Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2025 i Woolworths TASTE

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ITALIAN FOOD.” Not my words, but the words of Stanley Tucci in his memoir, Taste (good title). And Caterina Bollino, of beloved Joburg family restaurant-deli Tortellino d'Oro, shares his sentiment in this issue (p 74). “There's no such thing as Italian food - it's all regional and seasonal. In the north, the food is rich in eggs, milk and butter. In the south, it's more Mediterranean - olive oil, tomatoes, lighter flavours.” And in fact, it's even more specific: “The recipe can change … it depends on your nonna, it depends on what you had and on what you remember.” This is true of South African food, too. What is it really? Is it the Xhosa staples isijingi or umngqusho or umleqwa that Khanya…

In a pickle Place 15 g cauliflower florets, 1 carrot, sliced, 1 celery stick, cut into 5 cm chunks, 35 g pearl or small cipollini onions, peeled and left whole, and 1/3 red pepper, sliced into strips or rectangles, in a bowl. In a saucepan, gently heat 5 T each white wine vinegar, white spirit vinegar and filtered water, and 1 t each coarse salt and sugar, until dissolved, then boil for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the vegetables, cover and allow to stand for 1 minute. Lift out the vegetables using a slotted spoon and return to the bowl, reserving the brine. Add a pinch each black peppercorns and dried chilli flakes, a few whole cloves, juniper berries and a crumbled bay leaf to a sterilised 500…

Traditional balsamic vinegar Balsamic vinegar is barrel-aged cooked grape must. To carry the DOP certification (see above), the balsamic must be made using only certain grape varietals from the Modena or Reggio Emilia regions; aged for a minimum of 12 years; and produced in Modena or Reggio Emilia. Balsamic vinegar IGP-certified (see above) balsamic vinegar requires a minimum of 20% grape must from any area, and may contain small percentages of wine vinegar and caramel. It requires just two months of ageing. Condiment balsamic “Condiment grade” is a term used to classify balsamic vinegars that are generally made in the traditional way, but not under the same scrutiny as traditional balsamic – either outside Modena and Reggio Emilia, or aged for less than 12 years. It's often excellent quality, but…

MARITOZZI These sweet buns are typical of Lazio, particularly Rome. The recipe calls for orange zest, and they're filled with whipped cream. Makes 6 A LITTLE EFFORT Preparation: 20 minutes, plus 6 hours’ rising time Cooking: 15–20 minutes For the starter dough: fresh yeast 5 g caster sugar 1 t Italian “00” flour 50 g For the dough: free-range egg yolk 1 caster sugar 50 g milk 1 T, plus 1 t seed oil 3 T Manitoba flour (strong white bread flour) 200 g orange 1, zested For the egg wash: free-range egg yolk 1 milk 1 T For the filling: whipping cream 1½ cups 1 To make the starter dough, place the yeast, sugar, and flour in a large bowl, then pour in 3 T water and stir until the yeast and sugar have dissolved. Cover with…

The inspo: Chane was inspired by the classic South African sweet treat, the hertzoggie – a small apricot jam-filled tartlet topped with coconut macaroon – and her ouma's prize-winning apricot jam, made with fruit from her own trees. “That coconutand-apricot flavour transports me back to simpler times and just warms my heart with fond memories,” says Chane. The cocktail: Chane complements smoothsipping Patrón tequila with a velvety-fresh apricot purée and coconut water, nailing the balance between sweet, tart and tropical. The bubble: “We put coconut aroma into a smoking gun, dip the tip into a food-safe liquid, spray a bit of coconut water around the rim of the glass – for extra flavour and to help the bubble to grip the glass – then angle the gun so that it…

There are two phrases I learned during my short-lived Italian lessons 40 years ago. “La dolce vita” (the sweet life) and “mangiare all'aperto” (to eat in the open air). Both are things I crave and associate with the Italian way of life. For some reason, I also associate them with the countryside, and I am usually not a country girl. I am most certainly not one for the pastoral life. Nor am I all that enamoured with scenic splendour. Give me the cities and their bright lights, the architecture, the people and the fashion, interesting shops, buzzing restaurants and small, crowded wine bars. But Italy changes all of that. Of course, I'm still obsessed with Italian cities; the magical otherworldliness of Venice, the delicious grime of Naples, the ochred elegance…

Turin, Piedmont ZABAGLIONE WITH HAZELNUT WAFERS “Silky smooth, feather-light and more than a little bit boozy, this old-school Italian dessert is a favourite for very good reason. The hazelnut wafers are the perfect accompaniment.” Serves 4 to 6 A LITTLE EFFORT GREAT VALUE Preparation: 15 minutes, plus 2 hours’ freezing time Cooking: 40 minutes For the hazelnut wafers: roasted hazelnuts 280 g caster sugar 115 g water ¼ cup, plus 2 T large free-range egg yolks 6 caster sugar 50 g dry white wine ¼ cup, plus 1 T dark rum ¼ cup 1 To make the wafers, blend the hazelnuts in a food processor to form a coarse paste, about 1–2 minutes. 2 Combine the caster sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a simmer, then…

CORN, COCONUT AND TAMARIND SOUP WITH CORN FRITTERS “The sweetness of the corn and coconut balances well with the sour tamarind.” – Abigail Donnelly Serves 6 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes coconut oil or butter 1 T garlic 1 t minced fresh ginger 1 t minced fresh turmeric 1 t minced onion 1, chopped tamarind paste 1 T sweetcorn 4 cobs, kernels removed curry leaves 1 sprig vegetable or chicken stock 2 cups coconut milk 1 cup salt, to taste For the corn fritters: flour 120 g baking powder 1 t free-range egg 1 amasi 1 cup butter 1 T, melted creamed corn 1 x 400 g can salt, to taste sunflower oil 2 cups 1 Heat the coconut oil or butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and onion and cook over a low heat until the onion is soft. 2…

What's happening online? @WWTaste Coming up in the newsletter this winter: warm your home with Abigail Donnelly's incredible ragù recipes – immortalised with her top tips in video form – catch Jason Lilley making Roman-style pizza from scratch in a home oven, and discover our top pasta recipes. Bonus: sign up before 12 September 2025 and you could win a fabulous Weber gas braai. WIN A WEBER GAS BRAAI WORTH R7 299 Bring the flavours of Italy to your garden this winter with the Weber SLATE GP 43 cm premium griddle. This gas-powered braai reaches over 260°C and heats evenly, so you won't be standing out in the cold, waiting for those coals. The nonstick cooktop is porcelainenamel – perfect for everything from smash burgers and stir-fries, to a Tuscan…

Chopped tomatoes Public service announcement: not all canned chopped tomatoes are created equal. When preserved with citric acid and salt – as Woolies’ are – the texture isn't altered during the canning process. Translation? They break down beautifully, so you don't have to grab the masher. Whole peeled tomatoes The gold standard: whole peeled should always be your go-to as they're minimally processed and require no additives to maintain their shape. If you need to, you can break them down by mashing roughly once they've cooked down and released their flavour and juices. Soffritto paste Tomato paste version 2.0 gets a flavour boost courtesy of the classic Italian trifecta of onion, celery and carrots, allowing you to sidestep some chopping duties. Roasted cherry tomatoes Slow-roasting concentrates tomatoes’ intense flavour and…

Impossible cheese choice Mozzarella di buffala or Parmigiano Reggiano? That's like choosing a favourite parent! After hours of contemplation… Parmigiano Reggiano. In 2024, I had the honour of touring a family-owned, multigenerational farm in Parma that does everything from milking the cows to dry-ageing the cheese for up to 60 months on wooden shelves in a cheese cave. The crystals in a 60-month-aged cheese are pure umami. Pizza order I'm a margherita girl: I like the humble ingredients of crispy dough, tomato, fior di latte, basil and olive oil to be illuminated while eating them. First drink of the day I'm Italian, so I get out of bed because of the need to make coffee. My morning ritual includes making my moka in my vintage Bialetti using Lello's beans, which…

Describe your average day on a plate: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks… I tend to skip breakfast most mornings – I'm tasting all the time so I have to keep my sanity and save my appetite. Lunch and dinner are usually leftovers from the test kitchen, which means they're different practically every day. Yesterday, it was a sharp brinjal curry my colleague Chaya was testing, eaten cold from the fridge with some extra pickles on the side. I drink a lot of tea and always have fizzy water at hand. Evening snacks are dangerous – I have this terrible weakness for dark chocolate, eaten square by square while I'm writing recipes or answering emails. Can you recall the moment you hit on the idea for your pantry range? It's been…

1 Ouzeri Cape Town Owner Nic Charalambous believes that ageing his negroni mix in an oak barrel for 30 days is what makes Ouzeri's pour perfect. He favours the juniper-forwardness of Bombay Sapphire gin and the complexity of Antica Formula vermouth, combining them with Campari before ageing, decanting and serving over ice. 2 Marble Cape Town Staying chilled is key, says bar manager and mixologist Aaron Datnow. He combines five parts Tanqueray No. 10 gin, four parts Antica Formula vermouth and three parts Campari in a chilled beaker with high-quality ice to avoid over-dilution. He then pours it into a chilled glass over a twist of orange and a 5 cm ice cube. 3 Fugazzi Johannesburg Group head chef Warren Murley puts the success of Fugazzi's negroni down to the…

Leftovers, in Italian, are “avanzi”. The word comes from the verb “avanzare”. But avanzare has two meanings: to be left over, or to move forward. Thank goodness for that duality or we'd never experience the creamy crunch of arancini made using yesterday's risotto. “Italians leave nothing”, so the saying goes, and if you've ever been served deep-fried Parmesan rinds as antipasto, you'll know it's true. It's no surprise then that one of Italy's great gifts to humanity stems from similar thinking. If you're going to make a lot of wine, and leave behind a ton of skins and seeds and mulch, and plenty of usable sugar, why not use it? And what better way to do that than ferment it, bung it in a still, and extract a distillate with…

In pride of place on the wall of George Dalla Cia's office is an evocative photograph of his grandfather, Vittorio, in Venice's iconic St Mark's Square. Snappily dressed in a casual yet elegant linen suit, Vittorio has a negroni in his hand. “His favourite cocktail, and mine,” says George, smiling his approval and offering to make me one when I agree that it's mine, too. The photograph was taken in the 1950s, when George's grandfather had already built up a successful business as a wine merchant and grappa maker in the northern Italian province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which borders Austria and Slovenia. “That's how my father Giorgio fell in love with wine-making,” says George, “by following in his father's footsteps, visiting different wine producers and seeing what they were doing…

CARAMELISED PEAR OR APPLE Top a bowl of cheesy cauliflower or butternut soup with a bit of sweet fruitiness to complement the rich flavours. CHICKPEAS Roast in olive oil and herbs in the oven or air-fryer (also a delicious snack on their own). NORI Lightly toast sheets of seaweed in the oven and crumble over Asian soups for an umami punch. RUSKS Save the broken chunks at the bottom of the bag for garnishing and adding satisfying crunch.…

“I love how the Italians have managed to create a whole library of great weekday meals, mostly using ingredients you already have in your pantry. These practically effortless dishes extract maximum flavour from classic cupboard staples, and they're a few of my personal favourites. Even better? Nearly all of them are one-pot wonders, and most will go from start to serving in about 30 minutes. Prego!” – Hannah Lewry GNOCCHI WITH TOMATOVODKA SAUCE “If you're looking for a great little twist on an old favourite, this is the recipe for you. It will be ready within half an hour and you don't even need to boil the gnocchi: fried until crispy in a pan with butter and oil, and ready within minutes, they are sublime.” Serves 2 to 4 EASY…

No double-dipping Dipping a slice of fresh ciabatta into a puddle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar might be delicious, but it's not traditional in Italy. Olive oil is for cooking and drizzling, and balsamic vinegar is for finishing dishes. Oil right then! How to spot the good stuff? In South Africa, the CTC seal indicates that the olive oil producer is a member of the SA Olive Commitment to Compliance (CTC) scheme – a voluntary, integrity-based initiative managed by SA Olive for local EVOOs. EVOO VS OO: THE LOWDOWN What's the difference? In the hierarchy of olive oils, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is top brass – “extra” pertains to the standard of the oil's clarity and flavour, and “virgin” indicating that the oil was coldextracted, below 30 degrees,…

The back story Born in Italy's Piedmont region, Andrea qualified as a specialised pizza chef on the Amalfi Coast before moving to South Africa. “I import most of the ingredients for our pizza, from flour and tomatoes to the toppings, including the black truffle, which is from the region where I was born,” says Andrea. The base It's all about that bianche base for the pizza tartufata, according to Andrea. “It puts the truffle and fior di latte on a pedestal,” he explains. “An acidic tomato base doesn't pair well with truffle and will dilute its flavour – a bit like putting pineapple on a pizza.” The dough For the Neapolitan-style dough, Andrea uses a top-secret ratio of four type 0 and 1 flours from Italian mills. that are supplied…

Santa Cristina Chianti Superiore | R349.99 Easy to drink and worldrenowned, Chianti is famous for its soft, velvety tannins and a refreshing palate that is deeply connected to the terroir where it's produced. This Chianti Superiore is rich on the nose with notes of morello cherries, aromatic herbs and hints of balsamic. Perfect with… Woolworths beef lasagne. Also delicious with … rich stews, grilled meat, mushroom dishes, aged cheese. Terra Del Capo Pinot Grigio | R104.99 Light yet appealing, with subtle lemon-leaf nuance adding to a bouquet of stone fruit. Terra Del Capo's Pinot Grigio has a vivacious and lively palate that offers vivid nectarine flavours with a tangy yet crisp citrus element. Refreshing and succulent with good body and length. Perfect with… Woolworths spinach-and-ricotta ravioli. Also delicious with ……

1 MOVIDA: FOR AUSSIE-SPANISH TAPAS Melbourne's laneways, originally used for service access in the Victorian era and once a haven for less-than-legal activities, are now home to many of the city's hippest dining spots, coffee shops and boutiques, as well as being known for their street art and multicultural atmosphere. The first iteration of Spanish tapas bar MoVida on Hosier Lane is one of the stalwarts of the scene, and has been serving classic Spanish tapas using excellent Australian produce for over 20 years. It has three other locations, the aptly named MoVida Next Door (which serves a slightly more compact menu), MoVida Aqui, a bigger venue suited to functions and private dining, and Mexican taco-and-mezcal bar, Tres a Cinco. The vibe at the original on Hosier Lane is a…

COOK'S TIP If the sauce seems too dry at the end, stir in a splash of milk to loosen it just before serving. Cover recipe Modena, Emilia-Romagna POLPETTE PANATA WITH BATTERED BRINJALS AND RIGATONI “Banish the winter blues with golden, pan-fried Italian meatballs with crisp brinjals drizzled in balsamic and olive oil, served atop tomato-sauced rigatoni.” Serves 4 EASY Preparation: 45 minutes Cooking: 1 hour For the meatballs: white bread 2 slices, crusts removed milk ½ cup  Woolworths Wagyu beef mince 500 g garlic 2 cloves, grated Parmesan 50 g, grated free-range egg 1 Italian parsley 2 T, chopped sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste flour, for dusting olive oil, for frying For the tomato sauce: olive oil 2 T onion 1, finely chopped garlic 3 cloves, crushed bay leaf 1  tomato paste 1 T white wine ½ cup diced…

Cook's tip Pairing this with smoked salmon carpaccio makes a luxurious duo for an elegant seafood platter. The longstanding connection between Federico Rocca and Niccolò Rovarini begins in the enchantingly slow, rural town of Arona on the edge of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. The lake acts as a boundary between two influential regions, each with its own distinct culinary traditions. Federico smiles as he explains: “There's an imaginary line running through the lake. On one side you've got the flavours of Piedmont: truffle, game and Barolo; and on the other, the risottos, milks and butters of Lombardy. Thankfully, we were raised with both.” The narrow, cobbled, trattoria-lined streets of Arona come alive in summer as the town changes from charming hideaway to travel hotspot. Its population swells from 16…

Rome, Lazio CHEAT'S CACIO E PEPE WITH ANCHOVY-ANDROCKET SALAD “The traditional version of this dish uses only pasta, water, black pepper and pecorino, but this easy take allows you to prepare more than two portions at a time and is less likely to split.” Serves 4 EASY Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 25 minutes water ¾ cup cornflour 2 t pecorino 200 g, finely grated freshly ground black pepper 4 T extra virgin olive oil 1T rigatoni 500 g For the anchovy-and-rocket salad, mix: Woolworths wild rocket 40 g anchovies 8 fillets olive oil 1 T lemon ½, zested and juiced  freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 Combine the water and cornflour in a saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk until the mixture is clear and thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.…

ONE-PAN BAKED ORZO WITH MARINATED FETA “This is such a simple recipe. The basil pesto feta adds a salty edge, and the grated baby marrow is folded through, uncooked, to wilt in the heat of the dish, adding lightness.” – Hannah Lewry Serves 4 EASY GREAT VALUE Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 35 minutes feta 150 g Woolworths fresh basil pesto 60 g leeks 150 g, sliced garlic 2 cloves, minced butter 50 g olive oil 2 T orzo pasta rice 90 g Woolworths organic chicken stock 1 x 500 ml carton Woolworths arrabbiata sauce 1 x 280 g jar thyme 1 t chopped baby marrow 300 g, grated red chilli, chopped, for serving 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the feta in a shallow bowl and coat with the pesto. Allow to stand at room temperature while you prepare the…