Italian Inspired Dishes

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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

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’

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

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 

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.

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…

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 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…

  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…

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 ……….…

Wandering around the village on Friday we found that Friday here too was fish day – at the end of the car park there was a man selling fresh fish from his van.  Well this was too good to miss!  So amongst other things we…

So our first experiment with the Italian Veal had worked well and so on to the  Vitello Tonnato – As this dish is served cold it can easily be produced 24-48 hours in advance and I think will have some real “mileage” not just here…

One thing we wanted to experiment with was Vitello Tonnato – a classic Italian dish served cold – this has the advantage that you can prepare in advance and is ready just when you want it.  Our version was going to have a little twist…

When is a sausage not a sausage? When it is a Salsiccia! Tuscan sausage looks a little like a shorter and fatter British banger – it too is made primarily of pork but the flavouring is a little different, garlic, coriander and cayenne pepper rather…

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…

One of the great pleasures of Europe is chancing on simple ingredients that you would need to search specialist shops for in the UK.  And so it was in the local tiny supermarket… Porcini! At €18 per kg, around the same price per kilo as…

Wandering around the local market here in Tuscany we spied a Spatchcocked chicken…  and so our plans for today’s food was sorted! The term spatchcock refers to poultry prepared for roasting or grilling by removing the backbone and sometimes the sternum and flattening it out…

Steak is perhaps not the first thing you think of when you consider Italian cooking but if you are in Tuscany then think again! Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the Florentine Steak is famous throughout the world.   Traditionally it is cut from the loin near the leg…