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Retro recipe: Spaghetti patties, 19 August, 1933
Today we go back, way back, to 1933, to sample a prize-winning recipe that its author, Mrs Reichenbach of Quirindi, NSW says is “most suitable to serve at a bridge party or as a dinner savory.” I have...
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Cooking with my nonna – fresh tomato sauce
My grandmother in 87 years old. Cooking with her is an experience. Trying to get quantities when writing down nonna’s recipes is like trying to get a bank to waiver its account keeping fees. “First, I...
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Italian or not, I heart Sirena tuna
Today I learnt something that probably everyone else in the entire world knows. Sirena tuna is not and has never been Italian. Its bright yellow and red tin, cute little fish and modest retro mermaid...
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Cooking with my nonna – carciofi
Nobody makes carciofi like this woman, my grandmother. When I tell nonna that most artichoke recipes call for a lot of the leaves to be cut off, she looks disgusted. “It’s waste. Waste! People have too...
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A recipe for ravioli…
For kicks these days, I spend a lot of time looking for Italian recipes in Australian cookbooks. The one below comes from the 1961 edition of the P.W.M.U. Cookery Book. It left me asking one question....
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Thoroughly modern macaroni
Just when you think you know how 19th Century Australians cooked their pasta, along comes a recipe that changes everything. Before we go on, however, you have to know there was no such thing as pasta...
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Crimes against pizza – 2. Copha Pizza
I don’t know about you but when I see the words “Real Italian Pizza” I don’t expect them to be followed by “made in minutes – with Copha!” It’s not that I object to that greasy white slab of 100% fat....
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Crimes against pizza – 3. Banana pizza
Someone, maybe this guy, once put pineapple on a pizza and, for some strange reason, it stuck. The Hawaiian is a much derided but long-established pizza tradition. At the Australian Women’s Weekly,...
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A recipe for Italamingtons (aka Italian lamingtons)
If it’s acceptable to put vegemite in lasagne, kangaroo on pizza, and mango in a tiramisu, then surely no one can argue the toss when it comes to turning the lamington – one of Australia’s greatest...
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Cooking with Nonna Christmas Special: Torrone
By the time I get to Nonna’s house, she’s already got the sugar and almonds out, the scales are on the table and she’s set up a make-shift stove which might be the perfect height for 5 foot nothing...
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