Sophia Loren once said that ‘Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti!’. Italians view their food as central to their life full of colour & variety, much like Italys variety of land terraine. The key to their cusine is the importance they put on quality basic ingredients to bring out flavour.

Take tomatoes they bring flavour to a variety of Italian dishes and Italian tomato varieties are exported all over the world aswell as being a important basic ingredient to Italian cookery and the Mediterranean diet. Olive oil used in dressings, for shallow frying or drizzled on pasta or bread is another staple for Italian cookery along with its health claims packed full with antioxidants and monounsaturated fats for reducing cholesterol.

I remember some facts picked up while visiting Italy and while chatting being told about Parma Ham which is cured for a minimum of 13 months and the longer the cure the sweeter and milder the flavour for example. They have a passion for food and life in general.

Why not make some homemade Focaccia to get in the Italian mood?

Your going to need: a 500g white bread mix, 3 tblsp olive oil, 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary and 4 finely sliced gloves of garlic.

Start by chopping the leaves of 4 of the rosemary  sprigs (saving one sprig for decoration later) and emptying the bread mix into a bowl before stirring in the garlic and chopped rosemary. Then mix according to the bread packet mix directions and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Flatten your dough in to 2 oblongs each of about 1cm thickness and put these onto a lightly oiled baking sheet (oiled with olive oil). Don’t forget the great silicone baking sheets available now, if you haven’t tried them yet then what are you waiting for, they are great, easy to use, store and clean. Cover this loosely with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for the dough to prove for at least 30  minutes when the dough should of doubled in size. Preheat your oven 220 c/ 425 f/ gas 7 and make dimples in your focaccia dough with your fingers before brushing with 2 tblsp olive oil and decorating with the remaining sprig of rosemary leaves and sprinkle with sea salt then bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven abd brush with the remaining olive oil before serving warm.

Note you can freeze this superb bread by double wrapping in greaseproof paper and foil before freezing until needed.

Find other italian ideas (and yes Italian is one of my favourite cuisines), in my previous blog italian-style baked red pepper or try this recipe in my blog traditional soda bread recipe or you could try my peppered beef & mushroom tagliatelle recipe in my previous blog easy recipe for a italian supper.