Category: Autumn

Torta monferrina di mele e zucca (apple and pumpkin cake from Monferrato, Piemonte)

~ stefano arturi ~ 16 Comments

 

January 2026: I have just made this delicious cake-pudding again and … oh boy! it is good. I do invite you to try it because you are for a treat. The book it comes from is, by the way, one of the best books on Italian regional cooking – do check it out.

 Well, that title IS misleading in its conciseness. It should read “apple, pumpkin, amaretti, chocolate, figs and sultana cake with brandy and rum” – no less!. Continue reading “Torta monferrina di mele e zucca (apple and pumpkin cake from Monferrato, Piemonte)” →

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

~ 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.

Continue reading “Salsa rossa alla Carlino – Carlino’s red sauce (Garfagnana, Tuscany)” →

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

~ 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)” →

Sugo di pomodoro con alloro e cannella (tomato sauce with bay leaves and cinnamon)

~ stefano arturi ~ 17 Comments

A few days ago, I helped a friend to clear his garden after the previous day’s severe pollarding that followed a storm which had toppled one of the trees. At first, I did not pay much attention to those thick branches that carpeted the grounds; then I picked up one of them, scrunched a couple of leaves and my nostrils were hit by the unmistakable, wonderful perfume of bay: lemony and with hints of nutmeg and pine.

Continue reading “Sugo di pomodoro con alloro e cannella (tomato sauce with bay leaves and cinnamon)” →