ITALIAN FOODIES

                                      

this is the casa:

                                  

this is the view from the casa:

                                

we ate lots of local rustic food:

                                           

helped digest it with lots of this;)

                                                

we took lots of passegiatta:

                                

oh and we rented a car but they were all out of Fiat Punto;)

                                         

lots of detailed posts to come but the bags are still unpacked, the child hasn’t been washed in days and there is still a half bottle of home-made limoncello to be drank so you’ll just have to wait;)

Ciao!!

Happy Easter everyone, see you all in a week when I return from “Italia”!!

Ciao

L
xx

                                    

There seems to be a bit of a competition going on in the Italian foodie house at the moment as to who is the sickest, the princess is definitely winning in the moaning section followed closely by me and then a little bit behind surprisingly is Bru!! The 3 of us picked it up on our trip to Canterbury for the “wedding of the year” from the bride, father of the bride and mother of the bride, yes we were all sick on the day of the wedding!! My poor sister was so sick I don’t know how she got through the day, all I can say is thank god for fake tan and false eyelashes, she looked stunning, and the 3 of us “brideslaves”;) scrubbed up pretty well too so I heard anyway:). I will do a post on it when I have some pics, the venue was fab even though it didn’t stop raining once that day which was such a disappointment as the hotel was set on the most amazing grounds, lake, swans, you name it, it had it but more of that later!! In case you didn’t know we’re off to Italy on Sunday and a really bad flu is not something I had planned on packing so there is no fancy recipe today just a big pot of minestrone soup to try and fight this flu along with every drug possible;) There are so many different minestrone recipes out there, I’ve already posted one here but this is the one I normally make!!

what you need:

 - 1 onion finely diced

 - 1 clove garlic finely chopped

 - 1 carrot diced

 - 2 sticks celery diced

 - 1 large potato diced

 - 1 courgette or 4 baby courgettes diced.

 - tenderstem broccoli(optional)

 - sprig of thyme

 - bay leaf (optional) it was too wet to go down the back garden to the bay leaf tree, hey I was wearing my new white Nike’s!!!!:)

 -  200g frozen peas

 - 1 litre chicken or veg stock

 - olive oil

 - knob of butter

 - sea salt and black pepper.

 
 

what to do:

 - fill the base of your pot with olive oil and heat with your butter.

 - add your onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and cook for about 10 mins until softened but not coloured.

 - add your stock and potatoes, season and cook for a further 10 mins, add your courgettes, peas and broccoli and cook for another 5-10 mins until all your veg is soft.

 - check your seasoning and serve with grated Parmesan or pecorino and some flat leaf parsley on top.

                                               

buon appetito!!

p.s. the fabulous Marie and Maryann are hosting a great blogging event called “Festa Italiana” which I had planned on making something “fabulous” for this week but that’s obviously gone out the window so sorry “Ladies”. You can have my pot of “wholesome goodness” if it’s not too boring???:)

p.p.s. I shall be thinking of you all while eating and drinking my way through the south of Italy, don’t worry I’ll take lots of pics just to rub it in a little more:)

Ciao

L
xx

                                      

First up we have a new menu in La Cucina with new prices(sorry) and a new range of pizzas!! In relation to the price increase there is nothing we can do as the cost of everything just keeps going up and up, we really should have had the increase last September but we held out as long as we could! I wonder where it is all going to go as the margins on food are getting tighter and tighter and the price to the consumer is getting higher and higher, it really needs to level out!! Things like pizza cheese, pasta, pizza flour, oil, cleaning products etc have taken huge price hikes, nearly double in some cases so unfortunately we have to pass it on, someone has to pay for the Ferrari;)

We have changed our pizza menu a bit and added a few more Italian pizzas but the old reliables are still available for the “non believers” so don’t worry we haven’t banished pineapple or chicken “yet”!! These are a few of the newbies:

 - bufala: buffalo mozzarella, vine cherry tomatoes, oregano and basil.

 - capricciosa: ham, mushrooms, olives and artichokes.

 - puttanesca: anchovies, black olives and capers.

 - tonno e cipolle: tuna, red onion and capers.

 - fiorentina: spinach, parmesan and egg.

 - calabrese: italian sausage, pepperoni, peppers and chilli.

all are served with home-made tomato sauce and mozzarella!!

                           

Now the wedding, my sister is getting married on Sunday in Canterbury and yours truly is bridesmaid even though I’m the worst as I’m a bit allergic to the whole wedding thing!! Me and Bru are together 16 years and still not married - I put it down to commitment issues;) maybe some day, in Italy of course and you’ll all be invited:) I will be absent for the next week I’m afraid, I know, I know you give me an award and then I just up and leave but hey I do have a life “sometimes”:). We come back next week and then we’re jetting off to “Italia” yahooooo but I’ll post before I go!!

Ciao

L
xxx

                                   

So, the novelty of sleeping with my award has worn off and I only shine it every 2 hours instead of every hour now;) and it has been returned to La Cucina and put in it’s place of pride on the shelf  beside the Mulino Bianco biscuits for everyone to marvel at! I don’t think anyone has even noticed it, they are too distracted by Laura’s damn cupcakes:) The princess is better even though she’s about half the size she was last week from not eating and she has passed it onto Bru so he was on dry toast and boiled risotto rice yesterday so I was eating alone!! I always notice this about Italians, they always know what to eat for different ailments whereas I stay in denial and still have chocolate biscuits when I’m sick just to cheer myself up whereas Bruno won’t even put butter on his toast but I still would. Bruno’s family always eat boiled risotto rice with just a drop of olive oil for an upset tummy whereas I still want to add Parmesan but they aren’t even tempted because it will disagree with their stomach, they cure everything with food before medicine whereas we tend to go straight to the chemist!!

 I was in the mood for pasta but not interested in doing anything too difficult when cooking for one so I had a quick look through my selection of cookbooks, the majority purchased in Tk Maxx at a quarter of the price. My newest addition is ”Fresh Italian” by Marina Filipelli which is a good enough book, the photos are very good and she gives nutritional analysis and healthy tips on all the recipes but I just didn’t find anything new or very exciting about it but it’s still a good one for the collection!! 

I spotted this recipe and it’s very similar to a recipe we do with prawns but I liked the idea of using sea bass for a change as it is a fish I would never put with pasta. I have to say it was absolutely delicious and I loved it and will  definitely be making it again for 2 the next time. Bruno looked a bit depressed to be honest while I was ooing and ah-hing while stuffing my face beside him while he drank some more flat 7up!!:)

                                           

what you need for 2:

 - 2 sea bass: I got mine in Superquinn and got them to fillet them for me so I would use 2 fillets per person as they were not that big. Remove the meat from the skin and chop into small chunks.

 - 250g sweet tomatoes: I used the San Marzano plum tomatoes from Italy available in SQ which are really good, sometimes Dunnes have them too!! If you can’t get your hands on any you can use a tin of tomatoes, the De Cecco pomodorini are really good but add a teaspoon of sugar if using tinned tomatoes.

 - 1/4 tsp dried chili

 - 1 garlic clove

 - tbsp flat leaf parsley chopped

 - 125ml dry white wine

 - olive oil

 - salt

 - pasta: I used Cordellia fresh tagliatelle that we sell in packets in La Cucina but you can use dried spaghetti or tagliatelle too.

what to do:

 - if you are using fresh tomatoes you need to skin them so bring a small pot of water to the boil and put your tomatoes in for about 2 minutes and drain. Leave to cool and peel the skin off and chop.

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and your pasta and cook until al dente.

 - fill the base of a deep pan with olive oil and cook your garlic clove until brown and remove, add your chili flakes and remove from heat for a couple of mins.

 - add your tomatoes and put back on heat, add your wine and a little sea salt and cook for about 10 mins over a medium heat until sauce thickens up.

 - when your pasta is almost ready add your fish and parsley to your sauce and cook for about 3-4 mins. The fish cooks quite fast so don’t cook for too long.

 - add the drained pasta and a little of the water to the sauce and mix together and cook for a couple of mins and serve.

 - I served mine with a little rocket on top and a squeeze of lemon juice which added a nice bite and flavour to the dish. Just to really annoy him I washed it down with a big glass of chilled Pinot Grigio:)

                                           

buon appetito!!

                                                            
                                                                                               

So everything has calmed down and returned to normal, I had to do a phone interview with a local paper this morning regarding the win which was pretty cool and any press we get from the award is great for the shop. The princess is still sick so there hasn’t been much cooking going on and the only reason I’m posting now is because of that bloody “champions league”, I lose all rights to the remote on Tues and Weds(proper order I hear Bruno shout) so I’m all yours:) I wanted to do another post on London as we ate in a few other good places and had some tasty cocktails along the way as you can see above.

We stayed in the Cumberland Hotel which turned out to be in a great location, it’s at the top of Oxford St at Marble Arch so it’s right beside the tube station. It’s a pretty cool and funky hotel as you can see from the photo and seems to be used mostly by business people, there were lots of conferences going on. The rooms are a bit disappointing especially when both the safe and the heating don’t work but in saying that when staying in London you are only using the room for sleep and although they are small and decorated in a strange turquoise Ikea style they are perfect if you are in London for a short break, Gary Rhodes restaurant is located in the hotel and Locatelli’s is just around the corner.

I love London and the variety of food on offer always amazes me, there is every type of cuisine possible. As usual we tried to fit as many eating establishments into 1 day which resulted in complete savagery and over-eating which in turn resulted in no room for dessert in Locatelli’s and I soooo wanted the Amedei chocolate tasting selection, I will live to regret this until my dying day!!!  The day of overindulgance went something like this

 - arrived on Oxford st and had a very good cappuccino and croissant at Fratteli cafe down one of the side streets near Topshop!!

 - lunch at Tootsies, although this is a huge chain in the UK the quality of food is pretty good. It’s simple casual dining focusing on breakfast,  light bites like chicken wings and nachos, burgers, steak sandwiches etc. Gourmet dining it isn’t but it’s great with a group of friends for a casual bite with a couple of beers. I wish we had more options like that here in Ireland, casual dining is really lacking.

 - an espresso and limoncello at Bar Italia in Soho which were a little bit disappointing but then I think people just go there because it’s so famous so it’s still worth a visit for Italian foodies.

                                                  

 - a couple of really good mojitos as pictured above at Meza bar in Soho, Floridita is also located here.

 - at this stage you would think we would have stopped and saved ourselves for Locatellis but no there was sushi to be had!!! We’ve never had sushi, I know we probably lead a sheltered life but it’s not readily available this side of the country so we couldn’t leave London without doing so! We headed into Yo Sushi which is a very popular chain in the UK, the staff are really friendly and ask if you’ve been before and would you like some help so you are instantly put at ease. Luckily my sister is a regular so she took the reigns with great pride, makes a big change for us to know nothing about the food we are about to eat so she loved it!! I don’t know how good this chain is compared to “authentic” sushi bars but I really enjoyed the whole experience. You basically pick either hot dishes from the menu or choose cold dishes from the conveyor belt, deciding what to have was the most difficult decision as there is so much choice. The plates are all colour coded and you pay by colour, we had a few different plates to try as many as we could and really enjoyed everything.

                    

                     

 - Locatelli’s for dinner, a couple of bombay g&t’s at the hotel bar and then rolled myself and my 5 bellies into bed.

We had a few hours to kill the next morning before our flight back home so more “food researching” was done!!

 - breakfast at Napket which turned out to be the coolest deli I’ve ever been to. It’s design is “boutique chic” with a fantastic selection of take-away sandwiches, salads, desserts. It is really small but is so well thought out it is definitely worth a visit. Their slogan is “snob food” and even the plastic knives and forks are black and very posh!! I loved it!! Sorry about the pics but they even had a sign up that no cameras allowed!!

 

 - lunch at gbks for the best burgers ever!!

 - flew home and haven’t eaten since;)

                                       

me me me me me me me me and oh me!!!! I have just picked up my little trophy from Maz at La Cucina so it finally feels real that I won. I have to say a big “grazie” to her as she guarded it with her life on the night and transported it safely on the train from Dublin to Limerick, pity the champagne didn’t travel as well;) I’m a bit disappointed that I missed the night as it sounds like they had a great time and if I thought that I had a chance of winning I would have tried to get someone to babysit or else just bribed the princess with a full bag of white buttons  to look after herself;), she still believes only half bags exist - long may it last!! I mentioned in my last post that Bru was at a stag and both grandmothers were out of babysitting action as the MIL works in the restaurant on Saturday nights as it is naturally the busiest and my own mother inconveniently decided to have an operation on her shoulder a few days before, the selfishness:) so I spent the weekend with her intending to give her some help around the house but I think we caused more havoc than anything else. It’s just as well I didn’t go because the princess got the vomiting bug which had been going in the creche so I spent my night cleaning up and comforting her but knowing I had won made it a little easier:)

Laura rang me to tell me the good news and at first I thought she was joking and didn’t believe her but then it sunk in and I did a little celebratory dance around the sitting room. Maz and Val then rang and did a bit of hysterical shouting down the phone, I think they were even more excited than me:) My younger sis ran over to the off license and bought a bottle of pink moet and we all had a little family celebration!!

I really can’t believe I won and am genuinely shocked but absolutely thrilled!! I didn’t think we had a chance as I thought,  because my blog is only about Italian food that not everyone would like it as it’s quite specialised and wouldn’t appeal to the majority but I’m delighted to have been proven wrong!! I often question whether I should be a bit more adventurous with my food as all I basically do is post about our dinners but that’s all I have time for with the princess and the shop but hey if it’s not broken don’t fix it:)!! I would just like to say a big thank you to the judges whoever you maybe - you can have free pizza in La Cucina for life;) and a big thank you to Damien who organised everything and made this night happen. Anyone who doesn’t blog may not realise the time and effort that goes into these blogs so it’s great to have just one night to celebrate this hard work and without Damien this wouldn’t happen so “grazie mille” Damien. And last but not least I have to thank all of you who read my blog everyday because I know it’s the obvious thing to say but without all of you blogs wouldn’t exist, I love getting your comments and feedback or even checking my stats to see how many have visited the site every week so please never underestimate how much your comments and feedback mean to us bloggers!! Ok, now pass me the Kleenex:)

just in case you think the award has gone to my head, there is so much more to learn:)

                                                              

the princess is so proud of her mommy she won’t let it go;)

                                                            

Thanks Everyone

Ciao

Lorraine
xxxxxx

Now unless Laura, Val and Maz are playing the meanest joke in history they have just rang to tell me I’ve won best food blog at the Irish blog awards!!!!! OH MY GOD?????? I’m so shocked, I genuinely can’t believe it!!! I wish I could tell you I’m out celebrating drinking bottles of Crystal but I’m at home in my pj’s with a sick princess, so a quick glass of vino with grandma and grandad is going to have to suffice:) but hey who cares I WON!!!!!!!!

p.s. I’ll post my acceptance speech tomorrow;)