Inspired by a trip to Perugia, these recipes are a twist on traditional Italian dishes.

Inspired by a trip to Perugia, these recipes are a twist on traditional Italian dishes.

As an admirer of Patrizia Simone's cooking and her generous nature, I knew I would be in for a treat at her recent residential school in Perugia. Patrizia's parents, aunties and cousins all live in and around our villa and the highlight of my 10 days were the times the house party joined the family - for a pizza evening, a Sunday picnic and our final farewell party.

The Simone family (Patrizia, husband George, and son Anthony) are obsessed with food. There were early morning outings to collect: a smoked goose neck from a nearby chef; some specially harvested red-skin potatoes; a "back-up" of eight kilos of handmade tortellini Patrizia's mother had made (just in case); and some special brodo (a light soup). I also visited the pastry shop to make sure I had my fill of bomboloni, the gorgeous custard-filled doughnuts popular at breakfast.

Other outings took us to the remote hilltop village of Castellucio - its altitude making it perfect for drying smallgoods. The local sheep are all for milking; the blond horses are for eating. The wild chickpeas and lentils had all been harvested, the hills were bare and stony and there was a smell of mint in the air.

We travelled to other hilltop villages - Norcia, Trevi, Assisi and as far as Greve in Chianti to taste traditional dishes made by chefs and aunties: pasta with a percentage of semolina to add texture; ribollita (soup) so thick it was ladled over bread in each bowl and eaten with a fork and spoon; torta testa the cheese-flavoured damper-like bread cooked on an iron plate over a wood fire; potatoes baked in the ashes and served split and doused with olive oil; goose stuffed with pigs liver and braised slowly for hours and served as a crostini; a sciachiatta thickly studded with wine grapes and walnuts; and modern interpretations of traditional combinations such as eggplant rolled with roasted peppers around mozzarella and grilled; rabbit stuffed with olives; and stunning pasta with grated zucchini.

The pizza night had all the women lined up making the toppings - slicing potatoes, peeling capsicum, slicing eggplant, grating truffles, slicing porcini. Giant pillows of risen dough were shaped and thrust into a brick oven. In less than five minutes we were helping ourselves. Pizza cutters are unknown; the women used scissors. There were some astonishing conversations between the Italians and the Australians despite there being no common language but there was lots of back-slapping and laughter, and a few glasses of Alberto's homemade wine.

The family has built a permanent shelter and brick oven and fireplace at its own picnic spot on land bordered by scrub oaks and broom, with the ridged Apennines in the distance. I was intrigued by the barbecue procedure. They shovel the coals from the huge oven to a flat bed of concrete and settle iron grilles right down onto these white-hot coals and fan the coals as the food cooks. The grills contained skewered chicken, ribs of pork, sausages and chunks of pig liver wrapped in pancetta. While the meats cooked, the women served pasta to 35, cooked all at once in a copper-sized pot on a portable gas jet. Once lifted into serving bowls - gigantic - it was tossed with a generous mix of grated parmesan and Umbrian summer truffles.

After lunch, the food lovers in the group went truffle hunting with a local expert who later turned out to be a pastry chef. The dog found three truffles in several minutes.

The final party was back at the villa. We had porchetta and salads and cakes. There were strings of lights in the courtyard and a local trio with keyboard. Everyone danced from the eight-year-olds to the 70-year-olds and I waltzed with an older gent and wondered when I had ever been whirled around a floor (and a brick floor at that) with so much skill.

We were so privileged to have been invited into a warm and loving family and made so welcome.

A million thanks to Patrizia, George and Anthony - my perfect hosts.

What are your favorite Italian recipes?