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

17/01/202517/01/2025 ~ 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.

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Pasta china – baked pasta with mini meatballs and lots of other lovely things, from Calabria

08/09/2023 ~ stefano arturi ~ 19 Comments

“Pasta china” is the name of a sumptuous, festive, baked pasta dish from Calabria, the heel of Italy, in the deep south. In the local dialect, “china” stands for the Italian adjective “piena”, full, and that’s exactly what this dish is about: a riotous affair of short tubular pasta dressed with a spicy tomato sauce, layered with marble-size meatballs, gooey cheese, crumbled boiled eggs, spicy Calabrese sausage, grated parmigiano and pecorino. Definitely, one of those Southern Italian dishes where restraint is out of the question.

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Notes on panzanella

13/07/202325/10/2024 ~ stefano arturi ~ 12 Comments

Panzanella

On a hot, summer day in Lucca, few places are more agreeable to have lunch at than under the stone arches of the old trattoria Da Giulio, well protected from the gaze of the sun. The menu never changes (dreary to be a chef there, one would have thought) and the food is solid rather than exceptional, but the combination of decent food, smiling service, reasonable prices and perfect location, makes this place dear to its many customers. I generally stick to the usual summer suspects: either pappa al pomodoro or panzanella, both stalwarts of Tuscan cookery. The former is a a thick bread and tomato soup served at room temperature; the latter a salad of crumbled stale bread, tomatoes and red onions.

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Pomodorini scattarisciati – crackling cherry tomatoes (Puglia)

19/06/2022 ~ stefano arturi ~ 18 Comments

Update: summer 2022, Lucca: with top Italian pomodorini this dish is even more spectacular. I noticed they improve after a good rest, i.e. the day after they were even better.

Original version:
It is now summer, or at least this is what the calendar says; it has been raining for days here in London and the sky is grey, an elegant pearly shade of grey, but grey nonetheless. Not fun. To raise my endorphins, I decided to make this Apulian tomato sauce, pomodorini scattarisciati, literally crackling tomatoes (in the local dialect) — vibrant, intensely tomatoey and uplifting.

The cherry tomatoes are fried in a rather indecent amount of oil, on high heat, uncovered until they start bursting. Continue reading “Pomodorini scattarisciati – crackling cherry tomatoes (Puglia)” →

Patate alla pizzaiola – Potatoes pizzaiola

26/03/202127/03/2021 ~ stefano arturi ~ 9 Comments

In classic Italian cookery, when something is cooked “alla pizzaiola” (pizza-style), it means it has tomatoes and origano (sometimes garlic too), as in the most basic topping for pizza.

Patate alla pizzaiola belongs to that army of homely dishes that are the backbone, almost the unsung heroes, of Italian cookery: simple affairs, often vegetarian, quickly assembled, generally rather economical and immensely satisfying.

This is not “a recipe”, just, I would say, “a way with” potatoes – once you understand the idea, you can really play with it. Continue reading “Patate alla pizzaiola – Potatoes pizzaiola “ →