Sicilian King Oyster mushrooms have been utilized in Italian cooking since the Middle Ages.

Italians favoured the mushroom’s umami flavor so much that it was rumored to have been banned by religious officials in the belief that consuming the mushroom would encourage sin.

Oyster mushrooms have a beautiful earthy flavour and pair nicely with almost everything, adding extra texture to every dish. Although Italian cuisine is mostly connected with the porcini mushroom, we decided to break with traditional and present a different version of ‘Pasta ai Funghi’.

Our recipe consists of a creamy sauce carrying the aroma of basil and oregano. The extra bite and character to the dish is provided by oyster mushrooms that are truly the crowning glory of this dish.

Jamaican cuisine is a cocktail of various cooking techniques. It’s a blending of spices and flavours from the indigenous people in Jamaica and the Africans who migrated to the Island.

In Jamaica, stew beans is often prepared using flour dumplings known as “spinners” and is served over plain rice.

Our version with corn dumplings is flavoured with allspice, (called pimento by the native population), which carries a very unique and interesting flavour. Rather than serving it over rice we opted for quinoa, thereby adding another layer of texture to this comforting dish.

Sicilian cuisine is wonderfully unique and shows the myriad of civilizations that have conquered the island.

Famous for it’s fertile soil, which attracted ancient Greeks to it’s shores – Sicily boasts some of the world’s best olives and vines. The influences of the Roman Empire as well as aromatic flavour reminiscent of Arabic cuisine are evident in Sicilian cuisine.

This recipe is a Sicilian classic. We kept it as close to the original as possible. This dish presents a rich, caramel-like sweetness of sultana raisins and contrasts it with the sourness and tartness of capers. The dish is finished with plant-based parmesan and parsley microgreens.

Louisiana hosts an annual Jambalaya Festival that includes local competitions, hundreds of recipe variations, and a massive paella-like pot filled with the dish in highlight.

The origin of the dish is debatable. Some claim it originated in New Orleans while some assign it to the Caribbean. Nevertheless, Jambalaya does seem to be inspired by a mixture of cuisines as varied as Spanish, West African and French.

While this dish originally is made using rice, we opted for a different grain – barley, which offers a slightly nuttier texture.
Mildly spiced, smokey and packed full with flavour. And it only takes one pot to make!