Hi dear friends, how are you? I hope spring is treating you well wherever you happen to be. Spring is in full swing here in Umbria and more gorgeous than ever. As for myself, these are the first quiet days after half a year of excitement and travels. I can hardly believe we were in… Continue reading Umbrian-style braised sausage with fresh fennel (and my travels)
Easter in Umbria is not for those with a delicate constitution. A cheese-egg-meat-wine-chocolate binge starts at 9 am on Easter Sunday with breakfast and ends into a food induced coma sometime at 5 pm. By then, some of the aunties are passing around giant mounds of broken chocolate eggs and slices of colomba just in… Continue reading Bucciotto, a cheese-bread doll for Easter
My hometown Perugia is well protected from evil. We have 3 patron Saints to look out for us: San Lorenzo, Sant’Ercolano and San Costanzo. Nationwide, San Lorenzo is the most popular. One of the Seven Deacons of Rome, and therefore among the first to have been subjected to martyrdom, he is the patron of over… Continue reading Torcolo di San Costanzo, a medieval sweet bread from Umbria
Dear friends how are you? Are you also looking back at this year that once again is almost gone, and thinking: wow, it’s good to be here. I do, despite everything. The economy, the crazy weather, the earthquakes (we had two major ones in the last 3 months), the politics, the floods and no olive… Continue reading a roast chicken with Umbrian herb salt for the holidays
August is a long, slow month in Umbria. Most of the world seems to be somewhere else. Italians flock to the beach and everybody else believes it’s not a good time to be here so it’s very quiet here on our magical mountain. Every evening at sunset we sit on the terrace with a glass… Continue reading cold wild-fennel and cucumber soup
Pizza night in this house never goes unnoticed. The event has been planned in advance. Most likely we have just been on a hunt for a batch of good flour or other interesting ingredients. The kitchen is populated by notebook pages scribbled with the last method I’ll be testing after much study and deliberation. The dough has… Continue reading the secret to make better pizza is to understand your flour
What a wonderful and different springtime I have had this year! I am back from the most exciting book tour in the US where I have visited old and new friends and presented my cookbook at 4 different locations. Also, I have taken with me a little bit of Umbria: a hand-woven cloth by… Continue reading Travels, gratitude and a quick dinner (balsamic and sage chicken scaloppine)
