Sicily in a plate. Tuna is huge in Sicily and nope - no Sicilian ties on my part at all, apart from my mamma’s ‘vicina di casa’ (neighbour) who has been sharing some amazing recipes with me…..and here is one of them.

I had onions on hand, old wine that we now use as vinegar, and tuna steaks I had picked up at the supermarket. Simple, easy and delicious and great with a loaf of bread and a salad.

You’ll need -

At least two onions (I used the purple spanish ones but the white onions are fine also great)

About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 Tuna steaks

3/4 bottle red wine vinigar (it will evaporate and make a nice juice)

For the method head over to the reel on our instagram account https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/

Method in summary - cut onions, place in bowl of water. Heat pan, place onions on pan and salt - lid on and let collapse. Add oil - cook a little more. Place cooked onions to the side of the pan, fry tuna steaks. Remove tuna, add red wine vinegar and let cook with the onions until it has reduced. Place your tuna back in the reduced ‘agrodolce’ (sweet and sour sauce). Enjoy x

I am huge on ‘no waste’. I had made an Italian Orange Cake a few days ago with Ricotta Cream Icing and needed to use up the left over icing before it went off. I love to create new meals with leftovers - or ‘gli avanzi’ as we call them in Italian. So I created these ‘zeppoline’. - mini donuts. Soft and fluffy balls of lemony heaven. Crazy easy to whip up and gobbled up quicker than you can fry them.

Here are more or less the ingredients. Just add them in order I have listed them.

-about 250gr ricotta

-about 4 tablespoons icing sugar (whip ricotta and icing sugar to make a cream)

-3 eggs (whip through ricotta cream with a fork)

-zest of one lemon

-a little bustina of vanillina (or a little vanilla pasta, or from the pod - whatever you have)

-1 teaspoon baking powder

…Mix them together

-Add about 2 and a half cups of self raising flour

The dough should be quite firmish

Heat your sunflower oil - about 3-4cm deep - I use a small pot

With a couple of teaspoons, start grabbing the batter and placing in the oil. If they burn on the outside and are raw inside, your oil is too hot.

Once cooked roll in some sugar or some icing sugar.

If you have any questions send them to my instagram profile here https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/?hl=en

ENJOY!

Cheese an veg lovers rejoice. You could work your magic and do a few variations with this I am sure. An addition of fried mushrooms? Or why not add the slices of salumi you have in the fridge not getting eaten if you fancy a little meat? You could even make this with layers of pasta. Unleash that wild imagination.

Scroll down for recipe…

Ingredients below but head to REELS in instagram for the method https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/reels/

For the besciamella:

1/2 litre of milk

50gr butter

About 1/4 cup of 00 flour (but if it seems too thick to spread once cooked then just add a little more milk)

Salt and pepper to taste.

For the rest of the dish:

3 large zucchini (sliced long ways, and plced in to layers in a colander , with each layer getting a sprnkle of salt before the next is layed)

about 2 cups worth each of chopped or sliced mozarella, parmigiano and breadcrumbs (all ready to be sprinkled on the layers as you make them.

Cook on around 185 c - fan forced - for about 40 minutes or until bubbling and golden on top

The time has come to farewell winter (thank gosh) which also means saying goodbye to the winter menu.

Here’s a quick and easy ‘Spezzatino’ Recipe (Meat stew - also known as ‘Carne e Patati’ in Calabrese Dialect). You can watch the method on my Instagram Reel page here https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/reels/

INGREDIENTI !

1kg gravy beef

1 onion diced

2 carrots chopped chunky

4 celery sticks chopped chunky

4 potatoes chopped chunky

1/4 cup white wine

Lots of bay leaves (at least 5)

Salt (quanto basta)

Topped with water and left to simmer for a good 2 hours or more

Eaten with good bread though steamed rice could also be an option.

I floured the meat lightly before frying- it helps thicken the sauce

Here is the amazing recipe for these super soft, light and fluffy ‘Graffe’ Napoletane. Hold on tight while your senses take a ride all the way to Italy and back with the first bite. The smell and taste of these scrumptious Italian donuts scream the local bar in Napoli ! Enjoy….

(and if you want to watch a snippet on my instagram reels click on the link - https://www.instagram.com/the_little_italian_school/)

INGREDIENTS-

Add all of the below ingredients (except the butter) in a bowl and knead all together until you get a soft, sticky but workable dough. You can do it in an electric dough mixer if you have one.

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon dry yeast

2 eggs

Rind of 1 large lemon

Bustina of Vanillina (or a teaspoon of vanilla essence)

4 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup water (approx.) - add the water slowly until you get a sticky but workable dough.

50 gr room temperature butter

METHOD:

Once mixed, flour a board where you will now add the butter and knead again until it is all amalgamated. If you are using an electric dough needer, just add the butter and mix.

Try and form a nice smooth ball of dough, pop it back in the bowl and cover with a teat towel or glad wrap. Leave for 1-2 hours depending on the rooms temperature.

Once risen, take the ball of dough out of the container and onto a board that has been floured.

Cut the large ball into long strips to be able to join them at the ends to make the ring shape.

Once you have made the ring shapes, place them on a tray and let them rise for another hour or so. (depending on the temperature in the room)

Once risen a second time, fry them in some sunflower oil, roll them in some sugar, and take that sensory travel to southern Italy !

2 Eggs

1 Cup of ricotta

2 Tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 Cups Self raising Flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Grated rind of a 1 lemon

Handful bluberries (or a few more if you want more)

Mix all of the wet ingredients. Add the flour and mix. At the end add the blueberries and fold through.

Heat sunflower oil in a frypan and using a tablespoon, scoop the mixture and drop into the oil. Careful not to have the oil too hot or they will burn.

Pop the cooked mini donuts onto paper towels as you cook them so they excess oil drains. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve and eat.

So how does one drink like an Italian?

Italians love to socialise and alcohol is a huge part of our culture. Vino rosso, vino bianco, cocktails, birra (beer), amari (digestives), all have a place in an Italian’s social life. Though it seems how we embrace them is very different to those in other parts of the world.

Positano

Binge drinking is not glorified in Italy, and when we head out to catch up with friends or family, we are not on a mission to drink to get drunk. When Italians go to a bar, we like to socialise and embrace the life around us. Bars and restaurants are full of people chatting about anything from politics, to family, to the latest fashion or event, to history, and to life in general. Sipping your drink is the ‘norm’- while sculling just isn’t something you’ll see Italians do.

Positano

Drinks are never ever served without being accompanied by some sort of nibble or meal. We don’t drink cocktails like the Spritz or the classic Negroni during our meal either, as they are generally served to enjoy with some simple nibbles like peanuts, olives, tarallucci or mini crostini. We call this an ‘Aperitivo’ which has now become well known and very trendy with non-Italians. While it may seem ‘cool’ to drink several Espresso Martini’s or Spritz with your dinner in other parts of the world, it’s just not a thing in Italy. Infact, a lot of Italian noses would be screwed up just at the thought. We do our coffee in the morning, or after a meal, or even for an afternoon pause and pick me up… but never during our meal. Just ew!

Positano

So what we choose to drink often depends on the food we’ll be eating and the time of day. It’s like poetry in motion. An aperitivo before lunch or dinner, wine with your meal and an ‘amaro’ (digestive) after it. I guess you could call them little rituals. Wine is a dining table staple, and children are often encouraged to have a sip with their meal. Food, drink, friends, family, acquaintances and conversation go hand in hand. They were married in Italy and until death do they part!

My all time favourite Italian cocktail is the classic Negroni. The aromas take me back to my childhood and memories of days and nights spent in the family restaurant. Here is the recipe, and a few others with variations. They are all simply served on ice and stirred, dressed with a slice of orange.

NEGRONI: (original)

·       30 ml Campari

·      30 ml Sweet vermouth

·      30 ml Gin

NEGRONI SBAGLIATO -  MISTAKE NEGRONI

A Negroni created by mistake, hence it’s name. Born in the 70’s at the Bar Basso in Milano by a bartender who accidentally added spumante in place of the gin.

• 30ml Bitter

• 30ml Vermouth rosso 

• 30ml Prosecco (spumante Brut) 

IL CARDINALE – THE CARDINAL

In the 1950’s in Rome, a Cardinal would order his usual Negroni at a Bar in Via Veneto, when one day the barman asked if he could change it up a little and created for him a Negroni with dry vermouth instead of the usual red vermouth.

• 30ml Gin 

• 30ml Bitter

• 30ml Dry Vermouth

NEGROSKI:

This variation of Negroni replaces the gin with vodka.

• 30ml Vermouth rosso

• 30ml Bitter

• 30ml Vodka

JAPANESE NEGRONI:  

This Negroni variation replaces the gin with the classic Japanese Sakè.

• 30ml Vermouth rosso

• 30ml Bitter

• 30ml Sakè

Quantity for 2 loaves or 1 loaf and some mini brioche with leftover pastry

1 cup milk (luke warm)

1 teaspoon dry yeast

600gr flour 00

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

Bustina di vanillina (or some vanilla essence or lemon rind if preferred)

Filling – Fig Jam (or any jam of choice or chocolate spread)

Melt the yeast in the luke warm milk (set aside)

Beat the egg, vanilla and sugar in a bowl (large enough to slowly add the flour later)

Add evoo and beat

Add milk and yeast mixture and beat

Slowly add flour and knead until soft and elastic

Place dough in bowl covered and leave to rise for an hour to two, making sure it doubles in size or almost.

Now you will need a rolling pin and a rectangular bread tin. If you don’t have a bread tin you can use a ciambella tin.

Flour your board and place risen dough on top and knead it a little getting back to a ball shape.

Roll it out with a rolling pin, into a rectangular shape that once rolled into a log, will fit into a rectangle bread tin.

Spread your jam over it, leaving a little strip at the top of the rectangle you can wet a little with some water so it seals up when you roll it up to close the log shape.

Roll the dough into a log and place in tin lined wth baking paper or some flour

(optional – beat one egg and brush the dough with it before baking)

Oven 180 degrees Celsius and bake for about 40 minutes or if you like a crust leave a few minutes longer