Notes about Recipes in this book

• Strata

  • katmagdunn on October 18, 2023

    This was delicious and is hugely adaptable. I grew up eating a strata with a cut loaf of bread sandwiched with different toppings (which is also great), but this one is a bit more free form. I used sauteed leeks, garlic and shredded cavolo nero; even though it got less time to soak than the recipe specifies it was still great. I would definitely recommend hot sauce or some chillies just for a little extra kick, it also needs to be seasoned heavily.

• Charred green beans with lemon and almonds (Fagiolini al forno con limone e mandorle)

  • anniecc on August 21, 2023

    Really nice, simple way to prepare green beans. Used homegrown beans, some of which were a bit over mature, but with this treatment they weren’t the slightest bit tough. Really liked the combination of lemon and almonds.

• Panzanella

  • anniecc on August 22, 2023

    Easy recipe, although requires quite a lot of sitting time. I used homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers and that made the dish. I don’t eat fish so substituted capers for the anchovies.

• Stuffed tomatoes with roasted potatoes (Pomodori col riso)

  • anniecc on August 27, 2023

    This was delicious, although my potatoes did not go crispy. I think I may have overcrowded the pan, and also my tomatoes were very juicy. I only let the tomato-rice mix sit for 30 minutes, not an hour as stated in the recipe, and it didn’t seem to suffer, although perhaps the rice would have absorbed more of the moisture if left for the full time.

• Pickled pumpkin with onions and raisins (Zucca in saor)

  • anniecc on January 01, 2024

    I liked the idea of this dish - sort of a pumpkin caponata - but it didn’t really come out as I was expecting. The flavours were good but the end result was fairly dry and the pumpkin certainly didn’t pickle. I can’t see how to achieve that while following the instruction to let most of the liquid boil off, if I made it again I would reduce the mixture less. I chose to roast the pumpkin and the preparation was quite labour intensive.

• Chard dumplings in chicken broth (Strangolapreti in brodo)

  • KevinSeattle on January 20, 2026

    This is essentially an Italian take on matzo ball soup. I enjoyed this but wondered why I didn’t make Matzo ball soup.