I lived in Florence for seven months, and almost all my memories centre around food. The fresh-out-of-the oven brioche that we’d devour on our way home from the nightclubs, the pastas we’d cook in my tiny, attic apartment, the charred zucchini, mushrooms and smoky eggplant at Enrico’s café around the corner from school, the Linguine al Limone at Harry’s Bar. One of my first meals in Florence was a Ribollita served piping hot at a trattoria in the cellar of a palazzo near the Arno. This recipe, with barlotti beans and cavolo nero, whisked me back. It was Winter when I moved there and Ribollita is the perfect Winter meal. Stale bread, beans, greens –– it’s all so hearty and comforting.

Polenta isn’t everyone’s thing, but I love it; it’s a comforting substitute for rice or potatoes. In the North of Italy, where corn meal is eaten a lot, polenta was known as “poor man’s food” because it was cheap and filling. This recipe here looks delicious. It’s riff on bangers and mash. I rarely cook, but I may just put a pinny on for this.

London-based photographer, Tasos Gaitanos‘ portfolio consists of intense black and white portraits, colourful fine art, and photos of fish, radishes and obscure insects all shot with immense attention to detail. It’s the amusing and surreal Toast Henge series that I am most drawn to. The sense of humour here is in wonderful contrast to his grimey sinks and smoking kills manifesto. Have a look; this mushroom is kind of spectacular.

A Horiatiki without tomatoes is like a Caldo Verde without potatoes. Tomato, tomato, potato, potato –– you may as well call the whole thing off. Tomatoes are the star ingredient in this classic Greek Salad. And with ones as juicy and sweet as those that grow all over Greece, why would anyone substitute them for a lowly pepper? Unless you’re me. I’ve hated tomatoes for as long as I can remember. As a child, I ate my own version of the salad –– peeled cucumbers, Kalamata olives, red onion, oregano, salt, pepper and olive olive oil –– while everyone else’s plates overflowed with plump tomatoes. On days when we’d eat Gemista, there was always a single green pepper stuffed with rice for me, and a platter of stuffed tomatoes for everyone else at the table. To this day, I won’t go near a raw tomato for love or money. I picture summer dinners of beautiful, glossy tomatoes from the garden bathed in olive oil and basil I want to be sick. It’s such a bore, my scorn for tomatoes. All you tomato lovers will salivate over this exquisite ode to the noble fruit. It’s not for me, but it’s just too beautiful not to share.

“Poundcake is a beautiful vessel for ripe summer fruits,” begins this post for fancy strawberry shortcake. Pound cakes date back to the 1700s and were originally made with four pounds of ingredients. There are endless varieties. I personally love a lemon loaf, but this simple strawberry number looks utterly delicious. The more strawberries the better, And don’t hold back on ice cream.