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837 recipes

CaldarrosteRoasted chestnuts

From October to St Martin's Day on 11 November, Italian towns hold chestnut festivals, the sagre delle castagne, and the smoke of caldarroste drifts from street braziers where chestnuts are shaken in long-handled pans with holes. At home they are roasted in the same way on the hob or in the oven and eaten hot from a paper cone, sweet, floury and smoky, with a glass of new wine for adults or warm milk for children. Chef's tip: wrap the hot chestnuts in a damp tea towel for 5 minutes; the steam loosens the inner skin so they peel cleanly.

35 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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KourdassGrilled lamb liver bundles

After the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha, Moroccan families use every part of the lamb, and kourdass is one of the dishes made in the days that follow: pieces of tripe and liver rubbed with cumin and paprika, wrapped in caul fat and traditionally hung up to air-dry before grilling. This home version skips the drying, which is hard to do safely in a modern kitchen, and grills the bundles fresh over charcoal or under a grill until the fat crisps and the liver is cooked through. Buy cleaned, pre-cooked tripe and caul fat from a halal butcher. Chef's tip: wrap the bundles tightly so the caul fat bastes them as it melts.

90 min

Moroccan Meat

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MuffolettaFennel seed rolls with cheese

On 2 November, the Day of the Dead in Sicily, Palermo families eat muffoletta: soft, round rolls scented with fennel seed, split warm and dressed 'cunzata' with olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, anchovy or caciocavallo cheese. The custom recalls when the dead were said to bring gifts to children, and bakers make them only around this time. The bread itself is egg-free and dairy-free; dress it with just oil and oregano for a vegan version. Sicilian caciocavallo and pecorino are usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if that matters to you. Chef's tip: dress the rolls while still warm so they drink in the oil.

180 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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Pane dei mortiFig, cocoa and almond biscuits

Pane dei morti ('bread of the dead') is baked in Milan and across Lombardy for All Souls' Day on 2 November. Bakers once made them to use up leftover biscuits, crumbling them with dried figs, raisins, almonds, cocoa and spices into a dark, chewy dough, shaped into long ovals and dusted with icing sugar. Older recipes add a glass of vin santo or white wine; this one uses orange juice. They taste of fig and spice and keep for weeks. Chef's tip: let the mixture rest overnight, which softens the crumbs and deepens the flavour.

55 min

Italian Baking

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BabbaluciSnails with garlic and parsley

During the Festino di Santa Rosalia in July, Palermo's patron saint's festival, stalls along the streets sell paper cones of babbaluci: small snails in their shells, cooked with masses of garlic, parsley and olive oil and sucked straight from the shell. It is a very old street food of the city. At home, buy snails that have already been purged, cleaned and pre-cooked from a fishmonger or Italian deli, so the work is just the sauce. Chef's tip: simmer the snails gently in the oil, never boil hard, or they go rubbery and leave the shells.

45 min

Italian Meat

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TihaneStuffed lamb spleen

Tihane, or tehal, is an old Eid al-Adha speciality from Moroccan towns such as Fez and Marrakech, made on the days after the sacrifice when the offal is shared out. The lamb's spleen is cut open into a pocket and stuffed with chopped liver and heart, a little fat, green olives, preserved lemon, garlic and cumin, then sewn shut, poached and roasted until browned. It is sliced thin and eaten warm or cold with bread. Ask a halal butcher for the spleen and offal. Chef's tip: prick the spleen with a fine needle before poaching so it doesn't burst in the pot.

130 min

Moroccan Meat

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Pizza chienaEgg, ricotta and cured pork pie

Pizza chiena ('full pie', also pizza rustica or pizza piena) is baked across Campania on Good Friday and eaten after the Lenten fast ends on Easter Sunday or at the Pasquetta picnic. It is a tall pie of short pastry packed with a filling of eggs, ricotta and grated cheeses, layered with cubes of cured pork: salami, prosciutto, soppressata and sometimes fresh sausage. It is rich, so slices are thin. Chef's tip: bake it the day before and chill it overnight, as it cuts cleanly only once fully set.

120 min

Italian Meat

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Torrone dei mortiChocolate hazelnut bar

In Naples, the weeks around All Souls' Day on 2 November are 'torrone time': pastry shops pile up the torrone dei morti, a soft bar of white or dark chocolate filled with a creamy hazelnut or chocolate centre and studded with whole toasted hazelnuts, which friends bring as a gift when visiting. Despite its name it contains no nougat. This homemade version layers dark chocolate around a white-chocolate and hazelnut-paste filling. It is gluten free; some versions add liqueur, this one doesn't. Chef's tip: let the chocolate shell set fully in the fridge before filling, so it doesn't melt through.

40 min

Italian Desserts

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Pane di San GiuseppeSculpted festival breads

For St Joseph's Day on 19 March, families in western Sicily (Salemi, Trapani, Marsala) build 'tavolate' or altars to the saint, laden with ornate, sculpted breads: beards for Joseph, a staff, flowers, birds, fish and the hand of God. The breads are later given to the poor and to guests. The dough is a firm, plain semolina bread, so it holds fine detail, brushed with egg and scattered with sesame. Shape a few simple ones first; they are as much decoration as food. It is vegan, glazed with water rather than the egg some bakers use. Chef's tip: keep the dough firm and rest it so it doesn't spring back; soft dough loses its shapes in the oven.

120 min

Italian Baking

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PardulasSaffron ricotta pastries

Pardulas (called casadinas in some villages) are the sweet of Easter in Sardinia, baked in quantity on Holy Saturday and offered to visitors through the week. Thin, crisp pastry is pinched into little star-shaped cups and filled with fresh ricotta or soft sheep's cheese mixed with saffron, orange and lemon zest and a little semolina, then baked until the filling puffs and turns golden. They are often finished with honey. Most ricotta is made without animal rennet, but check the label for a vegetarian table. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight, as wet cheese makes the filling run and the cups collapse.

75 min

Italian Baking

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Torcolo di San CostanzoRaisin and pine nut ring bread

Perugia celebrates its patron saint, Costanzo, on 29 January with the torcolo: a big ring of soft, lightly sweet bread with candied citron, raisins, pine nuts and aniseed, its top cut five times for the gates of the old city. Young women in Perugia once used the torcolo to test their sweethearts, and it is still eaten everywhere in town that week, often dunked in vin santo by adults. This recipe has no alcohol. Chef's tip: dust the raisins and peel with a little flour before kneading them in, so they stay evenly spread.

85 min

Italian Baking

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Pan co' santiWalnut and raisin loaf

In Siena and the Tuscan countryside, pan co' santi ('bread with the saints') is baked for All Saints' Day on 1 November, when the new walnuts and the late grapes come in. It is a dark, lightly sweet bread dough rich with olive oil, walnuts, raisins and a surprising amount of black pepper, which gives a warm bite. It is eaten with the new wine by adults, or with roasted chestnuts. It is vegan. Chef's tip: fry the raisins and walnuts briefly in the olive oil before adding them, as Sienese bakers do; it brings out their flavour.

80 min

Italian Baking

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KalanehWild leek stuffed flatbread

In Kurdistan and Kermanshah, Newroz arrives with the first spring greens on the hillsides, and families gather wild leeks to fold into kalaneh, thin griddle breads cooked over a fire or a hot pan and soaked in melted butter. The dough is plain and soft, rolled very thin around a pile of chopped leek or chives with a little salt and pepper, so the greens steam inside as the bread blisters. Eat it hot, torn into strips, with yogurt and tea at a Newroz picnic. The common mistake is wet greens, which turn the dough soggy and make it tear; dry them well after washing. Chef's tip: brush the butter on the moment the bread leaves the pan so it soaks right in.

65 minMiddle Eastern Breads & Parathas

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Dowina (Kurdish yogurt soup)

Dowina, called ash-e doogh in Persian, is warming spring food in Kurdish homes around Newroz, when yogurt is plentiful and the first herbs are cut from the garden. Rice and chickpeas simmer in a tangy, lightly thickened yogurt broth, finished with fresh dill, coriander and a sizzle of dried mint in oil. It is eaten warm, never boiling hot, with flatbread. The common mistake is to heat the yogurt too fast without stirring, which makes it split into grainy curds. Chef's tip: whisk an egg yolk and a spoonful of rice flour into the yogurt before it goes on the heat; it holds the soup smooth all the way to the simmer.

75 minMiddle Eastern Soups

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Biscotti di San MartinoRicotta-filled fennel biscuits

St Martin's Day, 11 November, is when Sicilians traditionally open the new wine, and in Palermo it is marked with biscotti di San Martino: round, hard, fennel-scented yeast biscuits shaped like little turbans. Eaten plain, they are dunked in sweet Moscato; the pastry-shop version is split, soaked in a sweet syrup and filled with ricotta cream and candied fruit. This recipe soaks them in an orange syrup, so it is alcohol-free; adults can use Moscato or Marsala. Choose a vegetarian ricotta if needed. Chef's tip: bake them twice, the second time low, so they dry right through and keep for weeks.

80 min

Italian Baking

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CiaramicolaRed Easter ring cake

Ciaramicola is Perugia's Easter cake, a ring tinted red under a cloud of white meringue and coloured sprinkles, the red and white of the city's flag. It was traditionally baked by girls on Holy Saturday for their sweethearts, and it is eaten at Easter breakfast. The red colour usually comes from alchermes, a spiced liqueur; this version uses beetroot juice and a pinch of cinnamon and clove, so it is alcohol-free. The meringue is baked until set. Chef's tip: spread the meringue right down to the base all round, so it seals in the cake and stays glossy.

90 min

Italian Baking

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Coratella con carciofiLamb offal with artichokes

In Rome, spring lamb (abbacchio) is the Easter meat, and nothing is wasted: the coratella, the lamb's heart, lungs and liver, is sautéed with onion, white wine and the first spring artichokes for Easter Sunday lunch or the day after. It is a classic of the Testaccio trattorie, earthy and rich, the artichokes bringing a gentle bitterness. Ask a butcher for 'lamb pluck', or use lamb's liver and heart only. White wine is traditional; use stock with a squeeze of lemon for an alcohol-free version. Chef's tip: cook the meats in the order of how long they take, lungs first, then heart, and liver last, so the liver stays tender.

60 min

Italian Meat

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Fave dei mortiBean-shaped almond biscuits

On 2 November, All Souls' Day (il Giorno dei Morti), many Italian regions, especially Lombardy, Veneto and Rome, make fave dei morti: small, pale almond biscuits shaped like broad beans. Beans were once linked with the dead and given as alms at funerals, and these sweet 'beans' replaced them; in Venice they come in pink, white and brown. They are crisp outside and chewy within. Chef's tip: press a thumb lightly into each one to make the bean's dimple; it also helps them bake evenly.

35 min

Italian Baking

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Cavallo di San MartinoShortbread horse and rider

On 11 November in Venice, children go from shop to shop banging pots and singing for San Martino, and every pastry window fills with big shortbread horses carrying the saint on horseback, cut out, iced and studded with sweets and chocolates. The biscuit is a plain, buttery pasta frolla that holds its shape well, and the fun is all in the decoration, so it's a perfect baking afternoon with children. Chef's tip: chill the cut shapes for 15 minutes before baking so the horse's legs and sword keep sharp edges.

110 min

Italian Baking

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Minne di Sant'AgataDomed ricotta cakes

Catania's patron saint, Agatha, was martyred by having her breasts cut off, and for her feast on 5 February the city's pastry shops make minne (also minnuzzi): small domed cakes of sponge filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate chips and candied fruit, covered in white icing and topped with a candied cherry. They are eaten during the three days of processions. Many bakers brush the sponge with a liqueur syrup; this one uses an orange syrup and is alcohol-free. Choose a vegetarian ricotta if needed. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight and sieve it with the sugar for a silky filling.

85 min

Italian Desserts

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Olivette di Sant'AgataAlmond paste olives

Olivette are tiny green 'olives' of almond paste rolled in sugar, sold in Catania for the feast of St Agatha in early February. A legend tells that as the young saint was led to her trial she stopped to tie her shoe, and a wild olive tree sprang up on the spot and fed her. The sweets are made from ground almonds, sugar and a little water, coloured green and shaped in the palm. They are gluten free and dairy free, and children love to help shape them. Use a natural green such as matcha or spinach powder if you prefer. Chef's tip: knead the paste only until smooth, as overworking draws out the almond oil and it turns greasy.

40 min

Italian Desserts

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QuaresimaliLenten almond biscuits

Quaresimali are biscuits for Quaresima, the forty days of Lent, when Catholic Italy once gave up butter, egg yolks and rich foods. In Florence they are crisp cocoa biscuits shaped like letters of the alphabet; in Palermo they are long, crunchy almond and honey biscotti, sliced like cantucci. This is the Palermo-style version: whole almonds in a light dough of egg white, sugar and flour, scented with orange and cinnamon, baked twice. They are dairy free and keep for weeks. Chef's tip: slice the logs while still warm with a serrated knife; once cold they shatter.

50 min

Italian Baking

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Cuddura cu l'ovaEaster bread with baked eggs

In Sicily, children are given a cuddura cu l'ova at Easter: a sweet, biscuit-like bread shaped into a ring, a basket, a dove or a heart, with one or more whole eggs in their shells held in place by crossed strips of dough. They are baked on Holy Saturday and eaten on Easter Monday, Pasquetta, at picnics in the countryside. The eggs are hard-cooked in the oven, and sprinkles make them festive. Chef's tip: use eggs at room temperature and wash them gently; cold eggs crack in the oven.

75 min

Italian Baking

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Aloo bukhara chutneyDried plum chutney

Wherever a Pakistani wedding serves biryani and qorma, a little bowl of glossy aloo bukhara chutney sits alongside to cut the richness. Dried sour plums are softened, then cooked with sugar, a touch of vinegar, ginger, chilli and warm spices into a jammy, sweet-sour relish, dark and shining. It keeps for weeks and is made in big jars before the shaadi. Chef's tip: stop cooking while it still looks a little loose; it thickens a lot as it cools.

35 min

Pakistani Chutneys & Dips

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