The soundtrack

About landing in a brave new world

Don’t you also have those moments when a melody becomes the soundtrack of a certain time of your life?

It was 1985 and I didn’t speak English, nor I had been anywhere outside of Italy. I adored “Out of Africa” with Meryl Streep. Everything in it resonated deeply with my dreams.

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills…''

The tale of love and loss, the backdrop of the majestic plains of Africa, the sweet melancholia of Mozart’s Adagio (Clarinet Concerto K. 622) have bewitched me ever since.

In fact, it only took a handful of years for me to wake up at sunrise in an airplane. We were gliding over the emerald plains of Africa, in the background the Mozart Adagio. It’s seems impossible now, but in the 90s they played nice music in-flight.

I was bound to Dar el Salaam to join Ruurd who was working on malaria mosquitoes in a remote area of Tanzania. I was never afraid of a new world.

Photo by ray rui on Unsplash

That was a dazzling adventure, followed by many others around the world. Meanwhile I have known love and loss. I met so many extraordinary humans. I have seen so much beauty. Should I ever find the courage to write a memoir instead of recipes, I’d start it like this:

“I had a farm in Umbria with sweeping views over medieval villages, forests, olive groves. I had such beautiful rosemary bushes no one had ever seen the likes of them. I had a magnificent life… “

What’s up

In real life, I don’t get much time with my head in the clouds as I am very busy settling in the brave new world of a crazy, chaotic Mediterranean capital.

Normally I keep away from the city center, but yesterday I dared the hordes of tourists near the Colosseum to visit the Villaggio Coldiretti, a huge farmer market set up in the Circo Massimo, Rome’s ancient stadium.

the bounty of produce at Villaggio Coldiretti Farmer's Market

If you are in the area, this is a great event to learn what’s in season right now and to admire all the great produce plus tons of cheese and charcuterie in every flavour and shape. I especially loved the mounds of wild mushrooms and the strangely otherworldly shapes of the cultivated ones. And yes, I bought too much cheese.

What to cook this month

Cacio e pepe pasta of course!

I have just arrived in Rome, right? So find here on my blog one of the queens of the Roman pasta to make you feel like you are still on holidays in Italy. Tea, Francesco and I had a lot of fun shooting every detail of the process and obviously, enjoying the results.

Need more inspiration for the season?

I have spent literally months - and it’s still a work in progress - to organise my recipes by dishes, ingredients, courses and seasons. Do check the fall recipes here to make the best of what’s available right now.

Announcing the MDP Test Kitchen for paid subscribers

I want to thank you all again for your enthusiasm and the many messages received after my return from two years of absence from writing. It’s been fantastic!

Many of you have pledged a subscription and I wanted to let you know that I am working on a project to ensure that paid subscribers will be getting as much as possible in return for their investment to support my work.

As you know the vast majority of my recipes have been available for free on my blog, media and publications since 2008. May be you also know that I test my recipes obsessively, even years after they have been published because I always want you to be able to actually use them, make them yours.

I have therefore decided to create an interactive virtual kitchen for us to test old and new recipes together and discuss your experience. There will be no time pressure. I will post a recipe once a month and you will be free to make it whenever you have time and chime into the discussion until the next one is published.

What do you think? do you have wishes on specific recipes or categories of food you’d wish to try? are there any difficulties you have with reproducing Italian recipes? techniques that you’d like to learn?

Here is what comes to my mind, but you might have different ideas and I’d like to hear about it:

Please pick a topic or leave a comment below to help me plan! A presto!