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Clam Chowder (light)

I had some clams left over from the Clams and Couscous recipe, so I picked some celery from my garden, defrosted a fish stock that I made last week with the head and backbone of a scorpionfish (rockfish) and I also had a drop of fresh cream in the fridge. I didn’t make a roux…

Clams with Couscous – and a surprise ingredient 🙂

Today something a bit different. Actually it’s ‘a bit different’ only because I had decided to cook clams with pasta but when I got home from the shops I realized I didn’t have any pasta – but I did have a packet of couscous with linseeds! The result is delicious and is made even more…

Fave e Cicorie (Fava Bean Mash with Greens)

Dried Fava Beans (Broad Beans) with Cicorie….a bitter green vegetable that is widely used in Puglia. If you can’t find it where you live you can use chard or spinach. Soak the dried fava beans for about 8 hours in cold water. Drain and place in a saucepan covered by 3 to 4 cm of…

Radish Rocket and Mushroom salad

It is such a pleasure to forage in your own garden 🙂 My garden was a delight this morning after all these days of rain. The rocket seems to have grown overnight 🙂 I didn’t have anything much in the fridge….just three left-over mushrooms and some radishes….so I picked a few leaves of rocket, a…

Coquille San Nicola 😉

This is a recipe I invented a few years ago. I call it Coquilles San Nicola because I use mussels and salmon instead of scallops. Mussels are synonymous with Bari and San Nicola is the patron saint…..hence my inspiration for the name 🙂 1kg mussels (cooked following the recipe for Impepata di cozze) 200gr salmon…

Cure for lockdown Sunday blues

I hate Sundays and I’ve discovered that I hate lockdown Sundays even more….but cold lockdown Sundays with incessant rain take the biscuit! So here’s my plan: Coffee and ricotta lemon yoghurt cake in bed is always a good way to start the day. I usually enjoy the Sunday papers too but today I just don’t…

Ricotta Lemon and Yoghurt Cake

This cake is simple and delicious, I love it with coffee for breakfast. I’m making it a lot these days because my lemon tree is laden 🙂 The other day I had some ricotta left over and I added it in, the result is great. Hope you like it! 1 tub low-fat natural yoghurt (125…

Smoked Salmon and Avocado on Soda Bread Toast

So now that you know how to make soda bread you can try lots of different ways of eating it. I think for St. Patrick’s Day this green, white and gold open sandwich is just perfect. Toast a slice of soda bread and top it with mashed avocado and smoked salmon. Season with crushed black…

Soda Bread….a taste of Ireland for Paddy’s Day

Making soda bread is about the closest I can get to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this year with lockdowns and travel restrictions in place both in Ireland and Italy! So I hope you enjoy this little taste of Ireland and Beannachtai’ na Feile Padraig oraibh 🙂 450gr plain flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon bread…

Orecchiette e Rape

This medieval dish has been traditional in Bari since the 12th century when the city was under Norman-Swabian domination. The name ‘orecchiette’ means ‘little ears’ and it is so called because the shape of the pasta looks a bit like an ear. Orecchiette come in a variety of sizes, today I used the really big…

Orecchiette Baked in a Pumpkin

I found this gorgeous little butternut squash (750 grams) in my greengrocer’s the other day and apart from the fact that it was lovely to look at, I thought it would make a perfect one-portion container. So yesterday I decided to bake orecchiette in it. I split it in half, took out the seeds and…

What is Garum?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2018/01-02/what-is-garum-rome-fish-sauce/ Mediterranean seafood is abundant on this first-century Pompeii mosaic from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Different varieties of fish were the key ingredient for garum, Rome’s favorite seasoning. HISTORY & CULTURE Funky Fish Guts Were the Ketchup of Ancient Rome A network of factories and trade routes sprang up to feed Rome’s insatiable…

Lentils

A plate of lentils will be on the menu in practically every household in Puglia, and indeed all over Italy, to welcome in the New Year. Lentils are the oldest pulses known, and among the earliest crops to be cultivated. Evidence of lentil consumption dating back to 11,000 BC has been found in Greece. The tradition of…

THERMOPOLIUM

2000-year-old fast food restaurant unearthed in Pompei https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/26/exceptionally-well-preserved-snack-bar-unearthed-in-pompeii Exceptionally well-preserved snack bar unearthed in Pompeii The frescoed thermopolium, a Roman-era fast-food stall, is the first to be fully excavated Agence France-Presse Sat 26 Dec 2020 21.37 GMTLast modified on Sun 27 Dec 2020 11.40 GMT Researchers said on Saturday they had discovered a frescoed thermopolium or fast-food counter in an exceptional…

Creamy Cheesy Cucumber Bites

These little bites are great served as part of an aperitivo. Mix 100 grams of cream cheese ( I used goat’s cheese) with a few leaves of cooked spinach…squeeze tightly to get rid of all the water. Zap with an immersion mixer. Put a spoonful onto thickish slices of cucumber…a walnut half on top. Buon…

Aperi-lunch 🙂

Everybody in Puglia loves having an ‘aperitivo’. Traditionally it is a glass of something bubbly, usually prosecco, or a non-alcoholic cocktail. Yesterday I served perfectly chilled rosato wine from the Salento region of Puglia….made from handpicked ‘negroamaro’ grapes, it has a delicate pale pink colour and appears to be filled with light …it is divine!…

Mushroom Gratin

Serves 2 300 grams oyster (pleurotus) mushrooms (or any flat mushroom) 2 or 3 cherry tomatoes 1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic small bunch parsley generous handful grated pecorino cheese fine breadcrumbs salt, freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil Clean the mushrooms and position them close together in an oven dish trying not…

Red cabbage and cauliflower soup

Serves 3 (6/8 if you serve it as a starter) 450 grams purple cauliflower florets 350 grams sliced red cabbage 1 medium onion 1 clove garlic 750ml (approx.) stock or water (if water you’ll need a bit of extra salt and grated cheese) generous handful of grated grana or parmesan cheese 50ml extra virgin olive…

High Jinks at the Chelsea Flower Show

I took this photo last year at the Chelsea Flower Show ……nothing to do with cooking but isn’t it just about the most joyful sculpture you’ve ever seen?

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil (and capers if you have any :))

Serves 1 80 grams pasta (I used penne) 8 or 9 daterini tomatoes (or cherry or piccadilly) 1 clove garlic 4 leaves basil (or origano) handful grated parmesan handful fine breadcrumbs salt and freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil I usually put in a teaspoon of capers but I didn’t have any today…it’s…

Salt Cod with Milk and Onions and Olive Oil

This is my version of Baccalà alla Vincentina Serves 1 for main course 250 grams fillet of salt cod (already soaked and ready to cook) 1 sardine preserved in salt (or 3 anchovies) 1 small onion (50 grams) 100 ml milk 100ml extra virgin olive oil – this might seem a lot but it’s the…

Getting Ready for Christmas

Yet another overcast, rainy day in Torre a Mare. I must admit that Shakespeare’s Pathetic Fallacy has come to mind more than once! Luckily my persimmon tree is a delight in all weather. You can see that the birds have pecked at the ripest one….it’s a constant battle to see who gets there first. They…

Salt Cod (Baccalà) with Potatoes

I love Baccalà. It’s an everyday ingredient here in Bari. You can either buy it salted and soak it at home for 3 days or, as I do, buy it already soaked and ready to cook. In Puglia baccalà is part of the culinary tradition associated with l’Immacolata (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception) which…

Pasta with Peppers and Cream Cheese

Serves 2 2 yellow or red peppers 1 small onion 80 grams cream cheese grated grana or parmesan cheese extra virgin olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper 160 grams pasta Cook the peppers as in the recipe for Peperonata. Chop the onion and gently fry it in just enough oil to cover the…

Peperonata

4 red or yellow peppers 2 teaspoons of capers 1 clove garlic small bunch of parsley extra virgin olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper Cook the whole peppers on a griddle pan turning regularly until the skin blackens all over (see photo). When they’ve cooled enough to handle cut off the top, if…

Attack of the Munchies

100 grams dark chocolate 110 grams toasted hazelnuts Melt the chocolate carefully in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on a very low flame. If you don’t have a suitable saucepan use a bowl over a pot of boiling water, otherwise the chocolate will burn. As soon as it has melted stir in the hazelnuts. Put a sheet…

Baked Mussels

1 kg mussels on the half shell 1 or 2 cloves garlic 1 fresh lemon fine breadcrumbs freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil Place the mussels in an oven dish and squeeze lemon juice over each one. Crush the garlic and distribute it carefully over the mussels. Make sure you get some garlic…

Spinach Frittata

I filled this frittata with cream cheese and rolled it….it’s great as a little appetizer 3 large eggs spinach cooked and chopped pecorino cheese cream cheese (I used robiola, but any cream cheese will work) salt and freshly ground black pepper extra virgin olive oil Lightly beat the eggs with a fork, add in the…

Artichokes with garlic, tomato and egg

2 artichokes 1 clove garlic 1 or 2 cherry tomatoes 50 ml dry white wine Generous handful grated parmesan, grana cheese 1 egg oil salt and freshly ground black pepper Chopped parsley Prepare the artichokes by peeling off the tough outer leaves, chop off the stalk and the the tips of the leaves (see photo)…

Off to a good start

Another cold, rainy day in Bari, had coffee in my favourite cup to cheer myself up…and it worked! Now I can start thinking about what to cook for lunch 🙂

Comforting Chicken Broth

Cold, rainy weather in Bari over the last few days, so I made Chicken Broth for supper last night….being Irish I put potatoes in :), the Barese version is without potatoes. And I’ve just had the left-over broth with pasta for lunch. 1 leg and thigh portion of free-range chicken 2 potatoes 3 or 4…

Octopus with Tomatoes and Capers

Although octopus may seem a bit exotic, and perhaps not very tempting for some people, here in Bari it’s an everyday ingredient and I assure you it is quite delicious. This is a simple and tasty way to cook it. My variation on a classic Neapolitan dish called ‘Polpo alla Luciana’. 500 grams octopus 2…

Tomato Mozzarella and Rocket Salad

Ingredients: mozzarella picadilly or cherry tomatoes rocket Method: Cut the mozzarella into cubes and roughly chop the tomato, pick the rocket leaves off the stems and wash. I like to serve this with the ingredients side by side on a plate, but you can mix them all together if you like and serve them in…

Spinach Risotto

Today spinach risotto for lunch. Ingredients: 120 grams rice…today I’m using long-grained because that’s what I’ve got 🙂 Should really be arborio, specifically for risotto. But I bet it will be good anyway! about 150 grams cooked spinach 1 very small onion extra virgin olive oil…enough to barely cover the bottom of a small pot…

Autumn Soups

Broccoli from my garden I have a tiny vegetable garden and my five broccoli plants are now ready to harvest. The other day I harvested this one but I couldn’t bear the idea of those rich green leaves going to waste. I boiled them and used half in a minestrone (vegetable soup) and the other…

Aubergines

Yesterday I got to pick the last of the aubergines and green peppers from a friends vegetable garden, so over the next few days I’ll be using them up in a variety of ways Grilled Aubergines with mint garlic and oil Slice the aubergine (about 1 cm thick). Cook the slices on the griddle pan…

…of mist and mellow fruitfulness…

My Persimmon tree is a joy to behold. Today some of this autumnal lusciousness is going to be transformed into jam to sweeten the winter months ahead. You may be wondering what a bottle of gin is doing in among the pots of jam…well you’ll have to read the recipe to find out! Prickley pears…

Olive All’Ascolana (Stuffed Olives)

These fried olives, stuffed with three kinds of meat and cheese, are scrumptious. You can serve them alone as a starter or with a salad and some cold meat as a light lunch. Here I’ve served them with crunchy radishes, parsley pesto and capocollo – if you can’t find capocollo you can use ham or…

Rice Potatoes and Mussels (Riso Patate e Cozze)

Rice Potato and Mussel Bake is one of the most typical dishes from Bari. 1 kilo mussels on the half shell 2 or 3 potatoes 100grams rice (I use an Italian rice variety called ‘riso roma’. It has big long grains…risotto rice, such as ‘arborio’, will not work well in this dish) 4/5 cherry tomatoes…

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