I’ve made a Sicilian dish for lunch today. Recipe from Pappagallo, for a change. 🙂 I always have an aubergine or two in the fridge since moving to Italia, I always have a few bottles of quality passata in the pantry, one thing I didn’t have was ricotta salata to be grated on top. I had to substitute it with Parmigiano Reggiano, but hopefully I get to try the real deal in Sicilia in 64 days- Izzie keeps count! 🙂

First job, before I unrolled my mat for pilates this morning was to slice the aubergines, sprinkle some salt on them and let them release some water. I gave them almost an hour to do so. Towel dried them and fried, in batches.

A quick and simple tomato sauce was spitting all over the cooker, pasta was cooked. Once the melanzane were ready, I roughly chopped them and added to the sauce. Adjusted the seasoning and we were ready to eat.

I am currently into 6th consecutive week of doing a 25-40 minute workouts 5 times a week. I’ve never in my life lasted that long. Not too sure what a plate of this delicious pasta with fried melanzane did to my efforts this morning, but it was a lovely lunch!

Again, from Pappagallo. 🙂

Not the lightest and healthiest of meals, but it’s not that often that I make a sauce like this, so hopefully we’ll live. Having said that, I should really repeat the blood tests, see if my cholesterol is any lower.

So, the dinner this evening was heavily inspired by Luca Pappagallo, but I made the sauce a bit differently and skipped fennel seeds and garlic. Gently sweated off half a small onion, then crumbled in 2 Tuscan sausages and cooked them until nicely brown. A good slosh of cream. Gorgonzola piccante, in small pieces, a generous handful. Black pepper and fresh sage. I ended up adding a little bit of cornflour mixed with water to thicken the sauce a bit. No salt was needed. Gnocchi went in, straight from the boiling water. A rich, filling, tasty plate of food. Served with lovely grilled asparagus, crunchy and delicious. I had to have some, as a week ago we have been cooked for by one of our friends, a competent cook, but he murdered his asparagus, it was mushy and desperate on the plate, I really don’t know what the hell happened there.

A few days ago I cooked one more thing from Luca’s book, easy, simple and delicious, next time I will serve it with a crunchy green salad like a veggie schnitzel. Aubergine splices, salted and left to release some water, platted dry after about 30 minutes. Tossed in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried. Excellent!

And finally a giant lemon I was given today by Anna. A real monster, I think I might make a lemon pound cake tomorrow and give her half.

I purchased 2 books by Luca Pappagallo, as it is nice to have the cookbooks on the shelf, not just internet for inspiration. And what a pleasure to flip through a beautiful recipe book with a cup of tea while making a shopping list for next day!

This was our lunch today. It was a busy and exciting morning, Florek has booked flights and hotel in Catania, where we’ll be holidaying in less than 3 months time. The top of my travel wish list is happening! We will take the trip towards the craters of Etna, a major thing on my bucket list, I was booking it while the tomato sauce was spitting all over the stove.

I had no anchovies, the mistake which I will fix this afternoon. Luca started his sauce by chucking some anchovy fillets onto the olive oil, some garlic, then passata. I added some fresh tomatoes and a chopped shallot, because why not indeed. Aubergines were roughly chopped and fried until deep golden, in a separate pan. When the tomato sauce was seasoned and happy looking, a bunch of green olives went in, then the melanzane, a bit of oregano and it was ready to welcome the pasta in, straight from the water, the only right way!

Delicious, will be made again, this time with anchovies and maybe a different pasta shapes, not spaghetti. 🙂

A recipe from Casa Pappagallo, a vlog which I turn to when I have no clue what to cook. Prior to a quick shopping trip this afternoon I watched a video where Luca made this dish, but with spaghetti. I used linguine, as Izzie was having ragu and I didn’t fancy 27 pots on the stove.

Dinner tonight was a delight; we are having some really bad weather lately, parts of Tuscany are flooded, the rain just doesn’t stop. All the schools were closed in Lucca today, it’s still raining heavily. At home however it smells of garlic and olives. It’s warm, it’s quiet, it’s dry. We’re so lucky to have this place.

I started cooking from gently frying some breadcrumbs on olive oil, till browned and crispy, a pangrattato, which was to add texture to the finished dish. While linguine were cooking, I chucked some minced garlic and several fillets of anchovies onto the olive oil. For science and research- the cats love anchovies! Some capers. A good handful of both green and black olives. From myself I added some quartered cherry tomatoes. A splash of water from the pasta made the sauce more runny and exciting. I removed the pasta from the water about 2 minutes before the end, to finish cooking in the sauce, which required no salt at all, virtually no seasoning with all the anchovies. That crispy pangrattato is a revelation, not just because of the taste, but the texture.

It’s been approved and enjoyed with some Sardinian vino. I’m hoping I get to see Sicilia this year. 🙂

Until today I thought my brother makes the best granola. He once told me how to, but mine wasn’t as good as his, so I left it and settled for shop bought, overly sweet Kellogs.

But lately, in the new book by Ula Pedantula called ” Kuchnia Pedantuli” I saw recipe for homemade granola, one that uses olive oil alongside honey (Mariusz only uses honey). We went to Ikea this morning, where I picked up a few bits to make the storage in my kitchen a bit better, then, in Esselunga I got what I needed to make the granola. I combined some oats, hazelnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds( a must, beautiful flavour when toasted!), sesame seeds, a heavy dusting of cinnamon ( of course) and then a good drizzle of olive oil and honey, enough to coat everything.

I baked the granola in 150 degrees, on a baking paper and tossed it every 10-15 minutes, until it was golden and smelled fantastic. It took about 45 minutes. I left it to cool completely, while still tossing and then transferred it to a sexy new jar I got from Lara last Thursday. Very much looking forward to having it tomorrow morning with yoghurt and fresh fruit.

Marion’s. I’ve cooked it today for the second time, last time I was too hungry to bother with photos, but this evening it was so tasty ( all 3 Bankses were unanimous) that I simply must write about it. Not the fastest of stir fries, as the chicken’s double cooked, but worth the effort.

Chicken breasts ( thighs at Marion’s) were thinly sliced and marinated quickly in soy sauce and grated garlic. Sauce was prepared out of oyster sauce, a good splash of Shaoxing, dark soy, some sesame oil and a serious fat teaspoon of black pepper, this is perfectly enough as far as I’m concerned.

Chicken pieces were then tossed in cornflour and quickly panfried, then drained on the kitchen towels, I did that in 2 batches. Marion’s right, it is quite difficult to stop eating those chicken pieces, while the rest of the work is happening.

An onion, chopped quite thickly and some red pepper into the pan/wok, till a bit charred, in goes the chicken, in goes the sauce ( lovely smell of Shaoxing all over the kitchen), toss, toss, toss and it’s all ready to devour. I served it with rice, everything was eaten this evening and I was thanked profusely by the other 2 Bankses. Applause! 🙂

Robert Maklowicz cooked it in his recent episode from Dalmatia, I loved how it looked, I had to try. Anything with aubergines excites me since we live in Italia, I might plant some next year!

I’ve only made one of these, as the rest of the family were looking forward to their ragu.

I peeled one, not very big aubergine, leaving the green top, essential for it to keep the shape. I then cut it from the bottom upwards to make it look like a thick mop and plonked it into the pot of salted, boiling water for about 10 minutes. Left to drain and cool. In the meantime I’ve made a quick and delicious tzatziki; grated some cucumber, crushed a garlic clove and mashed it with some salt, finely chopped some mint from the garden and once the cucumbers let out all the water I removed it and combined all ingredients together, adding a touch more salt and olive oil.

Cooled melanzane were generously dipped in egg.

Then onto the breadcrumbs, which had also some sweet, smoked paprika in it, quite a lot, actually, not intentionally though! 🙂

And then into the hot oil for a few minutes, until crunchy and golden brown.

I found the whole thing absolutely delicious with a glass of red. Can’t wait to share with fellow melanzane lovers.

Inspired by Vincenzo’s plate, but also by my deep affection for this lovely cheap and versatile veg, which I fell in love with in early days of living in Italia.

We’re enjoying a few child free days, the child is having some quality time in Versilia with Lara, Ilan and Lydia, so this evening there was a bottle of a rather excellent Bolgheri and the said parmigiana.

I started with the tomato sauce, again, Vincenzo’s way, so a large onion and 2 carrots blitzed into a creamy pulp with some olive oil, panfried for 10 minutes, before some chili flakes went in and a bottle of passata. Cooked under the lid for about 40 minutes, fresh basil leaves added, seasoned with salt and brown sugar.

Aubergine were cut into 1 cm slices, salted and left to sweat. Then patted with kitchen towel, dusted with flour and fried until golden brown. Next time I will choose a wider pan for frying, it took bloody forever, luckily I had Maneskin to keep me entertained.

Once the aubergines were all fried and rested on the paper towels, I could put the parmigiana together. Tomato sauce on the bottom, melanzane, tomato sauce, fresh basil leaves, chopped mozarella, some grated pecorino. Melanzane again, sauce, basil, cheeses.

I did 3 layers, finished with tomato sauce, covered with alu foil and into the oven for 30 mins in 180 degrees. Foil off, a generous dusting of parmesan, 10 more minutes.

Once baked I let it rest for a good 15 minutes before cutting and serving. An excellent dish, basta cosi.

Marion’s. Simple, delicious, no fancy ingredients. It was all eaten last night and thoroughly enjoyed by all 3 of us.

I had 2 pieces of very decent speak from Esse, which I have sliced thinly and marinated for about an hour in some soy sauce, sesame oil, a sprinkling of baking soda and cornflour. Chopped up my white onion, lots of ginger and 3 cloves of garlic. Made a sauce out of soy, oyster sauce, dark soy, a touch of white vinegar, some sugar and sesame oil. The rice was ready and waiting under the lid. Aromatics into the wok for a couple of minutes, mushrooms in, 3-4 minutes, then the beef, after a couple of minutes the sauce and it was ready to serve. Finished with sesame seeds and spring onions. An excellent end to a productive day in the kitchen.

I have made my third batch of strawberry jam, baked a sourdough, but this time half of the flour was manitoba, half was integrale. I have to say that on the day it was baked it was fantastic, the next day, toasted, was ok, no fireworks. I also baked some Danish pastries yesterday, as on Tuesdays Izzie has has her Italian buddy over in the afternoon. It’s been a good, foodie day!