

Tomato sauce - musings
"The kind of sauce that starts with the simplest ingredients—some canned tomatoes, a few aromatics, some olive oil, and maybe some...
Mar 14, 2023


I began with scaccia and almost ended with quiche
"Essentially, what they all share is the principle that behind a perfectly ordinary piece of pastry that looks nothing special on the...
Mar 12, 2023


Do as you're told
"Do what you're told and everything will be alright" Norman Jewison When it comes to cooking it's a dilemma. Do you do what you're...
Mar 6, 2023


Baking sole with Jamie
"If I've learnt anything from the Italians about fish, it is definitely 'less is more'" Jamie Oliver It's lucky dip time because it's...
Feb 13, 2023


Robert Carrier, tomatoes and indexes
"Cook dinner with Robert Carrier and you’ll need butter, cream, wine and quite a lot of cognac" Jay Rayner It's guru week - by which I...
Jan 30, 2023


A new favourite thing - baked polenta
"While these days polenta often appears on menus, I don't think I'm the only one who's struggling to get round to cooking it at home....
Jan 21, 2023


From peas to plin and a cookbook
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." Douglas Adams The eternal question -...
Jan 14, 2023


Rambling around a bread challenge
"the satisfaction of one answer merely leads to asking another question, and so on into infinity." Alberto Manguel David bought this...
Jan 4, 2023


An oldie but a goodie - Pollo alla Romana con peperoni
"a time to interrupt all ordinary activities and get some rest." Toni Brancatisano Following on yesterday's analysis of what you can...
Oct 28, 2022


Gleanings
"to obtain information, knowledge, etc., sometimes with difficulty and often from various different places" Oxford Learner's...
Sep 7, 2022


Melbourne Italian - a cookbook gift
"Go into the kitchen and cook for someone you love. The pleasure will be mine." Guy Grossi "The oil, the flame, the onion ... You can...
Aug 24, 2022


Allsorts
"A slang term designating the drippings of glasses in saloons, collected and sold at half price to drinkers who are not overly...
Aug 21, 2022


World lasagna day
"Where the dish has endured is on the shelves of the supermarket." Sarah Barell/National Geographic I bet you didn't know it was World...
Jul 29, 2022


From Aqua Pazza to Fish poached in charred tomato broth
"There are many different variations of this sauce, from light broths, to thick tomato based sauces, which have been found on all types...
Jul 23, 2022


When you need special equipment - cannoli
"Never buy a cannoli that’s been sitting ready-filled. The tubes should be piped full of sweetened ricotta for each customer on demand,...
Jul 16, 2022


I think I've said it all before - so let's try caponata
"There is no harm in repeating a good thing" Plato And there's no doubt that caponata is a good thing. But I was actually quite...
Jun 29, 2022


Sicily - too much for a lucky dip
"dinners for the rich and food for the poor" Guiseppe Pitrè It's time I dealt with my Claudia Roden The Food of Italy lucky dip. It's...
Jun 26, 2022


Too many Italian cookbooks
“While she loved the whole idea of cooking elaborate meals, her forte was in the reading of cookbooks.” Linda Wiken Yesterday I talked...
Jun 23, 2022


'A circuitous route to 'A word from ...'
"Indecision is a decision" Jason Evert I meandered to this post from a starting point which was going to lead elsewhere. However, as I...
Jun 22, 2022


Full marks for concept, middling for taste - an Ottolenghi recipe
"Whatever adaptations you may be making to the dish, follow the methodology" Ever Open Sauce Two days ago in my post about an ordinary...
May 28, 2022

