Category: Food and Wine

• Food and Wine Pairing: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

  Valerie Knott

  12/05/2015

  Events, Food and Wine

  Italy, Puglia, Pugliese Food, Salento, San Michele Salentino, What’s on in May, wine, Wine Event, Wine pairing, Wine tasting

• Cooking like a local: Pugliese Style! – Going Solo!

  Who would have thought it? Asparagus and eggs! It sounds like a crazy combination but it works! Giuseppe, a good friend of mine, cultivates asparagus on a large scale and gave me a tray of his freshly harvested produce. “Grazie mille” I said but then thought ‘What am I going to do with all of […]

  Valerie Knott

  06/05/2015

  Cooking like a local, Food and Wine

  Asparagus, Cooking, Cooking like a local, Cultivation, Going Solo, Italian, Italian food, Italian Passion, Italy, Puglian recipes, Pugliese Cuisine, Recipes, Traditional Italian recipes

• Better than s*x!!!…..Well almost!

  Whilst taking in the warm Puglian spring sunshine, and catching up with a few girlfriends over an antipasti lunch, all washed down with some local Puglian wine, I was introduced to an orgasmic dessert; ‘Ricotta al Cioccolato e Panna’ – Ricotta with Chocolate and Cream. OMG, I was transported to another place, as I savoured […]

  Valerie Knott

  29/04/2015

  Food and Wine

  Baileys, Chocoholics, Chocolate, Chocolate dessert, Desserts, Italian desserts, Italy, Puglia, quick and easy, Recipes, Ricotta, Salento, Simple chocolate pots

• Cooking like a local: Pugliese Style! – All things Cardoncelli

  

  This week’s seasonal dishes are based on cardoncelli mushrooms, which are a flat based mushrooms from the Puglia region. Last time I cooked with cardoncelli mushrooms, there wasn’t much left of them after I’d scrubbed all the dirt out from the tiny grooves underneath the cap of the mushroom! So this time I was a […]

  Valerie Knott

  25/04/2015

  Cooking like a local, Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Cardoncelli, Cooking like a local, Expat cooking like a local, Italian Culture, Italian food, Italian Passion, Italian Traditions, Local food, Mushrooms, Orecchiette, Pasta, Salento, Traditional Pugliese Food, wereareinpuglia

• Spritz Time!

  Spring is in the air, the big black puffer jackets that the Italians seem to favour, are off, and there is a sense that summer isn’t far away now. So, time for an afternoon Spritz! What better way to relax, take in the warm spring air, than with a refreshing, vibrant Aperol Spritz and some […]

  Valerie Knott

  20/04/2015

  Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Aperol, Holidays, Italy, Ostuni, Prosecco, Puglia, Salento, Spring, Spritz, Stuzzichini, Summer, Time to relax, Vacation time, wearepuglia

• Cooking like a local: Pugliese Style – Polipo al Sugo

  Those who know me well, know I’m allergic to everything that once swam in the sea. So, when Angela suggested ‘Polipo al sugo’, Octopus in a tomato sauce, for our next cookery lesson, I was a little hesitant. But, ‘when in Puglia, do as they do,’ I thought and we all got stuck in; well, […]

  Valerie Knott

  20/04/2015

  Cooking like a local, Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Cooking like a local, Italy, octopus, Pugliese Cuisine, Salento, Traditional Food, Traditional Italian recipes, Traditional Pugliese Food

• Cooking like a local – Pugliese Style!

  Being British we tend to steal recipes from around the world and adapt them according to our taste, thus making many foreign dishes Britishish! (Do you like the way I just created a new word there?!). We have done this with many Italian dishes too! Take lasagne for example, we tend to make a meaty […]

  Valerie Knott

  05/04/2015

  Cooking like a local, Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Cooking like a local, food, insider information, Italy, local dishes, local knowledge, Love food, melanzane ripieno, parmigiana, Puglia, Salento Food, Southern Italy, Traditional Food, Traditional Pugliese Food

• Chiacchiere – A Traditional Carnival Treat

  Throughout the Carnival period, Italians gorge on fatty treats, which traditionally they abstain from during the Lent period starting Ash Wednesday. And one of the most popular Carnival treats are ‘Chiacchiere‘, which translates to chatter or gossip! They are crunchy, sweet strips which are deep fried until golden and dusted in icing sugar. They are […]

  Valerie Knott

  16/02/2015

  Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Carnevale, Carnival, chatter, Chiacchiere, Dolce, Festive Recipes, gossip, Italian Culture, Italian sweets, Italian Traditions, Italy, Lent, Puglia, Traditional Carnival Treats, Traditional Food, Traditional Italian Carnival Treats, Traditional Italian recipes

• Puglia Wines Deliver Quality and Extraordinary Value

  The Italian wine region of Puglia is one that remains under the radar but represents extraordinary value as well as an opportunity for regional exploration beyond the usual suspects like Tuscany and Piedmont. Puglia lies on Italy’s eastern coast along the Adriatic Sea, with its Salento peninsula forming the “heel of the boot.” Puglia is […]

  Valerie Knott

  07/02/2015

  Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine, Holidays

  D.O.C, D.O.C.G, Fine wine, Great value wine, I.G.T, Italy, Puglia, Puglian Wines, Salento Wines, wine

• Puglian Pasta – Orecchiette

  Every region in Italy has its own pasta shape and Orecchiette, is synonymous with Puglia. The word actually means small ears! Why? Because if you look close enough, its form resembles small ears! Orecchiette is made from semolina flour instead of plain flour which is used to make most pasta. This allows more flavours to […]

  Valerie Knott

  23/01/2015

  Culture and Traditions, Food and Wine

  Bari, Bari Vecchia, Brindisi, Cime di rape, Italy, Little ears, Orecchiette, Pasta, Pasta Recipe, Popular Pasta, Puglia, Puglian Pasta, Pugliese Pasta, Regional Food, Regional Pasta, Southern Italy, Traditional Food