The day started with a bang. And I mean a proper bang, on the head to be precise. My darling 5 year-old had decided to prop his favourite book on the shelf right above my side of the bed the night before “for you to read it to me in the morning” he then confessed…
Category: food writing
Italian Cream Puffs (Bigne’ alla Crema)
I have developed a very new, and somewhat scary, compulsion for choux pastry lately… I have spent more time that I wish to confess in the search for the perfect puff, the kind that is light as a feather and hollow inside, to accommodate gooey, slurpy fillings… I have tried countless proportions of eggs to…
No-bake Chocolate, Mascarpone and Espresso Fudge Cake
Hang in there, Chocoholic friends! I have got what you need… Pain no more, just go over to the stove and start melting some chocolate… You can also lick the bowl! This is the ultimate chocolate fudge cake for me: flourless, creamy, opulent and unapologetically chocolatey. And you don’t even have to turn your oven…
Home-made Dried Chili Oil
Home-growing is an occupation that I leave entirely to my green-thumbed husband. It’s not that I don’t see the appeal of gardening and I’m not attracted to such rewarding labour, but I must admit I was born with a black thumb. I don’t seem to have inherited my mum’s natural flare for all things green and I…
Pizza! Home-made and utterly delicious (and healthy too!)
Very few things speak of Italy to me than a perfectly baked Pizza. The thought of a wonderfully crispy and thin crust, so masterfully stretched and folded to create the perfect base for our favorite mediterranean combination of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and a few other usual suspect, topped by a drizzle of top-notch quality extra-virgin…
Cannelloni with Ricotta and Spinach
Home-made pasta is the ultimate Sunday Lunch treat in Italy. Forget about a roast beast with all the trimmings, we need our share of starchy goodness, home-made, of course. From scratch, goes without saying! Naturally you can use store-bough dried cannelloni, but the flavor and texture won’t be as luxurious. And, after all, this is…
Easter Scrolls and Hot-Cross Buns!
As the Holy Week marches on, I feel the urge to get my hands in more festive doughs! What could be better than home-made hot cross buns and scrolls? With the warm tang of cinnamon, the liveliness of orange peel and the opulence of chocolate, they are definitely going to be on offer at my Easter…
Colomba: an Italian Easter Bread, with Prosecco and Chocolate chips
Colomba is a classic Italian Easter enriched bread, similar to the more illustrious Panettone, traditionally baked in a dove-shaped mould, hence its name (colomba in Italian means dove). The dough is built in various stages and the thought alone may be enough to put off many people with busy lives, but , don’t despair! The…
Hazelnut Amaretti (Amaretti alle Nocciole)
Just when I thought I couldn’t make Amaretti because I was out of almond meal (and in no way inclined to take a trip to the supermarket with child and toddler in tow) I found a half-packet of hazelnut meal hidden in the cupboard. The idea struck me immediately, but what if it wouldn’t work? Good news,…
Almond, Orange and Blackberry Cakes
As I opened my freezer a few days ago, I noticed a couple of punnets of blackberries I had been keeping for a rainy day. Rainy it was indeed. In fact it had been so wet in Sydney that I was starting to wonder whether we’d have any dry days at all this year! The…
Silvia Colloca 