Italian Inspired Dishes

Cassarecci with courgette capers and smoked halibut

Cassarecci with courgette capers and smoked halibut

A very quick post!  This dish is based on an original dish by Theo Randall, we modified it to make Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon. That recipe can be found here We had been cold smoking different white fish and for this dish we used some…

Scottish Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Scottish Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Travelling back from a week away in Scotland we called at a fantastic farm shop.  Kilnford Farm Shop sits on the outskirts of Dumfries, just off the A75.  There was so much we could have chosen, but the 28 day matured T-bone joint seemed to have our…

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Crispy Partridge Saltimbocca

Walking through the garden I suddenly realised that our Sage was growing precociously.  And precocious sage means one thing – Saltimbocca!  What could be better than Saltimbocca?…….. Saltimbocca with extra crispy sage! Classic Saltimbocca alla Romana is not surprisingly thought of as a Roman dish.…

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

Ragù di Osso di Capretto (Kid Goat Bone Ragù)

It We need to start with two small confessions.  Firstly, we have not found an authentic Italian recipe for this dish (yet)! And secondly, we have taken longer to name the dish than it did to cook and eat it!!  Lets start with how we…

Braised Goat Kid Shoulder and Chickpea Ragù

Braised Goat Kid Shoulder and Chickpea Ragù

We have been wanting to experiment with goat for some years and have simply never got round to it.  That changed when we came across Moat Goats on a UK cookery programme with the ‘Hairy Bikers’. They are based in Pembrokeshire in Wales and have Boer…

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

Coda alla vaccinara – Braised Oxtail Ragù

This quintessential Roman dish is a perfect example of Roman food history.  This particular recipe dates from 1887 and is an iconic dish, but one probably few people know about, and certainly very few outside Italy.  In Rome, until late in the 20th century, prestigious cuts…

Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

Beef Shin Ragù with red wine

We are continuing to plan our way through the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  Some time ago we published our first ragù recipe from that master of Italian food;  Theo Randall (you can find that recipe here) – if you…

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

Braised Lamb Neck and Chickpea Ragù

This dish is based on a dish from Angela Hartnett and Cafe Murano.  The original meal was described as “slowly braised lamb neck served with a light chickpea ragù.  The vegetables from the lamb braising liquor adding to the richness of the base of the…

Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon

Fettuchini with courgettes and salmon

We have really enjoyed exploring pasta dishes that are some distance away from those based on meat ragù although these will probably always be a bedrock of our Big Green Egg cooking.  This recipe was inspired by a dish of Theo Randall’s that we had…

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

Sicilian lamb and mushroom ragù: with a twist

The more we look at some of the worlds great foods the more we are finding that so many have been born out of poverty, food shortage and simply the need to survive the perils of winter, looking forward to a new spring.  So we…

Chicken/Turkey, chestnut, leek and pasta ‘al forno’

Chicken/Turkey, chestnut, leek and pasta ‘al forno’

We have had fantastic fun this year cooking new dishes with some great products.  We have also spent a lot of time trying to reduce our food waste by making sure that we have some plans (at least some idea) what we might do with…

Italian lambs’ kidneys with anchovy and lemon

Italian lambs’ kidneys with anchovy and lemon

The is definitely a dish that is not for everyone – but if you like lambs’ kidneys it is definitely one you should try!  There is very little to it in terms of effort and in all honesty it cooks just as well in a…

Aubergine and gnocchi puttanesca bake

Aubergine and gnocchi puttanesca bake

Having played with our Aubergine/Gnocchi and Parmigiana bake we have also played with a number of variations over the last year or so.  One of the best has moved it a little closer to a puttanesca sauce with anchovies, capers and olives, and for us…

Wagyu Ragù:- crazy title – great dish!

Wagyu Ragù:- crazy title – great dish!

We have cooked so much ragù on the Big Green Egg but written very little about it.  This is just because I have been overwhelmed by the diversity and breadth of the history of ragù in Italy.  So where do you start?  Well we are…

Aubergine, ricotta and lemon involtini

Aubergine, ricotta and lemon involtini

Over the last couple of years we have been eating more and more aubergine based dishes.  Usually Italian in style, they always seems to be made with tomatoes too.  When we came across this recipe in our local supermarket’s food magazine it seemed like too…

Slow cooked venison ragù and fresh tagliatelle

Slow cooked venison ragù and fresh tagliatelle

Well I have to say, having been given a full day tutorial by our next door neighbour in Italy on making tagliatelle I always feel guilty when I don’t make my own!  For once though I don’t feel guilty but rather pleased I have bought…

Aubergine Parmigiana revisited – our definitive version!

Aubergine Parmigiana revisited – our definitive version!

We have written before about the glorious ‘Melanzane alla parmigiana’ We first came across it in Italy in the summer of 2017 when travelling through the Dolomites in Northern Italy.  Taste wise it was a plant based dish that absolutely took my breath away ………..…

La Scottiglia

La Scottiglia

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…

Smoked Venison Ragù

Smoked Venison Ragù

We had planned to make a very rich casserole using some cubed shoulder of wild venison that we had picked up just before Christmas.  With all the festive excitement it had been popped in the freezer.  Once defrosted I was a little disappointed to see…

Tuscan chicken liver salad

Tuscan chicken liver salad

The idea of eating liver seems to divide people in the same way that Marmite does – you love it or loath it!  Well both Jackie and I are in the ‘love it’ camp.  This is the quickest of quick dishes – I make no…

Melanzane alla parmigiana – Aubergine, tomato and parmesan bake

Melanzane alla parmigiana – Aubergine, tomato and parmesan bake

Melanzane alla parmigiana This is such a sumptuous dish and a perfect vegetarian dish to serve to anyone who says they do not like vegetarian food. We first had it in a hotel in the Dolomites in Northern Italy. In winter, a mountain ski lodge,…

Porcini in the pan

Porcini in the pan

Porcini are really fabulous and I still find it very exciting to walk into a little shop here in Tuscany and see a basket of newly picked Porcini. This is something I am yet to see in the UK – but although

Pork Loin with Tuna and Caper Sauce – Lonza di maiale Tonnato

Pork Loin with Tuna and Caper Sauce – Lonza di maiale Tonnato

We had really enjoyed our “Vitello Tonnato” when we were in Italy and wanted to try something similar now we were in France, but on this occasion we couldn’t find any veal.  So ‘necessity being the mother of invention’

Italian Sausages in France

Italian Sausages in France

After a lovely break in Tuscany we had driven into France, to the Rhône-Alpes to meet part of our “French family”.  

Veal Minute Steak

Veal Minute Steak

Well one thing is certain, Italians like veal!  It is so much easier to buy veal in Italy than we have found at home.  This is a real shame as the UK Rose Veal probably has the highest welfare standards 

Update on Octopus

Update on Octopus

Having said that we had only come across grilled octopus once in Tuscany, the very next time we went out to eat – there it was on the menu.

Acciughe alla griglia – grilled anchovy

Acciughe alla griglia – grilled anchovy

When is a sardine not a sardine………..? Out shopping I saw what I thought were some lovely looking fresh sardines – only later when I checked the spelling of Acciughe (also often called Alici) did I realise that the sardines were in fact anchovy!!   I…

Italian Smoked Turkey Breast

Italian Smoked Turkey Breast

On our wanderings we came across a butcher selling ‘home reared’ turkey and turkey breasts.  Well for 2 of us even a 1kg turkey breast seemed quite a lot of meat and even that was going to be a bit of a ‘tight squeeze’ on…

Grilled Octopus – Polpo alla griglia

Grilled Octopus – Polpo alla griglia

Grilled Octopus is not something commonly found in the restaurants of Northumberland!  As yet I have only come across it on one occasion in restaurants in Tuscany but perhaps we need to get out more!!  Anyway, octopus has the reputation of being tough and chewy…

Bistecca alla Fiorentina – the remake!

Bistecca alla Fiorentina – the remake!

  Having tried our hand with the local beef (click to see previous post) we thought it time to be a little more authentic and go for a larger piece for this Bistecca alla Fiorentina.  As there were going to be 4 of us a 1.4KG steak did…