Penelope Green: recipe for success

‘You cannot fail. I’d be surprised if you do. You just can’t go wrong,’ author Penelope Green assured me when I told her I was making the torta caprese (capri cake) she recommends in her latest travel memoir, Girl By Sea.

But, fail I did! (Yes, that picture is supposed to resemble cake). Not for a minute, however, do I blame Penelope's recipe. After all, I have been known to create inedible cookies from pre-made cookie dough.

Never mind the cracking, crumbling sides of my torta caprese, it's the baking paper stuck fast to the bottom that had me perplexed.

Mind you, my kids weren't fussed by the cake's tattered appearance and literally inhaled the chocolatey-fudge goodness, paper and all.

Fortunately, this was not the first recipe in Penelope's book that I attempted, otherwise I may have chucked in the tea towel there and then.

The first one I made was the calamaro imbottito (stuffed calamari); which I have since gone on to make numerous times, each with resounding success.

After following Penelope's recipe with the precision of a sharpshooter, I was able to serve up my handsome, exotic stuffed squid with new found confidence and flair.

Buoyed by this success, I went on to whip up the polpette al sugo (meatballs in tomato sauce) - in the kitchen of our 16-foot caravan whilst holidaying, I might add - and finocchi al gratin (baked fennel).


Once again, by sticking to Penelope's simple, step-by-step processes, I was able to create dishes that gave me license to puff out my chest and parade my masterpieces to my discerning family.


Hell, I even whipped up a delicious penne all' arrabbiata (penne pasta with chilli tomato sauce) despite having only three of the six ingredients Penelope listed.

Okay, so it probably couldn't officially be called penne all' arrabbiata with half the ingredients missing, but by sticking to Penelope's advice of reducing the sugo (sauce) to a thick liquid, I did manage to produce another meal that elicited lots of yums.

Value adding for wider appeal

When I mentioned to Penelope during a recent interview that I was enjoying myself immensely - and improving my Italian cooking skills - by trying out her recipes, she was thrilled.

When she wrote Girl by Sea as a travel book about the small Italian island of Procida, she realised she could add value to readers by including 12 authentic Procidan recipes.

"I just thought it was logical given that there is a lot about the (Procidan) cuisine... in the book. I think for people who love food, it is a bonus."

Girl by Sea is Penelope's third book that showcases her experiences as an Australian journalist living in Italy. The first was When in Rome, and the second, See Naples and Die. More than 100,000 copies have been sold to date.

Penelope began her career as an author purely by accident. She was scouted by publishers shortly after writing a feature article about Italy in a Sunday newspaper in Sydney.

"I wrote (the article) in a very self-deprecating way. (It was) about all the things that happen to you when... you go to another country without knowing anyone and without knowing the language or having a job," she says.

"I was quite blown away by it all. I hadn’t expected it."

"Obviously it must have appealed to people, because within two days of it being published I had received three or four emails from publishers asking if I would write a book. I was quite blown away by it all. I hadn’t expected it."

With When in Rome, Penelope relied on her memory and diary entries to tell the story. But when it came to writing See Naples and Die, it was a very different process.

"When in Rome was very... honest. It shows you just how tough it can be trying to set up life in another country," she says.

"With See Naples and Die, I went about it very methodically, and interviewed a hell of a lot of people... putting facts in and giving a history of the mafia there.

"With Girl by Sea, I’d been living there a couple of months and I was thinking, 'I want to do this (write a book)'. I have that curiosity for life (and) I kept bumping into people who I thought had ripper tales."

Although Penelope has obviously honed her research, interview and writing skills throughout her career as a journalist, she doesn't believe these are prerequisites for anyone wanting to write a travel memoir.

"If you have a love for creative writing, and writing in general, and people tell you that write ripper emails and letters... that is a good start," she says.

"You just need that insatiable curiosity. I think people respond to that. I would say to anyone who thinks they have a story to tell to start bashing a keyboard and see what they come up with."

It is that same curiosity that has led Penelope to try her hand at a new genre: fiction.

"My next book will definitely not be a memoir. I have a few ideas, but I haven’t worked out which one I am going to go with yet," she says.

Naturally, there will be an Italian character or a slice of Italy in the book though.

"Oh yes, there will be a piece of Italy in there. I just find it so interesting to write about."

Girl by Sea,
Life, love and food on an Italian island
By Penelope Green
Published by Hachette Australia
October 2009

For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/