Ragù is an Italian meat-based sauce normally served with pasta. For the meat, I chose duck breasts and as for the pasta, I decided on pappardelle which is a large, very broad and flat pasta. The “ruggedness” of the pappardelle goes very well with the peasant-style ragù. To spruce things up a bit, I added aubergine and fava (broad) beans.
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I think even the Italians will not all agree on the origin of puttanesca, but most will agree that it originated in Naples in the mid-20th century. “Puttana” which translates to “prostitute” led to the theory that the sauce was invented in one of the many “bordellos” in Naples. The twist, which I add to this dish, is the use of guanciale instead of olive oil.
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This is a creamy and wholesome Italian dish which is very easy and quick to prepare. The dish is said to originate from western Sicily in the 19th century with English families, where Marsala wine is produced. A heavy French influence is also suspected together with American influence in the modern version. This will probably explain why Chicken Marsala is more popular in the Unites States than Italy these days. See this article.
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This is a very easy dish which can be served as a main or a starter or a side dish.
Green beans or string beans, are at their best when picked young and tender for a fresh, crunchy texture. The guanciale can probably be replaced with pancetta or bacon, but it offers a much more complex and rich flavour.
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I managed to get my hands on a huge, whole deboned turkey breast and seeing that I’m trying everything out with my homemade guanciale, I decided to grill the breast, wrapped in guanciale over an open fire in a rotisserie basket.
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This recipe is based on the very famous Amatriciana dish, but because of the pasta purists out there, I’ll will refrain from calling it that. It contains all four the necessary ingredients for an authentic Amatriciana dish…and some more.
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Carbonara has a very long and interesting history. There are many variations, even in Italy, but most Italians will agree there is only one way to make the authentic version.
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Guanciale is a prominent ingredient in many Italian dishes, but it is probably mostly known as an essential ingredient for spaghetti carbonara.
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The word cacciatore is the Italian word for hunter. Chicken cacciatore got its name from the rustic, “hunter-style” way this dish is prepared. Numerous versions exists all over Italy, from the southern region using red wine as opposed to the northern region which tend to use white wine instead. To compliment the rustic nature of this dish, we served it with sourdough bread with molasses and sunflower seeds.
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A recent heat wave in Cape Town had us running around looking for a dish that would suite summer. I stumbled upon a sausage and pasta dish on YouTube by Jamie Oliver and decided to give it try with some modifications.
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