Eggless potato gnocchi with clams. Cucina povera of Romagna

Online, you can find dozens of recipes for potato gnocchi with clams posted by as many Italian food bloggers. In this way, the recipe is everyone's and no one's. Yet, like so many other dishes, this one has its own history that no one remembers or that some people spread with mistakes attached, like the ones…

ByMonica5 days ago0Comments

Cheese COURSES INGREDIENTS OCCASIONS RECIPES Soups Sunday Lunch

Spoja lorda in broth (cheese stuffed pasta squares)

The cheese-filled squares of spoja lorda I put to dry on the pasta dryer look like puzzle pieces. In recent years, I have first scattered them on the table and then reassembled these pieces to create a new mosaic, more colorful and interesting, something in which I wanted to recognize myself again, feeling happy and proud…

ByMonica4 January 20250Comments

COURSES Desserts Gluten-free INGREDIENTS OCCASIONS RECIPES Sunday Lunch

Potato pudding, a recipe from cucina povera (without flour)

Sweet potato pudding is a recipe that belongs to my family's repertoire and to the cucina povera of Bologna and Romagna, an area where potatoes are a traditional product and were historically part of the food diet of the poor people. I can still hear my maternal grandmother's voice as she laces up her apron, remembering…

ByMonica28 December 20240Comments

Cakes and Cookies Christmas COURSES OCCASIONS RECIPES

Spongata cake, an old Christmas recipe from Emilia

Spongata cake is a recipe from Emilia that has very ancient origins. Signs of its ancestors can be traced to Etruscan, Jewish, and Roman cultures. In medieval times, nuns and monks reworked the recipe. Little by little, and that is the history of all the panspeziale (spice cakes) and panforte of Europe, the spongata cake left…

ByMonica6 December 20240Comments

Christmas COURSES First Course INGREDIENTS Meat OCCASIONS RECIPES Sunday Lunch

Macaroni pie of Ferrara (pasticcio di maccheroni)

The macaroni pie, known as pasticcio di maccheroni alla ferrarese, is a traditional dish with very ancient origins. Because of this, it has undergone many modifications over the centuries. The current version combines medieval features with modern reinterpretations. The external shell is a sweet, shortcrust pastry; the filling is made with macaroni seasoned with a white…

ByMonica21 November 20240Comments

Bologna Food Breakfast and Merenda Cakes and Cookies Christmas COURSES Fruits INGREDIENTS OCCASIONS RECIPES

Sabadoni cookies from cucina povera of Romagna and Bologna

Sabadoni cookies are sweet, rectangular-shaped tortelli filled with chestnuts and a handful of other ingredients. They are a typical sweet from the cucina povera of Romagna, which we can find under the same name or under that of chestnut tortelli in an area that also includes Bologna and Ferrara. The name sabadoni comes from saba, the…

ByMonica7 November 20240Comments

Breakfast and Merenda OCCASIONS RECIPES

Bread of The Dead (piada dei morti). A typical fall recipe

The bread of the dead (piada dei morti) is a typical autumn cake from Romagna, particularly from the province of Rimini and the municipalities of San Mauro Pascoli, Gatteo, and Savignano sul Rubicone in the province of Forlì-Cesena. This piada, which, despite its name, resembles a focacia, has a sweet dough and is typical for the…

ByMonica26 October 20240Comments

Erbazzone Reggiano (swiss chard pie). A treasure recipe from Emilia

Appetizers COURSES Main Course RECIPES

Erbazzone pie (swiss chard pie). A treasure recipe from Emilia

There is a land with indefinite borders, which is the South of the North and the North of the South: someone calls it Emilia (E. Berselli, Italian writer born and raised in Emilia) The city of Reggio Emilia is the birthplace of one of the most satisfying Italian snacks: erbazzone or scarpazzone , a hearty, savory…

ByMonica2 May 20240Comments

Christmas COURSES First Course INGREDIENTS OCCASIONS RECIPES Rice and Grains Sunday Lunch

Rice bomb (bomba di riso), recipe from Emilia-Romagna

The rice bomb is a flan. And flan, in Italian sformato, is the name we used to call it at home. It must be said, however, that it is an Emilian rather than a Romagna dish. In fact, each Emilian province has its own version of the recipe. You can find the bomb bolognese, the one from…

ByMonica28 March 20240Comments

COURSES Desserts OCCASIONS RECIPES Sunday Lunch

Chocolate salami (without eggs). Nonna’s recipes

If a book about grandmothers served the purpose of not missing mine, I would look for it. I'm usually able to manage memories, but some days, it is hard to manage their B-sides. Yes, memories have two sides, like coins and old vinyl records. Side A makes memories a soft dough that will rise in the oven; it…

ByMonica1 March 20240Comments