Food and the pursuit of life’s great pleasures

“I used to have an appetite for life and now it is gone. I want to marvel at things again” – Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love

If you asked an Italian what the most important things in life are, they would probably reply ...family, love and food… This is because to most Italians, asking if you’ve eaten is the same as asking how you are. To Italians, eating, or rather, eating well, is a way of life. Food is an emotive experience. It's sensual, it's visceral, it tripwires all our senses. Think about some of the best moments in your life and I guarantee you they probably involve food in some way. The intention of this blog is to share my passionate relationship with food and zest for life and love with you. I hope that in the pages you find sources of inspiration, great information and a sense of wonderment at all that life has to offer through the stories I will share with you. These stories are raw and about real people and real life experiences. I have used fictitious names for the wonderful people whose lives I celebrate on this blog.

My relationship with food can be traced back to the womb. Raised by two extraordinary Greek-Italian women, I learnt very early on that food was my second religion and began to worship it. It is an interesting time for a child growing up in a household where English was the third language and the idea of bringing an Australian school friend home was a foreign concept. Particularly challenging was in the school yard during lunch. The differences between me and the Aussie kids stood out like a neon sign particularly when it came to what we were having for lunch. While the Aussie kids were eating their vegemite-cheese sandwiches and tim tams, I sat on my red and white chequered tablecloth and chowed down on home-made ravioli with spinach and ricotta, slices of crispy ‘porchetta’ (a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast) and a black olive and blood orange salad.

My love of food, fresh produce and cooking took on new dimensions when I moved to Italy with my mother and grandparents as a young child. The colours, sights and sounds of the fresh produce markets was a wonderland to me. Pyramids of primary coloured fruits and vegetables of every variety laden to the sky, furry rabbits and brilliantly plumed pheasants suspended from the market umbrellas, a kaleidoscope of gelato revealed a mystical, new world. Even at 7, I couldn't wait to make magic in my grandmother’s kitchen. What an adventure it was to make fresh pasta dough, boil kilos of plump roma tomatoes to make homemade 'sugo' in the copper boiler in the backyard and have to cover my ears to stifle the sounds of our next door neighbours killing the pig to make our signature pork and fennel sausages.

Here’s one of all-time family favourites and is even more delicious accompanied by a nice glass of pinot grigio. Salute!

Coniglio al Agrodolce (Sweet and Sour Rabbit) serves 6

Ingredients

1kg farmhouse rabbit
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
½ cup plain flour
½ onion (leave whole)
½ lemon (leave whole)
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon white vinegar white wine (approx. ¾ cup)
1 litre chicken stock
2 bay leaves

Heat a medium sized casserole dish, add olive oil. Cut rabbit into small pieces and coat in flour. Pan fry rabbit until golden brown, adding salt and pepper to taste. Cover for a few minutes until the rabbit releases its own water. Strain juice. In a little extra olive oil, return rabbit to pan adding capers, vinegar and enough white wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Reduce the liquid and add chicken stock. Cover the casserole with a lid and cook the rabbit in the oven for a further ½ to ¾ hour at approximately 180 degrees Celsius. Serve with roasted potatoes, boiled first and then fry up with a little garlic, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Ideal to serve with cold boiled spinach drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper.