ITALIAN FOODIES

                                      

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!!

                                       

Everything is slowly getting back to normal in the Italian foodie house, the princess is getting better, Thank God, you never realise how important sleep is until you have a sick baby!!! We're moving house in the next few weeks as well so blogging might be taking a hit for the next month or so, but I'll post as regularly as I can!! Like everyone else I'm on a healthy binge after my "complete" over indulgence during Christmas so there will be lots of healthy recipes featuring a lot of soups especially with the cold weather we are having. My sister is getting married in March and I'm bridesmaid so it would be nice to fit into the dress, even though being part of an Italian family doesn't help!! The MIL called in this morning with 2 Italian cakes for our breakfast so I can say goodbye to the Cheerios for a few days:) I'm actually heading over to London in February for the fitting so my sister is trying to get us a reservation in Locanda Locatelli's which I have been dying to try so fingers crossed, It's impossible to get in there without booking months in advance but she knows people who know people who know other people etc etc;)

This is probably the simplest soup I have ever made and it is so full of flavour it's definitely worth trying especially when you need something fast that's still healthy and nutritious.

                                                              

what you need:

 - 3 to 4 courgettes sliced

 - 1 onion thinly sliced

 - 1 garlic clove thinly sliced

 - 1 Lt chicken or veg stock

 - 25g butter

 - sea salt and black pepper

what to do:

 - melt the butter in a pot and add your courgettes, garlic and onion and season. Cook for 15 mins.

 - add your stock and cook for another 15 mins. Check your seasoning and add more if required.

 - liquidize with a hand blender or a food processor and serve.

                           

buon appetito!!

                                                       

                                     
Hi, my name is Lorraine and I really don't like polenta!! Ok my confession is out, I think it is probably the only Italian food I don't like - shock horror:) The first time I had it was in Rome, we were staying with a friend and his family and his dad wanted to cook us his speciality which was polenta. At the time I had never heard of it but assuming that I would love it as I do all Italian food I was really excited but I couldn't stand it. It was quite difficult actually because there is probably nothing more insulting to an Italian than not liking their food so I put on my bravest face and munched my way through. I rarely saw polenta mentioned in Ireland until recently and it seems to be in all the food magazines and seems to be making guest appearances on a lot of restaurant menus. I recently had chocolate polenta with quail as a starter but wasn't too fond of it to be honest so I decided with all this new found fame it's getting in Ireland I would actually make it myself at home to give it one last try. I have to admit not going into this wholeheartedly and used the instant polenta that we have in La Cucina but I just wasn't prepared to give it my all and then not eat it so instant polenta it was - please don't hate me;)

I've seen a lot of people enquiring as to what polenta is on a lot of forums recently so here's a little background on it courtesy of the Silver Spoon and Carluccio:

In Roman times polenta was a porridge made from the flour of various grains and pulses such as broad beans, spelt etc. Today polenta is actually made up of yellow or white maize flour, there are 2 types of polenta: fine grained, pale straw coloured Veneto polenta or large grained, bright golden-yellow Lombard or Piedmontese polenta. The former is always served all'onda( with a consistency like mashed potato and the latter is served firm like this recipe. Vicenza in Veneto is actually the best place to eat polenta e baccala which is air dried cod cooked in milk with polenta and another speciality in Veneto is polenta e osei, polenta with sparrows - don't think I'll be making that any time soon;) 

Polenta is best made in a copper pan by cooking the maize flour with water until it achieves a fairly solid consistency. It takes about 40 minutes to cook and requires consistent stirring to prevent it sticking. Due to the effort and time required an easy cook variety called polenta svelta has been created for the likes of me;), it is made by pre-cooking ordinary polenta which is then dried and milled again. The results are not as tasty and this is why lots of butter and grated Parmesan are required when using this type of polenta.
 
what you need:

 - 5 tbsp olive oil

 - 1 small onion, finely chopped

 - 1 garlic clove, finely chopped

 - selection of mushrooms, field and wild if you can get your hands on some. I find it quite difficult to find different variety of mushrooms in Limerick, if anyone knows where let me know. Superquinn have just begun stocking a gourmet mushroom selection in their superior range which are really good so I used 2 packs of these.

 - 1 tbsp of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley and basil.

 - 120ml dry white wine  

 - poletna: make according to packet instructions if using instant polenta, I used 250g for 2. Add about 25g butter and lots of parmesan cheese to taste. If you are looking for polenta flour Susan in Olio e Farina has it in stock!!

what to do:

 - when your polenta is ready pour it into a round shallow tin and spread it evenly into a layer of about 1 cm. Leave to cool until set.

 - heat your olive oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic and fry for 5 mins until soft and just starting to brown. Stir in the mushroom and parsley and cook for another 5 mins until golden brown. Season, add your wine and simmer for 5 mins. Remove from the heat and stir in your chopped basil.

 - cut the polenta into wedges and heat a griddle pan. Brush your wedges with olive oil and place on your pan grilling both sides for 2-3 mins.

 - put a polenta wedge on a serving plate and serve your mushrooms on top and sprinkle with some basil leaves.


                       
THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION - DID I LIKE IT?????? NO!!!! I have to say as a dish it looks amazing and so appetising BUT I took a couple of forkfuls and that was it, I ended up making a sandwich with my leftover lamb and the mushrooms. The mushroom mix was absolutely delicious and would be great as a side to meat so I'll definitely make them again but the polenta I'm afraid I will leave to the Italians;)

Buon Appetito!!!