Savory Fig & Feta Tart with Caramelized Onions

Fig

As you know from my last post, my fig tree is busting with fruit so in a attempt to keep up with its bounty I have been making this Savory Fig & Feta Tart. I serve it as the antipasta course alongside an Arugula salad. It is an elegant dish made with a pie crust or puff pastry as its base topped with fig jam and caramelized onions that are finished in balsamic vinegar. Then it is sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese and fresh sliced figs. It was beautiful and a big hit!

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Homemade Fig Jam

Fig jam

It’s mid September and the current “fruit of the Season” here in Italy is figs! We have a large fig tree on our property and I have been walking past the fig tree for months eyeing the dangling figs, I reach up and squeeze one hoping it would be ripe but the waiting continued. Finally it is fig season and they are ripe and ready for harvesting.

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Pumpkin Risotto (Risotto alla Zucca)

Mmmmm, Pumpkin Risotto! It was one of my first acquired recipes while living in Italy and one of my favorites! The Autumn, with its sunny days and cold nights is the perfect time to enjoy this Autumn vegetable while it warms your home and your family. Pumpkin Risotto is like eating macaroni and cheese, the color is orange and the texture creamy. The addition of butter and parmesan at the end adds that cheesy goodness that we all crave.

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Market Day In Central Italy

Italys farmers markets

I love Market Day in Italy. Each town in Central Italy has their own market, here in Nettuno our market day is Thursdays. The market it just a few minutes walk from our house and just down the street from our bakery. So I usually start market day with a cappuccino and cornetto then stroll down the long street that has become the market.

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San Gimignano, a visit to a Tuscany Hill Town

San Gimignano, a Tuscan Hill Town

Recently a few friends from California were in the North of Italy and asked to meet us at the halfway point between us, which happily for us was Tuscany. We love an excuse to journey north and play tourists for the day. Our friends chose the lovely hill town of San Gimignano as a meeting place. The last time we were in Tuscany was about a month ago and the seasonal changes are beautiful to observe when driving through Tuscany.

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Spiced Chickpea salad

Roasted Chickpea Salad

This is a great warm Autumn salad, especially when you want all of your veggies but don’t want to eat something cold on those chilly days. The warm roasted cauliflower, spiced chick peas and creamy tahini dressing really will warm up your Fall menu!

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Babaganush (Middle Eastern Roasted Eggplant Dip) Keto Friendly

Babaganush (Roasted Eggplant Dip)
Babaganush
(Roasted Eggplant Dip)

The garden is in full swing and everyday I am harvesting crisp green cucumbers, shiny purple eggplants, juicy red tomatoes, green beans, okra and peppers. I have had to become innovative on how to incorporate all these healthy veggies into our normal meal plans. I scoured the internet and came to see that a Mediterranean diet was the solution.

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Homemade Berry Pie

Homemade Berry Pie

The other day a friend knocked on my door, when I opened it, there he stood with a big smile on his face holding a white bucket full of the blackest berries you have ever seen. He had just picked the wild blackberries that morning and picked a bucket for us and for himself.

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How to Roast Your Own Coffee Beans

So first let’s talk about WHY you should roast your own coffee: Buying high grade, single origin coffee from your choice of countries costs the same as buying mid-range pre-roasted coffee from Costco. The benefits are you get to choose the beans and country of origin, control the depth of the roast and most importantly control your freshness.

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