Penne pasta with fresh tomato and basil sauce

This is a very simple vegan dish, requiring little preparation and no cooking apart from the pasta itself, and is perfect for a warm summer’s day  either as a starter or as a main course.  It is one of the quickest meals to prepare, making the uncooked sauce while the pasta cooks, and I often

Osso Buco with Risotto alla Milanese

There are hundreds of different Risotto recipes, all involving cooking Italian rice (grown in  the Po Valley) with butter, wine, stock and grated parmigiano. Risotto alla Milanese is perhaps the most famous, and one of the most simple, relying on  the delicate flavour and warm golden colour of saffron. Saffron is the most expensive spice

Lasagne al pomodoro

Lasagne, also known as “pasta al forno” (pasta cooked in the oven), is a wonderful way of pre-preparing a pasta dish either as a starter or – less commonly- as a main course, so all you have to do is put it in  the oven 35 minutes or so before the start of the meal. 

Spanish mackerel cutlets with olives, capers tomatoes and chilli

Olives and capers have a great affinity with fresh seafood, and combined with tomato and chilli they make a very tasty sauce for fish such as Spanish Mackerel cutlets, swordfish or halibut steaks (see Top Tip below). The technique is to fry the fish quickly over medium high heat and then keep it warm while