We’ve been growing some veg and salad on our little balcony here off Essex Road, and today’s dinner was improvised from whatever was ripe. It so happens that the colours were those of the Italian flag, so with gratitude to the people of Italy and their inspiring food culture, and in solidarity with the people of central Italy who lost so much last week, I’m naming the result Risotto Amatrice.

You can donate to the relief fund here.

To order your deck of 50 Essex Road recipes along with a booklet of tips on improvising with food, click here

(WordPress is pretty useless when it comes to uploading video, even with the premium plan, so to see how to make Risotto Amatrice go to the Essex Road Recipes Facebook page)

Buon appetito!