A collection of tasty and family-style Italian recipes, including Spaghetti Bolognese, Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine Sauce, Spinach & Tomato Lasagne.

Pasta with Pancetta

A quick and delicious pasta recipe using only three ingredients! Olive oil, pancetta and pasta is all that you need to make this super tasty dish. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Pasta with Pancetta At its simplest, this recipe only uses three ingredients – olive oil, pancetta and pasta. This is a recipe you need to have for those evenings when you don’t know what to cook or when you simply don’t have time

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Deep Dish Pizza

A delicious thick crust pizza which is crispy all over, but soft within. Made with a savoury tomato sauce and your favourite pizza toppings, this deep dish pizza will be the best homemade pizza you have ever tasted! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Deep Dish Pizza Back in my days as a corporate lawyer, I used to work frequently in Chicago (Schaumburg, to be more precise). My husband had been transferred there for a

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BBQ Chicken Pizza

A delicious and mouth-watering BBQ Chicken Pizza with step-by-step photos! Recipe includes Homemade Pizza Dough, Homemade Barbecue Sauce, as well as instructions for making a cast iron pizza! BBQ Chicken Pizza I have a soft spot for barbecue chicken (called rotisserie chicken in most other countries), and I happen to think they make for the best chicken sandwiches. When time is tight and I am at the supermarket trying to figure out what

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Easy Tiramisu

An easy Tiramisu recipe served in individual glasses. These Mini Tiramisu are a delicious way to end an Italian meal, and they are also perfect for entertaining. Easy Tiramisu We are lucky to have three Italian restaurants on our street, which means that if I want to take a night off cooking (it happens at least once a week!), a pizza or pasta dinner is always only a few steps away. My kids

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Focaccia with Herbs and Olives

An easy-to-make Focaccia with Herbs and Olives which is soft and chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Perfect as a starter or as a side dish! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Focaccia Bread When I lived in Australia, focaccia was a staple which was sold in all bakeries and supermarkets. So when I first moved to Switzerland, I was surprised that, despite being next door to Italy, no focaccia bread could

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Easy Tomato Sauce

A quick and easy Tomato Sauce which you can serve simply with pasta or use in a variety of recipes. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Easy Tomato Sauce If there is one recipe which I make most often, it is probably this easy tomato sauce, also called a marinara sauce I have lost count of the number of meals I have made with just this basic tomato sauce and how thankful I am each

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Spaghetti and Meatballs

The best meatballs which everyone will love! These meatballs are full of fresh flavours with a mix of beef and pork, ricotta and lots of fresh herbs. They go perfectly with pasta for an easy and delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs! Spaghetti and Meatballs Minced beef (or ground beef) happens to be a popular ingredient at this point in time. When the pandemic was first announced, it appears that toilet paper and minced beef

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Homemade Pizza Dough

Make your own pizza at home with this easy and delicious pizza dough recipe! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Easy Pizza Dough For me, a pizza dinner usually involves calling the local pizzeria up the street and sending my husband to pick up the order 10 minutes later. That is how we do fast food in Switzerland!

Spinach Lasagna

A simple and delicious Spinach Lasagna using a homemade béchamel sauce and marinara sauce. This vegetarian lasagna will be a hit even with the meatlovers! Spinach Lasagna I love a good lasagna and it’s a satisfying dish to make when you have time to potter about in the kitchen. With spring having finally arrived in Zurich and warmer weather slowly creeping into the forecast, I wanted to make a baked pasta dish, but

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Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce

slow cooked lamb shanks red wine

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce, served with a fresh gremolata. The lamb shanks are deliciously tender and the rich, full-flavoured sauce is perfect for serving with mashed potatoes, polenta or pasta. Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks It’s no secret that I love slow-cooking. With two young children to entertain, I find it easiest to do the sort of cooking that requires a leave-it-and-forget-it approach. But I hardly need the children as an

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Spaghetti Bolognese

A traditional Spaghetti Bolognese recipe which is rich, meaty and full of flavour. This traditional bolognese sauce requires slow cooking to develop the rich and meaty flavours, and uses fresh and good quality ingredients for an authentic taste.  Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe Growing up, my mother never really cooked Italian food. I think our closest encounter with Italian cuisine was Pizza Hut, and I loved it! When she did attempt any Italian food, it

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Fried Lambs’ Brains

fried lambs brains

Follow this easy and straight-forward recipe for golden and crispy Fried Lambs’ Brains. When the folks at Cathay Pacific asked me to cook, style and photograph fried lambs’ brains for an upcoming edition of Discovery, their in-flight magazine, I was somewhat nervous. And that was before they disclosed that the accompanying article would be written by Umberto Bombana, the head chef at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, the only Italian restaurant outside

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Roman-Style Fried Artichokes with Herb Mayonnaise

roman style fried artichokes

A traditional dish from Rome are these delicious deep-fried artichokes, cooked Jewish-style. My favourite, and usual, way of cooking and eating artichokes is boiled and served with a spiky vinaigrette or garlic mayonnaise, the recipe which you can find here in one of my earlier posts.

Spaghetti with Tuna, Chilli, and Lemon

This Spaghetti with Tuna, Chilli, Rocket & Lemon takes only 20 mins from start to finish! I have been a long-time admirer and follower of Donna Hay’s cookbooks, even as early back when she was the food editor of the Marie Claire cookbooks in Australia. Her clean and refined approach to food styling is what normally attracts the attention of readers in the first instance; food which looks so stunningly beautiful on the

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