Crispy Potato Skins

So, you have peeled a gargantuan amount of potatoes to make your creamy Paris mash/chips/champs you name it…now what to do with the skins? The frugal Italian in me cannot bear the idea of wastage and I’m always eager to conjure up a way to give new life to left-overs and food scraps. A little…

Overnight Healthy Rye and Spelt Loaf

I would love to make you believe that I spent days elaborating a new recipe for a healthy and delicious bread. That I experienced, tried and tested various formulas until one day, exhausted but elated, I triumphed…Alas, the truth about how this bread came to be is that a few weeks ago, as I was setting up…

Easter Dolls (Pupe di Pasqua)

My fondest Easter morning memory takes me back to Italy, to being a child, to being with Nonna Irene. Every Easter she used to make Pupe di Pasqua (traditional Abruzzese Easter Dolls) out of pastry, for us children to dunk in our bowl of milk on Easter morning. Me, my sister Ale and my cousin…

Black Plum and Chianti cake

I must apologise for my silence over the last few weeks. It turned out that being on the road with two children under 5 for over two months can tire you down to the point of catching pneumonia and forcing you to your bed whilst husband and boys happy pootle about in the crystal-clear Sardinian…

Cantuccini con Pistacchi e mandarino

Cantuccini, also known as Biscotti di Prato, are Italy’s best-loved cookies. They serve many useful purposes. You can dunk them in your morning coffee, in your afternoon gelato and in your evening Vin Santo. They are also, almost fat-free. Mind you, they make up the near absence of butter with a plentiful presence of sugar……