Rome Cooking Classes

Saturday, 12 April 2025

Guido's nonna's Torta Pasqualina (Easter Pie) Recipe

Ciao Everyone, Buona Pasqua!

In Genova and Cinque Terre, part of the beautiful Liguria region of Italy, ‘Torta Pasqualina’ (literally ‘Easter Pie’) is a savoury pie that’s prepared for the Easter Weekend. My nonna was from Genova, therefore every year she would make a whole lot of these delicious ‘torte’ not only for the family but also as a gift for friends.

I would love to share this very traditional recipe with you. Easter Monday, for most Italians, is picnic day out in parks or in the countryside or even in your own garden. Torta Pasqualina is therefore perfect for this celebration with family and friends. For this pie, you can make your own puff pastry or buy it ready made. Here is the recipe, enjoy!

Torta Pasqualina

Ingredients: 600g (21.1 oz) or two ready made puff pastry round sheets, 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 5 eggs, 300g (10.5 oz) fresh spinach, 1 swirl of butter, 50g (1.7 oz) grated parmesan, 300g (10.5 oz) fresh ricotta, fresh or dry marjoram and salt to taste.

Method: Boil spinach for only 2 minutes. Drain and cool. Once cool, squeeze out as much water as you can from the spinach, then place it into a large bowl. Mix with the ricotta and add the olive oil, 1 tbsp at a time. Add marjoram and salt to your taste. Line the bottom and the sides of a cake pan (measuring about 23 cm or 9.0 inches) with the first puff pastry sheet. Put the spinach and ricotta mixture on top of the pastry in the pan. Create 5 little indentations in the mixture, using your hands or a tablespoon, to accommodate for the eggs. Brake the eggs and pour them into the 5 spaces you’ve created. Sprinkle with grated parmigiano cheese. Then top with the second puff pastry sheet, making sure it seals together with the first one. Bake at 160º C (320º F) for 45 minutes or until golden.

Buona Pasqua a tutti, Happy Easter e A Presto!

Sally and Chef Guido
Founders of Convivio Rome Italian Cooking Holidays, Virtual Cooking Classes and Olive Tours and Winery Tours. Owners of Convivio Rome BnB.

For more recipes: Guido's FREE recipe e-booklet '5 Minute Pasta'

Saturday, 17 August 2024

Guido's Family Recipe ‘Pomodori col Riso’ (baked rice-filled tomatoes)

Guido's family recipe for Pomodori col Riso

‘Pomodori col Riso’ (baked rice-filled tomatoes) is a classic Italian Summer dish with variations in different regions. This is the roman version, that my nonna and mamma used to make, with roast potatoes added to it. Traditionally, it’s served at room temperature and enjoyed at picnics on the beach.

Pomodori col Riso

Ingredients (serves 6): 6 large ripe tomatoes, 500g (17.6 oz) of potatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 6 tbsp ‘arborio’ or ‘ribe’ uncooked rice, 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, salt and fresh basil to taste.

Method: Cut off the ‘top cap’ of the tomatoes and put it aside. With a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the tomato pulp. Put the tomato shells upside- down onto a plate to draw out excess liquid. In the meantime, cut the tomato pulp very fine into a bowl and keep 3 tbsp of it aside. Add olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh basil and rice to the tomato pulp.

Turn on the convection oven at 170ºC (338ºF). Dice potatoes to your favourite ‘roasting’ size and then place them into an oven dish with a swirl of olive oil, salt to taste, 1 whole clove of garlic (skin on) and the little tomato pulp you already put aside. Put the emptied tomatoes in the dish among the potatoes. Put just a tablespoon of rice mixture in each tomato. Cover each tomato with its cap. Top with another swirl of olive oil.Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until rice is aldente and tomatoes are slightly caramelised.

Serve hot, cold, or at room temperature. Great to take on a picnic or to a friend's home to share. Enjoy!

For more recipes: Guido's FREE recipe e-booklet '5 Minute Pasta'

Tuesday, 21 November 2023

Chef Guido's Pumpkin Risotto, the perfect Autumn dish

Autumn in our family home is a time of evening fires, roasted chestnuts, warm soups, country walks and foraging. The leaves are changing colour and falling from our local fig and walnut trees, near our home in the Sabine Hills. There is a crispness in the air in the mornings and evenings but the days are still warm, so a wonderful time to enjoy living in the countryside.

Autumn (also called Fall) is a natural time of letting go and getting organised (think of trees dropping their leaves and animals getting organised for hibernation), and being Italian, we also think of the wonderful seasonal foods we can now enjoy.

Today, I want to share my favourite family recipe for pumpkin risotto, with you. I am sure you will love it.

Risotto alla zucca e rosmarino - Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
500 g of 'Arborio' or 'Carnaroli' rice, slice of pumpkin, 50g of butter, 1 cup of grated grana cheese, a small onion, white wine, fresh rosemary*, grana padano cheese.

Method:
Make your own vegetable stock by placing a peeled whole onion, whole carrot and a stick of celery in a separate large pot and bring to the boil. Keep this vegetable stock simmering as you make your risotto.
Finely chop the onion and gently fry it in butter. Add diced pumpkin. Add rice and let it fry with all other ingredients for a minute or two, always stirring. Pour in a little white wine and let it evaporate. Pour enough boiling vegetable stock to cover rice. Add a little salt. Stir rice occasionally. Add more boiling stock when necessary. Check salt and add more if necessary. Add chopped rosemary* (sage* can be used instead, if you wish - amount to your taste). When rice is 'aldente' (cooked but firm) add grana padano cheese and stir vigourously.
Serve immediately.

Buon Appetito.

We would love to hear from you: Have you tried this recipe? Please let me know what you think. Leave your comment here, or contact Chef Guido on info@conviviorome.com

Friday, 23 April 2021

The hidden treasures of the Sabine Hills

Toffia

Perfect for a day trip from Rome out in the countryside or a longer stay as part of a relaxing holiday, the Sabine Hills (Sabina), will reward its visitors with ancient medieval history, Renaissance palaces, castles and monasteries, cultural events, art exhibitions, unspoiled landscape, hiking trails and of course the Sabina DOP extra virgin olive oil from its olive groves.

View over the Sabine Hills

Quintessentially Italian countryside

The way the Sabine Hills are still today very rural and unspoiled is almost miraculous, despite its vicinity to a big city like Rome. The landscape of Sabine region is quintessentially Italian, with its rolling hills covered by olive groves and fruit orchards and dotted with medieval hilltop villages and castles. Because of the olive trees and other evergreen Mediterranean plants, the Sabine hills are very green all year round. A visit to one of the many hilltop villages in the area will reveal beautiful views over valleys and mountains in the far distance.

Bruschette with Sabine Hill's olive oil

Food in the Sabine Hills

Sabina is famous for its extra virgin olive oil, the very first in Italy to receive the DOP denomination. Olive oil has been produced here for millennia (there is an olive tree that's 2000 years old) and is known for being light and flavorful at the same time. The area is also well known for pecorino cheese, olives, salami and of course guanciale (cured pork cheek), necessary for any amatriciana or carbonara pasta sauce. Cooking classes, ranging from half day to 5 nights, are run in Toffia by Convivio Rome as well as half-day olive oil tours and wine tours.

Sally and Chef Guido
Founders of Convivio Rome Italian Cooking Holidays, Virtual Cooking Classes and Guido’s Cook Club Monthly Membership

Guido's Cook Club Monthly Membership

Monday, 26 October 2020

The magical medieval village of Toffia- Video

Toffia, a medieval hilltop village, dates back to 940AD is nestled in the Sabine Hills, just north of Rome, Italy. This little village, population over just over 1200 residents, has an active community. Toffia is best known for it's music and food festivals held over the Summer period.

Toffia is unknown to mass tourism and continues to offer an authentic taste of Italian life. Come along and 'live like a local' in joining Convivio Rome 4 and 5 Day Italian Cooking Holidays where you will be staying in one of the recently renovated homes within the historic walls. Let Chef Guido and Sally, from Convivio Rome, bring Italy alive for you.

For more information: info@conviviorome.com

Bookings now being taken, (with fully transferable deposit) for 2021 and 2022.