This months Daring Kitchen Challenge provoked my fading memories of a life briefly lived in Italy. How incredible to tap back into the warmth of Tiziana’s Sicilian kitchen where I learn how to make pasta, with a strong flour milled mere kilometers away and eggs from the galina’s that roost outside our window, my flour covered hands […]
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Tag Archives: italian
Parsley Crumbed Cheese Fritter Recipe
July 21, 2010 
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Recently I posted a parsley crumbed beef recipe, and this is a follow on vegetarian version of that dish – Parsley Crumbed Cheese Fritter recipe. It’s a very light, fresh crumb and is a perfect lunch if served with salad or an easy dinner if coupled with a serving of bruscetta. I learned this recipe […]
Read more Bruschetta Recipe
June 17, 2010 0 Comments
Sicily is well known for it’s Pachino cherry tomatoes, grown at the southern tip of the island in very sandy soil and noted for both their sweet taste and their pre-season natural ripening. Other naturally grown tomatoes are ripe from July to September however Pachino ripen naturally in late May / early June. So buying […]
Read more How To: Perfectly Boiled Pasta Recipe
May 27, 2010 0 Comments
Subtitle: You Mean Cooking Pasta Doesn’t Have To Include Throwing It At The Wall?? Too many cooks sometimes spoils the broth, but in this case it made for a rather hilarious revelation. Pepo (Italian agritourism owner, self made chef, Sicilian food conesuir), Sego (French traveller, fellow foodie) and I were discussing our methods to check […]
Read more Sicilian Pasta Dishes
May 25, 2010 0 Comments
The use of breadcrumbs in recipes instead of cheese dates back to times of poverty in Southern Italy – dairy was not affordable for most Italians so a huge amount of resourceful recipes using breadcrumbs (usually dry-roasted to create a lovely crunchy flavour) resulted. Also, Italians traditionally don’t eat chesse in seafood recipes, so breadcrumbs […]
Read more Home Made Tomato Sauce
May 22, 2010 1 Comment
It seems almost obligatory in Italy to make home made tomato sauce (the kind for pasta, not the kind you dollop on chips and pies) because during summer there are an utter abundance of cheap, ripe tomatoes around so anyone who’s anyone with a kitchen gets to buying a couple of boxes full and bottling […]
Read moreCooking with Sardines
May 22, 2010 0 Comments
Until this cooking lesson, I had never eaten fresh sardines (only canned), and I’ve definitely been underestimating their flavour. They are simply delicious, albeit a little fiddly to prepare, and have a lovely firm flesh that would be perfect for grilling (I’ve made a mental note to try a grilled sardine recipe in the future). […]
Read more Simple Sicilian Salads #2
May 22, 2010 3 Comments
I’ve found another two genius recipes, this time using oranges to make beautiful savoury salads. They are simple, can be made in under 5 minutes, and are so delicious. The sweet orange combines beautifully with the savoury flavours, a delicious yin and yang for the taste buds. Recipe: Orange and Garlic Salad (Insalata Di Arance) […]
Read more Pasta Alla Norma
May 20, 2010 0 Comments
This next dish is one of the first Sicilian dishes that I read about; Pasta Alla Norma, literally meaning normal pasta. So I guess it’s not surprising that when I asked to be taught this dish preferentially over lasagna I was met with quizzical looks. Crazy Australians! This recipe is a go-to for any family […]
Read more Stuffed Artichokes
May 20, 2010 1 Comment
This next recipe was another first time – I’d never cooked the whole artichoke before, most times the ‘leaves’ are discarded and only the artichoke heart is eaten. But interestingly, when cooked this way the leaves are more delicious than the heart. The whole leaf isn’t eaten, rather the stuffing is licked off each leaf […]
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