Biscotti

As a teenager, still living in London with my parents, I was fortunate that they both had a flair for good food. We travelled abroad on holiday most years and Mum, I think, was inspired in the kitchen by those visits to Europe. They both loved to watch Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) on TV but Dad never got the urge to actually cook but - like most men of his generation - he carved the meat and made 'all the right noises' when a plate was presented to him at table.

My father also travelled overseas quite a lot with work, mainly to Italy, and we were always treated to something special on his return. Sometimes he brought wine or liquers, Italian chocolates, or pasta made into a shape never seen in our local Sainsbury, but my favourites were white paper bags full to the brim with almond biscotti. These hard, crunchy, biscuits were produced when my parents had dinner parties and were used as a final course - 'dunked' into sweet marsala wine. Yummy!

I don't know why I have never attempted to actually make these biscuits and, whilst sitting in a coffee shop recently and dipping one into a skinny latte, I thought I must try this very week to cook a batch. So, when home, I had a quick scout of my cookery books and stumbled across a recipe - in a WeightWatchers book entitled 'Cook' - for coffee and pistachio biscotti and the photo is the result. For me, a taste memory revisited with fondness.