Tomato Passata sauce, part 1
Tomato Passata sauce, part 2
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Chocolate tagliatelle pasta served with a spicy wild board sauce
After about three months the hunting season is now almost over and most of the Allerona’s hunters will have their freezers full of wild boar meat and jugs of sauces to go with this meat have been prepared and are [...]
Cod fillet served with red onion marmalade, a cube of sweet green pepper with a sprinkling of black crust
I awoke early this morning with a hundred thoughts and plans running through my head. As the dinner party ,held last week by the Local Winery, went so well they have asked me to return to [...]
Monlus 70% dark chocolate served on English custard and hazelnuts.
Last week I was contacted by a Wine Cellar that produces fantastic wines in this area. They asked me if I could /would create a menu where each course would combine with and compliment their wines ,from the aperitif to the dessert. What a wonderful challenge, I was so pleased and honoured [...]
Homemade ravioli served with a chesnut cream, crispy pancetta cubes and fresh rosemary
This morning, while taking what should have been be a brisk healthy walk , but was in fact a slow leisurely stroll with our lazy dog Lui, I came across three of our elderly neighbors who were busy harvesting their olives. [...]
Mediterranean Octopus salad
As we all know this week was Halloween . It’s not something that we really celebrate in Italy , but more recently all the kids seem to be very into it . I suppose it’s the chance to dress up and threaten your neighbors with untold mischief, if they don’t pay [...]
Wild mushrooms risotto
NO BUONO. At the end, we had to cancel the olive harvest!
After spending days and days with our ears pinned to the radio listening to the scary weather forecasts for the olive picking weekend, it seemed we only had two sensible options (1) would be to build a Noah’s ark or [...]
Homemade olive ascolane
For the farmers around Orvieto , the situation is serious this year. To start with although the vines produced excellent grapes that were full of sugar, unfortunately there was far less of them and the overall harvest in the area was reduced by almost 40%. Now, we are coming up to [...]
Poached egg served with truffles and homemade bread
During the last weeks of summer Nicks mum Jacky came to stay. On her arrival we noticed she was wearing a bandage on her wrist. Had she damaged it dragging her suitcase through the airport , we thought… or had she been injured delivering a devastating [...]
Rabbit cooked in red wine and prunes
Coming out from a routine is what a good break is all about . Waking up and realizing that it isn’t your turn to make a cappuccino, feed the chickens , cats, dog or goat is what I call a HOLIDAY.
Short but sweet: we had a couple [...]
Cacio & Pepe
Cacio e Pepe is a real traditional Roman pasta dish . Most Italians have heard of it , but very few know exactly how it’s made. Quick and simple it uses only 3 ingredients , Extra virgin olive oil , pecorino Romano cheese and of course black pepper. A real example [...]
Nigella Lawson's Chocolate pasta with Pecans & Caramel
A few days ago I was contacted by a Daily Mail journalist, her name was Jan and she was calling from London. She had this idea to organize a culinary day in my kitchen here in Umbria with myself and a local housewife/ nonna (nana),cooking 8 [...]
Chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs wrap in DOP mortadella. Gentely sous vide cooked.
This year the vineyard has done very well, we have lots of big, beautiful grapes. The maturation is complete , so now it’s time, like every year, to harvest. In fact, even the wild boar have realized that our [...]
Paccheri with Amatriciana fish
Once upon a time in the hills of Umbria there was a “young” lady called Simona who every springtime worked very hard on her land preparing it for her vegetable plants .This year she planted many things including: 6 cucumbers plants, 10 zucchini 9 eggplants and 80 tomato plants. She [...]
Spaghetti from Gragnano cooked in Amalfi’s lemon zest, fresh squid and Bottarga
It’s official, the summer is over I’m not saying this because the constant forty degrees temperature has finally dropped here in Umbria, nor do I say this because there is ONE cloud in the sky, but because Ladies and Gentlemen, the swimming pool in Allerona [...]
Paccheri pasta with a monkfish and zucchini sauce, squid ink and thyme
I know it’s been a while since my last update so I thought I’d better give you some news of what’s been happening here.
Thankfully my pans have been constantly bubbling away on the cooker and my remaining free time has been spent in the vegetable garden making sure my [...]
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A man’s game.
Chocolate tagliatelle pasta served with a spicy wild board sauce
After about three months the hunting season is now almost over and most of the Allerona’s hunters will have their freezers full of wild boar meat and jugs of sauces to go with this meat have been prepared and are [...]