One of the things that has always appealed to me – and countless others – is the passion Italians have for good food and, even more importantly, good produce. This is not a recipe blog… but I do sometimes feel the need to share a feast for the eyes…

This Summer saw us land on our feet, surrounded by delicious fruits, vegetables and so many tasty morsels! Below came from our own garden… sigh…

I was never a fan of figs in the UK. And then I understood what writers meant when they described, “soft, succulent, syrupy figs, warmed by the sun”. It turns out that “syrupy figs” are a thing!

Autumn saw an influx of other beautifully coloured produce, from the virgin-est virgin olive oil I have ever tasted and the array of woodland mushrooms to the brightly colored cauliflowers and seasonal persimmons decorating front gardens in time for Christmas… the purple artichokes were simply too beautiful to eat and ended up in a vase!

I said this isn’t a recipe blog, so the following are just simple dishes made particularly delicious by the fresh, mostly local produce, here. Your supermarket receipt even shows a lower tax rate for local and regional produce.

Footnote: this blog post was updated in December 2020