaries who brought Lucio’s Italian Restaurant to Australia comes this new guide to making and cooking pasta. The Art of Pasta is filled with 160 authentic recipes, complemented by elegant artwork and photography. The […]
Enjoy a wealth of pasta recipes with Nino Zoccali’s Pasta Artigiana… Pasta Artigiana by Nino Zoccali, Murdoch Books, £20 (hardback) If you miss the taste of Italy while waiting for your next overseas trip, Nino Zoccali’s Italian recipe book should help sate those cravings. As the title suggests, this is a heavily pasta-based cook book, […]
This simple ingredient has always been important for the Italian cook, so we embarked on a mission to discover the best Italian passata possible with these seven candidates. At the end of summer, when tomatoes are at their ripest and most tempting, growers all over Italy will be harvesting and cooking them into passata to […]
Anna Del Conte brings Italy to your kitchen and brightens up your cookery skills in her new book, Italian Kitchen… Italian Kitchen by Anna Del Conte, Square Peg, ?20 (hardback) This is one of those recipe books where you start marking your favourite pages, only to discover that ultimately you have littered the whole book […]