Easter (Over)eating

Well, WHAT a week!

My parents arrived in Puglia last Saturday, and what followed was a super busy seven days full of excursions, family meet ups and masses of overeating. We took trips to Trani, Castel del Monte and Matera (write ups to follow) and, despite the pretty bad weather, had a very lovely time indeed.

But let's return, for now, to the aforementioned 'overeating' part of the Easter vacation. I've written many times before about the fact that, on special occasions, Italians really up the ante and enjoy ridiculous amounts of delicious food. So, who were we to say no to anything! Throughout the entire week we indulged in all sorts of tasty treats, including...

Yes, this is what Italian Easter eggs look like. None of that funny box business like in the UK. They can be pretty pricey too.

We sampled these delicious typical dishes at a wonderful party that was thrown by some friends. Here, you can see Parmigiana, Pancotto (a dish made with vegetables and bread), pasta with a vegetable similar to chicory, panzerotti, tomato pizza and some local Rosè wine.

And theeeeen came the dolce. Oh my. From the top, a forest fruit cheesecake (which was deliciouss because it wasn't too sweet), a nutella cake, red wine cake, typical Easter colomba cake, pistachio cake, tiramisù and finally, a pineapple and cream cake. Of course, we sampled them all. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Cake close up.

A slightly lighter (yet no less delicious) dessert that we had whilst in Matera (at the Soul Kitchen restaurant). White chocolate semi-freddo with fresh strawberries and balsamic.

On Saturday, we decided that (at least) a week of 'sensible' eating was in order. This was going very well indeed until a birthday celebration that we were invited to yesterday evening.

 Oh dear.

More food please!

Good afternoon from wet and windy Puglia! I hope you are all having a nice, relaxing Sunday so far. This blog post is, surprise surprise, a food one, and also provides further evidence of my ongoing culinary development. This week I made some nice little vanilla cupcakes (the icing didn't turn out perfectly, hence a photo senza drippy frosting mess) and, with the help of my incredibly patient man, I assisted in preparing a traditional Pugliese Sunday lunch. I have been told that, even if you are rubbish at preparing other dishes, the Sunday lunch is one that you must perfect. Best get to work then...

I used a recipe from the BBC website for these moist, tasty cupcakes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cupcakes_93722 

 

This is definitely a Southern delicacy: the Pancotto. I tried this one at La Locanda di Hansel in Foggia (Trip Advisor reviews here)

The Pancotto had to be followed by dolce of course. This was the torta Kinder. One word: YUM.

Couldn't have put it better myself....

Yes, all of this went into making a delicious sugo for our Sunday lunch

We also made involtini using beef, parsley, Parmesan, a little garlic and salt.

Sugo in progress

Meaty sugo plus traditional pugliese orecchiette makes one happy Amy.

Buona Domenica!

Cooking Curiosity...

Although not technically a 'food blog', this little site of mine is usually about 75-80% food. Well, what can I say? I live in Italy. The food here is nothing short of DELICIOUS. However, most of my food related posts are of things I have EATEN; not necessarily MADE. Apart from the odd pasta dish or yogurt cake, I do not promote myself as a cook. I have decided that I would like this to change. I'm not sure if it's the cold winter months of staying indoors, or viewing other people's culinary skills that have sparked my curiosity, but what I do know, is that I am determined to get just a little better at cooking stuff.

I have had a go at two simple recipes recently (yes, I'm starting off simple), namely Nutella brownies and funghi al forno. They both turned out very well indeed, thus prompting me to research my next dish. A friend recently gave me the recipe for a pumpkin risotto, so methinks that will be the next step. However it turns out, it will be posted on here. So no pressure or anything....

Nutella Brownies: 240ml of Nutella (yes, it's rather a lot...), 60g flour, 2g slat, 2 eggs, 100g brown sugar, 5ml vanilla essence, 56g melted butter. Mix eggs, Nutella, sugar and vanilla. Then alternate adding the flour/salt and the butter. Spread into a tin and bake for about 25/30 mins (depending on your oven) at around 160/170 °C. The brownies were quite cakey, but very tasty indeed. I added some coconut to mine too. (Recipe taken from the AllTheCooks.com food app)

Funghi al Forni: This is so simple but absolutely delish. Remove the stalks and wipe the mushrooms clean, before laying out on a baking tray and covering with chopped garlic, salt, parsley, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and a scattering of breadcrumbs. Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes or so at 160°C. Event though I got good feedback for these, next time I think I'll add a little more Parmesan and breadcrumbs. (Recipe taken from a lovely colleague of mine)

Freddie, Food and Festivities....

Well dear readers, I feel I must chiedo scusa  AGAIN for not writing for a while! I have been far too busy for my liking recently (bring on Christmas!) and haven't had the chance to write! When I did check my blog page however, I saw a new comment and two new followers, so I am absolutely chuffed that people are still reading! Thanks so much :)

So, what's new here in the south? Not a lot to be honest. The olive harvest has taken a bit of a hit due to some TERRIBLY English weather (ie a massive amount of rain) that we've had recently, so I have yet to get my hands on a bottle of the yummy green stuff. However, despite my lack of oil, I have still been stuffing my face (sorry, what an awful image) with lots of yummy Italian treats. While I may not have been writing lately, I have got a nice little collection of images to share with you....

Ahh, everyone needs a winter warmer...

This calorific cake is made from pan di stelle cookies and a whole load of cream and nutella. HEAVEN.

The classic brodo (broth) and pasta. Looks simple, tastes amazing.

Our local town hall, all festive and whatnot.

I ordered this from Amazon a little while ago. I had a bad cold recently so got all snuggled on the sofa and read about fabulous Freddie. 

A new local Enoteca in San Severo...

...where we ate these delicious treats.

They may like serving lemon with their tea (sacrilege!) but at least you get a nice selection of biccies.

Buon Natale indeed.

Cook in ten minutes with five ingredients. This book is on my Christmas list.

The panettone and pandoras are flooding in....

And today's lunch? Tortellini with butter and parmesan. Simple. Easy. Yummy.

Back soon folks...have a wonderful weekend!

Savoury delights...

Hello everyone!

I bet you're all wondering whether I've actually stopped eating, seeing as I haven't posted some yummy food pics on here for a while. Never fear though, as I have been well and truly stuffing my face with some Italian culinary delights recently (what a lovely image...) and do I have a treat for you today! Instead of my usual obsession with dolce, I have decided to go down the savoury route. A little while ago, I decided to pop into my local butchers shop to get some lunch. Now, as well as selling big chunks of meat, the nice butcher also does some dishes that are gia fatto, or already prepared. For a lazybones like me, this seemed to be a perfect solution. Yes, I want to eat delicious Italian food, but do I have the time, energy and most importantly, skills to prepare it? The answer, particularly to the latter, is no. So in I went, and I picked up the most delicious mushroom pasta I have ever eaten! So delicious in fact, that I forgot to take a photo before it was too late, and the whole thing ended up in my tum. Oops. However, a couple of days later, when I was feeling decidedly less lazy, I had a go at re-creating this spectacular dish. With some mushrooms, a little olive oil, a clove of garlic, a glug of white wine, salt, pepper and a dollop of cream cheese, I came up with this:

While it wasn't a patch on the butcher's pasta, I reckon I whipped up a pretty tasty lunch. The only thing I didn't have was parsley, which would have made it even better.

Something that I haven't had for a while is sausage and mash. This classic British dish is a favourite of mine, and every so often, I do get a craving for a taste of home. So, myself and my man whipped up an Italian equivalent, using some yummy pugliese sausage. It may not have been like my mum makes it, but it satisfied my cravings!

And just to add to this lovely list of savoury delights, I must include some Italian pizza. I don't think any description is needed...

OK, I said it was a savoury list but come on...you know me by now. A bit of dolce simply HAS to make its way into this post somehow. It may not be Christmas just yet, but panettone and pandoro are starting to creep into the shops and supermarkets. And this little blighter just JUMPED into my shopping basket. Ahem.

Have a good rest of the week! :D

Pasta and peas? Perfect!

Before I came to Italy, I have to admit that I never thought about putting peas with pasta. But here in Puglia, they tend to do it a lot. It's simple, doesn't take long to prepare and tastes pretty damn good. It's almost like a thick, hearty soup: perfect for those cool Autumn days.

And you don't even need to use fresh peas..I didn't! You just need a bit of oil, some chopped onion and a chopped tomato, and get it all frying nicely in a pan. Once the onion is soft, add a can of peas (this will probably make enough 'pea sauce' for 3 or 4 people) as well as the water from the can. Chuck in half a stock cube and leave on a medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, get the pasta cooking in some salted boiling water.. Don't even think about putting penne or spaghetti with peas, as it's highly likely that some Italian mamma/nonna will come and hunt you down and give you a good telling off. Small peas? Small pasta! In terms of pasta quantity, you'll want a little less than your average one-person portion as the peas bulk up the dish quite a bit.

Once the pasta and peas are done, bring them together in perfect pasta pea harmony.You can always add a cheeky sprinkle of parmesan too if you fancy it. Enjoy!

Courgette Capers

Remember the giant courgette?

Well, if you don't (shame on you), just take a quick peek here to become well and truly informed about said giant courgette.

Anyway, I was a little unsure what culinary treats I could whip up using this larger than usual vegetable. So, I did the following:

First, some simple grilled slices of courgette with olive oil, salt, mint and garlic. Served cold, of course.

Then, I whipped up (I say whipped up, that gives the false impression of culinary expertise which I most certainly do not have) a pasta dish, creating a sauce from chopped/blended courgette, salt and pepper, olive oil and garlic. I then cooked some spaghetti, added it to the pan of courgette for a few minutes, before chucking in some chopped walnuts and roughly chopped mozzarella. This was a massive experiment and although it was tasty, I would try a slightly stronger tasting cheese such as Parmesan next time.

It was great to eat such delicious, fresh produce, but I think I give courgette a miss for a week or so- I may have reached my limit! :D

Have a great day!

Friends and Veggies

Hello folks!

One of the things I least like about being in Italy is the fact that I'm not near to my friends and my family. I can't just pop round to my see my mum and dad for a cup of tea and several (hundred) biccies. Nor can I just jump on a train and see my lovely London friends for a night of several (not hundred) cocktails. So when one of my friends comes to visit me here in Italy, it doesn't half put a big smile on my face. Despite the fact that there is the added pressure of making sure that they are well fed/comfortable/not bored/not being harassed by Italian men, I love having people to stay, and now I've got my new place with an extra bed and wonderful roof terrace, it's so much more fun!

My first official guest (Anika) came to stay this last week, and it was great having her around. We stayed up until ridiculously early hours of the morning, just chatting and drinking wine and generally relaxing. I also took her to the beach, for some seriously good ice cream/pizza/other delicious foods and of course, made sure she met all of my Italian friends here. They loved her, she loved them, and she wants to come back really soon. Here's hoping!

So now onto the weather. I am British you know, so it's mandatory that we discuss the weather every now and then! I've been hearing that in the UK the summer has well and truly arrived- yay! Normally my decision to spend the summer in Italy (even though I don't work in the summer months) is well and truly reinforced by the fact that British summers are usually dismal anyway, so I'm not missing out on much. But when it's actually hot and sunny there, I do get a longing for picnics in the park, outdoor pub lunches and countryside walks. I'm heading back to the UK in August, so let's hope the weather stays sunny until then!

And finally, this would not be a sunshine and tomatoes post without some reference to food. I've included a couple of photos of some of the delicious cibo that I have been tucking into lately, so if you're prone to food envy, look away now. Also, check out this whopper of a courgette (!) that my boyfriend's uncle gave to me. Will keep you posted on subsequent courgette recipes! (After all, I think it'll last about a week...)

Home made parmigiana

Can't even begin to describe how good this was (Thanks Antonio!)

With fresh buffalo mozzarella...mmmm

The giant courgette.

Happy Monday!

Food glorious food...

I'm sure you're all aware of my 'Italian family'. You know, the ones who, if they had their way, would continuously feed me 24/7 and even then would declare that I'd 'barely eaten a thing'? Yes, I'm talking about THAT amazing family.

Well, I recently had another encounter with the whole clan, as it was my boyfriend's nephew's third birthday. So naturally, this called for balloons, lots of family photos and of course, FOOD. Mountains of the stuff. The 'first course' was literally a table full of carbs. There was no second course, as this was an evening meal, and one always eats 'lighter' at dinnertime. Ha! We then had some of the most delicious strawberries I think I have ever eaten, followed by what can only be described as an ONSLAUGHT of desserts. I felt like I was putting on the kilos just by LOOKING at the table of goodies. Tiramisu, pear and ricotta tart, a big green sugary birthday cake...oh my. All homemade, and all INCREDIBLE. Needless to say, once I had been 'forced' (ahem) to sample these sweet delights, I may have been shaking ever so slightly from a sugar overdose. I may have also literally grabbed hold of my boyfriend's sister-in-law and, with moist eyes, told her that she had made me so incredibly happy. And because this kind of food-induced emotion is not uncommon in these parts of Italy, she didn't think I was weird. At least, I hope not...