I love Belgium, France, Thailand etc… as well as their gastronomy. But Italian cooking and basically everything (or most) things Italy has to offer, is closer to my heart (big surprise) and will always stay my nr 1 (mmm, maybe to chauvinistic?)

 When it comes to Italian cooking I have 2 big examples (ok, 3 if you count my dad). My biggest example is without any doubt my “Zia Livia” (my Italian aunt), who I will introduce in one of my next posts , as I will be cooking with her in Italy very soon.

The other big example and/or person I learned from a lot is Antonio Carluccio…. (But I presume he’s an example for  a lot of people). Since I was a young child, I always used to watch Mr. Carluccio on BBC. Even though back then my English wasn’t that great, I could still follow as lucky for me he also spoke Italian in his shows + the look in his eyes and the food spoke for itself J.  You can just see that he enjoys the cooking so much. The only time I think even Mr. Carluccio was 100% convinced eating, was when he had got to try the Sardinian cheese “Casu Marzu”. He now recently was on tv with his longtime friend  Gennaro Contaldo, who’s also a great chef. When watching them I immediately think of the Italian version of Statler and Waldorf (muppet show), judge for yourself in this footage from the two greedy Italians . Watching a show from Mr. Carluccio is like being in Italy, sitting next to him and enjoying the trip together.

Three recipes that I want to share with you, that for me are absolute Master dishes are “Fiori di Zucchini Ripieni” or the “Linguine alla Mollica” or the ‘Trofie al pesto’, you will find the recipies on Mr. Carluccio’s website. The simplicity of this dish shows what italian cooking is all about (but if I should really give all his recipes I love, the list would be endless). Try the 3 recipes I shared and I’m sure you’ll agree and get Carluccionized J.

Not that I don’t like other Italian cooks, but he’s just Antonio Carluccio! The only thing I regret is that I won’t be able to enjoy their cooking, as I believe neither Antonio nor Gennaro have a restaurant anymore (if I’m not mistaking)

Thank you!