Bread

Great food does not need to be complicated.  This is a simple twist on the classic ‘Croque Monsieur’. Croque Monsieur literally means ‘Mr Crunch’ – and that is what we are going to build.  The classic dish is made with smoked ham, Gruyère and a…

One of the things we are trying hard to do during the Covid-19 crisis is to get our food waste down to an absolute minimum.  One thing that has always bothered me with sourdough bread making is the discarding of around two-thirds of  the sourdough…

Focaccia is a great bread to make on the EGG and works really well on the large BGE.  We have also made it on our Mini BGE when travelling, but that is more an act of bravado than practicality because of the size of the…

In the summer of 2018 we were in Italy with the Big Green Egg and thoughts again came to bread making.  We love Italian food but bread making does not seem to be their greatest triumph!.  We have to be straight before we start –…

For some years now we have visited a delightful restaurant in Tuscany called La Scottiglia in the village of Pescina on the side on Monte Amiata.  We have always been looked after exceedingly well there and it is a place we frequently recommend. They do…

This is really a footnote to the recipe “Slow cooked rabbit with boozy apricots”.   Slow cooked meat dishes with a rich sauce are often served in the same way that the Tuscans serve their rich soups,

My friend Nicola has been playing with last month’s pumpkin recipe a little but to great success as you can see in the pictures.  She made a couple of small modifications from the one we published a couple of weeks ago and I thought they…

Autumn is a time of year when the shops seem to be full of pumpkins – but sadly most are destined to make ‘pumpkin lanterns’ for Halloween rather than be eaten.  Well here is a really simple autumn alternative and would be perfect for any…

Whilst visiting the local supermarket in Tuscany we spied a box of plumb tomatoes ostensibly for preserving. They looked lovely, and at €3.80 for 8Kg clearly too good to resist.  Inevitably, therefore, we are eating a lot of tomato based meals – and what easier…

What a delightful way to spend a day!  Well the first weekend of July was interesting – England were in the quarter finals of the football world cup, it was the first day of the 2018 Tour de France and I was booked on a…

Although I don’t do a great deal, I do like bread cooked in the Big Green Egg – and bread cooking in the Large BGE is a real pleasure (more of that in future posts).  I had always been told that bread cooking in the…

The bread we have found in Italy certainly goes hard quickly!  Partly the weather and partially the absence of additives in the bread.  You quickly realise why there are so many Italian recipes that include the use of “stale bread”!!   Well here is ours ……….…

What could be more amazingly simple than Bruschetta al pomodoro – and it both tastes and sounds so much better than tomatoes on toast too.  Perfect as a lunch or as a starter to get the tastebuds tingling for whatever you plan to serve up…