Today we’re celebrating the release of Vegetables the Italian Way: Turning Simple and Fresh into Extraordinary.

In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of the book: how it was born from years of cooking classes, conversations, and questions from students and readers.

This is not a vegetarian cookbook. It’s a book about how we truly cook and eat in Italy, where vegetables are at the centre of the table, shaped by seasonality, simplicity, and everyday habits.

I’ll also share the 5 ideas that define the book and might change the way you cook vegetables at home.

✨ In this episode, you’ll hear about:

- Why vegetables are often missing from Italian restaurant menus

- What “vegetable-forward” really means in Italian cooking

- How Italian home cooking differs from what you see when travelling

- Why overcooking vegetables is sometimes the key to flavour

- How to balance bitterness and make it delicious

- What it means to think of Italian cooking as a “grammar”

- How this book was tested and shaped in real cooking classes

Read more about Vegetables the Italian Way here:

* Vegetables the Italian Way: cover reveal & the story behind the book

* 5 things to know about Vegetables, the Italian way

Find it wherever books are sold, or purchase your copy here:

https://en.julskitchen.com/cookbooks/vegetables-the-italian-way

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

After being asked to define my cooking style, I realised that none of the usual labels — creative, healthy-conscious, rule-breaking — truly fit.

The word I was looking for was simpler: traditional.

In this episode, a natural continuation of the one dedicated to my nonna Marcella, I reflect on the kind of tradition I stand for: one rooted in seasonality, rural knowledge, emotional rituals, and collective memory.

From Carnival sweets to grape focaccia in September, from foraging wild herbs to kneading bread that marks the passing of time, this is the tradition I stand for.

The podcast now lives inside the newsletter on Substack, where you’ll find all the links to the recipes mentioned in this episode and can join the conversation by leaving a comment.

Recipes and dishes mentioned:

- Cenci and frittelle for Carnival

- Pici from Val d’Orcia

- Sicilian biancomangiare

- Castagnaccio

- Tuscan Chickpea flour cake

Nocino

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

After a long break, Cooking with an Italian Accent is back.

In this episode, I share a personal letter and a goodbye to my nonna Marcella, who passed away last year at almost 97. Through old family videos, memories of Easter lunches, homemade tagliatelle, and everyday gestures, I reflect on how she shaped my way of cooking, eating, and understanding tradition.

This is an episode about food memories, grief and gratitude, and about tradition as something alive — not frozen in time, but carried forward through cooking.

The podcast now lives inside the newsletter on Substack, where you’ll find all the links to the recipes mentioned in this episode and can join the conversation by leaving a comment.

Recipes and dishes mentioned:

- her flawless lasagne

- her rice pudding cake

- her bignè alla crema

- her tagliatelle with tomato paste, oregano, prosciutto cotto and cream

- the very best stuffed round zucchini

- extra creamy pasta e patate

- the birthday cake she baked me for decades

- candied orange peels dipped in chocolate

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

Italy is often imagined in the golden glow of summer. But what about winter?

In this episode, we explore ten vignettes of Italy in the low season—from misty medieval towns to empty beaches, from seasonal markets to winter festivals.

Let’s paint a different picture of Italy, one filled with mystery, comfort food, and quiet beauty.

This episode is hosted on Substack, so join the conversation here: https://julskitchen.substack.com/p/italy-in-the-low-season

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, I’m asking you to skip Florence on your next trip to Tuscany.

I’m sharing my two cents on tourism and overcrowded destinations, but I would love to know your thoughts on this, as well.

We talk about travelling during the low season and your option to slow down and enjoy the provincial life of a small town. 

We introduce our immersive three-day seasonal cooking masterclass: https://en.julskitchen.com/tuscan-cooking-classes#threeday

Our Colle Val d’Elsa foodie guide: https://en.julskitchen.com/other/travel/where-to-eat-in-colle-val-d-elsa

So now listen to the episode and join the conversation online on our newsletter Letters from Tuscany on Substack: https://julskitchen.substack.com/p/why-im-asking-you-to-skip-florence

Find me online >> Newsletter: www.lettersfromtuscany.com | Blog: www.julskitchen.com | Instagram: https://instagram.com/julskitchen/ 

Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb  

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, after a year of absence, I tell you a little bit more about the things that have happened:

- This podcast is not dead, it is just on a break.

- Our newsletter on Substack, Letters from Tuscany, is where most of our writing and recipes will live from now on.

- For the past two years, we’ve been working on a new cookbook, Cucina Povera, The Italian Way of Transforming Humble Ingredients into Unforgettable Meals. It will be released in April 2023.

So now listen to the episode and join the conversation online on our newsletter www.lettersfromtuscany.com on Substack.

Preorder our cookbook Cucina Povera here.

 Find me online at www.julskitchen.com or on Instagram https://instagram.com/julskitchen/ 

 Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

The best way to understand the Tuscan pastry art is to have a walk in Siena with an open mind, following the trail of spices, paying attention to the colours and to the ingredients of the baked goods arranged in the shop windows of bakeries, cafés, and pastry shops.
The Tuscan pastry art isn’t show stopping, elegant, refined or elaborate, as you would say of the French patisserie or oven of the Southern Italian pastry art of Sicily and Naples.
In this episode, we will delve into the Tuscan pastry art, discovering how seasonal it is, how strongly related to Cucina Povera, and how it shows a lasting influence of Medieval and Renaissance ingredients, spices, and traditions.

So now listen to the episode, join the conversation online, and enjoy this little taste of Tuscna sweet treats.

Recipes mentioned in this episode:
- Schiacciata con l’uva: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/grape-focaccia
- Pan co’ Santi: https://en.julskitchen.com/bread/pan-co-santi
- Cenci: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/carnival-fried-dough-the-tuscan-cenci
- Rice fritters: https://en.julskitchen.com/tuscany/italian-carnival-rice-fritters
- Schiacciata alla Fiorentina: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/schiacciata-alla-fiorentina-a-sweet-flatbread-for-carnival
- Quaresimali: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/cookies/quaresimali-florentine-cookies-for-lent
- Pan di Ramerino: https://en.julskitchen.com/tuscany/pan-di-ramerino
- Schiacciata di Pasqua: https://en.julskitchen.com/tuscany/tuscan-schiacciata-sweet-easter-bread
- Necci: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/necci-tuscan-chestnut-pancakes
- Castagnaccio: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/castagnaccio-chestnut-cake
- Scarpaccia: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/a-tuscan-sweet-zucchini-cake
- Alchermes: https://en.julskitchen.com/drink/home-made-alchermes
- Zuccotto: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/tuscan-zuccotto
- Zuppa Inglese: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/zuppa-inglese-as-afternoon-break
- Cantucci: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/cookies/tuscan-biscotti
- Cavallucci: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/cookies/cavallucci-tuscan-cookies
- Ricciarelli: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/ricciarelli-siena-almond-cookies
- Panforte: https://en.julskitchen.com/dessert/tuscan-panforte-a-spicy-cake-from-siena

Find me online at www.julskitchen.com or on Instagram https://instagram.com/julskitchen/

Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode we’re travelling southward, towards the heel of the boot of the Italian peninsula, Salento. Today’s guest is Nina Gigante, a wellness, food, and travel journalist, and a qualified holistic nutritionist.
While we were in Salento to visit Tommaso’s family, I was continuously texting Nina to have advice on where to go, shop, and, guess what, eat. Thanks to her tips we discovered my favourite brioche in Salento.
In the following conversation, you’ll hear us talking about what is home for Nina, what she likes about Mediterranean cuisine, and what to see, where to eat, and what to buy in Lecce. Nina will also give us a tip to visit a less known turquoise lake surrounded by a Martian landscape right there, in Salento.

So now listen to the episode, join the conversation online, and enjoy this little preview of what a holiday in Salento feels like.

Learn more about Nina Gigante here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nina_giga

Find me online at www.julskitchen.com or on Instagram https://instagram.com/julskitchen/

Join our Facebook Group Cooking with Juls’ Kitchen: https://www.facebook.com/groups/775325049335625/

Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, we travel to the mountains to visit my friend Vea Carpi. She is a cook, a farmer, a sourdough baker, and passionate about wool. She has a maso up in the Trentino mountains and an agritourism with her family. We are both from Tuscany, but we met there, in her farmstead, where we were greeted as part of her family. We attended one of her sourdough baking courses and learnt about her life in the mountains.
In the following conversation, you’ll hear us talking about bread and wool, and what they have in common, about Alpine cuisine and local ingredients, about sustainable tourism in the Alps, and day trips to Valle dei Mocheni.

So now listen to the episode, join the conversation online, and enjoy this little preview of what a holiday in Trentino looks and tastes like.

Learn more about Vea Carpi here:
Web site: https://www.masdelsaro.it/en/homepage/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mas_del_saro/
Vea’s book, Pasta Madre: https://masdelsaroshop.bigcartel.com/product/la-mia-pasta-madre-il-pane-i-dolci-la-vita-in-montagna-ed-raetia-2020

Find me online at www.julskitchen.com or on Instagram https://instagram.com/julskitchen/

Join our Facebook Group Cooking with Juls’ Kitchen: https://www.facebook.com/groups/775325049335625/

Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, as promised, we have a guest that will guide us through one of the most beautiful Italian regions. This region recently filled your imagination with postcard-like maritime views, bowls of trofie al pesto and Vespa rides thanks to the latest Disney Pixar movie, Luca. Today we’ll go to Liguria.
Today’s guest is Enrica Monzani, known online as A small kitchen in Genoa, food writer, soon cookbook author, and cooking class instructor in her beautiful hometown, Genoa.

We talk about Liguria, Cinque Terre, and other Ligurian hidden gems, about recipes and anchovies, lots of anchovies, about Genova and its street food. Enrica also gives us a little anticipation about the cookbook she is writing: mark your calendar because you’ll want that book.

So now listen to the episode, join the conversation online, and enjoy this little preview of what a holiday in Liguria tastes like.

Learn more about Enrica Monzani here:
Web site: https://www.asmallkitcheningenoa.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asmallkitcheningenoa/

Find me online at www.julskitchen.com or on Instagram https://instagram.com/julskitchen/

Join our Facebook Group Cooking with Juls’ Kitchen: https://www.facebook.com/groups/775325049335625/

Podcast realized by https://instagram.com/tommyonweb

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe