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
When I was a child in the late 1960s many homes, including the one of my Umbrian grandmother, didn’t have an oven and took their bread to the bakery for cooking. Easter was an especially busy time, with women preparing Torta di Pasqua, a leavened cheese bread traditionally served for our hearty Easter breakfast. In… Continue reading Torta di Pasqua, an Umbrian Easter bread
Now it’s time to start writing about food again. This is one of those recipe I make during cooking classes when we want to explore how to transform simple ingredients into a sumptuous meal. Admittedly truffle is not “simple” but you might still have a jar from your holidays in Umbria or Tuscany. If not, omit and the results will be delightful nevertheless.
Do you already make spinach pie? If you don’t, you must hurry as this is the simplest one-dish dinner you can make besides a plate of pasta. I learned the original Serbian recipe from my artist friend Natasa Karanovic when we were living the bohemian life in the country of windmills and houseboats. Ah, the… Continue reading hot-water pastry spinach pie
I fell in love with colored pasta this summer. May be because I have had so many adorable children taking part at our cooking classes. They love surprises. I have had giggling babies who obviously did not cook but seeemed to enjoy every minute of the action. One slept peacefully in a sling on the… Continue reading green ravioli with zucchini, ricotta, lemon-butter and honey
