An Italian-themed Kitchen Trotter box

This month's Kitchen Trotter box arrived this week - where would it be transporting us this time?

The first thing I saw when I took off the lid was the bonus gadgets and they gave the game away - a book about different types of pasta and a spaghetti measurer. There was no doubt about it - this month's destination is Italy. My initial instinct was to be slightly underwhelmed - Italian cuisine is probably one of the more well-known world cuisines, even if many people don't get beyond pizza, pasta and risotto. I was hoping that Kitchen Trotter would have sourced some lesser known ingredients and recipes for us to discover though.

Diving into the box, I plucked out some dried grilled courgettes and some turmeric and coriander biscuits. Not sure yet if these will be just snacky things or incorporated into recipes.

I also discovered some pistachio cream, dried sage, white truffle essence and orzo soup mix. Not a hint of pasta in sight ! So what will we be eating ?

As a starter, grilled courgette involtini.

A Tuscan barley soup.

Veal Milanese with sage and sweet and sour onions

"Looks like boobs", giggled Pierre, when he saw the recipe for semifreddo with Sicilian pistachio cream.

This box also includes the instructions and materials for making some bunting with the enclosed map-printed paper.

There's also a bonus recipe for a fat-burning smoothie. I don't believe it would be any good at fatbusting but it sounds delicious - fresh pineapple, mango, lime and orange juice.

 We'll be travelling for real over the summer, discovering Lanzarote and visiting family on both sides of the Channel, so I probably won't get a chance to try out any of the Italian box until the end of August. I'll be back to share the recipes with you once I've made them though.