Rachel Roddy’s recipe for cornmeal and butter biscuits | A kitchen in Rome

A book that I hope gets translated into English is Alberto Grandi and Daniele Soffiati’s La cucina Italiana non esiste – bugie e falsi miti sui prodotti e i piatti cosiddetti tipici (Italian cuisine does not exist – lies and false myths about products and dishes considered typical). The title is as provocative as the book is fascinating in the way it dismantles the legendary origins and marketing of “typical” products and “traditional” dishes to reveal engrossing histories, often more recent and inextricably bound to exchange and migration (Grandi is a professor of food history and economics at the University of Parma). In fact, far from taking anything away, the book makes a rigorous and constructive contribution to a bigger, more interesting global conversation about the past, present and future of food. It is also very funny.I mention this having picked up the book to re-read the chapter on polenta

How to turn mango pit and skin into fruit coulis – recipe | Waste not

Saving food from being wasted can range from just composting food scraps to cooking with the whole ingredient, which means the leaves, stems, skin and everything in between. It’s often argued that it’s not really worth saving food from the waste bin if energy or other ingredients are required, but I believe that all food is worth saving.We obviously need to cook and eat food every day, so why not reinvent dishes to include these otherwise unwanted ingredients? Zero waste at its simplest can also mean basic, innovative recipes and solutions for byproducts, such as today’s mango pit and skin coulis. Such recipes are an easier sell, because they simplify the concept and create a valuable product out of very little.Coulis is a thin, smooth sauce that’s usually made from sieved fruit, and this one takes the flavour and residual flesh left on mango pits and skins and turns it into a restaurant-grade fruit sauce

Australian supermarket garlic bread taste test: ‘A vampire would burst into flames just smelling it’

Crunching through 12 different garlic breads, Tristan Lutze and co discover a loaf flecked with real garlic, a gluten-free option that’s actually good, and one they thought tasted like a TV propGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayWarm, buttery, golden and unapologetically alliumy, garlic bread is the side dish that steals the show. In our house, it’s a non-negotiable part of pizza and movie nights and the first thing to disappear, usually long before the film has started. It’s on the table when we eat spaghetti, on hand to dunk into pumpkin soup, and sometimes snatched straight off the baking tray. It’s simple, cheap and makes people happy.To find the best supermarket garlic breads, I gathered my partner, my three-year-old daughter and a carb-loving friend and put us through a blind taste test of 12 different loaves, baking each according to the packet instructions

Which dips are OK to buy, and which should I make? | Kitchen aide

Dips are a great unifier, whether they’re married to a big bowl of crisps and crudites or served as a companion for a picnic spread. If there’s hummus, cacik or borani in the picture, then it’s a party. Happily, says David Carter, founder of Smokestak, Manteca and Oma in London, “you can get a lot of good stuff in stores these days”. That said, he adds, anything involving vegetables is “always going to be best when made fresh”.If your dip needs lead you to the shops, the trick is to create contrast

Georgina Hayden’s recipe for spring meatballs with pasta and peas

There is something deeply nostalgic about this dish, although it wasn’t something I grew up with. Perhaps it’s the use of small pasta that makes me feel childlike, but either way, it is the kind of recipe that is immensely versatile: it can be an elegant, light spring meal finished with punchy extra-virgin olive oil, an extra sprinkle of pepper and a grating of pecorino, or you could label it kid-friendly and comforting. It’s not exclusively so, but I’d hazard a bet that they’ll enjoy it.Prep 10 min Cook 30 min Serves 41 bunch spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced50g breadcrumbs½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked and finely choppedA few mint sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped400g pork minceJuice and finely grated zest of 1 lemonSea salt and black pepper Olive oil 1 litre chicken stock, or vegetable stock 180g mini pasta 150g peas, freshly podded or frozen40g pecorino, gratedPut half the spring onions in a food processor with half the sliced garlic, all the breadcrumbs, half the chopped herbs and all the mince. Add the lemon zest, season generously, then blitz until it all comes together (you can, of course, mix it by hand in a bowl)

Sweet, seedless citrus: Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for June

Winter is all about citrus, says owner and buyer Josh Flamminio at Sydney’s Galluzzo Fruiterers. “Navel oranges are in. They’re from Mildura and they’re getting sweeter.” At $3 a kilo in supermarkets, they’re closely followed by mandarins. Daisy, imperial and Premium Gem varieties are also at their peak