Panforte, also called Siena cake, is a delicious Italian Christmas fruit, nut, chocolate, dense, chewy, candy-like cake, which hails from Siena, Tuscany. It is very much a favourite of mine and I make it every Christmas. Stored well it can last for months, but it is usually eaten well before that! It makes a wonderful [...]
These treasures have a crisp, sugar dusted exterior, with a chewy, lemony-marzipan centre. Traditionally they are made with almonds, honey and lemons for that quintessential Italian citrus goodness. They go perfectly in dessert trio with a vanilla bean pannacotta and a chilled glass, of the other island specialty, limoncello. Makes 30-35 macaroons 2 egg whites, [...]
The International Wine and Food Society, Melbourne Branch, recently hosted a Masterclass in risotto cooking, presented by Beverly Sutherland Smith. The first dish was this ‘basic risotto’ as taught at the Swiss Hotel School in Lausanne in Switzerland’. The method of cookery is quite liberating as it requires very little stirring and, consequently, is very easy [...]
Famous food writer, Waverley Root, writing the Time Life series, ‘The cooking of Italy’, mentions this soup as one of the Roman’s favourite dishes. He explains, ‘Stracciatella’ means little rags as the soup is made of the liquid batter of the eggs and grated Parmigiano Reggiano being poured into the boiling stock. The egg breaks [...]
Yolanda, my daughter, spent a week with me in January, here at On the Ridge, during which time our friend Cameron Matthews, very kindly invited us to join his cooking classes at his new cooking school. The cooking school was formerly housed at his restaurant, The Long Apron, and now has its new home in [...]
Last Thursday we were treated to a special guest chef event with Cameron Matthews taking the Italianicious – Cooking with Passion class. The day was a huge success with 8 very happy cooks getting an idea of what it is like to cook with a 2 hatted restaurant chef. The kitchen was buzzing. Cameron is [...]
We have recently been immersed in Italian cooking with lots of deep red tomatoes, tons of basil and oregano and making some great pasta and yummy desserts. Interestingly many participants are Italian or have Italian extended families, so there is much conversation about the way the older generations have cooked their dishes. One of the [...]
