Blog Archives - Page 6 of 17 - Dominique Rizzo

On your trips to Sicily, Caltagirone is a must-do

Perched on a hilltop like many hidden treasures is the town of Caltagirone, the town of ceramics.

A place which always takes my breath away on my trips to Sicily, is Caltagirone.

A long time ago, the soil here was perfect for making the original terracotta pots used by the Greeks. The original designs were usually yellows and browns with geometric patterns. Influences from the Arabs brought the art of firing. Pottery also became highly decorative with the introduction of colours such as blues and yellows. Designs became more intricate.

The ceramic stairs

On your trips to Sicily, you will find a major interest in this tiny town with it’s wonderful staircase studded with decorated tiles. Colourful hand painted tiles line each of the 142 stairs. They entice you to journey to the top where the views of the town are magnificent. During the festival of the Madonna, the locals will line the stairs beautifully with tubs of flowers precisely placed. They form a floral design when you view the staircase from the bottom or top. In the evening they line the stairs with candles. This makes for an amazing photo and unique visiting experience.

They are often studded with the iconic ceramic pine cones that feature in many ceramic shops throughout Sicily. The road leading into Caltagirione is lined with vases and glorious coloured cones.

They remind you that this is the town of the vases. While browsing the many stores, you will notice that the ceramics come in many designs. With traditional and artisan patterns, some historically original and others unique to each artist. You can often find artists hand painting the ceramics as you enter in the stores.

The ceramics are not only a sight to behold in Caltagirone, they are a fantastic experience of Sicilian culture that you can enjoy on my Sicilian Tours.

For the latest news on trips to Italy, go to Dom’s travels to Italy and Sicily, and her next tour dates

Any questions? Contact me.

Italian cheese - Dominique Rizzo Italy Food Tours

All About Italian Cheese

0 Comments/in Blog, Italian tour, Sicily Tours/by Dominique Rizzo

Italians and Sicilians in particular do cheese so well, that’s why I love to incorporate cheese as part of my Sicilian food tours!

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Baked Dishes

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

Baked Dishes of Pasta, rice or vegetable are something that we all grew up on and the best thing about having them for dinner is that they taste even better the next day.

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Smoothies for Better Health

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

Smoothies are a perfect quick breakfast for anyone on the go, there are two different types of smoothies, a high protein smoothie and a fruit and or blended fruit and vegetable smoothie.

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Soups

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

Soups are a perfect meal for a snack, lunch or dinner and make use of all the vegetables that you may have lying around in the fridge. To these basic recipes, you can add any of your own cooked proteins or have the soup as a starter then have your protein with a salad. Soups are perfectly accompanied with a small bread roll, pita bread or flour tortilla and can be easily transported in a thermos flask keeping them hot or take them to work in a container to be reheated later.

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Salads

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

If you have the time a salad is a perfect lunch or dinner option and is another excellent portable food that can be deliciously healthy and really quite filling. Salads are perfect as you can include many grains, legumes and some great tasty proteins teamed with fresh seasonal leafy greens and vegetables. The most important aspect to a good salad is the dressing.

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Its A Wrap!

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

Wraps are the best way to enjoy a healthy lunch or dinner and they can include anything, Take advantage of wholemeal tortillas, lavash bread, and pita bread and use fillings such as boiled eggs, roast chicken, lean ham, curried eggs, poached or grilled fish, tinned tuna, salmon or sardines. You can flavour these with salsas, smashed avocado, mustards, a small amount of mayonnaise, pesto, hummus or yoghurt dips, even a squeeze of lemon.

Christmas Turkey Recipe with Dominique Rizzo

0 Comments/in Blog, IGA Christmas Campaign, Media, Video/by Dominique Rizzo

This is a delicious Christmas Turkey Recipe I created with my friends at IGA and filmed by Wild Bunch Media!

Christmas Baked Ham - Chef Dominique Rizzo

Christmas Glazed Ham with Apricots – how to bake it

0 Comments/in Blog, Recipes/by Dominique Rizzo

It is surprising how easy it is to bake Christmas Glazed Ham with apricots, follow this very easy recipe to create your Christmas table tasty centrepiece.

Get creative and design your own personal festive look, use ingredients that you have on hand for the glaze, add a bright Christmas ribbon to finish off the look of your Christmas glazed ham.

You will need these ingredients:
Leg of ham, brown sugar, apricots, marmalade, ginger beer, orange juice, orange zest.

This is what you do:
Blend until smooth the apricots, marmalade, orange juice and zest;
In a saucepan combine the apricot mix combined with brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and simmer for 4 minutes.
Take a sharp knife and cut around the bone at the base of the ham and then gently slice under the skin to gently lift it off.
Score the fat in a diamond design and garnish with whole cloves.

Christmas Glazed Ham - Chef Dominique Rizzo

Megan Rizzo Photography

Place the ham in a baking tray and pour in the ginger beer. Bake in 190-degree oven, continuing to baste every 15 minutes.
Serve with the apricot sauce.

For the full recipe, click here.

Watch on YouTube

Enjoy this perfect Christmas lunch dish with your family and friends.

If you would like a little recipe inspiration go my Festive Cooking recipes, and then subscribe to receive my Free Ebook . Perfect for festive new year cooking. It is free when you subscribe.

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5 Top Budget-Friendly Christmas Roast Tips – Christmas on a Budget

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5 Top Budget-Friendly Christmas Roast Tips – Christmas on a Budget

Roasts can be the star or centerpiece of the Christmas table. Aside from fresh seafood, it can also be one of the more expensive elements to a Christmas Feast. This is a follow-up post to Christmas on a Budget, where I shared 3 top tips to get more from your meals this Christmas.

Here are my 5 Top Budget-Friendly Christmas Roast Tips:

Best buys for beef roasts are rolled rib, rib eye or round and if you are a BBQ fan then a brisket is great for that slow tender pull apart BBQ beef smothered in a smokey homemade marinade. Many less tender cuts of beef are tenderised further when cooking if you use the BBQ rotisserie.

Dress up the humble and old favourite roast chicken with some wonderful Christmas stuffings using, combinations such as apples, cranberries, sage, apricot, and pistachios or parmesan prosciutto and parsley. If you are buying your chicken from the butcher you could ask them to bone out the chicken, pick up some netting from the butcher and stuff the chicken yourself again the yield will be greater as you can then easily slice the chicken, minimal wastage and also is great cold the next day on sandwiches or with salads.

Instead of the Christmas turkey, purchase turkey breasts with the skin on, they can weigh in at 1-2kg per breast. A couple of these which is enough to feed a family of up to 12 as part of a banquet.

Pork roasts are a winner especially if you get the crackling right and the best cuts for a great pork roast is the pork loin you can also use the leg, shoulder or the belly, make sure that your butcher leaves the skin on and get them to score it for you as well. A 1kg portion will take about 60 minutes.

I love duck but it can be expensive and if you don’t know how to cook it properly it can sometimes come out a little tough, so the cheats and cheap way of a little duck with dinner is to either create a wonderful salad with duck legs or breast which you can now buy cooked and packaged in the supermarket, couscous, a couple of fresh figs, peaches, pears or fresh dates sliced, shallots, wild rocket and a wonderful orange dressing, or duck goes great with noodles, with some sliced bok choy, shredded green pawpaw and a simple Asian dressing. Heat the duck in the oven and serve it sliced with your favourite roast vegetables and a wonderful cherry sauce. You can also pick up the wonderful Peking duck in Chinatown, also a great place to shop for cheap Asian greens, herbs, and sauces.