Book Review; Cook Italy by Katie Caldesi

When in Chester recently, we decided to walk all around the city walls. On our way round we came across a treasure trove of second hand books; Bluecoats Book Shop. Gav lost me among the shelves and eventually found me huddled over in the cookery section, of course. It was a thick yellow book on Italian cuisine that had caught my eye and as I flicked through the beautiful pictures I knew I was going to buy it. It's called Cook Italy and is by Katie Caldesi; English born and married to a Tuscan chef. They own a restaurant and cookery school and I'm not in the slightest bit jealous.

Now this book is the American edition of  The Italian Cookery Course. I didn't realise this at the time but at £13 I was hardly going to be picky. However this means American measurements/spellings/ingredients so I would recommend you buy the English version if possible. I managed fine as I have a nifty little conversion cup thingy and I can handle translating egg-plant to aubergine without feeling the need to rage about it in a review on Amazon.

Throughout the rest of the weekend I was engrossed by this book. It was such an interesting read as well providing enticing recipes. It gave me a real feel for the role food plays in Italy and was full of little anecdotes and insights that gave the book it's own unique character. I read the entire thing from cover to cover and decided that the only thing I could possibly do next was to plan and create a FIVE COURSE ITALIAN FEAST. I said this phrase so many times over the following week I am ASTONISHED it didn't trend. So I planned and planned and planned and one wintery Sunday, I finally did it. What a better way to review an Italian cook book then?

So. I shortlisted and shortlisted until I came up with my menu; an Antipasti course, a pasta course, a fish course, a meat course (with a veg side) and a dessert. This pretty much reflects how the book is organised. I wrote out all the ingredients and recipes on the computer so that I could colour code them and print them out (saving me flicking from page to page). I then wrote a chronological colour coded to do list to coincide with the recipes. However, disaster struck when I couldn't get my printer to work. Gav to the rescue who sat and wrote out all my recipes by hand. What a hero. FIVE COURSE ITALIAN FEAST back on.

The antipasti course was made up of a couple of ideas from the book. This involved salumi; a selection of cold meats which Lidl came up trumps for, I recognised lots of what they had in store from the book. Formaggi included Gorganzola and Manchego. Yes, I know the latter is Spanish but I was limited by where I could shop ok? My olives were not stoned as I don't have a fancy de-stoner, get over it and buy me one for Christmas yea? We also had pane (lightly toasted) and olive oil. The night before THE FEAST I made salsa di pomodori (tomato salsa, similar to what you'd find on a bruschetta) and pure di fave which was a broad bean and pecorino dip. The dip was a big favourite and one of those things that you think Wow, I've never tried this flavour before in my whole life. All this time something I really like has been out there waiting for me to try. This makes me so excited for all the other things out there I haven't tried yet which could potentially be my favourite food!

For my pasta course I went for the ragù alla bolognese. The recipe included milk, chicken livers and bacon and sounded rather intriguing and decadent. I'd heard many a time and also read on Mr Food Urchin's hilarious blog that a good ragu needs to be made the night before. This allows the ingredients time to mingle and flirt and become extra tasty. So again, the night before I made the ragu (apart from the milk which was added during the reheating the next day). This was so so meaty! The liver added an extra dimension of texture and elevated this to so much more than your typical bolognese. The milk also gave it a slightly creamy luxurious edge that I would never expect from this dish. Definitely one to make again.

For our fish (pesce) course we had filetto di branzino con pure di cannellini e salsa verde or fillet of seabass with a canellini bean puree and salsa verde. I replaced the fish with tilapia, which I've had before and whose mild taste I knew would be a good partner to the bolshy salsa. I recommend this fish as readily available, sustainable and easy to incorporate into many dishes. The puree was a tasty alternative to mash, and the salsa verde gave the dish a much needed lift. In laymans terms, I would describe it as a tartare sauce without the mayonnaise. It's tart, rustic and very fresh, and is a great side to grilled or roasted meat and fish.

I had warned the family not to eat today but they hadn't listened and by now they were getting a little full. I hadn't eaten and was fine, but still we only had a small portion of our meat (carne) course of rotola di agnello con pecorino, menta e carfiofi served with insalata di verdure grigliate. This translates as rolled shoulder of lamb stuffed with pecorino cheese, artichokes and mint, served with a roasted vegetable salad. This was dead easy to do; just truss it up and shove it in. The pecorino was hard to find around here, I tried 4 places before I found some in Morrisons. The mint gave it a bit of a green tinge but we coped. The meat (from Chadwicks) was beautiful and the stuffing was another eye opening new taste experience. The veg was what it was, but the juices from the lamb took it up a notch.

For dessert I had chosen pere cotte ripiene di crema di ricotta all’arancia con salsa di cioccolato. Or poached pear stuffed with ricotta cream and orange with chocolate sauce. I love pears and have always fancied them poached. As you may know I don't believe in desserts unless they involve chocolate and this rich sauce was a great balance to the refreshing pear. The syrup that the pear had been cooked in did cause the sauce to go slightly seperatey and gelatinus, but all in all this wasn't a pretty dish anyway. The family loved it though and it was very different from what we would usually have.

So, as you have seen, I had a lot of fun with this book. I can't wait to explore it further. I loved spending the evening and the whole next day cooking and getting things together, and it was actually easier than most of the three coursers I've done before. I think this demonstrates that the Italian's seem to just know that less is more. They know the little that you need to do to well matched ingredients for maximum impact. This massively inspiring book has taught me a lot already and I can't recommend it enough. This is just the tip of the iceberg recipe-wise; it's rammed with over 400 of them with huge full colour photos. If you're interested in Italian cookery and learning more about the culture that surrounds it, look no further!

Random Recipes: Spicy Lamb, Potatoes and Peas

This months Random Recipes challenge celebrates the cookbooks that magically appear around Christmastime; be they presents or January sales purchases. We were asked to choose our newest book and cook the first recipe it fell open on.  My newest one (aka the Christmas one I fancied cooking from the most) was one I bought my mum: Madhur Jeffries 100 Weeknight Curries.

I opened mine on a recipe for a vegetable side dish; Peas in a creamy sauce. I must admit I had been nosying at this recipe over Christmas so that may be why the book opened there but hey ho DEMZ DA ROOLZ. I love peas and tomatoey dishes that are finished with cream are heaven in my book, so I was looking forward to trying this out. Here's the recipe:

Peas in a Creamy Sauce (serves 4)

Ingredients:

¼ tsp sugar

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp garam masala

¾ tsp salt

¼ - ½ tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp tomato purée

175ml single cream

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped coriander

1 fresh hot green chilli, finely chopped

3 tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp black or yellow mustard seeds

550g frozen peas, defrosted under warm water

I served the peas with some crushed potatoes i'd part boiled then sauted with cumin seeds and various other spices, and chunks of lamb I had marinated for a couple of hours using this recipe.

The verdict: excellent. This was a really popular meal and something different to what we'd usually have; sort of an Indian style meat and veg, but not your typical curry. The meat wasn't overly spicy but had a lovely underlying deep heat to it, and the potatoes were really morish and tasty. The peas were actually everyones favourite componant; still tasting fresh and popping in our mouths underneath the luxurious sauce. I'm thinking of serving up some sort of thali soon and this is a real contender for it. Anyone know where you can buy proper thali dishes?

Midweek Two Courser; Crispy Greek Pie, Leek and Bacon Risotto

Ohhh Nativity Play! I love and hate you in equal amounts! It was sadly/happily my classes last performance of theirs this week, so now we can start enjoying Christmas properly! Crafts galore! However, even though I've been incredibly busy I managed to cook a two course meal on a week night last week (unheard of!). These recipes were really quick and simple, meaning I got home at 5pm and had the first course on the table for 6pm, with the main following not long after. Give 'em a whirl!

For starters I tried a recipe for crispy Greek pie, found on the awardwinning weight loss blog 'Where Are My Knees'. Don't let the idea of a 'low fat' recipe but you off; this pie packs a tasty punch while being really quick and easy to put together. Have a little look at the recipe and give it a go. It's basically just mix together the filling of feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, spinach and egg, wrap in filo pastry and bake for 30mins.

The family loved it and it was just right for a starter; a creamy and crunchy Spanakopita with the added kick of sundried tomatoes giving it a tangy lift.

As we served the starter I could put the main course in as we were making Oven-baked leek & bacon risotto. I've only attempted risotto once before and it was a claggy disaster, so I was very dubious about this too good to be true sounding dish. "Yeaaaa don't worry about all that tiresome stirring and stock adding malarky! Just wack it int oven!" Ah well I gave it a whirl...

 
Olive oil

6 rashers bacon, chopped

2 leeks, chopped

250g risotto rice

700ml hot chicken stock

175g frozen peas

3 tbsp soft cheese

Zest 1 lemon (oops, just realised in all the oven baked excitement I forgot to add this!)

1. Heat oven to 200C. Splash olive oil into an ovenproof casserole dish. Add bacon and fry for 2 mins. Then add the leeks for 4-5 mins.
 
2. pour in the rice for 1 min more. Pour over stock. Cover and place in the oven for 20 mins, stirring halfway. Worry throughout.

3. When rice is just tender and all liquid is absorbed, remove from oven and stir in peas. Place back in oven for 2 mins more. Remove and stir in cheese. Add zest (if you've remembered) and season.

Much to my surprise, this really, really worked! It wasn't quite as lovely and oozy as a regular risotto; but was tasty and not claggy at all. Dead, dead easy too, especially if you have a few courses to think about.

The peas, leeks and bacons collided with an exciting overall flavour, that would only have been slightly improved by a bit of garlic. I served it up as a side to some fatty, medium rare lamb chops. All in all a really scrummy tea time treat.

Post Festival Pasta

Yesterday I returned from my 10th, and by far the best, summer music festival I've been to: Kendal Calling 2011. I had a fantastically hilarious time with this bunch of reprobates (visor clad boy not included):

We drank copious amounts of cider, dressed as 'Beasts and Machines', watched and bounced around to lots of amazing bands, met a wonderful rainbow of colourful characters, and laughed more than I ever thought possible.

The food that was available was some of the best I've seen at a festival. Just about every cuisine was catered for including Mediterranean, Indonesian, Japanese, Tibetan and good old British grub. However, I'd decided to cook my own food to save money and spent a lot of time crouched over my trusty stove creating culinary atrocities including chili con carne with a powdered sweet potato concoction and a chicken tikka risotto. It seemed a good idea at the time. I'm hopefully returning next year and will probably buy arena food as I was well jeal of my mates teatime exploits and the prices weren't too unreasonable.

Anyway, on returning home from the festival on Monday afternoon I collapsed on the couch awaiting on 170 photos to appear on Facebook (remove tag, remove tag, remove tag), and for my mum to get home and feed and fuss over me. So imagine the horror of my exhausted, filthy and confused self when she turned up and said she had shopping and errands to do and I had to cook the tea! I very nearly cried.

After being presented with some leftover lamb in gravy to use up, and spending a ridiculously long time both mentally and physically preparing (finely chopping is literally impossible with a 4 day hangover) this is what I served up:

Ingredients (served 5, 3 for tea and 2 for dinner the next day):

3 large handfuls macaroni pasta (that's how I measure mine anyway, but just enough for whoever you're wining and dining)

2 tins chopped tomatoes

Leftover roast lamb and gravy (or brown some cubed lamb, works fine without the gravy)

1/2 a courgette

1 large white onion

2 peppers of different colours

2 cloves garlic

Olive oil for frying

Crème fraîche to taste

1. Fry the courgette, onion, peppers and garlic in a little olive oil until softened.

2. Add the chopped tomatoes and lamb. Turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes.

3. While this is simmering cook the macaroni according to the  packet instructions.

4. Add the pasta to the sauce and serve with a dollop of  crème fraîche if desired. I desire very much!

  

Perfect post festival fodder! Comforting, meaty and easy to rustle up. What are your festival food experiences? Any amazing stalls you've come across? And what would be your ideal meal to eat on your return?

The Search for the Perfect Side Dish

Carbs. Wonderful, satisfying carbs. Oh how I pity these crazy 'no carbs' dieters! I have no idea how they do it. This post will focus on the humble potato. If pushed I'd probably say my favourite way to serve them is in the form of a creamy daupinoise, but this is often far too rich an option for some recipes. That's why I decided to start researching some more interesting side dishes to add to my repertoire.

I was particularly eager to find a tasty alternative when I came across this lamb recipe on a favourite blog of mine. It was a hungover Sunday (I'd been watchin Tom Jones the night before, I do like a bit of variety in my live music experiences!) and when I saw this recipe I knew I had to give it a go. Usually I see these ideas and then never actually get round to making them, but something about the juicy, fatty lamb and the light, in-season vegetables seemed to match my mood and the beautiful weather we were having perfectly. Note: I hadn't cooked with broadbeans before; podding and shelling them took a while but they were definitly worth it. Plus me and my mum could have a competition of who could shell the most =) Really enjoyed the combination of those, along with the rocket and peas.

Now when it came to the sidedish, the original poster hadn't had much luck. So I had a big delve into my cookbook cupboard and emerged with an old favourite: The Good Housekeeping All New Cookbook. It's from 1995 and so is a little dated, but the variety of recipes is vast, the pictures plentiful and it's full of little forgotten gems. I chose this potato recipe as I felt the mint would obviously compliment the lamb, and although it involved cream and butter I felt there wasn't enough to become too rich and change the summery feel of the dish. Anyway here's the recipe:

New Potatoes with Creamy Mint Butter
Ingredients:
(serves four)

25 g butter, softened
2 tsp chopped fresh mint (from my little herb garden --->)
575 g small new potatoes
salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp crème fraîche (oh how I love thee)

Method:

1) Beat together the butter and mint. Spoon on to greasproof paper and shape into a neat round. Chill.

2) Boil the potatoes in salted water until almost tender. Drain well.

 3) Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Sauté the potatoes over a high heat until golden brown.

 4) Lower the heat and add the crème fraîche and chilled mint butter. Serve immediately.

  

This meal was pretty much spot on, I'll definitley be adding it to my new recipe collectors moleskine I got for my birthday! The lamb was succulent and the potatoes really hit the spot. They were very popular with the family with my sister requesting them again, and she isn't usually very fond of new potatoes. I've also made them again as a side to a Greek dish, but swapped the mint for oregano. 

Do you have any potato dishes you've come across that you'd like to recommend?