Frittata al prezzemolo, aglio e pecorino (Frittata with parsley, garlic and pecorino)

06/01/2026 ~ stefano arturi ~ 2 Comments

December 2025

“Oh! What a dreadful illness hunger is!” exclaims Pinocchio in the fifth chapter of his adventures. At the beginning of the chapter we find the wooden puppet desperate from the pangs of hunger, finally aware of how hard it is to be alone in the world, without a family. Suddenly, however, his troubles seem at an end. In the middle of a heap of rubbish he catches sight of a beautiful white egg and begins to fantasise about how he might cook it: as a frittata? fried?

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Faraona arrosto ripiena con castagne (Roasted boned guinea fowl with chestnuts)

27/12/202527/12/2025 ~ stefano arturi ~ 4 Comments

Boned and stuffed guinea fowl with chestnuts

A typical autumn and winter dish that one will find, in some guise or another, in many areas of Northern and Central Italy. Continue reading “Faraona arrosto ripiena con castagne (Roasted boned guinea fowl with chestnuts)” →

Salsa rossa alla Carlino – Carlino’s red sauce (Garfagnana, Tuscany)

17/12/2025 ~ stefano arturi ~ 5 Comments

Last novembre, on a cold sunny day, we drove from Lucca into the Garfagnana region, to catch the woods in their autumnal splendour, before winter settled in.
Sillico was our destination: a minuscule, picture-perfect village, perched 700 meters above sea level on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, surrounded by chestnut woodland.

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Pan di mort (All Souls spiced chocolate biscuits from Lombardy)

26/10/202526/10/2025 ~ stefano arturi ~ 9 Comments

Milanese November biscuits “pan di mort” (dead people bread) – traditionally made early November to remember the dead ones

Here’s another traditional recipe from Lombardy that honours I morti, All Souls. Pan di mort (literally “dead people’s bread”) are quintessential Lombardy biscuits that are sold in bakeries between the end of October and the first week in November. They are diamond-shaped, chocolatey, spicy biscuits, full of nuts and candied citrus peels, quite chewy but not crunchy. Continue reading “Pan di mort (All Souls spiced chocolate biscuits from Lombardy)” →

Crostata di riso di Jeanne Caròla Francesconi (Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s baked tomato rice with mozzarella – a Neapolitan speciality)

10/06/202510/06/2025 ~ stefano arturi ~ 17 Comments

Jeanne Caròla Francesconi (1903-1995) is the doyenne of Neapolitan cookery and the author of the seminal La Cucina Napoletana(1965). Here, an informative article about signora Francesconi.
From that book, I cooked this excellent rice dish. Plain boiled rice is dressed with a basil tomato sauce, butter and parmesan, then poured in a cake tin, with a mozzarella and extra tomato sauce layer in the middle and baked. The contrast between the deliciously crisp outside and the cheesy soft inside is just wonderful.
Straightforward cooking, delicious eating.

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