This is a great recipe for disguising veggies from children! Tanya Bartolini says, “I process the vegetables until they are so fine, my son won’t notice them – but he gets their goodness anyway”.

Tanya also recommends adding a teaspoon of fennel seeds and/or a pinch of chilli, which “will boost the flavour of the sauce. If cooking for kids, I recommend adding a little fennel (but only if the sausages don’t already have the herb in them) but no chilli”.

This recipe provides enough sauce for a 250g packet of dried pasta or 5 serves of homemade pasta.

Ingredients 

Serves 5

• 6 Italian sausages
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• 1 small onion
• 2 x 400 g tins diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ½ cup white wine (not sweet)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Special cooking utensil – food processor (if you do not have a food processor, a grater will work just fine)

Method:

1. Using a small knife, remove casings from the sausages and set aside.

2. Peel the garlic and onion. Chop celery, carrot and onion into pieces, small enough to fit into your food processor. Whiz them in the food processor for about 30 seconds until you have fine pulp.  

3. Fry up the pulped vegetables in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the mixture cooks through.

4. Whilst the vegetable mixture is cooking, use the food processor to blitz the sausage meat until it clumps together in a ball. Add to the frying pan and cook with the vegetables for about 5 minutes.

5. Reduce heat to low and add the wine. Cook for about 1 minute. 

6. Add tinned tomato and tomato paste. Cook through for another 5 minutes. 

7. Whilst the sauce is simmering, put your pot of pasta water on to boil. Allow the sauce to simmer for as long as it takes to cook the pasta (about 20 minutes). Any type of pasta works well with this sauce.

About Tanya Bartolini: Although Tanya Bartolini spent 14 years in accounting and finance, true satisfaction was always found in the kitchen. It wasn’t until the birth of her first son in 2012 that she realised what had seemed important before was no longer a priority and with that, Tanya decided to embrace her passion for food and family. In doing this, she has explored her family’s rich Italian history and written a book that shares her family’s precious recipes. Through her book, Blending The Cultures, featuring hearty recipes that blend the Italian and Australian way of living and eating, she hopes to encourage others to create memorable moments for themselves by cooking and sharing meals together. Tanya has also established a website – The Kitchen Bench – as a forum for everyday cooks just like herself to share wholesome, simple and healthy cooking.

Crostata di marmellata is a delicious jam-filled pastry. 

“Oh my, how I love crostata di marmellata. I have been known to eat it for breakfast!” says Tanya Bartolini. This glorious sweet treat is just divine with a good coffee or tea. 

Tanya recalls, “I have very fond memories of eating this at my Zia Angela’s place in Italy. Homemade pastry filled with homemade fig jam: so perfect that it looked as if it had come straight from a professional kitchen”.

Tanya has shared her simple version with us – “Yes, it involves pastry making but you can buy the jam from supermarkets.”

“Thank you Italy for introducing me to such a wonderful pastry delight!”

Ingredients:

Serves 8

• 2½ cups 00 flour (a type of Italian flour)
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup raspberry jam 

Method:

1. Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add softened butter and eggs. Using two butter knives and a cutting action, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. (It is better to use knives as hands release to much heat into the dough.) Continue blending with a cutting action until your mixture resembles coarse meal or large breadcrumbs.

2. Tip the dough mixture onto a floured work surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, flatten slightly and then wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

4. Roll the dough on a floured work surface, forming a rough rectangle about 1cm thick.

5. Keep some of the dough aside to create the lattice work decoration on the top of the crostata. 

6. Using your fingers, pinch the sides of the dough to create an edge. This will hold the jam in place. Cover the dough’s base with jam.

7. With the extra dough, roll out flat (about 1cm thick) and cut strips. Place the strips, one at a time, to create a lattice work effect on top of the crostata.

8. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, until the pastry is a lovely golden brown colour. Allow to cool.

About Tanya Bartolini: Although Tanya Bartolini spent 14 years in accounting and finance, true satisfaction was always found in the kitchen. It wasn’t until the birth of her first son in 2012 that she realised what had seemed important before was no longer a priority and with that, Tanya decided to embrace her passion for food and family. In doing this, she has explored her family’s rich Italian history and written a book that shares her family’s precious recipes. Through her book, Blending The Cultures, featuring hearty recipes that blend the Italian and Australian way of living and eating, she hopes to encourage others to create memorable moments for themselves by cooking and sharing meals together. Tanya has also established a website – The Kitchen Bench – as a forum for everyday cooks just like herself to share wholesome, simple and healthy cooking.

“Nonna Ida makes the best crumbed chicken and it wasn’t until recently that I discovered the exact reason why. My son absolutely loves this dish,” says Tanya Bartolini. Read on for Nonna’s secret ingredient…

Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 2 large chicken breasts (preferably free range)
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup Scotch whisky
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 cups dried breadcrumbs
• ½ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon powdered chicken stock
• extra virgin olive oil

Method:
1. Thinly slice the chicken breasts (about 3-4 pieces per breast). Use a meat tenderiser to lightly hammer each piece thin.

2. Marinate the chicken: place in a bowl with eggs, scotch and garlic whisked together. Place the marinating chicken in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Place breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and chicken stock in a bowl and combine. Remove a piece of chicken from the egg mixture and place in the breadcrumbs, thoroughly coating the chicken. Transfer to a plate and continue until all pieces of chicken are crumbed.

4. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once the pan comes to temperature (breadcrumbs will bubble when dropped in), place chicken pieces in the pan. Cook on one side until golden brown, then turn and repeat. Once cooked, transfer chicken to a plate covered in paper towel. Repeat until all pieces of chicken are cooked.

This dish is best served warm and golden and crunchy. 

About Tanya Bartolini: Although Tanya Bartolini spent 14 years in accounting and finance, true satisfaction was always found in the kitchen. It wasn’t until the birth of her first son in 2012 that she realised what had seemed important before was no longer a priority and with that, Tanya decided to embrace her passion for food and family. In doing this, she has explored her family’s rich Italian history and written a book that shares her family’s precious recipes. Through her book, Blending The Cultures, featuring hearty recipes that blend the Italian and Australian way of living and eating, she hopes to encourage others to create memorable moments for themselves by cooking and sharing meals together. Tanya has also established a website – The Kitchen Bench – as a forum for everyday cooks just like herself to share wholesome, simple and healthy cooking.

Pasta is one of my favourite weekend dishes – for lunch or dinner. It’s quick, fresh and easy and this recipe from Tanya Bartolini uses simple, tasty ingredients.

Tanya says, “I often cook this at home. Similar versions are found in many Italian cookbooks but it was a long-time friend (and this book’s photographer) who inspired me to include this here. Many years ago, we sat at school discussing what type of pasta and pasta sauce we preferred. I remember her telling me it was her mum’s spaghetti with broccoli. I was surprised: not many kids say they love broccoli. I was also intrigued. Many years later, when I was trying to work out a different way to use broccoli, I remembered that conversation. This is the result.”

If you’re cooking this one for kids, simply leave out the chilli.

• 2 small broccoli florets
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 small red chilli, deseeded and sliced thinly
• 500 g dried pasta
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for dressing
• 1 tablespoon cooking salt
• grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Prepare broccoli by cutting it into tiny florets small enough to fit into your mouth in one bite. Use the entire broccoli, including the stem.

2. Fill a large pot with tap water to the ¾ mark. Place the pot onto a high heat and bring water to the boil. When the water is boiling, add 1 tablespoon of cooking salt, the dried pasta and broccoli. Stir to ensure that the pasta does not stick to the pan or itself, and bring the water back to a rolling boil.

3. Whilst the pasta is cooking, fry garlic and chilli in olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat and leave the pan on the stovetop.

4. Continue to cook the pasta and broccoli until the pasta is cooked through. Use a coffee mug to reserve a cup of water when draining.

5. Tip the broccoli and pasta into the frying pan along with half of reserved pasta water. Turn the heat to medium/low and toss the pasta through the liquid, chilli and garlic. Cook for 1 minute or until combined. Transfer to a large serving bowl.

Tip: Tanya advises serving this with some grated lemon rind on the pasta, for a lovely fresh taste. Grated parmesan cheese is also an essential.
To mix it up a bit, you could also add some ham, bacon or chorizo – YUM!
About Tanya Bartolini: Although Tanya Bartolini spent 14 years in accounting and finance, true satisfaction was always found in the kitchen. It wasn’t until the birth of her first son in 2012 that she realised what had seemed important before was no longer a priority and with that, Tanya decided to embrace her passion for food and family. In doing this, she has explored her family’s rich Italian history and written a book that shares her family’s precious recipes. Through her book, Blending The Cultures, featuring hearty recipes that blend the Italian and Australian way of living and eating, she hopes to encourage others to create memorable moments for themselves by cooking and sharing meals together. Tanya has also established a website – The Kitchen Bench – as a forum for everyday cooks just like herself to share wholesome, simple and healthy cooking.