36 11 APRIL 2024 Weekending ‘Vivir Tequila Añejo [£53/70cl, selected stores] has rich co ee notes that make a fantastic espresso martini – just use in place of vodka in the recipe’ JOHN VINE Partner & spirits buyer April PERFECT NOW Asparagus, Jersey royals and new potatoes, Muscat grapes, purple sprouting broccoli, radishes, rhubarb (outdoor), salad onions, speciality mangoes, spring cabbages, stringless Helda beans ON THEIR WAY Cauli owers, celery, early carrots, cucumbers, spinach, strawberries, watercress In season The ‘nonna’ of the title is the author’s mother, Livia, who arrived in Australia from Italy as a young bride in 1950. “This book is a collection of dishes that Mamma made – our family recipes and those inspired by her,” writes Paola. It includes hearty family Sunday lunches, such as ricotta and spinach cannelloni with roasted tomatoes, and fettucine served with Livia’s veal and mushroom ragù. “She would make it weekly to last for several meals and be eaten with pasta, risotto, or thick slices of bread for dunking,” recalls Paola. Then there are tempting, resourceful veg dishes such as her peperonata – red peppers, courgettes and onion in a bay-scented tomato sauce. And Livia’s puddings aren’t to be sni ed at either, from her amaretti and chocolate semifreddo to the simple crostata with jam that she would serve to the infant Paola and her playmates for tea. At Nonna’s Table Paola Bacchia SECOND-GENERATION COOKBOOKS “My parents are Macedonian, but I was born in Crawley, so I’m British,” writes Spasia. She founded Mystic Burek, rst as a supper club and now as a south London bakery, to bring the food culture of the Balkans to wider acclaim. Her debut book highlights the Mediterranean and Eastern European in uences at play in North Macedonian cooking. Dishes such as her moussaka and gibanica, the egg and cheese lo pie that’s the taste of home she misses the most, hint at Greek or even Turkish roots. Snezhanka is a dill- ecked Bulgarian salad of labneh, feta, cucumber and walnuts, served with an anchovy-laced version of Italian panzanella. And there are Levantine accents to her burek (minced beef-stu ed lo pie) and kjufte (think kofte), served with oregano-seasoned chips, a spicy tomato sauce and feta. Balkan elements include the use of vegeta, a savoury seasoning that avours her chicken wings, kebabs and much else. Then there are the region’s classic red pepper sauces, avjar (with aubergine) and ljutenica (with tomatoes). “Both are relish royalty to us,” writes Spasia. Doma Spasia Pandora Dinkovski Actor Kaya Scodelario declares her visit to the Dish podcast studio as the “best day of her life”, as hosts Angela Hartnett and Nick Grimshaw serve a three-cheese hedgehog garlic bread (“I want to put my face in it”), followed by tagliatelle with cavolo nero, anchovies and pangrattato. The former Skins star talks about the Brazilian food of her childhood (her mother is from São Paulo), her role as a crime boss in Net ix series The Gentlemen and how costar Ray Winstone helped her overcome imposter syndrome. waitrose.com/dish KAYA’S RAY OF SUNSHINE Photograph: S:E Creative Studio, Manish Doolabh
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