Category: Food and Wine
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]