Italian Kiwi – Recipes, Travel, and More!

  • Broccoli and Spinach Flan

    Broccoli and Spinach Flan

        Green makes you grow muscles This is a broccoli dish that even all those broccoli-haters out there love (well at least are prepared to eat under coercion).  I can attest to this through vigorous scientific “blind” taste tests….i.e.. not telling my broccoli-disparaging husband and kids what was in the flan. I only told…

  • Grissini (Homemade Breadsticks)

    Grissini (Homemade Breadsticks)

          Home-made bread-sticks are so much tastier than store-bought ones! So, I know you’re going to say, “But, why make grissini (bread sticks) when I can buy perfectly good ones at the supermarket?”……why, indeed…..well, fresh homemade grissini are infinitely more delicious than store-bought, and anyway, it’s coming into Winter and on one of…

  • Stewed Onions (Cipolline Brasate)

    Stewed Onions (Cipolline Brasate)

    Sorry, I haven’t been around for a week or so.  I foolishly took it into my head to replaster/paint one of the rooms in our house.  I ended up putting about 40kg of plaster on the wall, which took me a week of solid work.  I learnt two things from this experience: 1. that I…

  • Oven-Baked Pasta With Salami And Eggs

    Oven-Baked Pasta With Salami And Eggs

        Oven-baked pasta that will have you coming back for more This wonderful oven-baked pasta, stuffed with mozzarella, chewy morsels of salami, and slices of boiled egg comes from my Italian mother-in-law.  It’s one of those recipes that is perfect to make in the weekend and then reheat during the week to have a…

  • Torta Sbrisolona: Sweet, Crunchy Almond Delight from Beautiful Mantova

    Torta Sbrisolona: Sweet, Crunchy Almond Delight from Beautiful Mantova

          Sbrisolona: the cakey-biscuit from Romeo’s Mantova in Italy Is it a cake? Or is it a biscuit? Or shall we just not care about the semantics and gobble it all up?!! This is a delicious cake/giant biscuit called sbrisolona, which is a specialty from the beautiful city of Mantova, which I have written…

  • Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

    Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

        Why you should roast cherry tomatoes I just realized that suddenly I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt instead of my swimsuit and a pair of shorts (now the truth is out….I DON’T wear designer Gucci clothes at home….sorry to disappoint all of you who thought I was so….(cough)…glamorous). As an aside, I have…

  • Pasta alla Norma (Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato)

    Pasta alla Norma (Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato)

      Just when you thought it was safe to start reading my blog again, I decided to jump out from behind the door and yell, “SICILY!!!!!!” in your face.  Ha!  And you thought that I’d finished waxing lyrical about that wonderful island! 🙂 I wanted to share another recipe with you that is a staple…

  • How To Make Pesto alla Genovese At Home

    How To Make Pesto alla Genovese At Home

          How to make pesto alla genovese at home I just realized the Summer is fast coming to a close (though with the temperatures over 30 degrees here, it’s hard to imagine that Autumn is on its way), and before all the wonderful basil is gone for the year, I should write about…

  • Caramelized Onion Frittata

    Caramelized Onion Frittata

        The frittata recipe that only mother-in-laws know This recipe is a favourite of my mother-in-law, who learnt it from her mother-in-law. Who knows….maybe it’s a secret recipe passed down only by mother-in-laws.  In which case, I shouldn’t be sharing it with you and will probably be struck by lightening as soon as I…

  • Juicy Orange Salad (Insalata di Arance) From Sicily

    Juicy Orange Salad (Insalata di Arance) From Sicily

          The orange salad you can’t ignore in Sicily When we were in Sicily, this salad was served up in every restaurant before we even looked at the menus.  Deliciously sweet and tart at the same time, it gets you in the mood for the wonderful  dishes that you’re about to enjoy.  Is…

  • Pizza Dough: Make It Like an Italian!

    Pizza Dough: Make It Like an Italian!

          The dangers of eating Italian pizza When I was a kid my mother would let me choose what we were going to have for dinner each year when my birthday rolled around.  I always, but ALWAYS chose pizza: every single birthday for years and years and years (if you don’t believe me,…

  • Pasta al Ragù (Pasta With Meat Sauce)

    Pasta al Ragù (Pasta With Meat Sauce)

        Every now and then when I’m feeling especially energetic, I make a big batch of ragù and then freeze it in portions so that I have a impressive tasting, good-for-you pasta sauce to pull out of the freezer at the last minute if we have unexpected guests, or if I just don’t know…