"On impulse, I decided to leave the UK, my lifelong home, for Italy," says Sophie Grigson. "I just thought, I’m gonna move to Puglia, and I did."
"I have never regretted it for a second," she says in the show that shares a window into the place she now calls home, Sophie Grigson: Slice of Italy.
"It’s been a good few years now since chance, luck, fate, call it what you will landed me in the small town of Ceglie Messapica, in the heart of Puglia. Then, I knew nobody, now I walk through the streets nodding to this and that acquaintance."
When the award-winning food writer, cookbook author and cookery teacher moved, food was one of the ways she explored her new home, learned about local history and met her neighbours.
In Slice of Italy, she shares local food stories, introduces us to local farmers and producers, and cooks up traditional dishes and her Puglian-influenced ideas.
Food is at the heart of it all, and while most of us can't pack up and move, we can enjoy a taste of Puglia! Here are some of the delicious dishes she cooks up across two seasons of Slice of Italy.
Frittata Pugliese di asparagifrittata
Markets are a key part of life in many Italian towns and cities, so the first episode of the show should see Grigson take us along on a visit to her local. "Saturday is market day and that gives me the structure for the rest of my week. It’s the ritual and now familiar faces that I enjoy as much as the shopping," she says. "This is Ceglie Messapica market, it’s not remarkable, it’s a typical small-town Italian market in the south. A market like this epitomises the Italian attitude to shopping and fresh food. It’s about following the rhythm of the seasons." One of her market purchases is used the next day in a frittata Pugliese, served up along with a salad, burrata and cured meat for a light lunch with friends.
Pasta with chickpeas
In an episode titled 'Pasta - The Stuff of Life' (it's also what she calls it in the episode), after a visit to a market stall that sells pasta-making equipment and a local deli that sells fresh and dried pasta, she cooks up combination that's a favourite in Puglia, orecchiette with cime di rapa; practices her pasta-making skills during a visit to some friends and their children; and then, back home, makes a dish that features homemade pasta cooked two ways - some boiled and some fried ("so you get that combination of soft and tender and then the crisp and crunchy on top"), and served with chickpeas in a flavour-filled sauce.
Polpette di pane
"There is never a shred or a crumb of bread wasted in Puglia. It just comes into recipes again and again and again," says Grigson, in an episode devoted to pane and pizza. One of the recipes she cooks is polpette di pane: bread and cheese fritters. "Often in restaurants, they’ll be perfect little round balls, but I like them a bit craggier, then you get ... more of the crisp bit on the outside," she says. And doesn't that sounds good!
Ricotta cheesecake with peaches in prosecco
"There's really little better than a good ricotta cheesecake... the great thing about cheesecakes, you can just play with what you do on top," says Grigson, who tops this torta ricotta (baked ricotta cheesecake) - with peaches in pink prosecco.
Mackerel with breadcrumbs, mint and capers
Life in Puglia means access to great seafood, and one of the seafood dishes Grigson cooks up in the show is a simple lunch of baked mackerel with golden breadcrumbs. Sgombro accacanate, she explains, means mackerel under a bed of breadcrumbs. The dish also features plenty of capers, which, she explains, grow all over Puglia.
Pettole al limone (lemony fritters)
"There’s one fail-safe celebration morsel that turns up here at every party, small or large," says Grigson, as she sets to work cooking, in an episode about celebrations. "I am making the batter for pittule, or pettole. Or in Bari, I think a savoury version is called a popizza which is a really nice word. But I'm making pittule, pettole, pettole, which are kind of fritter, which is eaten in huge amounts at festivals around here." Her pettole recipe takes inspiration from another of the things she loves about her life in Italy. "My pettole are going to be lemony ones, with lemon zest in them, and limoncello in as well. There is something about seeing citrus fruit growing just near your doorstep that still sends me into, oh, ecstasy. I've seen it so often in four years, but, I don’t tire of it."
Potato dumplings in tomato sauce
When you're feeding a group of cyclists, as Grigson does in season two, you want something filling and hearty - and cocule di bietole al forno (potato and chard dumplings in tomato sauce) fits the bill nicely. Cucole, she explains, is a southern Puglian dish that's essentially potato dumplings, but can be made with other things too. This version has dumplings made with potato, Swiss chard (aka silverbeet), cheese, garlic and breadcrumbs. Nestled in a dish with a passata-based sauce, and topped with more cheese, it's baked till hot. The bike touring friends love it, and you can imagine why.
Looking for more Italian inspiration? Explore SBS Food's Italian recipe collection.
SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only. Read more about SBS Food
Have a story or comment? Contact Us
