Spaghetti alle Vongole al Cartoccio Spaghetti alle vongole is the classic Italian clam dish. Vongole means ‘clam’ in Italian and I use the small South Australian vongole that are closest to Italy’s vongole veraci, but you can use any clams or other bivalve for this dish, including mussels. I first had spaghetti alle vongole al […]
Bottarga & Lemon Pappardelle I love pasta! I also love lemon and bottarga, so I created this simple recipe combining all three. It’s inspired by my friend and co-author, Giovanni Pilu who introduced me to the joys of bottarga along with many other Sardinian ingredients (you can order his Aussie-made bottarga online and scroll to […]
Bucatini all’Amatriciana I love tomato, cheese and all things quick and easy, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to try my hand at bucatini all’Amatriciana, one of Italy’s classic pasta dishes. Perhaps it’s because guanciale (cured pork cheek) can be tricky to find – so when I discovered Salumi Australia’s guanciale […]
Fettuccine Bolognese Join my Small Group Food & Wine Tours of Bologna https://youtu.be/MNEYP5H1Ia0 Slow-cooked meat sauces, called ragùs, are made all over Italy, though the best known comes from Bologna in Emilia-Romagna and is the ancestor of Australia’s beloved ‘spag bol’. Not that it would ever be served with dried spaghetti in Emilia-Romagna where fresh […]
Spaghetti Carbonara Spaghetti carbonara is a simple Roman pasta with a sauce made creamy by combining egg yolks and hard cheese – it doesn’t contain cream, despite the profusion of recipes using it. The origin of the name is a bit more of a mystery, ‘carbone’ is Italian for coal, and it’s been suggested that […]
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe Cacio e pepe, cheese and pepper – one of the simplest pasta sauces, this Roman classic can also be one of the trickiest to get just right. The idea is to emulsify the cheese with the starchy pasta cooking water to create a creamy sauce. A few things ensure success: quality […]
Mushroom Pappardelle I love mushrooms. ‘Meat for vegetarians’ one advertising campaign called them, and I’d suggest that this super quick mushroom pappardelle is so tasty that even die-hard carnivores won’t miss the meat. In autumn, when wild mushrooms appear in farmers’ markets and good greengrocers, use gorgeous orange pine mushrooms or meaty slippery jacks instead […]
Pesto Tagliatelle How often do you buy a bunch of basil, use a dozen leaves or so in a sauce or salad then wonder what to do with the rest? The answer’s easy, pesto, the famous bright green sauce of Liguria; though if you’re buying basil specifically to make pesto, get a pot of living […]
Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino The simplest recipes are often the favourites, the ones with the most views on this website are croque monsieur (a.k.a. toasted ham & cheese sandwich) and affogato (ice cream ‘drowned’ in coffee and liqueur), hardly recipes at all. Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino is another of my super simple favourites […]
Fettuccine with Black Truffle For many of us, one of the highlights of winter is truffles. But it wasn’t always so in Australia. On 18 June 1999 Duncan Garvey harvested Australia’s first Perigord black truffle in Tasmania. Since then truffles have also been cultivated in NSW, ACT, WA, SA, Queensland, Victoria and New Zealand. While […]
