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Austrian Breads & Parathas

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Bacalhau com broaSalt cod with cornbread crust

In central Portugal, where corn broa is the everyday bread, cooks crumble it over thick salt cod loins with garlic, parsley and olive oil, and the dish has become a favourite on restaurant menus from Coimbra to Leiria, especially for Christmas Eve and festive lunches. The crumb crust turns crunchy and golden while the cod stays moist and flaky underneath. It comes with punched potatoes and greens. Chef's tip: use broa that is a day or two old, as fresh crumb goes soggy instead of crisp.

75 min

Portuguese Fish

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Truchas de batataSweet potato and almond pastries

Despite the name, there is no trout in these: truchas are crisp half-moon pastries that Tenerife and Gran Canaria fry by the hundred in the week before Christmas, and they are what neighbours bring each other on Christmas Eve. The filling is mashed sweet potato with ground almonds, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and anise, wrapped in a thin olive-oil dough. Some families add a spoon of anise liqueur or sweet wine to the dough; this version uses neither and is vegan. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely and keep it thick, or the steam softens the dough and it bursts in the oil.

90 min

Spanish Desserts

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BaeckeoffeThree-meat and potato bake

Baeckeoffe means "baker's oven" in Alsatian, and in villages around Strasbourg and Colmar the dish was once carried to the baker's dying oven on a Monday to cook slowly while the week's washing was done. Pork shoulder, lamb and beef are marinated overnight in dry Alsace white wine with onion, garlic and herbs, then layered with potatoes in a lidded earthenware dish whose rim is sealed with a strip of flour-and-water dough. After three hours the potatoes have drunk up the wine and meat juices and the three meats fall apart under a spoon. The dish uses wine, but an alcohol-free version with stock is given in the ingredient notes; serve it straight from the pot with a green salad. Chef's tip: break the dough seal at the table, because the burst of steam and the smell of wine and thyme are half the pleasure.

950 min

French Meat

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EliopsomoOlive bread

Around Kalamata, where the almond-shaped black olives ripen in groves running down to the Messinian gulf, bakers make eliopsomo for the long fasting weeks of Lent, when bread, olives and oil are lunch. The dough is rich with olive oil and folded with a generous handful of chopped Kalamata olives, soft-fried onion and dried oregano, then baked into a crusty round with a soft, purple-flecked crumb. Slice it with tomatoes and cucumber or dip into soups. Common mistake: adding wet, brined olives straight from the jar — drain and pat them dry, or the dough turns sticky and grey. Chef's tip: fold the olives in after the first rise so they don't break up while kneading.

70 min

Greek Breads & Parathas

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Styrian KürbiskernbrotPumpkin seed rye loaf

In Styria, the south-eastern corner of Austria where the hulless Styrian pumpkin is grown for its dark green seeds and oil, every bakery sells a loaf crowded with those seeds. Kürbiskernbrot is a light rye-wheat bread, nutty and slightly sweet, with toasted seeds through the crumb and pressed all over the crust. Locals eat it at a Buschenschank, the farmhouse wine tavern, with Liptauer, cured meats or a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil. A common mistake is adding the seeds raw: toasting them first gives the bread its deep, roasted flavour. Chef's tip: soak half the toasted seeds in hot water while you make the dough, so they stay tender inside the bread and don't pull moisture from the crumb.

230 min

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TintoBlack coffee with panela

Ask for a tinto anywhere in Colombia and you get a small cup of black coffee, never red wine. Street vendors carry it in thermos flasks through the plazas of Manizales, Pereira and Bogotá, and offices, bus stations and farm kitchens in the coffee region brew pots of it all day. It is light, hot and gently sweet, often made by simmering ground coffee with water and a little panela, then straining it through a cloth bag. The usual error is boiling the coffee hard, which makes it harsh and bitter; let it come to the boil only once. Chef's tip: let the grounds settle for a minute off the heat before straining, so the cup stays clear.

10 min

Colombian Drinks

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Baghali pokhteBoiled broad beans with vinegar

When autumn rain sets in over Rasht, and through the winter on Tehran street corners, sellers ladle steaming broad beans in their skins from giant pots into paper cones. The beans are soaked overnight and boiled slowly until creamy, then each bowlful is sprinkled with sharp golpar (ground Persian hogweed seed), salt and a splash of vinegar. You pinch the beans out of their skins as you eat. A common mistake is salting the cooking water early, which keeps the skins tough. Chef's tip: golpar is strong and smells a little like celery and citrus; start with a light dusting and add more at the table.

95 min

Persian Snacks & Starters

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FritangaMixed fried pork and sausage platter

Weekend fritanga is Bogotá's answer to a mixed grill, eaten standing at counters in the Siete de Agosto and Restrepo neighbourhoods or brought home on a big tray to share. Everything is pork or fried: chicharrón of pork belly with a blistered, crunchy skin, juicy pork chorizos, slices of rice-filled morcilla (blood sausage), little papa criolla potatoes, sweet plantain and griddled arepas, all eaten with fingers or toothpicks and dipped in sharp, watery ají. A fritanga is about contrast, so don't drown it in sauces: the lime and ají cut the richness. The common error is frying the belly straight from raw; it needs to cook gently in water first, which renders the fat and tenderises the meat before the skin crisps in its own drippings. Chef's tip: buy morcilla and chorizo from a Latin butcher and check the labels if you need the platter gluten free, as some sausages contain wheat.

100 min

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LechonaRoast pork with rice and peas

Christmas, birthdays and town fiestas across Tolima and Bogotá call for lechona: a whole pig, boned, stuffed with its own meat, yellow peas and, in the Bogotá style, rice, then roasted for hours in a wood or brick oven until the skin turns to a glassy crackling. Purists in Ibagué leave the rice out. Few home kitchens fit a pig, so this oven version builds the same thing in a deep roasting tin: cubes of pork shoulder seasoned with spring onion, garlic and cumin, mixed with peas and part-cooked rice, under a blanket of skin-on pork belly. The filling soaks up the dripping pork fat; the top crackles. Serve with insulsos (plain sweet corn tamales) or arepas and lime. Start a day ahead to marinate the meat and dry the skin, plus overnight soaking for the peas. Most failed crackling comes from wet skin, so dry it uncovered in the fridge and salt it well. Chef's tip: score the belly skin closely with a very sharp blade but don't cut into the meat, or the juices bubble up and soften the crust.

330 min

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Cocido boyacenseSteamed meats and tubers feast

Sunday markets in Villa de Leyva, Paipa and Sogamoso still have families sitting down to cocido boyacense, a pot in which chicken, pork ribs and beef steam slowly on a bed of cabbage leaves above the tubers of the high Andes: potatoes, cubios, ibias and chuguas, with cobs of corn and broad beans still in their pods. There is very little water; the meat juices drip down and flavour everything. It is tipped onto one big platter in the middle of the table, and the concentrated broth left in the pot is drunk from cups alongside. Expect clean, earthy flavours rather than spice: cumin, garlic and spring onion, and a bowl of ají or hogao for anyone who wants heat. The classic slip is too much liquid, which turns it into a boiled stew; keep the water to a few centimetres and the lid tight. Chef's tip: if you can't find ibias or cubios, use oca from a Latin or Andean grocer or a mix of small new potatoes and parsnip, which bring a similar sweet, earthy note.

125 min

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Tamal tolimenseBanana-leaf pork and chicken tamal

Ibagué and the towns of Tolima make the most generous tamal in Colombia, and on Sunday mornings it is unwrapped at the table with hot chocolate, a slab of bread or arepa and a cup of black coffee. Inside the double banana-leaf wrapping sits a soft, achiote-tinted corn dough layered with rice, yellow peas, carrot, potato, a hard-boiled egg and chunks of pork rib, pork belly and chicken that cook through during the long steam. Expect a savoury, moist parcel that smells of the leaves; plus overnight soaking for the dried peas and marinating the meat. It is weekend project food, best made with friends on a production line. A frequent failure is a loose wrap: water gets in and the dough turns soggy, so fold tightly and tie firmly in a cross. Chef's tip: steam a test tamal first or check one after 3 hours; the meat inside must be cooked through, and if the dough still sticks to the leaf, give the batch 20 minutes more.

320 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Cuchuco de trigoCracked wheat and pork rib soup

Up on the cold Boyacá plateau, around Tunja and Duitama, cuchuco de trigo is the soup that roadside restaurants ladle out at midday to farm workers and truck drivers. It is made with pork ribs (espinazo or costilla de cerdo), simmered until the meat slips off the bone, then thickened with cracked wheat, broad beans, peas, cabbage and two kinds of potato. The result is closer to a porridge-soup than a broth: nutty from the wheat, porky, a little smoky from the cumin and achiote, with the small yellow potatoes melting into the liquid. Serve it in deep bowls with avocado slices, a spoon of ají and a piece of arepa. The usual mistake is adding the wheat too early and walking away: it settles and catches on the bottom of the pot, so it needs stirring from the base every few minutes. Chef's tip: rinse the cracked wheat until the water runs nearly clear; washing off the loose flour keeps the soup creamy rather than gluey. For a meat-free pot, leave out the ribs, use vegetable stock and double the broad beans.

125 min

Colombian Soups

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Puchero santafereñoBoiled chicken, beef and pork dinner

Old Santa Fe de Bogotá kept puchero for big family lunches and holidays: a broad pot of beef, pork and chicken boiled with cassava, corn, potatoes, cabbage and, unusually, ripe plantain cooked in its skin, which turns soft and sweet against the savoury meat. It comes to the table in two acts. First the clear, golden broth in cups or small bowls; then a platter of the meats and vegetables, with a pan of warm hogao (tomato and spring onion sauce) spooned over everything, plus rice and avocado on the side. People confuse it with cocido or sancocho, but the plantain and the hogao make it its own thing. Most disappointing pucheros come from boiling hard: the broth goes cloudy and the cassava breaks up, so keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: add the vegetables in order of how long they take, and lift each batch out onto a warm tray as it becomes tender, so nothing turns to mush while the beef finishes.

165 min

Colombian Soups

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Frittata di maccheroniPasta frittata

Neapolitans turn yesterday's spaghetti into frittata di maccheroni, a thick, golden pasta cake bound with egg and lots of grated cheese, with pockets of melting provola inside. It travels everywhere: cut into wedges for the beach at Mergellina, packed for the Easter Monday picnic (Pasquetta) or eaten cold from the fridge. The outside is crisp, the middle soft and cheesy. Most families add cubes of salami; this version leaves them out and uses smoked provola for a savoury depth. Chef's tip: use a plate the size of the pan to flip it, and slide it back in confidently in one move.

35 min

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Insalata capreseTomato and mozzarella salad

On the island of Capri this simple plate of red tomatoes, white buffalo mozzarella and green basil is the lunch of hot afternoons, served in beach clubs and piazza cafés. With so few ingredients, everything rests on quality: tomatoes ripe enough to smell sweet, mozzarella made that day so it weeps milk when cut, and fruity olive oil. It needs no vinegar; a pinch of salt and oregano is enough. Chef's tip: take the mozzarella out of the fridge 30 minutes ahead; cold mozzarella tastes of very little and feels rubbery.

10 min

Italian Salads

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Friarielli con provolaBroccoli rabe with smoked provola

Friarielli are the Neapolitan name for the tender leafy tops of broccoli rabe, piled high on market stalls in Naples from late autumn to early spring. Sautéed with garlic and chilli in olive oil, they turn soft, dark green and pleasantly bitter, and in Naples they are a side dish, a pizza topping and, above all, the filling of a crusty panino. Here slices of smoked provola melt over the hot greens, so they work as a side or straight into a roll. Chef's tip: do not blanch them; Neapolitans cook friarielli raw in the pan with the lid on so they keep their bite and flavour.

25 min

Italian Sides

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Babà al rumRum-soaked yeast cakes

Naples took the babà from French and Polish pastry cooks in the nineteenth century and made it its own: small mushroom-shaped yeast cakes so light and airy that they drink up a warm, rum-laced syrup and still hold their shape. Neapolitans pick them up from the pastry counter after Sunday mass, and they are often served with whipped cream or custard. The traditional syrup contains rum; for an alcohol-free version, use the orange and vanilla syrup given in the ingredient notes, which is just as soaking and fragrant. Chef's tip: let the baked babà dry out for a few hours, or overnight; a slightly stale cake soaks up syrup evenly without collapsing.

180 min

Italian Desserts

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Pastiera napoletanaWheat berry and ricotta tart

Every Neapolitan kitchen fills with the scent of orange blossom water in Holy Week, when families bake the pastiera on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday so it can rest until Easter Sunday. Inside a lattice-topped shortcrust case is a creamy, slightly grainy filling of ricotta, cooked wheat berries, eggs, candied citrus and cinnamon, and the flavour improves for two or three days. Traditional pastry is made with lard; this one uses butter. Chef's tip: bake it a day or two ahead and keep it covered at cool room temperature; a freshly baked pastiera tastes flat by comparison.

180 min

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Gnocchi alla sorrentinaGnocchi baked with tomato and mozzarella

Sorrento families make gnocchi alla sorrentina for Sunday lunch: soft potato gnocchi folded into a basil-scented tomato sauce, layered with cubes of fior di latte mozzarella and baked in individual terracotta dishes until the cheese bubbles and stretches. It is comfort food, pillowy and creamy with a golden, slightly crisp top, and children love pulling the strings of cheese. This recipe takes you from the potatoes to the oven. Chef's tip: bake the potatoes in their skins rather than boiling them; drier potatoes need less flour and make lighter gnocchi.

90 min

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Spaghetti alla NeranoSpaghetti with courgettes and provolone

Nerano is a tiny fishing bay on the Sorrento peninsula, and its seaside trattorias have served this pasta since the 1950s to summer visitors arriving by boat. Courgette rounds are fried slowly in olive oil until golden and soft, then tossed with spaghetti, basil and grated provolone del Monaco, a semi-hard cow's milk cheese from the hills above, until everything melts into a creamy, sweet and savoury sauce. It is a dish for July and August, when courgettes are cheap and full of flavour. Chef's tip: fry the courgettes ahead and let them sit for an hour if you can; they soften further and give the sauce a deeper flavour.

30 min

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Spaghetti alla puttanesca

Few pastas come together so fast from a cupboard: tomatoes, black olives, capers, garlic and chilli simmered for ten minutes into a sauce that is briny, sharp and a little fiery. Naples claims the olive-and-caper version, often made with Gaeta olives, while in Rome cooks melt a few anchovy fillets into the oil first; this recipe follows the Neapolitan line and leaves the fish out, so it is fully vegan. Romans and Neapolitans alike treat it as a late-night or end-of-the-week plate, made when the fridge is bare. Chef's tip: rinse the capers well and add the olives only at the end, so the sauce stays bright and salty rather than bitter.

25 min

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Pallotte cace e oveCheese and egg tomato balls

Abruzzo's shepherds and farm families invented pallotte cace e ove as "meatballs" with no meat: stale bread, eggs and plenty of sharp local cheese, shaped into balls, fried golden and then simmered in tomato sauce until soft and fluffy inside. They turn up at village festivals (sagre) in the mountains around L'Aquila and Chieti, and at home as a Friday or Sunday second course with crusty bread to mop the sauce. Chef's tip: wet your hands before shaping; the mixture is soft and the balls stay round and smooth without extra breadcrumbs.

50 min

Italian Vegetarian

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Scrippelle 'mbussePecorino crêpes in broth

In Teramo, in northern Abruzzo, scrippelle 'mbusse ("wet crêpes") open the meal on cold winter evenings and at Christmas. Thin, eggy crêpes are sprinkled with grated pecorino and parmesan, rolled into tight cigars and drowned in boiling broth at the table, so they soften into silky, cheesy spirals. Families normally pour over a clear chicken or capon broth; this recipe uses a well-flavoured vegetable stock instead. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for half an hour before cooking, so the crêpes come out thin and supple enough to roll without cracking.

60 min

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Maritozzi con la pannaCream-filled sweet buns

In Roman bars the maritozzo is breakfast: a glossy, oval brioche bun scented with orange zest, slit open and packed with so much lightly sweetened whipped cream that it bulges past the crust. Once a Lenten treat that young men gave to their future wives (the name comes from marito, husband), it is now eaten all year with a cappuccino, especially on Sunday mornings. The bun is feathery and light, the cream cold and barely sweet. Chef's tip: give the shaped buns their full second rise until they look puffy and wobble when you nudge the tray; underproved buns bake tight and dense.

180 min

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Bocconotti abruzzesiChocolate almond tartlets

Bocconotti are the small, domed pastries that Abruzzo bakers pile up for Christmas, weddings and christenings, especially along the coast around Chieti and Lanciano. Crumbly lemon-scented shortcrust hides a dense, fudgy filling of toasted almonds, dark chocolate and cinnamon, and the tops are dusted thick with icing sugar. Many families stir a spoonful of sweet liqueur into the filling; it is optional here, with orange juice as the alcohol-free swap. They keep for days in a tin and taste even better on the second. Chef's tip: chill the dough before rolling; warm shortcrust tears in the small moulds and shrinks in the oven.

75 min

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Puntarelle alla romanaChicory shoots with garlic dressing

From November to February, Rome's markets at Campo de' Fiori and Testaccio sell puntarelle: the pale, hollow shoots from the heart of a Catalogna chicory, sold already split into curls by the stallholders. Soaked in iced water, they turn crunchy and curl up, and they are dressed with crushed garlic, oil and something sharp. The Roman dressing is pounded with anchovy; this vegetarian version uses capers and lemon for the same salty, tangy punch. Serve it as a side next to cacio e pepe or a plate of artichokes. Chef's tip: slice the shoots as thinly as you can, lengthways; thin strips curl tighter in the ice water and hold the dressing better.

25 min

Italian Salads

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Cavatelli molisani con broccoliCavatelli with broccoli

In the hill villages around Campobasso, cavatelli are still made by hand on Sunday mornings: a plain dough of durum wheat semolina and water, cut into little nuggets and dragged under two fingers so each one curls into a hollow shell. In winter they are cooked in the same pot as broccoli until the florets collapse into a green, garlicky sauce flecked with chilli; in summer the same pasta gets a simple tomato sauce. The pasta is chewy and rustic, the sauce soft and peppery. Chef's tip: keep the dough firm and a touch dry, so the cavatelli curl neatly instead of sticking to the board.

60 min

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Fettuccine al burro (original Alfredo)Fettuccine with butter and Parmesan

Long before cream-heavy versions spread abroad, Roman cooks made fettuccine al burro with nothing but fresh egg ribbons, sweet butter and young Parmigiano, beaten together into a soft, pale sauce. A restaurateur on Via della Scrofa made it famous in the early twentieth century by tossing it at the table for visitors, and in Roman homes it is still the dish for a child home from school or anyone feeling under the weather. The result is mild, silky and nutty with cheese. Chef's tip: soften the butter to room temperature and grate the cheese like snow; cold butter and coarse cheese will not melt into a cream in the short tossing time.

20 min

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Zuppa di lenticchie di CastelluccioMountain lentil soup

High on the Piano Grande above Norcia, the plateau around Castelluccio turns into a carpet of flowers each June, and among them grow the tiny, speckled lentils the village is known for. They are so small and thin-skinned that they cook in under half an hour without soaking and hold their shape, which is why Umbrian cooks keep this soup simple: a soffritto of garlic, celery and onion, a little tomato, the lentils and good olive oil poured on at the end. It is a cold-weather supper, brothy and earthy, often served with toasted bread. Chef's tip: salt only at the end; salting early can toughen the skins of mountain lentils.

50 min

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Fagioli all'uccellettoCannellini beans with sage and tomato

Florentines are nicknamed mangiafagioli, bean-eaters, and this is the dish that earned it: creamy cannellini simmered in olive oil with whole sage leaves, crushed garlic and a little tomato. The name, 'little-bird style', comes from the sage and garlic once used to cook small game birds, though there has never been a bird in the pot. In trattorie it sits next to grilled meat as a side; served with crusty bread and greens it makes a full vegetarian supper. The beans should be soft and glossy in a thick, rust-coloured sauce. Chef's tip: let the sage and garlic sizzle gently in the oil before the tomato goes in; that scented oil is the whole flavour of the dish.

40 min

Italian Sides

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Crescia sfogliata di UrbinoLayered spiral flatbread

In Urbino and the hills of the Montefeltro, crescia sfogliata is the street food sold from small kiosks and served in every trattoria, folded round fillings like a sandwich. What sets it apart from Romagna's piadina is the lamination: an egg and pepper dough is rolled paper-thin, spread with fat, rolled up into a cord and coiled into a snail, then flattened again, so it cooks into crisp, buttery, flaking layers. Lard is traditional; this version uses butter. Fill it with rocket and soft cheese, sautéed greens or grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: rest the coiled snails for 20 minutes before the final rolling; relaxed dough rolls out without the layers fusing.

70 min

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Torciglione umbroAlmond paste serpent cake

Around Lake Trasimeno and in Perugia, the Christmas sweet table is watched over by a coiled serpent made of almond paste, its back armoured with pine-nut scales, two coffee beans for eyes and a sliver of candied cherry for a tongue. Torciglione is said to recall the eels of the lake, or the snake as a symbol of renewal, and it is eaten in thin slices through the holidays. Inside it is soft and chewy like a marzipan biscuit, with a crisp, golden shell, and it is naturally free of flour. Chef's tip: wet your hands to roll the paste into the rope; it shapes smoothly and won't crack as it bakes.

60 min

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Acquacotta maremmanaVegetable soup with poached egg

Acquacotta, literally 'cooked water', is what the butteri, the cattle herders of the Tuscan Maremma, and charcoal burners made from whatever they carried: onions, a few vegetables, stale bread and, on a good day, an egg. Around Grosseto and the hills of Monte Amiata it is still a family supper in autumn and spring, ladled over toasted bread with an egg poached right in the soup. Slow-cooked onion makes it sweet and deep, the egg yolk runs into the broth and the bread turns soft and spoonable. Chef's tip: give the onions a full 20 minutes; the soup is only as good as their sweetness.

55 min

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FrustingoFig, nut and cocoa cake

In the Marche, from Ancona down to Ascoli Piceno, frustingo is the dark, dense Christmas cake every family makes its own way, born as a thrifty sweet of dried figs, nuts and stale bread. Chopped figs are soaked and simmered, then mixed with walnuts, almonds, raisins, candied peel, cocoa and coffee, and bound with sapa, the thick cooked grape must of the region. Many recipes also add mistrà, a local aniseed liqueur; this one uses ground anise seed for an alcohol-free cake. It bakes into a fudgy, almost black slab, rich with spice and not too sweet. Chef's tip: let it mature for two days in foil before cutting; it slices cleanly and the flavours come together.

90 min

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Panforte di SienaSpiced honey and nut cake

Siena has been making panforte since the Middle Ages, when spices arriving along the pilgrim road made it a luxury of apothecaries and convents; today the city's pastry shops stack it in paper-wrapped discs, especially for Christmas. It is more confection than cake: toasted almonds and hazelnuts, candied orange and citron, a little flour and cocoa, all bound with hot honey and sugar syrup and fragrant with cinnamon, coriander, clove and pepper. The texture is chewy and nutty, cut in thin wedges with coffee. Chef's tip: work fast once the syrup is in; the mixture stiffens in a minute or two, so have the tin lined and your hands wet.

70 min

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Torta al testo con verdureGriddle bread stuffed with greens

Torta al testo takes its name from the testo, a heavy round of stone or cast iron that Umbrian families heat over the fire; around Perugia, Gubbio and Foligno it's cooked for village festivals and quick weekday dinners alike. Unlike the thin, pliable piadina of Romagna, it is a thick disc, around 2 cm, raised with a little bicarbonate, with a crisp, freckled crust and a soft, bready middle that is split open like a pitta and stuffed. The favourite filling is wilted greens with garlic and chilli; sausage is common at sagre but has no place here. Chef's tip: prick the disc all over with a fork before cooking, so it rises evenly and doesn't balloon.

45 min

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Strangozzi al tartufo neroEggless pasta with black truffle

Strangozzi are the rough-cut strips of flour-and-water pasta made around Spoleto and Norcia, in Umbria; the name is said to echo the leather laces once used to tie shoes, or, in a darker story, to strangle papal tax collectors. Norcia is famous for its black winter truffles, and here the dressing is nothing more than olive oil gently warmed with garlic and plenty of grated truffle, a dish served from December to March. The pasta is chewy and square-edged, and the sauce earthy and perfumed. Chef's tip: grate the truffle into warm, not hot, oil; truffle aroma fades fast with heat.

60 min

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Schiacciata all'uvaGrape flatbread

Each September, when the grape harvest comes in, Florentine bakeries fill their windows with schiacciata all'uva, a thin, oily bread dough layered and topped with small black wine grapes and baked until the juice bubbles purple. It is sold by the slice from big trays and eaten at breakfast or as a mid-afternoon snack for just a few weeks. The traditional Canaiolo grapes have crunchy seeds, which are part of the texture; seedless black grapes work at home. The result is sticky, jammy, crisp at the edges and not too sweet. Chef's tip: squash the grapes slightly as you press them in so the juice runs into the dough and caramelises with the sugar.

145 min

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CastagnaccioChestnut flour cake

When the new season's chestnut flour comes down from the Garfagnana, the Casentino and Monte Amiata in late October, Tuscan kitchens bake castagnaccio. It is a thin, dense, unleavened cake with no eggs, butter or sugar: just sweet chestnut flour, water and olive oil, studded with raisins, pine nuts and walnuts and scented with rosemary needles. The top cracks as it bakes, the middle stays moist and fudgy, and the flavour is earthy and gently sweet. Older Tuscans eat it with a glass of something; a spoon of ricotta alongside is lovely too. Chef's tip: sift the chestnut flour; it clumps easily, and lumps stay floury after baking.

55 min

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Torta pasqualinaChard and ricotta egg pie

Genoese families bake torta pasqualina for Easter Monday picnics, and it is just as good cold the next day as warm from the oven. Paper-thin sheets of olive-oil pastry enclose a deep layer of chard and ricotta, and whole eggs are cracked into hollows in the filling so that every slice shows a neat yellow and white circle. Old recipes boasted 33 pastry layers, one for each year of Christ's life; four sheets top and bottom give a crisp, flaky crust at home. The taste is mild and green, lifted with marjoram and hard cheese. Chef's tip: stretch the dough on the backs of your hands like strudel rather than only rolling it, and brush every sheet with oil, so the layers separate in the oven.

135 min

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Gnocco frittoPuffed fried dough

Walk into a trattoria around Modena or Reggio Emilia and a basket of gnocco fritto lands on the table before you have ordered: diamonds of dough that balloon in hot fat into hollow, blistered pillows. They are torn open and filled with whatever comes with them, traditionally cured meats; here they go with soft cheeses, Parmigiano shards, grilled vegetables and pickles. The dough was always made with lard; this version uses butter, which keeps the crust tender and golden. Children adore them for breakfast dipped in milky coffee too. Chef's tip: roll the dough really thin, about 3 mm; thick gnocco stays bready and won't puff.

90 min

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Tortelli di erbettaRicotta and chard tortelli

On the night of 23 June, the feast of San Giovanni, Parma eats tortelli d'erbetta outdoors, at long tables in courtyards and on terraces, and the custom says the evening dew blesses the meal. The filling is the young chard the city calls erbetta, mixed with ricotta and a lot of Parmigiano; the pasta is egg-rich and thin, and the only sauce is melted butter and more cheese. Each one is soft, creamy and gently green. Chef's tip: cut the tortelli as large rectangles, about 6 × 8 cm, as they do in Parma; bigger parcels hold more filling and cook evenly.

85 min

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Erbazzone reggianoChard and Parmesan pie

Bakeries in Reggio Emilia sell erbazzone in squares from big trays, and people eat it standing at the counter mid-morning or wrapped in paper for the walk home. It is a farmhouse pie of chard and spinach, sharp with spring onion and garlic and generous with Parmigiano, sealed in a very thin, crackly crust. The classic recipe uses lard in the pastry and often pancetta in the filling; both are left out here, and butter and olive oil make the crust. Serve it warm or at room temperature. Chef's tip: dry the greens thoroughly in the pan after blanching; erbazzone should be dense and green, never wet.

75 min

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Garganelli con piselli e pannaEgg pasta with peas and cream

Garganelli come from the farmhouses between Imola and Lugo in Romagna, where egg-pasta squares are rolled around a thin stick on a little comb called a pettine, leaving ridged quills with a seam down one side. Their ridges grip sauce well, and the classic spring dressing is sweet peas in cream; the trattoria version adds prosciutto, which this one leaves out, with a little shallot and Parmigiano instead. The dish is silky and mild, a Sunday-lunch first course. Chef's tip: a clean gnocchi board and a pencil-thin wooden dowel make perfectly good garganelli if you don't own a pettine.

60 min

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TigelleSmall griddle breads

In the Apennine hills above Modena these small, round breads were once baked between hot terracotta discs called tigelle, which gave them their common name; locals often insist the bread itself is the crescentina. Today a cast-iron tigelliera or a heavy frying pan does the work, giving each one a toasted, speckled face and a soft, steamy inside. They are split while hot and filled at the table, a lively Saturday-night supper with friends. The filling was classically lard pounded with rosemary and garlic; this vegetarian spread uses butter, rosemary and Parmigiano, alongside soft cheeses and grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: cut them with a 7 cm cutter and keep them 1 cm thick; any thinner and there's nothing to split.

120 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Panissa ligureFried chickpea polenta sticks

Panissa is farinata's quieter sister: the same chickpea flour and water, but stirred on the stove into a thick polenta, poured into a tray and left to set firm. In Genoa and along the Savona coast it turns up at friggitorie, the frying shops by the harbour, as golden sticks in a paper cone with salt and pepper; at home it is just as often cubed cold and dressed with raw onion, olive oil and lemon. Fried, it is crisp outside and creamy within, with a sweet, nutty taste. Chef's tip: make it the day before and chill it overnight; a well-set panissa cuts cleanly and doesn't spit in the oil.

170 min

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Passatelli in brodoBreadcrumb and cheese strands in broth

Passatelli were born in Romagna kitchens as a way to turn stale bread into a feast: breadcrumbs, eggs and plenty of hard cheese, scented with lemon and nutmeg, pressed through a special perforated iron straight into simmering broth. Around Rimini, Cesena and Forlì they are Christmas and Sunday food, served steaming in deep plates. The strands are soft, slightly rough and full of cheese flavour. Traditionally the broth is made with capon or beef; here a rich vegetable broth keeps it vegetarian. Chef's tip: no passatelli iron? A potato ricer with large holes does the job; just cut the strands to 4 cm with a knife as they come out.

40 min

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Pandolce genoveseRaisin and pine nut cake

No Genoese Christmas table is complete without a round, domed pandolce, traditionally topped with a sprig of bay and cut by the youngest at the table while the eldest serves. The low, quick version made here, pandolce basso, is raised with baking powder rather than days of yeast, so it bakes into a crumbly, buttery cake between shortbread and fruit loaf. Raisins, pine nuts, candied orange and a scattering of fennel seed give each bite a sweet, faintly aniseed taste, and orange flower water perfumes it. Chef's tip: keep it wrapped for two days before cutting; the crumb softens and the fennel and orange flavours deepen.

75 min

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Pansoti con salsa di nociHerb ravioli in walnut sauce

In Genoa and the hills behind it, pansoti are the pasta of the spring greens: plump triangles stuffed with a bundle of wild and garden leaves the Ligurians call preboggion, bound with soft cheese. Instead of pesto they wear salsa di noci, a pale, nutty sauce pounded from walnuts, garlic and milk-soaked bread. The dough is lean, just flour and water, often with a splash of white wine; this version gives a water-only option for an alcohol-free plate. Expect a soft bite, a grassy filling and a sauce that tastes of autumn. Chef's tip: blanch the walnuts for a minute and rub off the papery skins; the sauce turns sweeter and stays cream-coloured instead of grey.

90 min

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Corzetti con maggiorana e pinoliStamped pasta with marjoram

On the Riviera di Levante, from the Fontanabuona valley down towards Chiavari, corzetti are pressed between two carved wooden stamps, so each thin disc carries a pattern on both faces: a family crest, a flower, a ship. Noble families once had their arms carved into them for festive tables. The ridges are there to hold a light sauce, and the simplest is melted butter with toasted pine nuts and fresh marjoram, the herb Ligurians reach for before basil. They have a firm, slightly chewy bite. Chef's tip: no stamp? Cut the discs with a 6 cm glass and press each with the bottom of a patterned glass or a carved wooden butter mould; any relief gives the sauce something to cling to.

60 min

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Zuppa ingleseCustard and sponge trifle

Zuppa inglese is a spoon dessert from Emilia, served at Sunday lunches and family parties in Bologna, Modena and Ferrara: sponge fingers dipped in a crimson liqueur, layered with yellow lemon custard and dark chocolate custard. Despite the name, no soup and nothing English; one story links it to the trifles brought home by Italian diplomats. The red comes from alchermes, a spiced liqueur that is alcoholic and coloured with cochineal, an insect dye, so this version soaks the biscuits in a vegetarian, alcohol-free hibiscus and spice syrup that keeps the colour and the clove-cinnamon perfume. It sets into soft, creamy, striped slices. Chef's tip: dip the biscuits for a second only; they keep softening in the custard overnight.

60 min

Italian Desserts

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Presnitz triestinoSpiced fruit puff pastry spiral

Trieste's pastry shops, many of them founded in the Habsburg years, sell presnitz all year but above all at Easter, when it sits on the table next to the sweet Easter breads. Unlike the yeasted gubana from inland Friuli, it is made from flaky puff pastry rolled thin around a long rope of nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and spice, then coiled into a flat spiral and baked crisp. Slices shatter into buttery flakes around a dense, aromatic centre. The filling is traditionally soaked in rum; orange juice is a good alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: use all-butter puff pastry and check the label, since some brands use non-vegetarian fats.

120 min

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Polenta di patatePotato and buckwheat polenta

Up in the valleys of Trentino, where maize was scarce and potatoes grew well, cooks stretched their buckwheat by cooking it with mashed potato into a soft, grey-gold polenta. It is a cold-weather dish of the Val di Non and Val di Sole, stirred in a heavy pot and finished with buttery onions and cubes of local cheese that melt into pockets. Earthy from the buckwheat and smooth from the potato, it is often served alongside mushrooms or a salad of bitter leaves. Chef's tip: use floury potatoes and mash them right in the pot, in their cooking water, to keep the polenta light.

50 min

Italian Sides

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Frittelle venezianeRaisin and pine nut fritters

For the weeks before Lent, every pastry shop in Venice is piled with fritole, golden balls of fried yeast dough studded with raisins and pine nuts, and masked visitors eat them from paper bags as they wander between the campi. They were once sold from street stalls by a guild of fritter-makers and are still the true taste of the Venetian Carnival: crisp and sugary outside, light and bready within. The traditional batter has a spoon of grappa or rum; here orange juice takes its place, which suits children too. Chef's tip: fry a single fritter first to check the oil heat and timing.

120 min

Italian Desserts

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Pandoro di VeronaStar-shaped Christmas bread

Verona's answer to Milan's panettone has no fruit at all: just a tall, eight-pointed star of rich, yellow, vanilla-scented bread, baked in a fluted mould and dusted with icing sugar until it looks like a snowy mountain. Through Advent, Veronese families buy or bake one for Christmas Day and slice it across into star-shaped layers. The crumb is fine, soft and buttery, almost like brioche, and melts in the mouth. Making it at home takes a day and a night, with butter folded into the dough like a pastry. Chef's tip: shake the cooled pandoro in a large clean bag with the icing sugar, so every ridge gets coated.

1440 min