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Paola Bacchia

@italyonmymind

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Istria, Trieste & Veneto 🇦🇺 🇮🇹
My 4 cookbooks: *Adriatico *Istria *Italian Street Food *At Nonna’s Table* writing cook BOOK no.5 * @smithstreetbooks

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** Book launch ADRIATICO **

Publication date for my new cookbook - the updated and transformed edition of Adriatico with a gorgeous design by @_georgesaad - is 25 September. I am so very excited to share it with you!

If you are in Melbourne on Thursday 19 September I would love to celebrate with you at my book launch at the studio of my publisher @smithstreetbooks in Collingwood. We will be eating appetisers from my cookbooks, drinking wine and spritz from @zonzoestate and @pidapipo_gelateria with be there scooping ice cream (of course there had to be gelato!). Places are strictly limited RSVP hello@smithstreetbooks.com by @italyonmymind

My new cookbook “At nonna’s table” shares the recipes of my mamma Livia, the ones I remember from my childhood as well as those you might remember from when I had lunches with her up to 2018. I am so excited to share this book with you. It has a real 1970s vibe! It will be in bookshops in March 2024 (publication date may vary slightly depending on where you live) and is now available for preorder from your local bookshop, online sellers as well as directly from me (Australia only) via my website. Published by @smithstreetbooks with the wonderful @lucyloo4 as project editor and @terra_vanessamasci designer by @italyonmymind

It is ONE whole year since my cookbook ISTRIA was published. Time has gone so quickly - but also not.

One year ago, lockdowns in Melbourne prevented launch events for the book and anything more than online or small personal celebrations. But then in July I travelled to Istria. I immersed myself in the food, the memories and the places I had written about and dreamt about from distant Australia as I cooked and wrote and photographed the book in 2020. And it was there in Istria that I really celebrated.

I am so happy I wrote this book, the one I dreamed about writing for so long, dedicated to my father and to the Istrian-Italian community, scattered all over the world. I hope the book helps us hold on to our culture and heritage, no matter where we now live. Istria will always be in our hearts (and on our plates).

To my publisher @smithstreetbooks , to my family, friends and to all of you who have a copy of the book - THANK YOU xx by @italyonmymind

SINGAPORE DAY 4 - started off the day with a refreshing iced coffee at the Food Peeps on Sago St in Chinatown, then headed down the road to the lively Hindu Sri Mariamman Temple, where we took off our shoes and basked in the colour and music (images 2 - 4). Next, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (5,6), which had a peaceful calm and chanting and a definite “shoes on” policy. Next was the Chinatown Complex basement wet market - for lots of fish, veg and a very wet floor (8,9). Then onto the People’s Park Food centre, which has a boisterous car park feel (11, 12). We ordered a while spicy fish, green beans, water spinach and drank beer. It was very good. We were of course, very full but stopped at the originally planned destination, Tong Heng’s Cantonese pastry shop, where I ordered one of each of my favourites pineapple pastry cake and a dragon phoenix pastry with lotus paste (13). We did find the Venchi gelato shop in Orchard on the way back to the accomodation (and yes I did have one small scoop of gelato 🤦‍♀️). Now I am lying by the pool and I doubt I will be able to move until nightfall. But it was all so much fun by @italyonmymind

SINGAPORE - Day 2. We missed most of day 1 in a jet-lagged fog. It is only a 3 hour time difference but waking up at 3.30am and not getting back to sleep (because at home you always wake up at 6.30am) is no joke! So onto day 2 - which we spent wandering around Little India, and the crazy but great Mustafa Centre. Highlights were getting lost (literally) but eventually finding the gold jewellery rooms, and the fabric rooms. We wandered the back streets past fruit vendors to get to our chosen lunch venue - Ming Chung Restaurant (a family business dating back to 1933) which was very good. We were a bit non adventurous I know - the prawn fritters were especially good. But maybe I should have ordered the Fish Head Bee Hoon soup but frankly it is such a hot steamy day. We slowly made our way back to our accomodation at Treetops (I do love this place), where the bed is so so comfortable and the pool is fantastic (the last photo is my current view as I sit in the open foyer and pen this post) by @italyonmymind

It has been a busy busy time that has been full of office work, cooking and eating! And I have not posted for some time so here is a bit of a summary * this was antipasto for a private cooking class I ran on Friday night with a lovely couple

And at that same class they made pasta for the first time (they were very good!)

And basil pesto to go with the pasta (which they literally could not get stop raving about)

Antipasto at home with a few good friends - I love broad bean season (breaking the pods open at the table and eating them with pecorino cheese) and asparagus season (see the wraps with prosciutto at the lower end of the image). Also sarde in savor at the top

At the Stokehouse in St Kilda - Andrew McConnell was in the kitchen for day 3 of his newly acquired business - it was a fabulous meal

I have been testing recipes for cookbook no.5

More recipe testing ..

And more (this one is REALLY delicious)

And this one too! Lots of seafood, lots of pasta

Balancing all the cake and pasta with lots of deliciously fresh lunches

And many office days this past month - wearing a @nevenka_melbourne striped silk shirt with the loveliest bow at the collar and a Moschino blazer purchased at @bruce_cliftonhill by @italyonmymind

MAKING PASTA on a long weekend - so meditative, so joyful, it feeds my soul. This was buckwheat maltagliati (bleki/blecs) made with 50/50 buckwheat flour/pasta flour. Typically made by hand without a pasta machine, rolled fairly thick, beautifully rustic. Will you be making pasta or anything that brings you joy this weekend? by @italyonmymind

BAKED RICOTTA

What to do with leftover ricotta? Bake it! An easy way to use it up when you have over half a kilo remaining. I had leftover blanched chard and asparagus from the weekend that I finely chopped up and added. For those of you watching what you eat, it has protein, calcium and fibre from your veggies all in one simple dish. Here’s how I made it early this morning.

700g ricotta
2 eggs
1 generous handful grated Parmesan cheese
Pre-cooked green vegetables (eg. Spinach, chard, asparagus, peas)

Place ricotta in a bowl and mash with a fork until smooth. Add eggs, cheese and finely chopped veg plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to combine. Tip into a lined springform tin and bake in a preheated oven 160C conventional for about 70 minutes until golden. Store in a container in the fridge and eat slices through the week by @italyonmymind

It took me just over a month to get to @cote.basque.restaurant and wow, it may have edged Gimlet out of top spot for Melbourne restaurants for special occasions. We chose mostly seafood and standouts were : Txistorra (Basque fast cured pork sausage) and octopus (pic 1), balanced with what was possibly sherry vinegar and quite chilli heavy; Socca (pic 2) - a chickpea pancake with hazelnut, caramelized onion, finely grated Basque sheep’s milk cheese; Strawberry pippies (pic 3) with fino sherry; Spanish mackarel with green olives (pic 4); Mark loved the icecreams - blood orange and olive oil (pic 6); I chose the Gateau Basque (pic 7) - the thinnest pastry layered with plum jam, custard, chantilly cream - the pastry could have been a bit thicker to have given it more texture (I am being very picky here!) but the taste was fantastic. Beautiful fit out, well sound proofed, attentive staff (thanks Madison!), proper linen and heavy cutlery and in a rather iconic location on Crossley St. Drinks: we had rather lovely lightly acidic Ribolla Gialla from the Collio (possibly Korsič) by @italyonmymind

When I asked Paola Bacchia what she thinks every woman should do at least once in her life, her answer was immediate:

Solo travel.

Not because you need to escape your life.
Not because you have to find yourself somewhere exotic.

But because there’s something incredibly powerful about making all the decisions yourself. Where to go. What to eat. When to wander. When to sit in a café for far too long.

You learn to trust yourself.
You discover what you actually like.
And you realise you’re very good company. 😉

We talked about travel, food, slowing down, and the freedom that comes when you stop waiting for someone else to come along.

Paola might just have convinced me that every woman needs a little solo adventure of her own. ✈️

🎧 Listen to our conversation on Nourished – Stories From The Table.

#foodpodcast #italianfood #WomenOver40 #travelblogger by @italyonmymind

Some recipes tell you what to cook. Others tell you who you are. 🍅

In Episode 8, I sit down with Paola Bacchia, a food writer, photographer, cookbook author and Italian cooking teacher.

Paola grew up in an Italian migrant family in Melbourne, where the kitchen was more than a place to prepare food. It was where stories were shared, connections were made and family history was kept alive.

We talk about her decision to walk away from MasterChef Australia while her father was unwell, preserving her family’s food heritage across four cookbooks, and the quiet freedom of travelling on your own.

Food, family, courage and a reminder that sometimes choosing yourself is exactly what you need.

Episode 8 is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Pull up a chair. 🎙️

What family dish takes you straight back home?

#nourishedstories #foodstories #foodpodcast #italianfoodlovers #solotravel by @italyonmymind

*RECIPE*
I love a good apple cake and this one is the best!! Courtesy of the grandmother of my istriana friend @samlov85

Nita’s Apple cake

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
80 g caster sugar
30 g unsalted butter,
melted & cooled, plus an
extra 20 g and a little
for greasing
200 g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
150 ml milk
125 ml dry white wine
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla
sea salt
4 small-medium apples (pink
lady, fuji), about
600 g
2 tblsp cherry jam
1 tblsp brandy
30 g sultanas
40 g amaretti biscuits
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the base and side
of a round 21-22cm
springform cake tin, then line with baking paper.
Place egg yolks, sugar and 30g of melted butter in a large bowl.
Add the flour, baking powder, milk, wine, lemon zest, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Beat lightly with a whisk to combine; the mixture will be quite liquid. Leave to rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest.
Peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into quarters, and each quarter into slices 6 mm thick. In a small bowl, mix the jam and brandy until combined.
Pour half the batter into the cake tin. Top with half the apple slices, then dot
with half the extra butter. Scatter over sultanas and amaretti, crushing them by hand as you go. Add remaining apple, dot with remaining butter and drizzle with jam mixture. Pour on the second layer of cake batter, which will partially sink between the apple slices.
Bake for about 75 mins or until the cake is golden and firm to touch.
Wait until the cake cools before removing it from the tin. Serve dusted with
icing sugar.
Adapted from “Istria” @smithstreetbooks by @italyonmymind