Stuffed Vegetables Recipe from Puglia

Try our stuffed aubergine recipe from Puglia! Like most regions in Italy, food in Puglia relies on seasonal produce and ingredients are sourced freshly and locally. As May marks the start of the aubergine season, we want to share one of these mouthwatering dishes, popular on our cooking holidays in Puglia. To try our recipe check https://www.flavoursholidays.co.uk/blog/in-season-stuffed-aubergine-recipe/ 

My Italian cooking holiday experience : interview with the author Alice Peterson

In today's post it is our pleasure and honour to interview Alice Peterson, the author of the ebook sensation, Monday to Friday Man, the book that whipped 50 Shades of Grey of Grey off the Number 1 Kindle Spot! Alice spoke with us about her most inspiring moments in Italy, her Flavours cooking holiday and the experience of travelling solo and meeting extraordinary people on holidays for singles. 

Your latest book ‘By My Side’ is a perfect holiday read but what we want to know is what inspires you to go on a holiday? Is Italy a travel inspiration for you?

I think it’s really important always to have something to look forward to. For me, a holiday is all about forgetting work and troubles at home; it’s a chance to get away from the routine, see another part of the world and meet different and new people. Sunshine is always a bonus too! I read History of Art at Bristol, so many years ago, when I was at university I travelled to Venice and Florence. I’m not a great traveller but of all the places I have been, Italy is top of my list. I love the art, the beautiful countryside and the delicious food. 

Why did you choose to go on a cooking holiday with Flavours? Was it the first time going on a cooking holiday? How different is it from an ordinary holiday?

I have always dreamt about going on a cooking holiday, mainly because I love my food and am incredibly greedy, so the Flavours holiday seemed ideal. Many years ago I went, alone, on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was such an experience, perhaps never to be repeated, but I shall always remember that week as I met so many extraordinary people. That’s why I decided to do something a bit different again. I love going on holiday with friends, but I also think going alone makes me far more open to meeting others. I felt nervous beforehand, anything new is daunting, but the moment I was greeted by Lorna, the Flavours host, I knew I was going to have a happy week. 

Describe in a few words your cooking holiday: when and where it was, what did you enjoy the most, any funny moments? 

I went to Puglia last October. The real bonus was that a Pilates group joined us too, so each morning started off with some stretching by the pool. I loved the villa. It is possibly one of the most beautiful places I have stayed. Every object told a story. Right outside my bedroom were lemon trees. Each morning I’d pad over to the kitchen and make myself a strong coffee, the house filled with opera music. I also loved our cook, Antonio. He was incredibly patient, especially when Victoria and I had a chocolate fight in the kitchen! We made the most delicious food, which we enjoyed eating for lunch. I also loved the way the wine was opened earlier and earlier in the day. Eating and drinking rose outside in the sunshine, followed by a sleep or a read by the pool, it was heaven for me. The other people who’d signed up for the holiday were all so friendly. By the end of the week we felt like a family and it was sad saying goodbye. 

Are you passionate about authentic Italian cuisine? What is your favourite dish and which of the recipes you learned in the cookery courses do you keep creating in your own kitchen?

I love Italian food. My favourite dish was the aubergine bake, which I have made again since returning home. It’s quite messy to do, but fun. I also love mozzarella and pasta, and have such a sweet tooth so the custard pie, chocolate cake and lemon mousse were a favourite. The Puglia lemons taste amazing, nothing like the lemons you pick up at the supermarket over here! It really was a lovely holiday, one I shall remember for a long time.

Biography – Alice Peterson
I became a writer in a fairly unconventional way. To my friends and family, I was always, ‘Alice, the tennis player’ and, at the age of 18 had been awarded a tennis scholarship to America. I was about to sign a contract when I experienced pain in my right hand. Three months later I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a chronic autoimmune condition for which there is no cure. I have never picked up a tennis racket since, a sadness that shall always be with me.  
 
I have discovered a new path in life, my writing. My first book, A Will to Win, was published by Macmillan, and subsequently five novels have been published in this country and abroad, including the ebook sensation, Monday to Friday Man, which knocked Fifty Shades of Grey off the number one spot. My latest novel, By My Side,  covers many themes including parenting, grieving, courage, romance and love. It also features one of my favourite characters, the most loyal golden Labrador called Ticket. 
 
Things I love: my family, friends, coffee, writing – and finally last but not least, my handsome little man – my Lucas Terrier, Mr Darcy.
To find out more about Alice and her novels, please visit www.alicepeterson.co.uk <http://www.alicepeterson.co.uk>  

September in Puglia: 5 things you shouldn’t miss!

Puglia is always marvellous, but in September milder temperatures make visiting the region even more pleasant. Joining Flavours cooking holidays will give you the chance to explore the region, watch the real ongoing Apulian life, and make eating al fresco even more relaxing. Here are 5 things you should not miss in September in Puglia, and remember that Flavours always has a cooking holiday ready for you to go on!

1) Admire The Tree of Life in Otranto’s Cathedral: the so called Albero della Vita is a beautiful 12^th century mosaic that stretches 16 meters, one of the largest in Europe. The Tree of Life shows human experience from the Fall to Salvation, and the scenes depicted come from various backgrounds: scenes and characters from the Old Testament but also from medieval chivalry, without excluding figures from medieval bestiaries and characters from pagan myths. The ambiguous symbolism of the mosaic fascinates and divides scholars (and non-scholars)… and we are sure it won’t fail in fascinating you too!

2) Take the Apulian habits! Start at the beginning of the day and have breakfast with a strong espresso or a good cappuccino with a delicious pasticciotto pastry! What is a pasticciotto? Check out its story and recipe here! Treat your self with a real Apulian breakfast, you know how it works… in Puglia do as the Pugliesi do!

 

3) Visit the distinctive Apulian buildings Trulli! Trulli are dry stone cone-roofed little buildings that were first constructed as storehouses, temporary field shelters or also as permanent dwelling by rural people and agricultural workers. These peculiar buildings can be found all over Salento. In the cone you can often find symbols painted (manly religious ones). Legends say that one of the reasons for having dry stone trulli was to have a trick ready in case of emergency…

Why? Because by taking just one stone from building the trullo collapsed and the landlords, who demanded people to pay for dwelling in his properties, would think that it was just a simple heap of stones! We don’t know if this is true, but we do know that the trulli really are worth visiting!

 

4) Puglia is famous for pottery. The handmade ceramic production is original and sometimes unusual: lamps, platters, candlesticks, bowls, ornamental pieces and lots of traditional objects are some of the many unique pieces that Apulian artisans meticulously work over with passion. Go to visit one of the botteghe to see how they make all these distinctive objects!

5) Last but not least… try homemade Orecchiette pasta: YUMMY! This ear-shaped pasta is probably the most well-known dish from Puglia and an all time favourite of many guests on our cooking holidays. Orecchiette are a great classic that cannot be missing from your personal cooking notebook nor in your belly (two things that Flavours cooking holidays always fill!)

So this September enjoy Puglia with Flavours Cooking holidays!

Cookery courses in Puglia: Lecce, Florence of the South

Way down south, in Puglia at the heel of Italy, is one of Italy’s hidden gems. The sunnily ornate baroque buildings of Lecce have earned it the tag ‘Florence of the South’. Its northern counterpart might boast a more impressive list of native artists and sculptors – but Lecce scores on food. With its glorious Mediterranean climate, the Puglia region enjoys intensely flavoured fruit and veg, rich meats, and – with the dramatic Adriatic and Ionian coastlines never far away – fresh seafood. A visit to Lecce is a cookery course by itself.

The architecture itself is enough to get your mouth watering, even before you’ve visited the markets. The local limestone, formed from the remnants of unimaginable numbers of ancient seashells, comes out the quarries soft as clay – but gradually hardens in the air, making it easy to work but durable. Hence the city’s lovely architecture: exuberant, rich but never flashy — like the cuisine. The heart of Lecce is the Piazza Sant’Orono. This is the place to socialise and relax in the warm evenings, while deciding which of the city’s burgeoning new cafes or restaurants to visit. A Roman amphitheatre stands at the southern end, while in the centre is a Roman column that marked the end of the ancient Appian Way, the main road north. The Rome-bound traveller of two thousand years ago asking for directions would no doubt be told, in that smiling and laid-back southern Italian way, to just follow the road, you can’t miss it.

Consistency of style – mostly 17th and 18th century – is what makes Lecce so easy on the eye. The Cathedral is one of Italy’s most impressive, and the facades in the Piazza del Duomo were all built or reworked in that period.

Probably the best example of the Lecce Baroque style is the Basilica de Santa Croce, near the Piazza Sant’Orono. Food is never far away from the Pugliese mind: the Basilica’s facade has an array of intricately carved animals, vegetables and fruit, while the overall impression it gives to many is that of a giant wedding cake, complete with meringue and cream!

If you’re on the hunt for local Salento produce in the markets or restaurants, you’re spoilt for choice. As for snacks, the local bakery speciality is puccia, a mixture of bread dough with olive and onion, delicious by itself or filled with slices of meat. Rustici leccesi are pastries stuffed with meat or cheese. Pasticciotto is a sweet shortcrust pastry filled with cream and a drop of black cherry. And if you need a recommendation – for a cafe or restaurant, market stall or snack – simply stop and ask a local. They take eating seriously here and you’ll get instant advice on where to go for the tastiest food at the best price. But this is Italy – ask three people and you’ll get at least three different opinions!