I love Emilia – Romagna and I consider this region my second home. I was very happy to go there again and spend a week on visiting a variety of places related to its food and wine. Settimana di Buon Vivere – a week of good living is an annual event organized to promote Emilia – Romagna. Indeed, I think that Emilia – Romagna is the best place to learning the Italian kitchen. I had an opportunity to meet the local wine producers, cooks, restaurant owners and managers focused on the promotion of the local excellence. Here is my short review of best places to eat and drink in Emilia – Romagna, places I can recommend you to visit and taste high-quality Italian food. Pizza Gourmet – Col Basilico Nel Cuore, Forli I was sceptical when we were told we got invited to a place where gourmet pizza is served. After all, pizza is not about gourmet nor elegant cuisine at all. Col Basilico Nel Cuore was, however, a perfect place to learn that food is not only about eating but also about the mood and the people you are with. I was lucky to sit at the table with one of the co-owners. A charming man, Fabio, was eager to share the secrets of double leavening and the top quality of pasta used for the pizza. This was a good start of learning about food but later that evening I got known that Fabio not only likes poetry but his favourite author is Wisława Szymborska – a Nobel Prize winner from Poland. This was a blast! The conversation about her lasted for hours. Fabio asked me to read aloud her poems in Polish and he was listening to it as if it was pure magic. He read a few poems in Italian and we were discussing the quality of the translation. I told him a few anecdotes about the private life of Szymborska from a book I have recently read. Every fifteen minutes the new kind of pizza was brought and we tried at least five different kinds. Fabio was explaining me all about wines, both sparkling and white ones. I had an impression that the poetry was all over the place. The food was excellent! I normally have some problems with digesting a traditional pizza, but the one leavened twice was so good for my stomach! I normally find it difficult to appreciate luxury or elegant places but this pizzeria I can recommend with no hesitation. Especially if you like poetry! Wine of the highest quality – Tenuta Carbognano, Gemmano The winery we visited the other day was a totally different place. Ornella e Marco – the owners of Tenuta Carbognano – hosted us like their own relatives. Their hospitality was deeply touching. Our visit started with a long walk around their modest vineyard. They are the owners of only 3 hectares and they have started their wine adventure about 10 years ago. All of the information I got from Ornella destroyed the myths I had in my head. I thought that wine business is only for the people who inherit not only the ground and the company but also the secret knowledge. The ancient families where the knowledge and skills are passed from one generation to another. Ornella told their story of starting with sommelier course and their previous bar business as years of preparation to get their hands dirty in grapes. Walking around their vineyards was a pure pleasure. Gentle hills, autumn warmth, well-kept lines of grapes and interesting stories were wonderful. Ornella told me that the major part of the grape harvest is done manually and also the plants’ treatment throughout the year. As their vineyard is modest their business is focused on a small quantity of the best wine called superiore. Even though their business is young their wine won a few local and national competitions. The best part of our stay on their farm, where you can rent a room too, was their attitude towards their vineyard and the guests. Ornella was laughing every five minutes and her smile was a proof that if you do business with joy and engagement it brings you not only good money but most of all fulfilment and happiness. I had a wonderful stay there, a delicious lunch and obviously excellent wine. Cooking classes – Al Vecchio Convento, Portico di Romagna I had a few cooking classes in my life. In fact, I run my own cooking classes in Ferrara, thus, I didn’t expect anything outstanding out of our visit in Vecchio Convento in Portico di Romagna. This was, however, one of the best events of the whole week of Buon Vivere. First of all, the town Portico di Romagna was charming. It was very small and located on a hill which always makes the tiny little streets even more delightful. There was a beautiful old bridge and also a few elements of modern art by the local artist Il Castello Errante. Further, we got a fantastic cooking class by Massimiliano, who happens to be an experienced and professional cook. Through working on a dough, precise instruction on technique, stories from his professional life up to creating hundreds of ravioli, the whole lesson was really nice. I felt I was learning new things and gaining new skills. Brilliant! I love to eat afterwards food I prepared, but this time the pleasure was magnified by the setting of the lunch. The old building where the cooking classes took place has a beautiful garden with lush green vegetation and relaxing view. Massimiliano opened a few bottles of excellent wines just perfect to accompany our handmade ravioli.     This was not the end, though. We spent the afternoon in the nearby forest hunting for truffles. A weird looking dog was our guide and we even found a few small truffles. The best part, however, was a walk with stunning views over the gentle hills and fields. This was a very relaxing time and...

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Read the previous post. One morning we got invited to participate in cooking with the family we rent the apartment from. The mother and the daughter were waiting for us at 9:00 am in their apartments. There was also a silent father present who, with a kind interest, was watching his daughter and wife running the show. This was not the first time I participated in Italian cooking classes. It was still special because of the whole family present on site. I could observe and experience two generations’ meeting in the kitchen and the way these two extraordinary women work together. The Book I started a conversation with a question about the books I borrowed from them a few days before: a series published by the local paper with photos and description of the local traditional costumes. After a question why they stopped buying the books at part 4 the two women turned into furious beasts. They were so unhappy about the pictures, lack of care, terribly wrong details and, most of all, the sort of pictures taken. In some photos, the models were in aggressive poses and it worked poorly with traditional costumes. Both women showed their disappointment and thus we cold experience how important the tradition is for them. I couldn’t agree more. Although the albums were printed on high-quality paper and with an eye-catching hardcover, the narrative and the concept of making the traditional costumes ‘up-to-date’ was so wrong! This was poorly done. Somebody attempted to bring the tradition closer to the present times but failed. Due to copyrights I cannot insert here any pictures of these books taken on site. Soon, we left the books and focused on cooking.  The Cooking It all started with the preparation of a wooden table and bringing the ingredients. First, Maria Efisia – the mother – prepared filling of the ravioli. They used a particular kind of cheese called ricotta and although you can buy it all over Italy the one in Sardegna contains not only the milk of a sheep but at the final stage of the process, unlikely elsewhere in Italy, the farmers add more cow’s milk. This extra care results in extremely mild and delicate cheese. Thus, with few yolks, saffron, and nutmeg, a very tasty filling was formed. We, then, could focus on preparing the pasta and, what takes most of the time, rolling and forming the ravioli. Along the process, when our hands were occupied, Maria Efisia was telling us about their family and village, about tough times and few joys they have. She was extremely proud of her actions that saved old baskets made out of cane.  The story In the late 60s, people run mad about modern plastic objects and they were throwing away all that was old and hand made. It includes a total refurbishment of the local church which we saw last Sunday and which today looks like after a fire that destroyed everything that was ancient. Maria Efisia on the contrary: she was conserving not only the heritage of her family but also went to the courtyards where her neighbours were throwing away their old stuff away. She showed us her collection of baskets used in cooking. As this was hand made, the current price is really high so when she showed us her treasures she was holding them as something precious. Maria Efisia was emphasising how expensive these objects currently are. Watching this woman attachment to the past it felt very special. Although she showed us the most important things for her she did it as a person who realises that the past will never come back. She feels like a real hero in the contemporary times who struggles and fights against the odds in order to preserve the history of the family and the place. Miraculously, her family has always been and still is into the farming business, thus, the worst crisis that hit the island after mining business collapsed, bypassed them. It was touching to watch their struggle. They all are very proud of living in the same place for 7 generations, their hospitality is legendary. They, just like hundreds of others, struggle to find their place in the contemporary society. They feel very far from the mainstream society and the things that happen in Rome – on the continent, as they say. Contrary to the rest of Italy, where people tend to be optimistic, here you hear a tone of despair. People here know they live in the peripheries and that the politicians in Rome or Brussels care very little about their wellbeing. Some of them feel left behind and for some of them this is a call to act and to take care for themselves. I’d say that people in Sardinia are focused on survival with a strong flavour of tradition and their own identity. And so, talking through the history and presence, we successfully produced about 300 ravioli. They were all stored in old baskets in layers interlarded with a clean table cloth. It was left until the next day when we got invited for a dinner. The Dinner We came in the late evening. The whole family was there and so, with no further delay, we started the feast. The hospitality of this Sardinian family was overwhelming. The food was so good that after starters I ate enough but there was still the first and the second course, meat and the dessert with coffee. I skipped the meat but it smelled so delicious that I got a dog bag and I could taste it the next day. This was a very pleasant day. I learned not only the new recipes and cooking skills but also a history of the family from Fluminimaggiore. I also had an opportunity to watch their pride and hospitality from a close distance. Altogether this was a marvellous experience. More about Sardinia soon.  

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Holiday with a blogger is my recent idea. It is pretty simple: through a website of the project iloveFerrara.it you can book a week stay in Ferrara with me. I traveled a lot in last 10 years and I think this is the perfect time to share my experience with others. And I am very interesting in meeting some of your – My Dear Readers and Followers. Interested in details? Here is the full story. Why with a blogger? There are two reasons why this holiday is fun. First is because the guidance I offer is very particular. I’ll tell my own story in Italy rather than a very traditional and rigid guided tour. Second, this travel idea is based on very individual treatment of every participant. I think about this idea as showing my favorite places to my friends, so the group is limited to 4 people! That’s right! Only 4 people so we could drive through the region by car, just like ordinary Italians do. No crowd, no buses, no traditional tourists around you! I think the beauty of this idea is in my expertise, familiarity with the area and international experience. This holiday is just how I like it best: slow, tasty, funny, interesting and in a good company. The best thing about it is that I tried the major part of local attractions and I picked up the best for you. So what you really buy is a very particular experience of Italy that employs all your senses. You will taste Italy, see Italy, smell Italy, hear Italy and touch Italy. There is no better way to experience and remember any country. Why Ferrara? Simply because I lived there and because I love this city. I have many reasons for this particular tie with this UNESCO site: many of my friends live there, I have many happy memories from this place, I like the way it looks, I appreciate all seasons in this city and I also visited it many times with my foreign friends showing them my favorite places around. I think it is beautiful, elegant and so friendly! The way locals ride their bikes or chill our in front of the cathedral makes me smile. Every single time I’m in this city this makes me happy! Why September and May? Because the weather is sunny enough to feel the Mediterranean climate and it is cool enough not to get tired and drained out by the summer heat.These are my favorite months in Italy. In May spring usually explodes with green and flowers and you can feel the warmth and sun. In September you still feel the warmth. More importantly, however, September is the best month to taste the traditional dish of Ferrara: cappellacci di zucca and it’s because the main ingredient is pumpkin, which is exceptionally sweet in this area. Also, these months are just perfect for two events I particularly like: Palio and Street Dinner. Both of these events were described earlier on my blog so if you wish to want know more click the links. This year 5th edition of Street Dinner sounds already super cool: the rule is the same as previous years. You need to dress total white and you don’t know the location of this event until the very last minute. Ferrara is full of people dressed in white that evening and it looks so elegant! I enjoyed last year 4th edition and so I think if you wish to visit Ferrara you should do it this September! So watch the video below, visit the site iloveFerrara and book today! Ah, and share it with your friends! They might come too. See you in September in Ferrara! I am looking forward to meeting you!  

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You are familiar with my love towards Italian traditional food a visit in an excellent restaurant Antico Furlo is not a surprise. For the first time, however, I had an opportunity to spent time in professional kitchen with a famous chef Alberto Melagrana. Although I am familiar with traditional italian food made in Emilia – Romagna this was a totally different experience. Previous episodes of my adventures in Marche are here. Truffles We started with in depth discussion on truffles. Acqualagna town and Marche region are famous for their truffles of high quality and huge variety. Chef Alberto who traveled around the world had a short anecdote about everything, starting with cooking in Italian Embassy in Washington ending with a perfect consistency of cream, so it took us ages before we started to prepare the main course. Watching Alberto working in his kitchen was amazing: I have never seen a professional cook before and I as I never watch TV series with cooking on screen this was totally new for me. Many of his tricks while preparing meat with truffles were astonishing and I hope to use it someday at home. His deep knowledge of tastes from around the world and genuine love for italian food is alive in every meal he prepares. Cooking Starting with raw meat we went through all stages of preparations. This was all accompanied with endless stories from Alberto’s professional life, his learning process and cooking for famous people in renown restaurants. In Antico Furlo Alberto created his own menu with his own recipes. I was thrilled to know that most of the dishes are not served elsewhere! Accumulation of his cooking skills was impressive: antipasto with truffles was excellent! And, most of all, the final taste was totally surprising! Restaurant The restaurant is very particular so if you are looking something extraordinary this is the right place. Don’t expect quick service, though! This is not a fast food or even an ordinary restaurant. So prepare yourself for waiting. I can tell you that you will not be disappointed! The composition of ingredients made by Alberto will surprise you! By all means! It is worthy to book a table in advance and have a dinner here. I enjoyed my time with Alberto very much and the food served was totally awesome! Menu Petto di pollo steccato al tartufo, olive, fili di carote con insalata di misticanza e balsamico. Passatelli fonduta di casciotta d’Urbino, pecorino di fossa al profumo di zafferano. Crema pasticcera profumata al limone e arancia con fragole fresche. Wine: San Michele, Verdicchio di Jesi, DOC. Priceless Try to imagine this: a guest who actually enter a restaurant carrying her own dessert! I did it and the face of other guests in the room was just priceless! After the main course I went back to the kitchen and assisted a creation of a spectacular dessert. When I got back to a table carrying it I felt SO privileged to have the opportunity to watch Alberto. This was a really nice experience and a very tasty meeting with truffles! Interested in wine story? Here it is! Disclosure: I was kindly invited and hosted by the owners of Antico Fulro restaurant which I am very grateful for. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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Marche – one of the smallest Italian regions – is splendid! I neglected it somehow while I was living in Italy. And I deeply regret it!  Therefore, I was very happy to plan this trip and discover Marche. Slowly. With no rush. And with wonderful hosts from Marche Holiday: Giorgia and Laura. They were telling me all local stories and the things that the are most proud of. We were eating truffles, enjoying the sun and watching a fabulous landscape from every place we went. I can tell you this: Marche is beautiful and worth visiting by all means! Three highlights here as an introduction to the rest of my story: landscape, Urbino, and food&wine. Landscape Are you familiar with the famous Chianti hills? Well, Tuscany is right around the corner and some hilly areas of Marche are pretty similar but I think Marche is more interesting. It has a very mild and sweet coastline. Pesaro, for example, is a good place to appreciate the beach, the sun and awesome colors of the Adriatic Sea. Further west you will find the hills covered with olive groves, vineyards, fields and forests. Finally, the hills become mountains with spectacular canyons, rivers and passes. Marche has it all! And it is all gathered in a relatively small space which also make Marche friendly and easily reachable. Urbino It overwhelms me every time: an ancient history ready to be touched at every corner. Urbino – a UNESCO world heritage site – is a perfect example. I will tell you the story of Palazzo Ducale and show some fabulous photos from this city but for now I can tell you that Urbino is amazingly beautiful. It is captivating and seducing with its colors and history. Food and wine Naturally, Italy means good food and wine, which is especially true in Marche. Acqualagna – where I was staying at – is famous for the truffles. Many of the dishes I ate were prepared of truffles in a variety of ways. I also had an opportunity to hunt for truffles with the dog, which I find one of the best activity I have ever had while traveling! Moreover, truffle dishes were always accompanied by excellent wines: the ones from in.PU.t or the one tasted in cantina Terra Cruda. Truffles, cheese, wine and olive oil are the basic tastes of Marche. So, one after another I will show you what Marche is all about. I will take you with me for a truffle hunt and a guided tour in Palazzo Ducale of Urbino. I will show you some breathtaking scenery and will present you some wonderful locals. Here is Episode #2: Living Like A Local! And episode #3: A photo gallery Gentle Hills of Marche, and episode #4: Cooking Lesson. Disclosure: my travel to Marche was possible thanks to a kind invitation of a local company Marche Holiday. All activities and my stay in Acqualagna were organized by them for which I am grateful.  

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Let me share this short story with you: it is published at a very interesting travel blog called Travelling with Sweeney. I met Catherine – the founder and editor – in Dublin and we exchange our business cards. After few months you can have a look at the result of this meeting and my guest post at her blog. She is an enthusiast of Italy and traditional cooking so I thought it is a very good idea to share my story with her. All comments published under this post made my day! So even if you know the story already, please visit Catherine’s blog and read some other posts related to Italy. Enjoy your week! UPDATE This is great news! Due to high interest in this post and in my experience in Italy I’ve decided to make the participation in Italian life possible for you! Yes! It is possible to join me for a week this autumn! Check the details here! The project is called iloveFerrara and it is the essence of Italian Dolce Vita. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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A food focused post! Finally! I know that some people would not considered Ireland a world capital of good food but I think there is much to talk about. Full Irish Just this morning I found out that ‘full’ means in Swedish ‘drunk’ which would be really bizarre if used with Irish breakfast afterwards. Well, there is nothing of that kind with full Irish breakfast. Here is what we are talking about: eggs, sausage, beacon, beans, tomatoes, white and black pudding and mushrooms. My favorite part of it would be eggs and sausages, and, in fact, if you eat a similar breakfast in the UK or in Canada the sausages are always very tasty. The basic difference between the English version of breakfast is white and black pudding. Now, I’m not an expert and I won’t tell you what is inside but I can assure you it is quite good and it gives an Irish flavor to it. I like it. My Italian readers probably turn their heads with disgust by now but I would like to assure you that such breakfast eaten in Ireland would be really good. If you think about gloomy weather outside, rain, fog and cold it might slightly change your opinion on that. For me eating full Irish (as they call it here) when I’m in Ireland is a perfect solution to go through the day. Just like Penny from the Aran Islands was always saying. And it works. When you eat this breakfast you don’t need to worry about lunch. It will allow you to last until the dinner time. Second breakfast If you had full Irish skip it. But if you had a light continental one you could think about eating a sort of snack before the lunch brake. As we were crossing Ireland we spent a pleasant morning in a small town Roscommon. We stayed at the Glesson’s Cafe having a delicious second breakfast. Freshly baked  fruit scones is something between a cookie and a muffin, it’s sweet, it has raisins in it and I ate it with homemade confiture. The place is known for its excellence in the area. Their products are prepared by themselves and I must say they are really tasty. The scones are also baked without fruits and can be eaten with cream or butter. When looking at the picture and the size of the scones you might think this is not much but I can assure you that one scone is enough to fill your stomach! Lunch That’s right, it’s only noon and we already have three meals eaten! I don’t expect that all Irish eat this much everyday, however, the beauty behind is that whenever you feel hungry there is always something suitable you can eat. And it’s awesome! Especially, when you travel and it is hard to plan the precise time of having meals. Irish lunch comes in a huge variety: both in terms where you eat it and what you eat. To give you two examples: a family owned pub in Newport called Grainne Uaile welcomed us with a traditional soup and stew, while Mulranny Park Hotel prepared fresh oysters. Huge variety of food served gives you an opportunity to try something else each day. The speciality of the region would be sea food, a variety of fishes but also venison. It was the first time I have eaten an oyster. Ever. Although it was served in a very exquisite way with pomegranate and other bloggers said it was delicious I would admit that this is not my favorite food. I am very happy I tried it, though. Now I know for sure that I prefer meat. Beer& Cider You can’t leave Ireland before you drink a pint of Guinness and cider. And there is always good time to do it. Any time after noon, I mean. Now, I’m not a huge fan of beer, to be honest, so you might not believe in what I say about it, but I was very lucky to visit the Guinness Storehouse and to join the party for the Tbex bloggers there. The part itself was fabulous but let me tell you a word about the beer. As the Guinness Storehouse is a core of production process of this excellent beer, the history of this family run business was introduced. We had an opportunity to meet people whose responsibility is tasting the beer on a daily basis to make sure its quality is perfect. The storehouse prepares a sort of short show in beautiful interiors with instruction from the experts how to drink it. I followed the instructions and tried one small glass of Guinness starting with sniffing its aroma, and having white mustache after sipping it. So, if me- a beer abstinent- says it was good it really means something! For me cider would be a favorite drink in Ireland and in the UK. I also drunk it in Canada and it was also delicious. Unfortunately, I had no chance to try the small local companies products and was always drinking the most popular ones, but even though it is very tasty. I need to get back to Ireland to taste some local ciders some day. Dinner and everything else By the time it’s evening you might be very hungry or completely full, depending on how many of the meals you had through the day. Evening would be a good time to sit in a pub and have a traditional fish& chips with a pint of beer, but it is also excellent opportunity to visit some fancy restaurant. We had a chance to try both: traditional Irish cuisine and some new compositions of tastes (seaweeds seams to be very trendy at the moment). Two remarkable places with excellent food: Twelve Hotel and Portfinn Lodge& Fjord Restaurat. The Twelve Hotel served all seafood imaginable, including exquisite dumplings with seafood filling. They were placed on seaweed and served on a St. James shell just like the picture below shows....

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What is it? Broadly speaking, Street Dinner is an annual event- a dinner- that brings together people passionate about food and entertainment. It grew from a global movement of unconventional restaurants and eating habits. There are at least three very particular features re this event. First, the place where the dinner is set is not revealed until the very last moment. The only thing you can be sure is the it is UNCONVENTIONAL (like having your dinner in a square or in a public garden). Second, the participants are asked to follow the dress code, which is TOTAL WHITE. Finally, this is an opportunity for local vendors to delight the participants with their specialities, which means excellent food. In Ferrara the Street Dinner has been organized for 5 consecutive years. Here is super cool news: you can participate this event! I have prepared a holiday package for you that includes a 1 week stay in Ferrara and pass to all Street Dinner events. Join me and book today! This year, 2014, it takes place on Saturday, September the 6th. How it works? When you register online you are asked for a cell phone number which is used to let you know: the place where you get table and chair from and the location of the dinner. However, you get these messages JUST before the beginning of the dinner. So, you dress white, you wait until the very end to get informed about the location, then you take a table and chair and join few hundreds of other food enthusiasts having your dinner like nowhere else. What is so special about it? Many things. Most of all the atmosphere of the event boosts amazingly through the whole city. In the late afternoon there are small groups of people dressed in white walking around and slowly in the early evening the city is full of them. What I consider really nice is the gathering of so many people to celebrate good food, excellent wine, medieval buildings and- surely- beautiful weather. This is really FUN and THRILLING event. I simply can’t wait to be there! Practical Information: Don’t forget to join before August, 28th! http://www.facebook.com/streetdinner http://twitter.com/streetdinner http://www.youtube.com/user/StreetDinner http:// www.streetdinner.it Find out how was the 4th edition of Street Dinner here!   Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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If you follow my FB fan page you know that last Sunday I was having a muffin day. Muffins remind me my stay in Nova Scotia (Canada) few years ago. I was staying at the most charming Canadian B&B ever: The Changing Tides. I have already told you the story here so no need to repeat it however the smell of the muffins is still floating in the air and it brings memories from Canada. Although Pam is a muffin champion for me and she was preparing blueberry muffins like no one else I would like share an easy recipe for chocolate muffins. You could bake your own muffins to celebrate Canada Day! Here it comes: Ingrediens:  Flour: 300 g Butter: 150 g Milk: 180 ml 4 medium eggs Baking powder powder: 6 g Dark cocoa powder: 70 g Salt: 1 g Sugar: 300 g 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Bicarbonate: 2 g Grated dark chocolate: 100 g Preparation: First: beat the softened butter with the sugar and the vanilla extract. When it is light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time. Mix all the ingredients for a few minutes and then put it in a large bowl. Second: mix separately the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. When its a cohesive powder (dark brown) add it to the rest of mixture, alternating the addition of milk (room temperature). Finally add the grated dark chocolate. Lastly: placed the pastry inside a mold muffin and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees, for 30 minutes. I hereby certify that I baked the chocolate muffins using this very recipe. Successfully! So, don’t think twice and celebrate the Canada Day! And send your photos!  

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Ragù is one of the basic dishes prepared in province of Bologna. Just like in case of parmigiano there are some popular myths to address in this blog. Ragù is often called outside Italy ‘alla bolognese‘ and it usually means a sauce prepared of tomatoes and meet and served with pasta. If you wish to try the real ragù you need to visit Bologna or you can prepare it at home following my recipe. This is important, however, to use proper ingredients. In terms of difficulty this is an easy recipe but you need quite a bunch of ingredients and at least 2,5h to cook it. Ingredients: 1 carrot celery 1 onion 1 cup of white wine 100g of lard 800g of minced meet (the best is mix of pork and beef) 150g of sausage (however, it needs to be RAW, so if you’re not in Italy you can use a sort of raw meet with spices like garlic, etc.) 1 cup of can tomatoes (in Italy passata di pomodoro is used so if you have access to it, then use it) 1/2 cup of milk salt, pepper 1 large spoon of butter 2-3 spoons of oil Start with oil: put it in a large pot and when it’s warm  add chopped vegetables (carrot, celery and onion) and wait until it’s fried (about 5 min). Then add butter and lard and let it melt. When the lard has already changed a color add sausage and try to shred everything so you get very small pieces. At this point you need to add all minced meet you have and salt it. This is quite a large amount of meet so you need to work on it shredding and mixing carefully. When the meet has slightly changed color this is the right time to add tomatoes mixed with milk. It should become very liquid, a soup like. The last ingredient you add is white wine. Now, the longer it cooks the better it gets. I would say it needs at least 2 hours of slow cooking. This is the time needed to melt all fat and the wine to evaporate. You should mix it from time to time to not to burn the pot. You’ll know when it’s ready if you checked the consistency: take a spoon of sauce and spill it on a plate. If the liquid is dense then you know it’s ready. As a dish it is served with pasta called tagliatelle (the one prepared of eggs and of a ribbon shape), used in traditional lasagne or as I previously written over cappellacci, mailny in Ferrara province.  

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