Robert Armstrong’s commitment to his land and olive groves, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range (near Crookwell, NSW) has led to ALTO Olives becoming Australia’s most awarded extra virgin olive oil. His agrodolce (bitter-sweet) vinegars are the best Australian vinegars I’ve found too.
How To Make Croutons Master Kitchen Basics & Explore New Cuisines & Ingredients with My Online Cooking Classes Croutons (croûtons in French) are a good way to use up stale bread and are great with dips, soups or tossed through salads. The name crouton is a diminutive of the French croûte, meaning crust. Originally crisped […]
Piri-Piri Sauce Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Portuguese cooking class! The piri-piri chilli (also written peri-peri or pili pili, as one word or two) was developed by the Portuguese in Mozambique and spread from there to their other territories; pilipili means ‘pepper’ in Swahili. These small hot chillies (similar to bird’s eye, which […]
Ceci in Zimino con Piselli Join my food & wine tour of Northern Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties Ceci in zimino is a classic Italian dish. In Liguria, chickpeas, cuttlefish, and salt cod are all often cooked ‘in zimino’, meaning braised with spinach or silver beet and sometimes tomato. Zimino comes from the […]
Chicken with Spinach & Peas Join my food & wine tour of Northern Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties Chicken with spinach & peas is inspired by a classic Ligurian dish, seppie in zimino. In Liguria cuttlefish (seppie), salt cod and chickpeas are often cooked ‘in zimino’, meaning braised with spinach or silver beet […]
Bagna Cauda Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Northern Italian cooking class! From the landlocked region of Piedmont pressed against the Alps in north-western Italy, bagna càuda was originally a peasant dish that made the most of winter’s limited vegetables by dressing them in a rich garlicky sauce. Bagna means ‘bath’ and càuda, ‘hot’, […]
Ocean Trout with Spicy Onion Sauce Cooking fish almost entirely on the skin protects the delicate flesh, keeping it moist and succulent. The skin usually ends up a bit charred and looking slightly the worse for wear, so I usually present the fish flesh side up. The skin still tastes great and, if you like […]
Grilled Prawns with Pear & Walnut Salad Grilled prawns with pear and walnut salad is the perfect dish for entertaining as most of the preparation can be done ahead of time, and cooking the prawns only on the shell side ensures they’ll be the juiciest you’ve ever tasted (see video below). Prawns oxidise quickly once […]
Grilled Swordfish with Salmoriglio Swordfish (pesce spada) is one of the most popular fish in the Mediterranean and in southern Italy it’s often served with the classic olive oil and herb sauce, salmoriglio (see video below). It has a wonderful meaty texture but tends to dry out and soften if over cooked, so resist the […]
Salmoriglio Salmoriglio is a simple southern Italian sauce based on olive oil, lemon, garlic and herbs, traditionally oregano. Parsley is often included and sometimes a little finely chopped rosemary or thyme, some recipes add a little anchovy too. Most cooks simply whisk all the ingredients together but, in The River Café Cookbook, Rose Gray and […]
Melanzane Grigliate Eggplant is like a sponge and soaks up an incredible amount of oil, so I prefer to brush it with oil and bake or grill it rather than fry it. If you have the barbecue fired up, you can cook the eggplant on it, otherwise bake it in the oven as I’m doing […]
