ROSA MATTO WRITES

Food. Life. Travel.

I like to describe myself as a teacher first, chef second. My career as cookery teacher, caterer and writer spans three long, eventful decades. One day, I will write a tell all memoir! I will name names. My great love is to invite people to my rather chaotic kitchen table and plie them with simple food, litres of wine and regale them with tales – some true, some ‘embellished.’ But now, I’ve reached the point in my life when my family and friends have heard my stories, jokes and travel tips so many times that their eyes glaze over as soon as I open my mouth. My other obsession is to travel with groups of like minded people, so my stories and recipes originate from many destinations, from home and abroad.

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STALE MATE

Dead Bread. Dante Alighieri. And the Tenth Circle of Hell. As sometimes happens in life, several elements of my universe have collided in a most surprising way during this Festival of InBetween. We have several loaves of good bread left over from Christmas lunch which need attention; I was given a Kindle as a present; and on these long, languid days when I don’t even know what day it is, I am falling, helpless, into my reading while chaos, dishes, other people’s dirty linen a

FLATBREADS GO GLOBAL: You say pide, I say pizza. “Let’s call the whole thing off”.

Photo credit: Italo Vardaro. At the end of the bake. "A Year's Supply": Matto, Previn,Vardaro. So, who invented the pizza? There is no mystery here. Though I can’t give you a name and an address, I’m pretty sure the clever woman who invented pizza came from Phoenicia a very long time ago. In fact, the cuisines of the Mediterranean countries owe a great deal to the Phoenicians. Our so-called Western civilisation, in general, owes much to these ancient people. They inhabited t

HOW TO FALL IN LOVE WITH NAPLES. STEP #4. UNESCO, PIZZA AND PASSION

It is fitting, I think, that I finish my quartet of Neapolitan stories with pizza. And particularly the kind of pizza that is made in Naples which differs from that made in other parts of Italy. Throughout Italy, from north to south, and on the islands, flatbreads are made. They have various names and differing qualities but they are all a variation of pizza. I’ll write about that in another post because I think it’s fascinating but for now, let’s concentrate on la vera pizza

FALLING IN LOVE WITH NAPLES. STEP #3 – MALOCCHIO, LE CORNA AND A RECIPE TO WARD OFF A CURSE

As Catholics, there was always a frisson of guilt and wrongdoing when we had need to resort to our auntie who had the knowledge of breaking a spell – she knew the words and the rituals, confident of her powers given to her, ironically, by God himself. So, if we had a headache that lingered, excruciatingly for days; a malaise that could not be explained; a feeling that someone wanted harm to befall us, we would climb into the FIAT and head to the eastern suburb of St Peters, j

FALLING IN LOVE WITH NAPLES. STEP #2 – ANTIQUITIES. The past and present collide.

POMPEII, HERCULANEUM, CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA AND NAPLES' ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM Really? Is it necessary to explore the ancient cities and visit a museum to understand the modern city of Naples? I think it is. Firstly, Naples is not a modern city though it lives in the modern world. Unlike Rome, where history sits strata upon strata like a many layered sfogliatella, in Naples, history is amalgamated, more like a minestra maritata (see below for recipes) – a fine ‘marriage’ of

FALLING IN LOVE WITH NAPLES. STEP #ONE: VESUVIUS

NAPLES is not easy to love. I have spent much of my adult life cajoling, if not positively bullying, fellow travellers to see behind the centuries of grime, litter, uncomfortable petty crime, large scale corruption and wild, daily chaos. See, what’s not to love? I want people to see what I feel. The saying goes: "Chi viene a Napoli piange due volte: quando arriva e quando parte". People who come to Naples cry twice: when they arrive and when they leave. The comedy film, Welco

HOW TO EAT LIKE AN ITALIAN AT CHRISTMAS: EELS, APOSTLES AND PANETTONE

Christmas is a very sentimental time for Italians - they make a huge effort to go home, wherever that may be. The saying is: Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi": Christmas with your loved ones, Easter with whomever. And food, as you would expect, plays a major part in the festivities when everyone is gathered around the table. The most important celebration of the season is reserved for Christmas Eve, la vigilia, when Italians eat only fish and vegetables. It is a day of

HOW TO DO CHRISTMAS LIKE AN ITALIAN

As a young girl, I would writhe with irritation whenever someone squealed, “Oh I loooove Italian food!” Sotto voce, I would mumble that they should visit our house in the days before Christmas. There, in the laundry, they would find eels in a bucket, no doubt dreading their beheading on Christmas Eve. In another bucket they would see baccala’ soaking, but, of course, they would have already smelt that as they opened the door. Then the squid and octopus greeted a squeamish ch

JOYFUL AND TRIUMPHANT: CHRISTMAS 2017 A very merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Thank you to the people who have contacted me, asking for this year’s Christmas recipes. Of course, I have given this much thought even though, this year the pressure is off as we have been invited to add to the chaos of a crazy ‘English family’ day. I will let you know what I contribute but to help with your planning, here are some ideas for your table. People who have followed me over the years will already have the Matto family classics – amongst many; the seafood terrin

HOW TO EAT LIKE AN ITALIAN POLICEMAN: CASE STUDY #2 COMMISSARIO GUIDO BRUNETTI

I adore Salvo Montalbano but I could never live with him. Not that he’s asked. On the other hand, were Commissario Guido Brunetti (www.DonnaLeon.net) ever to grow tired of his devoted wife, Paola, abandon his children, Raffi and Chiara, and seek a new entanglement, I would be tempted. Brunetti is erudite, urbane, compassionate and incorruptible. Sure, you may question Brunetti’s silent endorsement of the machinations of the divine Signorina Elettra, but that is not corruption