Pasta e Ceci

Sometimes when it rains and rains, you just feel as if you need soup, or pasta, or sometimes soup and pasta. And this indeed is more than the sum of its parts – it is the very definition of comfort food.READ MORE

Linguine con Carciofi e Vongole Veraci

You might associate clams with the summer but in actual fact, they are at their best during the cooler months of the year. This dish celebrates the vongole veraci paired with tender artichokes and fragrant garlic. READ MORE

Farfalle with Zucchini Flowers, Mint and Pecorino

Zucchini flowers have a similar life span to a butterfly, they are wonderful when just picked but by day two, they are already starting to wilt. This is therefore a spontanteous treat, when you have them in hand, you must use them immediately!READ MORE

Orecchiette con le Cime di Rapa

Rapini or broccoli rabe: bright green, decisive in flavour and intensely good for you.  Fresh from the orto as we head towards winter and favoured in the kitchens of southern Italy in particular, it’s an ingredient we always looked for when we were in London but that we only really started to use regularly when we moved to Italy.READ MORE

Tagliatelle con Porcini

Ten days after the autumn rains begin to fall, our thoughts in Italy turn to porcini. You have to know either where to forage them, or know someone who knows in order to get the finest crop. READ MORE

Pici con Limone e Pecorino

Pici is a type of pasta that you can only find in Tuscany. Of course it has regional variations under different names, but these rustic, thick spaghetti-like strands are made of just flour and water with a little olive oil, and they have an ability to hold a sauce very well.READ MORE

Wild Nettle Pesto

May is the month for nettles, if you take them later, not only might you remove a nesting ground for ladybirds, but once they are flowering, they are less good for you.  If you haven’t tried it before, nettle pesto is great with pasta, over frittata, or an open sandwich and it takes no time to make.READ MORE

Fusillo di Felitto con Ragu di Agnello

It is often said in Campania that pasta is a celebration food. Families here were brought up on vegetables and bread and dishes such as this were reserved for the finest of days. As such, it has something intrinsically special about it.READ MORE

Making Sugo for the winter recipe Frantoi,org

Sugo di Pomodoro

Making tomato sugo at the end of the summer is a tradition in our family. Mostly, about half way through the morning, everyone asks me – why don’t we just go to the store and buy it! READ MORE

Homemade Pici

Pici should be prepared the day you are eating them. They are wonderful with Ragu, or with a simple Tomato Aglione, or alternatively with Cacio e Pepe.READ MORE

Chestnut pasta with mushroom and chesnuts

Chestnuts are a quintessential autumn ingredient yet very few people dare to cook with them.  Not the case over here in Italy where they are integrated in to a variety of different dishes at this time of the year.READ MORE

Pesto alla Genovese

As the summer comes to a close, it’s a good moment to use the last of your basil to make a delicious pesto before the temperatures drop.READ MORE

Orecchiette Cime di Rape e Vongole

Orecchiette alle Cime di Rape is one of the stalwarts of Pugliese cuisine.  This version, with strascinati (a type of orecchiette) and vongole we had in a restaurant we really love, L’Osteria del Porto, in the small fishing village of Savelletri – just south of coastal gem Monopoli. READ MORE

Zucchini Flower Lasagna recipe

Zucchini Flower Lasagna

This is wonderful summer dish, rich and satisfying. Eat warm, and pair with a bitter green salad and a cold red fruity wine.READ MORE

Spaghetti con Agretti

Like any vegetable that appears in the market for only a few weeks a year, agretti feels like a rare treat. When the weather is such that we can sit comfortably outside for lunch, this makes a great mealREAD MORE

Penne ai sapori della Primavera

In this extraordinary moment of life, many of us have necessarily moved from shopping every couple of days to shopping or receiving delivery of a weekly order.  We find this abundant arrival of vegetables in our kitchen hugely uplifting and it drives us to create fresh, delicious dishes that the whole family can enjoy.

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Gnudi di Ricotta e Spinaci

Gnudi are light dumplings, truly delicious and easy to make.  In Tuscany we use fresh ricotta during the spring, which is a sheep’s cheese but you could replace with either cow or buffalo ricotta depending on what you can find.READ MORE

Homemade Tagliatelle al Ragù

Homemade pasta al ragù is a wonderful classic Italian dish and is surprisingly easy to make.  As is often the case with Italian food, simplicity is key – but of course you can add vegetables or other meats to the ragù if you wish. This is a child friendly version.  You will need a pasta rolling machine to make the tagliatelle. READ MORE

Raffaella Cova’s Spaghetti Micol

Raffaella Cova is a wonderful cook who runs beautiful classes in Montalcino. We featured a conversation with her in the past, and today she kindly publishes one of her favourite autumnal recipes: Spaghetti Micol. READ MORE

Tagliatelle al Tartufo

Autumn Recipes

Truffles are one of the most wonderful culinary luxuries in the world. We are so lucky to live close to one of its most important areas, San Giovanni d’Asso in central Tuscany, and towards the end of October and throughout November we try to have our annual fix. READ MORE

Nepitella

Tagliatelle ai Funghi Porcini e Nepitella

One of the idiosyncrasies of living in Italy is that many things are not terribly clear or well explained, but Italians seem to navigate this with ease and are apparently surprised when you ask for help. Things are done in a certain way, even if there isn’t really an explanation for it. READ MORE

Fratoi - Paccheri with Red Mullet

Paccheri with Red Mullet

As summer comes fish takes more centre stage in our family. And this dish is a wonderful way to combine a full tummy with the flavours of the Med. Red Mullet (Triglia in Italian) is a local Mediterranean fish that is often found along the Tuscan coast (and in many local recipes, such Triglie alla Livornese). READ MORE

Frantoi - Pasta alle Vongole

Spaghetti alle Vongole

This is maybe one of the easiest and most impressive plates of pasta you can make. As always you need the best ingredients for a true flavour – fresh clams from your fishmonger, one of our maritime olive oils, from Puglia, Sicily or Liguria. READ MORE