Tag Archives: traditional Italian recipes
Tales Of The Cacciucco Posted by Serena on Jul 19, 2018
If you’ve been following Serena’s detective story, you’ll have noticed that Ispettore Augusto has a passion for cacciucco, a traditional dish from the Livorno area. So, what is cacciucco, and where did it come from? By Geoff (who doesn’t really like seafood) and Serena (who wants to be a mermaid). What Is Cacciucco? Il Cacciucco…
La Bruschetta Posted by Serena on May 31, 2017
La bruschetta (pronounced broosketta) is an old peasant recipe which makes use of pane raffermo (left over bread). In the old days it could easily be preprepared during a short break whilst out working in the fields. Nowadays, it’s a popular Italian antipasto, the ‘nibble’ of choice to go with one’s aperitivo. The generic name…
La Panzanella Posted by Serena on Aug 12, 2016
Browsing through my mother’s cookery books, I found an old booklet containing traditional Tuscan recipes. As I started reading through it I was immediately struck by its language, a beautifully old style Tuscan, full of almost obsolete words. So I decided to copy one of the recipes and share it with you. I chose La…
Italian Chestnut Bread Posted by Serena on Jun 17, 2016
Here’s an unusual recipe from the Appennino Tosco Emiliano region, where chestnuts were the main staple food for centuries, il pane di farina di castagne (chestnut bread). This recipe involves the use of the vocabulary we explored in our last article: What Is Pasta? Note how the words pasta, impastare and impasto are used in…
Luisa’s Caponata Posted by Serena on May 8, 2015
Caponata is a fabulous vegetable stew in a sweet and sour tomato sauce, but unfortunately it’s a real calories and cholesterol bomb. However, a few days ago I was talking to my friend Luisa, who is from Sicily, the original home of this dish, and she told me that she had recently learned a variation…
The Amatriciana Dilemma Posted by Serena on Feb 17, 2015
What are the true, authentic ingredients of Amatriciana sauce? This was the main topic of discussion in all the Italian newspapers last week. Why? Because master chef Carlo Cracco had the cheek to tell a member of the audience on a TV program that you should add uno spicchio d’aglio in camicia (a clove of garlic…