Born and raised in the Italian city of Milan, Luca Ciano inherited his love of food and cooking from his mother and grandmother.
In his first cookbook, Luca's Seasonal Journey, he follows the traditional Italian way of following the seasons, building his recipes around ingredients that are in season.
He has travelled around the world with his work and still believes food tastes best when its in season.
"Call me old-fashioned but I would rather have Mother Nature work her magic.''
Ciano urges people to find seasonal produce at farmers markets, select the best produce and then find a recipe to bring out the flavours.
So, in winter, he concentrates on ingredients like pumpkin, silverbeet, olives, carrots, and fennel creating simple recipes without complicated ingredients and with a twist, like the pumpkin and amaretto biscuit risotto.
Pumpkin and amaretto biscuit risotto
Serves 5
Ingredients
100g butter, cubed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
350g pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm pieces
300g carnaroli superfino or arborio rice
125ml dry white wine
1.2L vegetable stock, boiling
100g grated parmigiano, reggiano or grana padano cheese
12 amaretti biscuits, crumbled
Method
Melt 20g of butter and oil in a heavy-based saucepan on low heat. Cook onion, stirring, for 5 minutes, until soft and golden. Add pumpkin and stir to coat in butter and oil.
Add rice and stir to coat grains. Stir in wine and heat until evaporated. Add stock one ladle at a time, allowing liquid to absorb between additions, stirring, for 16-18 minutes, until rice is creamy and cooked but still firm to bite.
Remove from heat and stir through cheese, remaining butter and two-thirds of the amaretti biscuits. Stand for 2-3 minutes before serving.
Risotto should look creamy and runny; if not, just add a little more stock.
Preparation 10 mins | Cooking 25 mins
Pear, cloves and chocolate cakes
Serves 8
Ingredients
180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
165g castor sugar
3 eggs
180g all-purpose (plain) flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 lemon, rind, finely grated
3 firm pears, peeled, cored
2 Tbsp raw sugar
60g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa)
1 Tbsp butter, melted
Method
Preheat oven to 180degC.
Grease and line an 8-cup individual serve baking tray approx. 36cm x 24cm x 4cm.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift together flour, baking powder and spices. Fold into butter mixture with lemon rind, until combined.
Chop two pears and mix into batter until combined, add chocolate and stir.
Spoon batter into prepared dish/tins and smooth surface. Slice remaining pear and arrange in a circular pattern over top. Sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Brush top with melted butter.
You may prefer to bake in one tin: either a 22cm pie dish or 20cm round cake tin would be ideal.
Preparation 15 mins | Cooking 45 mins
