Just when you think Italians could not possibly top their most famous export, pizza, enters a magnificent parcel of folded, slow risen dough, filled with oozy ricotta, oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and freshly picked basil leaves, coated with a shiny drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. As you cut the bronzed crust open, watch the filling slowly…
Category: vegetarian food
Pane all’Olio (Italian Olive Oil Bread)
Silvia is back in her Cucina! After two and a half months away in Melbourne threading the boards at the Malthouse theatre, playing the role of a dilemma-stricken bride who runs off with her ex-boyfriend on her wedding day, I feel an utter sense of well-being walking around in my kitchen, re-familiarizing with my tools, pots…
Easy Home-Made Tomato Passata
Have you ever been tempted to make your own tomato pasta sauce, but got put off by the daunting thought that this is a complicated job, best left to the expert, wrinkled hands of a good-old Italian Nonna? Think again! Home-made passata is within everybody’s reach. All you need is a food miller, some empty glass jars and, naturally, the…
Chillie Mussles in White Wine Broth (Cozze in bianco alla Marinara)
Finding myself going through the chills of winter in Melbourne, knowing that the northern hemisphere is now enjoying a hot, steamy summer, doesn’t always come easy. For a European girl like me the months of June, July and August are instantly associated with hot weather, drinks by the beach, seafood eaten with bare, sandy hands….
Gnocchi all’Aglione (home-made gnocchi with Tuscan garlic tomato sauce)
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…
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…
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…
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 