A tradition As I come from Napoli, one of the ‘street food’ items that I most love is arancini, rice balls. We call them arancini in Napoli, in other parts of Italy they change gender and become arancine, and have different versions. From the massive rice balls eaten in Sicily, full to the brim with mince meat ragu and peas (the best in my childhood memory used to be on the ferry between mainland and the island, believe it or…
Prima Settimana della Cucina Italiana nel Mondo Monday 21 November saw the launch in 105 countries of the first ever Italian Cuisine week, coordinated by Farnesina and organised in each country via the local Embassy. The London Embassy has coordinated an exciting programme of events in the UK and our friendly Ambassador, Mr Terracciano, has spearheaded the initiative in London, being present pretty much at most of the events, some of those hosted in the very same Embassy in Grosvenor…
No mystery here that one of my favourite chefs is Danilo Cortellini, head chef at the Italian Embassy in London, whom I have had the chance to meet on a few occasions and whom I admire not only for his cooking skills (I learned to make arancini from him!) but also for his drive and passion as an ambassador himself of our culinary heritage and ingredients. An evening with the Ambassador… The other night we had the pleasure and the…
A dish that brings back memories of home.. As a southern Italian, I grew up eating plenty of vegetable dishes using locally grown aubergines, peppers and courgettes. One of the dishes which recently I have often recreated in our London summer is a classic pasta dish whose origins are said to be from Nerano, on the Amalfi coast. Of such dish, many variations of course exist, but the main star of the show is always the courgette, with its beautiful…
I was invited yet again to volunteer for Action Against Hunger at Taste London this year; initially I accepted but then I found out that MasterChef the Professional finalist and all around nice guy Danilo Cortellini was hosting cooking masterclasses with Grana Padano, which, in all honesty, was a much more attractive way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Before the masterclass (we had booked the afternoon session) myself and my friend Camilla browsed the festival, happy that the weather seemed…