Rachel Roddy’s recipe for courgette, onion and chickpea flour bake, or scarpaccia | A kitchen in Rome
Courgette and chickpea flour fritter-pancakes that take inspiration from both the Renaissance and the modern TikTok ageLike millions of people all over the world, ideas are often planted in my head by a couple called Alessandro Vitale and Iasmina P, whose fast-paced videos document recipes they have developed based on the vegetables they grow, with the objective of using absolutely everything. Edited for social media, their videos are designed not just to attract, but to trap attention in a TikTok spell, then communicate a rush of information in a matter of seconds. However, within the well-calculated rush of decisive movements and fishbowl close-ups, Alessandro (otherwise known as Spicy Moustache) is a hugely likable, calm and good teacher.For months now, his enthusiastic and entertaining approach to a vegetable or process has sent me into the kitchen to grate something and rub it with salt, to turn into a fritter or cake. “Such a vivid thing for us today,” is what Jane Grigson said about the ideas of Giacomo Castelvetro, the 16th-century proponent of vegetables and author of The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy (1614), and I think the same can be said about Alessandro. Continue reading...

Courgette and chickpea flour fritter-pancakes that take inspiration from both the Renaissance and the modern TikTok age
Like millions of people all over the world, ideas are often planted in my head by a couple called Alessandro Vitale and Iasmina P, whose fast-paced videos document recipes they have developed based on the vegetables they grow, with the objective of using absolutely everything. Edited for social media, their videos are designed not just to attract, but to trap attention in a TikTok spell, then communicate a rush of information in a matter of seconds. However, within the well-calculated rush of decisive movements and fishbowl close-ups, Alessandro (otherwise known as Spicy Moustache) is a hugely likable, calm and good teacher.
For months now, his enthusiastic and entertaining approach to a vegetable or process has sent me into the kitchen to grate something and rub it with salt, to turn into a fritter or cake. “Such a vivid thing for us today,” is what Jane Grigson said about the ideas of Giacomo Castelvetro, the 16th-century proponent of vegetables and author of The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy (1614), and I think the same can be said about Alessandro. Continue reading...