ITALIAN FOODIES

Some of you may be wondering how does this one have time to start another blog while running a business, a house and looking after a child, it’s called FOOTBALL/RUGBY/RYDER CUP. I’ve mentioned before that we have the Italian channels so if we are not watching the Champions League, Internationals, Premiership, UEFA Cup we are watching the Italian version on RAI so rather than sit upstairs watching T.V on my own even though we paid a fortune for the Sky multi-room so that I could do just that but in order to save our relationship I sit on the couch with my laptop on my lap eating a loop de loop as we speak;) I basically don’t watch much T.V.

One thing I have got hooked on though is The Family on Channel 4 on Weds nights, it’s like being a fly on the wall of a normal family living their everyday life and I’m hooked. They are filmed for 100 days and nights, how anybody can do this I don’t know but it’s riveting stuff, I recommend you watch it.. It’s amazing how a normal average family can be so interesting to watch, I think it’s the fact that we can all relate to them, it could be us on the T.V and I think we all love to see how other people live, my favourite is the father, he reminds me of my dad trying to handle 5 women, tough job!! This is why blogging has become so popular I suppose as we all love to get an insight into other people’s lives, well I do anyway, maybe I’m just too nosy;)

Back to the recipe, Jim Flavin my local butcher kindly gave me 2 lovely big juicy T-bones yesterday as a little thank you for mentioning him in my Limerick Leader interview last week so I decided to make this potato bake to accompany it from Ursula Ferrigno’s book “easy italian” which I highly reccomend, it has some really great simple recipes in it. I got my copy in TX Maxx for €6 so if you see it there, buy it!

what you need for 6 - I halved the recipe for the 2 of us.

 - 1 kg of old potatoes such as Maris Piper, King Edward or Pentland Crown. Do not use Kerr Pinks as they will not cook through, believe me, we had a raw potato bake after cooking it for 80 mins:(

 - 25g unsalted butter

 - 125g prosciutto slices

 - 450ml milk

 - 250ml cream

 - 225g parmesan cheese

 - freshly grated nutmeg to taste

 - sea salt and black pepper

what to do:

 - pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees

 - peel the potatoes and slice them really thinly.

 - grease a shallow baking dish with butter.

 - lay the potato slices in the dish overlapping them slightly. Lay the prosciutto slices on top.

 - in a bowl mix together the milk, cream and half the Parmesan cheese and season with nutmeg and salt and pepper.

 - pour the mixture over the potatoes, sprinkle with Parmesan and dot with butter. Repeat and do the same for the second layer.

 - bake in the oven until the potatoes are tender(I wish) for about 45 mins

It was such a shame that the potatoes were raw as it had a lovely cheesy, creamy flavour and would have been delicious if cooked through, I made it today and then re-heated it tonight. It was really fast to make and I will definitely make it again with a different potato, there was a lovely aroma in the house too while it was cooking, it would be great to impress guests when they arrive if having a dinner party:).

buon appetito!!

 

The new place is slowly coming along, we still haven’t signed even though we are nearly there. It’s amazing how much is involved on the legal side and how long it takes. Alessandro is getting impatient as he is dying to get stuck in and get started but it will be another couple of weeks. Once we have signed we are going straight to Rome for 3 or 4 days to meet a couple of wine suppliers and equipment companies. We met with our interior designer and architect last week and they have the restaurant and kitchen layout completed which was really exciting to see. We will be able to seat 80 people inside and about 30 people outside, we want to have an open kitchen and grill so the next step is to meet with the health board and fire chief to see if this is possible. We’ve never used a designer before so it’s really interesting to see how it all works, she had 5 mood boards with different restaurant styles, it’s quite a complicated process and I think we are probably driving her a bit mad as we keep jumping ahead while she is trying to go through the whole process stage by stage, whereas we’re picking chairs off the Internet  etc and we don’t even know what  our theme or style is yet so we’ve calmed down a bit and are leaving it to the experts. This setup is a lot different to La Cucina as it is so big, everyone we have contracted is doing all the work so we are just meeting with them to discuss everything which feels a little strange for us but I’m sure this will all change as we get closer to the time, then the stress begins:)

I have to admit I’m not very adventurous when it comes to salads, I tend to stick to the old reliables likes rocket and Parmesan, french bean & egg, cherry tomato and red onion and Italian green salad. In the summer we rarely cook potatoes and always have a salad with meat or fish so the above can become a bit boring, I recently picked up a copy of Maxine Clark’s “Italian Salads” in Tk Maxx so you’re going to be seeing a lot of salads around here for a while. It’s coming towards the end of the asparagus season so this recipe is great if you are looking for a new way to get your fill before the season ends. I really liked this recipe as it was really simple and I had most of the ingredients in the cupboard already so there is very little involved. This would work great as a starter or just on it’s own with some crusty bread for a light lunch. If you are not a lover of anchovies a simple Italian dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar would work perfectly too!

what you need:

 - 500g asparagus

 - olive oil

 - 4 free range eggs hard-boiled

 anchovy dressing

 - 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 - 4 anchovy fillets in oil, rinsed and drained.

 - 1 tsp salted capers, rinsed.

 - 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

 - freshly ground pepper

what to do:

 - cook your asparagus until tender, drain and rinse under cold water, mix in a little olive oil and set aside - you might be able to see from my pictures that mine are a bit over-cooked, blame the 18 mth old:)

 - to make the dressing mix all the ingredients in a mini- blender until smooth. Season to taste with black pepper.

 - arrange the asparagus on a serving plate, cut the eggs into quarters and place on top with the dressing drizzled over the top.

 - serve and enjoy:)

buon appetito!! 

“foodie watch”
 Superquinn have fresh oregano plants in stock and they are also stocking fresh marjoram in the pre-packed herb selection. My favourite Italian biscuits have also returned “Tortina” - yummmmmmmm!!

p.s what is your favourite biscuit???

Can’t talk, too busy getting a tan so I can look like an Italian:) Just a quick salad recipe for this lovely weather we are having, I love this salad with fish or meat or simply on it’s own with some crusty bread!!!

what you need:

 - fine green beans I used a 250g pack from Superquinn (surprise, surprise)

 - 3 hard boiled eggs

 - 2 boiled potatoes cut into cubes

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - 8 tbsp olive oil

 - 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

what to do:

 - bring a pot of water to the boil, add salt and cook your beans until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water and leave to cool down.

 - cut your eggs into quarters and scatter over the beans.

 - add your potatoes, season and dress with olive oil and vinegar.

 - serve and enjoy the sunshine!!!!:)

buon appetito!!!

p.s I got my new camera last week and it’s still in the box, I haven’t even used it yet it’s been so busy:(

p.p.s. the princess is with the grandparents so mama and papa’ are off on the town - yahooooooo!!! Bring on the hangover!!

Ciao!!

One thing I always love when I’m in Italy is the sauteed greens, I would eat a plate of them on their own with just some crusty bread which I often do when I can’t fit a “secondi”(meat or fish)!! They do a really good version in Bru’s aunt’s restaurant Il Viccolo in Atina. We were actually watching some old home movies on Sunday in Bruno’s house of his Nonno and Nonna’s 50th wedding anniversary when he was about 10. It was so nice to watch as the whole family were there, about 30 of them all dressed up in their 1980’s finery and of course the whole video was taken in a restaurant in the local hotel which is where they still go even now to celebrate family birthday’s etc. This is what I love about Italy as an outsider - the family traditions whereby all generations of the family come together frequently to eat good food and spend quality time together, maybe I have a romantic image of it from the outside looking in or that it just didn’t happen in mine, either way I like it!!. 

That same hotel hasn’t been updated or modernised since and it only costs about €25 a night, my own family stayed there a couple of years back. We’ve eaten there lots of times and to this day they still don’t have a menu or much staff, the dining room is as simple as you can get, no candles or music, the atmosphere is provided by the local families and their “loud” conversations!! It’s run by a local couple, he serves and she cooks and you basically eat whatever she has made that day which for some reason always seems to be an antipasto of parma ham and mozzarella, pasta fagioli and then rabbit done in white wine which I love, bring on the holiday!! I am now counting the days until “I’m leaving on a jet plane” lalalalala (sorry couldn’t help it) - I bet you sang along though;)

As most of you know I live near Superquinn so it is where I do most of my shopping, they all know me at this stage with all the requests and questions I’m always asking. The veg guy just laughs when he sees me on Monday mornings as most of their stock isn’t on the shelves yet so there is always something he has to find for me. My latest request is purple sprouting broccoli as it’s in season and they had it last year so I asked for it last week so I’m waiting in anticipation!! I was delighted to see Kale in stock last week so teamed with spinach I decided to make this dish that I love to have as a “contorno” with fillet steak. 

what you need:

 - spinach & kale  - you can also use swiss chard and purple sprouting broccoli!!!

 - 1 chilli finely chopped

 - 1 garlic clove finely sliced

 - juice of 1 lemon

 - sea salt and black pepper

 - olive oil

what to do:

 - wash your spinach and kale thoroughly, the large leaf spinach tends to be quite dirty.

 - bring a a pot of water to the boil, add salt and cook your greens for 3-5 mins. Drain and rinse under cold water, squeeze out excess liquid and chop.

 - heat some olive oil in a pan, add your garlic and chilli and cook over a low heat until soften. Add your greens, season and saute until heated through.

 - add your lemon juice and serve!!!

                                       
buon appetito!!

Now, before any Piccola customers get too excited this is NOT the recipe for the stuffed mushrooms in the family restaurant La Piccola Italia. The stuffed mushrooms on the restaurant menu are famous, there was even an article about them in one of the Irish newspapers a while back. They also do them in the family restaurant in Atina “Il Viccolo” and Italians come from far and wide for them as they are a family recipe developed by The Mil and Bru’s Zia Theresa so you won’t see them on any other menu in Italy!! They are basically mushrooms stuffed with a meat mixture and served in a creamy red wine sauce, so many people have asked for the recipe over the years but only the family know it and we have all been sworn to secrecy. 

This stuffed mushroom recipe from Ursula Ferrigno is a great accompaniment to a piece of grilled fillet or lamb, it features under the antipasti section but I wouldn’t like them on their own, a piece ot meat compliments them perfectly. I’ve noticed I haven’t featured any meat recipes for a while, my next of couple of posts will be vegetarian but meat will be back on the menu, lamb shanks perhaps???

WHAT YOU NEED:

 - 50g porcini mushrooms

 - 4 large field mushrooms - I used the large breakfast mushrooms from Superquinn.

 - 2 anchovy fillets in oil, drained.

 - 1 garlic clove chopped finely.

 - 100g fresh white breadcrumbs.

 - pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

 - 2 tbsp olive oil

 - handful of chopped flat leaf parsley.

 - sea salt and black pepper.

WHAT TO DO:

 - soak the porcini in warm water for 10 - 15 mins. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

 - pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.

 - remove the stems from the mushrooms.

 - chop the porcini, mushroom stems, anchovies and garlic together. Put in a bowl and add the breadcrumbs, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Don’t add too much salt as the anchovies are quite salty.

 - heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the mushroom and breadcrumb mix and saute for 5 mins.

 - lay the mushroom caps on an oiled baking sheet, hollow side up. Fill with the breadcrumb mixture, sprinkle your parsley on top of each mushroom and drizzle with olive oil.

 - bake for 10-15 mins until soft and serve at room temperature.

We’ve decided that this is the year we open La Cucina no. 2 but it is proving rather difficult!! We want to open in the city centre and would love to have a unit on Thomas St or Bedford Row as it seems to be the new “cafe quarter” and it looks so well since the redevelopment. The only problem is the RENT, it is astronomically high and I know we would have better “foot traffic” in this area but I don’t think you could ever sell enough food to cover all the other costs too. Food business owners always complain about the overheads and I think most people just think we are moaning over nothing. People take the price of food at face value and often question why something is so expensive when the cost of the raw materials are so low and this is true, the cost of making a simple pasta dish is so cheap but it’s everything else that costs so much!!! The profit margins in the food business are soooo low, they average between 3 and 8% and staff costs are huge making up roughly 38% of a business’s turnover!!

BUON APPETITO!!

So my 5 minutes of fame didn’t materialise today, Paulo had to cancel again, does he not realise what a busy Ladeee I am??? All I can say is what a waste of 6 brandies;) It’s still going to happen but I don’t have a definite date yet but when I know you will know! The worst part was that I was all prepared, had my little notes done out and everything, it was like being back at college getting ready for a presentation. In the end I wasn’t as nervous today as I thought I would be but that probably would have all changed once I was in the studio and had a breakdown live in front of the whole country:) I was talking to “THE MIL” yesterday about it and she was looking at me wondering “what the hell has happened to this world???” here was her “IRISH DIL” not even married to her son by the way who used to call gnocchi “yucky” going on national radio talking about Italian food, the one she had to beat Italian food into!! “THE FIL” couldn’t give a damn, I started to tell him in the restaurant while he was sorting out the reservations for Saturday night which is never a good idea anyway and he just walked away while I was mid sentence “do you know Paulo Tullio??” yaaaaaa and he was gone so no brownie points earned there then, DAMN!! these Italians are tough!!!!:)

With all this talk of authentic Italian food I was just watching The Barefoot Contessa, she has the best “pantry” ever, it’s huge and everything looks so organised and in it’s place, I want a cool American pantry for Christmas;)! Tonight’s episode was about pasta, I’m always amazed by the amount of ingredients she uses in everything and the amount of butter and cream but tonight she made pesto and even I was shocked. She used all the regular ingredients but then added walnuts, lemon juice, mayo and loads of pepper to make it “spicy” - WHY??? She made a pesto and pea pasta salad using both farfalle and fusilli?? and then they all ate it on the beach out of Chinese take-away cartons with chopsticks - now she is really pushing it! PAULO!!!!!

This is one of those recipes to use up whatever you have left in the fridge, every time I go to the market I buy too many olives and sun-dried tomatoes etc so this salad is great for using them up! You can add whatever you like to it!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 250g fusilli -
• can Italian tuna
• black olives
• green olives
• cherry tomatoes or sun-dried - we have really good cherry sun-dried tomatoes in La Cucina at the moment.
• 1 bag mozzarella cheese - diced
• basil or flat leaf parsley
• red wine vinegar
• tea spoon mustard
• olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper

WHAT TO DO

 - cook your pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente, drain and leave to cool.

 - mix everything together and ENJOY!!!

BUON APPETITO!!

This is one of those recipes that everybody has probably heard of at some stage of their foodie life but have never actually made it especially in Ireland and that would include me. I’ve seen so many different recipes over the years as there are a lot of different versions, some use aubergines, other use black olives or anchovies but this one from Angela Hartnetts book is just a simple, easy recipe using just peppers and tomatoes so I decided it was time to try it out!! I’ve never had it before as Bruno’s mother always makes a roast pepper salad when using peppers which is absolutely divine, I tried this salad once but myself and the roast peppers did not get on very well. I was about 9 months pregnant carrying the 10 pounder princess( I kid you not and she was a week early)  and I think it took me about an hour to peel the bloody peppers and there were only 4 of them - I might as well have ran a marathon I was so tired after it. All the recipes tell you to cover them with cling film, run them under cold water etc etc to help with the peeling process but nothing worked for me.

Naturally I was traumatised since so I have stayed away from peppers until I was in Aldi last week and saw these lovely long yellow and red peppers - I don’t remember the technical name for them. I have to say Aldi and Lidl do a better selection of vegetables than any Supermarket and everything was from Europe unlike my local Supermarket where the cherries are from the U.S and the asparagus is from Peru???? If Aldi can source from Europe why can’t Dunnes and Superquinn?? In saying that I managed to get into the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and there really is such a great selection of vegetables and I bought way too much of course - I was checking the Silver Spoon for recipes for carrots today I have so many!! It’s a pleasure to actually wash the dirt off the potatoes and carrots instead of taking them out of a pre-packed bag. We were just saying it would be great if the market was a permanent fixture like The English Market in Cork, you would never have to shop for veg in a Supermarket again.

This recipe is really simple but the most important factor in Pepperonata is the cooking time, you have to let it simmer for over an hour to truly get the intense flavours. I made it during the day and then had it that night with some grilled Italian sausage and Italian bread rubbed with some garlic and olive oil - absolutely delicious, even the “MIL” (mother-in-law)would have been proud:)

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 50ml olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 3 red peppers, seeded and chopped into big chunks.
• 3 yellow peppers, seeded and chopped into big chunks.
• 1 x 400g can plum or cherry tomatoes- use an Italian brand if you can!!
• small handful chopped flat leaf parsley
• small handful chopped fresh basil
• salt and black pepper

WHAT TO DO:

 - heat the olive oil in the pan and add the onion. Cook until soft and translucent, but without colouring, this takes about 3-4 mins.

 - add the peppers and cook gently until softened, again avoiding any colouring.

 - season to taste and add the tomatoes. Continue to cook over a low heat until the peppers are soft, this takes about 1 hour and 20 mins. If the peppers look dry add some water, I did this a few times.

 - remove from the pan and stir in your parsley and basil.

- you could serve it with meat, monk fish or just simply with crostini or toasted ciabatta!

BUON APPETITO!!

We’ve decided to hold off on going to Italy until the princess is a little older as she just doesn’t travel well, she hates the car. Everyone reacts with shock when I tell them as all babies are supposed to love the car and fall asleep every time they travel in it. Well, not this one!! It’s not like she has developed this hate, she has been the same since day one. It’s a little annoying to be honest as it restricts where we can travel as she gets into hysterics when strapped in so it’s just not worth it. We’re hoping that she grows out of it or else we’re trading her in:)

We started a new baby class at My Gym yesterday just so she can be around other children, we all sat around in a little circle and sang songs and clapped hands, well me and the other mothers and babies did. The princess was gone chasing the huge gym ball around the place which was about 10 times bigger than her while all the little perfect angels sat singing away. The male teacher then decided to join the group and she shouts at the top of her voice “Da da da da” and everyone gave a little embarrassed chuckle.  She had absolutely no interest in any of the babies just what this guy was doing and proceeded to smile and wave at him for the whole time, leaving me dancing and singing like an idiot on my own for the whole time. If she wasn’t chasing after the ball she was following him around:) MINX!!!! 

As you can imagine she is a complete handful and cooking can be quite difficult at times so this simple side dish is often cooked in our house to have with fish or meat. The MIL actually makes it with ham and we often put a couple of spoons into our pasta with home-made tomato sauce on Sunday - Delicious!!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• frozen peas
• 100g pancetta
• 1 onion finely chopped
• olive oil
• white wine
• sea salt and black pepper

WHAT TO DO:

 - pour a glug of olive oil into a deep pan and cook your onions and bacon for a few minutes.

 -add in your peas, season and leave to cook for about 10 - 15 mins or until peas are cooked

 - add a splash of white wine and cook until the alcohol evaporates.

 - serve with whatever you like!!!

BUON APPETITO!!!

The one thing I love about Italy in the summer is the festivals, there are so many. The main one of course is Ferragusto which is probably the best time you will ever have if you visit Italy in August. I’ve mentioned before that Atina is really small but there are loads of other small villages around it so every village has it’s own festival. The next village Casallattico even has an Irish festival as so many Italians emigrated from that area to Ireland. Of course each one centres around food with plenty of stalls to choose from, my favourite is always the porchetta sandwich van - so delicious!!

We just don’t have enough festivals here in Ireland, I went to the annual Milford Hospice Harvest Fair yesterday and I couldn’t believe how many people were there. There must have been at least 7-10k, it was packed. There wasn’t a huge amount there but it was just the fact that it was somewhere for families to go on a Sunday. Since having the princess I’ve really noticed how Ireland lacks so much when it comes to things like this, we just don’t have a good family, social environment. Ilva has a really good post on her blog about enjoying the slow life and it really got me thinking about how difficult it is to enjoy the slow life here as there isn’t much on offer and that’s why every retail park in Ireland is packed on a Sunday whereas in Italy Sunday is a sacred family day.

We try to adopt a Slow life approach as you can really get caught up in the fast pace of life that exists in Ireland today, the majority of ours revolves around food of course. I often think if we didn’t have such a passion for food, we would be lost and very bored.  Here’s a few little things that we do to try and slow down:

• we always sit down to eat together and the princess always sits with us. We have cappuccino for breakfast and a read of the morning papers before one of us goes to work and then we always have dinner together.
• no matter how busy we have been we always try to cook something even if it is only some eggs in tomato sauce(Italian fast food) but we do have the odd take-away night of course.
• we go to Bruno’s mother’s house every Sunday for the family dinner.
• we go for a walk, in Italy everyone goes for a Passagiatta after dinner which is a little stroll to walk off your food and relax and look good while doing it of course:). I know a lot of people go walking here but it normally consists of pounding the pavement at 100 miles an hour trying to burn off calories and speaking at the same time - it always amazes me how people walk and talk at the same time going at that speed. Don’t get me wrong I do the pounding too with the buggy but it’s also nice to “stroll” to the local shop for a 99 ice-cream on a sunny evening and relax.
• we try to get to the Farmer’s Market when we can.

I know it all sounds very romantic and idealistic but I do think the little things can make a difference to your day and reduce the stress of everyday living which is becoming more difficult in Ireland all the time. I think as a nation we view food and cooking as hard work and just another job but it can be one of the most relaxing and rewarding things you can do when you put your mind to it, I always feel a great sense of achievement after cooking a big meal and everybody enjoying it and it really brings people together. The most important things in our life are definitely family and food and the odd drink of course;)

Now just to completely contradict my post this is a recipe which actually requires a little bit of work but I don’t plan the writing just the recipes and then I just wait to see what comes out when I start. If you’ve been to Italy you have probably seen rice balls “arancini” everywhere, they are such a popular snack. We did them in La Cucina when we opened first but they didn’t sell very well so we took them off the menu, we might try them again!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 300g Arborio or Carnaroli rice.
• 200g mozzarella cheese - I used a bag of mini mozzarella from Superquinn and chopped them into 4 but you can use a regular mozzarella ball and chop it up.
• 2-3 slices Italian cooked ham finely diced- I used the Rovangnati range from Superquinn
• 100g parmesan cheese - grated
• plain flour
• tomato sauce - I used our napoli sauce from La Cucina or you could use fresh tomatoes chopped and fry them in a little olive oil until they reach sauce consistency.
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg beaten
• fresh breadcrumbs- Superquinn sell them in bags if you don’t want to make your own.
• salt
• I never measure anything so I hope these amounts are right:)

WHAT TO DO:

 - cook the rice in plenty of salted, boiling water for about 10 mins until al dente, make sure it’s not too soft or it will turn to mush - great culinary speak;)

 - drain the rice and run under cold water so it stops cooking and leave to cool down.

 - put into a bowl and mix in your tomato sauce, egg yolks, parmesan, ham, mozzarella and season.

 - with your hands scoop a handful of rice mixture and roll it into an oval shape.

 - dip into flour, then egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs. Have 3 dishes in a row!!

 - heat a pan or fat fryer with plenty of olive oil or regular oil and cook your suppli until golden brown.

 - remove with a spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

 - eat warm or cold!!

BUON APPETITO!!

p.s. continuing with Ilva’s theme what do you do to slow down in Ireland???

Tip of the week:  T-bone steaks in Flavins butchers in Castletroy, the best we’ve had in a long time:)