Soft Polenta with Ratatouille

I’ve eaten polenta on numerous occasions, and it’s always been so bland and tasteless. When set and cut into pieces, it’s boring, and when soft, it brings back bad childhood memories of being forced to eat disgusting semolina with a splat of jam. Urgh… UK school dinners (or more correctly lunches) in the 80’s.

Polenta was one of those things that I thought I just hated. That was until J ordered vegetarian polenta at The Olive and Grape for lunch. Two things were weird – he went for a vegetarian dish, and it was polenta?!?

Insalata Caprese

I cannot believe I'm writing an entry for caprese salad! It's one of the simplest things in the World. It's also one of my favorite salads of all time, and that's why we had it for our starter for Valentine's Day. It's amazing how just a few simple ingredients can make such a delectable salad. The trick is to use the best quality tomatoes and mozzarella you can find. In the best mozzarella, I mean Italian imported buffalo mozzarella. Imported buffalo mozzarella is like heaven in a mouthful – it’s soft, creamy and oh-so-delicious. Once you’ve tried this mozzarella, no other will ever do.

Bacon and Fennel Pasta

I know, I know the finished dish looks like a cat has vomited on a plate of pasta... but I've always found taking photographs of pasta really difficult. You have to trust me when I say it's delicious!

Cod with Roasted Baby Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil

This is a healthy and delicious fish supper, which is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner, yet elegant enough for a dinner party. It’s simple to make, low in fat and packed full of deliciousness. Tender strips of courgettes (zucchini) are topped with a fillet of poached cod, and roasted baby plum tomatoes with garlic and fresh basil.

Panforte di Siena

Ahh… our Christmas cake… I’m not sure if we can really call it a cake, it’s more like a piece of chewy confectionery. It originates from Italy and is packed full of dried fruit, nuts and honey.

This cake is traditionally baked in a round cake tin (pan). However, I broke out of the norm this year and baked it in a loaf tin (pan). The cake was cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces, making them easier to enjoy, instead of gnawing a huge slice.

Tomato and Pepper Risotto

I love rice in almost all forms… I am after all, of Chinese descent. When I was growing up, we had rice at every dinner. In the mid-90’s, I was at university with a Swiss/Chinese girl, D who made the most delicious risotto. The only problem was that her risotto was loaded with fat. The amount of cream, cheese and butter she added to the pan, makes me feel like fainting now I think about it.

Fresh Egg Pasta

Italian pasta or Chinese egg noodles are practically the same thing – a mixture of flour and eggs. Pasta is one of those easiest things you can make, and you can really tell the difference when it's homemade.

If like me, you’ve bought fresh pasta and cooked it at home, the cooking time can really make the difference from an al dente pasta to a soggy mass. I hate that! When using this fresh pasta recipe, you don’t get any of that soggy pasta - it’s all al dente all the way!

Spaghetti Bolognese

This is a dish that’s wonderful for a week-day dinner. It takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish, and if feeding two people, it has over six portions of fruit and vegetables per serving.

My method of cooking this dish probably strays far from the traditional way, but I'll live with that.

Rosemary Focaccia

We absolutely love fresh bread, especially when it’s baked at home. From the soft crumb with the fluffy interior, to the crusty crumb with the chewy interior; from the complex crumb, which is densely packed with bran to the wonderous fruit and nut studded loaves. We love them all! Focaccia is no different. We love focaccia!

Affogato

One of my favorite drinks/desserts is an affogato. I was only first introduced to this Italian delight in Cyprus five years ago. It couldn’t be any more simple – it’s freshly brewed espresso and a good quality ice-cream. It’s extravagantly simple, yet amazingly delicious.

I love sipping the hot, freshly brewed smooth, dark espresso through the cool, thick layer of creamy vanilla ice-cream.

Thin Crust Pizza Dough

You will never believe how long I spent on perfecting my pizza dough. Four years! It took me over four years to perfect it. I played around the amounts of yeast, flour, water, oil, types of flour, temperatures of the oven, length of cooking times, cooking with/without a pizza stone… argghh…

I don't like pizzas that are heavy, with tons of topping and a thick dense crust. I like the Italian-style, light, airy, thin crusted pizza that you don't eat by the slice, but you serve on a plate. Ones that are delicate, yet tasty, without the fear of future stomach upsets. So, if you’d like to make a thin crust pizza at home, look no further, this pizza dough is the one for you!

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone soup is one of those mish-mash foods, like fried rice - it could include anything. The usual minestrone usually has a bunch of veggies in a tomato-based soup; sometimes it has meat, beans and pasta too!

This version has mild-spiced Italian-style chicken sausage, pasta and loads of veggies. Because this soup contained pasta, there was no need for any bread for this meal.

Quick & Easy Pizza Sauce

I’ve been making my own pizza and pizza sauce for years. The usual way is reduce a load of tomatoes down until lusciously thick with an intense tomato-ey flavor. Because it takes a while to make a batch, I usually make a huge amount and freeze it until needed.

One evening, I had a brainwave – why can’t I make pizza sauce from tomato puree? After all, you normally reduce the tomatoes into a thick paste, why can’t you do it the other way around? I mean, tomato puree is already concentrated, surely you can do the reverse, by thinning it down to the correct consistency.