Roman Holiday: Part IV

We began our last day in Rome with a trip to the ever-wonderful Campo Di Fiori. I limited my spending there to some very ripe, sticky figs, and a punnet of wild strawberries.

 We then went to I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza, a Sicilian bakery for something a little more sustaining. We shared two extremely rich pastries, a ravioli dolci di ricotta and a cannoli stuffed with sweetened ricotta and dipped in pistachios. They were incredibly delicious, and not very expensive- the shop itself looks like it could charge you a lot, but for these two (big) pastries and a coffee we were only charged €5.

Next we went to the Jewish ghetto of Rome, where we went to Nonna Betta, one of the older kosher restaurants in the area.  The menu is split into a meat section and a dairy section, and given our ricotta-heavy breakfast, we both opted for a meat based meal. I had homemade gnocchi with braised lamb. It’s not the most beautiful looking dish, but it was wonderfully flavoursome and rich.

For dinner, we decided to treat ourselves to something a bit more upmarket, as it was our final evening in Italy. We went to Dal Toscano, a Tuscan restaurant (unsurprisingly) not too far from St Peter’s Square. I wanted to go for their speciality, a thick T-bone steak, but was a bit scared by the price (€48 per kilo). So I had a rump steak, which was tasted lovely, but was not as rare as I would have liked. I did regret my more frugal choice when I saw other diners’ incredibly thick and bloody T-bone steaks. I’ll know for next time. Adam had a veal steak, which was delicious- better than my steak, I think.

To follow, I had zabaglione. Again, Adam made a better choice than me, and had a custard and pine nut tart. Luckily he was happy to let me try both of his courses, so I could appreciate everything.

Roman Holiday: Part III

I could have eaten Roman food for the entirety of my holiday and not gotten bored, but I decided to be adventurous and hop on the train to Santa Marinella for a day of eating seafood and lying by the beach. Well, maybe not that adventurous, because I got the idea entirely from this article. Even if I’d ended up in Santa Marinella without guidance, there is no way I would have found the restaurant we visited; it's about a 25 minute walk from the station along a main road.

The restaurant in question, Tavola Azzurra 2, is an unassuming-looking Sardinian restaurant. They don’t do menus; you are offered what’s being cooked that day and you can take it or leave it. They brought us a jug of white wine, water, crispy carta di musica and a salad of assorted sea creatures dressed in olive oil, lemon and parsley (mostly octopus, but there were some prawns mixed in too).

 Sometime later, they brought us a huge plates of spaghetti alle vongole. It was incredibly garlicky and buttery, and had a generous amount (and variety) of clams. Despite feeling very full, we still used the bread to soak up the butter-garlic-seafood juices left on our plates.

We were then brought some pastries which we shared - a fig and almond tart and a berry tart. These were nice, but I didn’t appreciate them as much as the seafood. I couldn’t manage the final offering: a thick, bitter medicinal spirit.

Our bill

Roman Holiday Part II

Ragno D’Oro is located a short walk from St Peter’s square, but far enough take away any worries that you might be walking into a tourist trap. The name translates as Golden Spider, according to Google translate. We started with a very Roman selection of appetisers- fried courgette flowers, a globe artichoke to share and salt cod fritters, as well as some prosciutto and focaccia. I enjoyed it all, and despite the high proportion of deep-fried items, it didn’t feel too heavy.

To follow, I had a risotto alla crema di scampi, and Adam had spaghetti al frutto di mare. They were both gorgeous, but exceptionally rich- Adam struggled to finish his spaghetti due to the sheer quantity of butter in the dish. I found my risotto more manageable, but then I do have a love of fatty and dairy laden food.

Like the previous night, we didn’t have dessert at the restaurant, but went to a gelateria. This time we went to Fatamorgana, which is in the Prati area. They have a large selection of flavours, including a chocolate a tobacco concoction called ‘Kentucky’. Sticking to the rich food theme, I had a scoop of Venezuelan chocolate and a scoop of gianduja, whereas Adam went for a lighter option of strawberry and lemon sorbets.

Roman Holiday: Part I

I've just come home from my fourth trip to Rome, it's been my best trip there so far for a number of reasons, one of which was the food. Any holiday I take I centres around food as much as possible, and this time I was with my partner who is as interested in eating as much as I am, and doesn't seem to mind searching for the nicest looking deli or pasticceria, even if it is 11am and we haven't had breakfast yet.

Our first meal was surprisingly good- I say surprisingly because it was at about 3pm on a Sunday, and most places that aren't tourist traps would be closed at this time. We ended up stopping at the first place that was actually open, which looked unassuming, but turned out to serve very decent, simple food- I had a very tasty bucatini all'amatriciana, and Adam had spaghetti alle vongole. Unfortunately, my head wasn't really in food critic mode, I was too hungry and too tired from the trip to really assess what I was eating, or take down the name of the restaurant.

A nap and a walk into the centre of the city later, we were ready for our next meal. This time we could be more discerning where we went, as the restaurants had re-opened for evening service.  We found ourselves at Da Baffetto, which is a very popular pizzeria with both locals and tourists. It seems to make an appearance in every travel guide to Rome, and in every list of top 10 pizzerias in the city. We joined a queue for a table, where I could take some pictures of the exterior:

The queue moved quickly, and were seated right next to the wood burning oven- not great from a comfort perspective-it was a very warm evening-but watching the 3 chefs prepare the pizzas was good entertainment.

The pizza was as Roman pizza should be- thin, crispy and slightly blistered from the oven.

 

We didn't stay for pudding, instead continued our walk, stopping of for gelato at Cremaria Monteforte, which is a few moments away from the Pantheon. I went for a rather Middle-Eastern inspired combination of rose and pistachio ice creams, and Adam opted for lemon sorbet.

The rose ice-cream was delicious, flavoursome without reminding me of bath products, which rose flavoured things often do. 

I've Been Away....

 My flat has been 3 weeks without gas, making cooking rather difficult. Until our landlady arrived with an electrical hotplate, I made many toasted sandwiches- I probably doubled the amount of toasties I have ever made in my life. The hotplate is surprisingly good, but I missed baking and stovetop cooking.

There were several good meals made with that hotplate, but I haven't enjoyed cooking so much these past few weeks. As a result, I wasn't feeling enthusiastic about cookery blogging either. Now things are back to normal, expect usual service.

Some of the things I have been making over the last gas-free weeks:

 Nigella's Finger Lickin' Ribs
(obviously on the hotplate instead of cooked in the oven)






Nigel Slater's No-bake Passionfruit Cheesecake

 A spatchcocked chicken, rubbed with a spiced butter. The butter was made with

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 30g butter, room temperature.

Pork belly slices, rubbed with olive oil, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. I cooked some apple wedges in butter, as well as some sweetcorn. The sweetcorn was liberally spread with chilli, coriander and lime butter.





Nigella Rapidi Roastini

In essence, fried gnocchi. Utterly addictive.

Subiaco Station Market

Whenever I'm abroad, I will always go to a food market, and since I have been living in WA, one of my favourite things to do on a weekend is to go to Subiaco Market, just a little way out of central Perth.It's not old in terms of markets, it's only been around since the 80's, but it has established itself as something of an institution locally.

 About a third of it is comprised of fresh produce, but there is also a small butchers, a health food shop and some non food stalls which I haven't spent too much time looking at, except for the flowers, which seem exotic to someone from the UK.  There is also an area for eating, with small catering stalls. You can choose from Indian, Mexican, Ghanaian, Japanese, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisine, as well as French crepes and Turkish gözleme. So far I have had crispy Saigon chicken from the Vietnamese stall, curry goat and palava, a smoked fish dish, from the Ghanaian stall and the last time I had lamb curry with dhal and a potato paratha from the Indian stall.

The only thing I haven't enjoyed was the palava- the flavour was far too strong for me. This is hard for someone who is proud of being a non-fussy eater to admit, but I couldn't finish it.Luckily I had something to fill me up- I always pick up an almond croissant from the Galette de France Stall- they're utterly delicious, flaky pastries stuffed with creme pâtisserie.

Subiaco isn't as grand as food markets like the Boqueira in Barcelona, or as beautiful as the Campo di Fiori in Rome. But it has real spirit and a lovely sense of community which makes every visit a treat, and it has very very nice almond croissants.

The Ice Cream that wasn't.

Every now and then something goes unrescuably wrong in the kitchen, and I think I take it harder than most. Cooking is one of the few things I feel competent at, so when things don't turn out the way they are meant to I have to force myself to try and get some perspective and learn from it instead of mulling it over for days. My most recent disaster happened this week. I decided to attempt to make a different flavoured version of Nigella's no-churn pomegranate ice cream, a dessert I have made before and been really pleased with the outcome. I also arguably improved it, with a touch of pomegranate molasses, just to really make to flavour stand out. It seemed perfectly reasonable to assume that because this recipe worked with pomegranate juice that it would work with other fruit juices, namely passionfruit.

I had high hopes for a creamy passion fruit icecream, and was rather disappointed when it came out of the freezer rock-hard. There was no middle point, when I hopefully placed in the fridge, it left me with a runny passionfruit mess. Then I contemplate the various reasons why it didn't work and I blame myself, Nigella Lawson and the Australian dairy industry for not making good cream more readily available*. And perhaps the passionfruit as well. As well as the general feeling of failure, the other kicker is the waste. Time wise, I lost very little as the recipe is so simple. You just whip the cream with the juice, a little icing sugar and freeze. But then there's the ice cream itself, I turned perfectly nice fruit and cream into something inedible. It certainly wasn't the cheapest dish to get wrong.

On the other hand, at least I know now that it doesn't work. There is always something to be gained from mistakes, even if it is a tiny bit of knowledge and material for a blog post.

For a recipe involving cream and passionfruit that does work, I suggest a tropical take on Eton Mess. Softly whip some cream, and sweeten with icing sugar. Fold in crumbled meringue and some ripe passionfruit pulp. You will want the cream sweeter than a regular Eton Mess, as the fruit is so sour. Serve in pretty glass bowls, preferably the sort that requires a long handled sundae spoon.

*In the supermarkets I have only seen whipping cream, and thickened cream, which has gelatine in it. I miss the thick, extra thick, Jersey and clotted varieties that I could buy at home.

New York Cheesecake

I'll get the sad truth out of the way first. This is not a recipe I have come up with, or even adapted. It is from Good Food magazine and I wouldn't dream of tweaking it even a little, as much as I love to fiddle around with recipes. It doesn't need flourishes, it's perfect as it is. The recipe is from Angela Nilson's Ultimate series, which is about her search to make the best version of a chosen dish. Obviously, perfection is subjective but every dish I have made from the series has become my ultimate version too, and are mentally catalogued in my head as failsafe recipes to be repeated whenever possible.

I looked up the recipe online recently, and came across a new version of it by the same author. She, or someone who is in charge at the Good Food magazine felt that it wasn't enough for it to be the ultimate cheesecake, it had to be a health food too. I used to be a regular reader of the magazine several years ago, but my interest petered out as the recipes became less about pleasurable cooking and eating and more about fitting each dish into the allowed levels of fat, sodium and calories. Yes, eating healthily is important, and I wouldn't advocate rich meals everyday. It's important to look after your body. But if I want a light pudding I'll eat fruit, perfect as it is,  instead of a shadow of a recipe.

Well, I could be wrong. A quick glance at the reviews tells me that the lighter version is popular, perhaps even preferable. Really I should make a version, if only out of academic interest. But the thought of making this when I could be having the original version seems such a waste.The point is missing. The only flavourings in New York Cheesecake are gentle hints of lemon and vanilla, so texture is key. How can you get the same unctuousness, the same mouth filling richness when you are removing the elements that make it so, i.e. the fat? Making the new version will save you 204 calories, but you'll lose out on the full fat experience. Over time, those extra calories won't count for anything. But if it bothers you,why not just do a few extra lengths in the swimming pool?

I could just post a link to the recipe, but I fear one day the page will be taken down and all we'll have left is a recipe for Cheesecake Lite. So just as much for me as you, I'll reproduce it here in my own words.
It's important you let the cream cheese, eggs and 200ml of the sour cream come to room temperature before you start, so take them put of the fridge about 2 hours before hand. Yesterday I made it for the first time without a freestanding mixer, as directed in the recipe. An electric hand whisk was my alternative, I've never made it using man power alone. It takes a lot of beating and whisking, so if you don't own either of these, first of all see if someone will lend you one. If not, make it with a friend so you can share the labour. If you cook with people around, someone will claim they want to help, so give them something to do.

Ingredients
For the base:
140g digestive biscuits
85g unsalted butter
1 tbsp caster sugar

For the filling:
900g full fat cream cheese
250g caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
pinch salt
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
284ml  tub sour cream

For the topping:
142 ml sour cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line and grease a 23cm springform cake tin.

Crush the digestive biscuits to crumbs. You can use a food processor, or if you don't have one/ can't be bothered with the washing up, put the biscuits in a bowl and bash with the end of a rolling pin- it takes surprisingly little effort. Mix in the sugar. Melt the butter and mix into the biscuit crumbs. Press the mix over the base of the tin evenly. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Turn the heat of the oven to 200C. Beat the cream cheese, either with the paddle attachment of a freestanding mixer, or with a wooden spoon. If you ignored the instruction to let it come to room temperature, you'll be regretting it now, especially if doing it by hand. Beat until it is creamy, about 2 minutes if using a mixer. Gradually beat in the sugar, then the salt and flour.

Switch the paddle attachment to the whisk, if using a mixer. If you are using a hand whisk, electric or otherwise, start using it now. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and juice, whisking in. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, whisking after each addition. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl, do it twice after you add each egg. Beat in 200ml of the sour cream, and reserve the rest for the topping. When it is ready, the batter should be smooth, light and creamy.

Put the cake tin on a baking sheet. Pour the cheesecake mixture in, smoothing the top with a knife. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 110C and bake for a further 25 minutes. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in there for 2 hours. If you like a creamier texture, open the oven door. The surface may crack a little, but you are topping it later so don't worry about it.

Combine the reserved sour cream plus the 142ml tub with the sugar and lemon juice. Spread on top of the cheesecake evenly. Cover with foil, and allow to set in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. Before you serve, run a knife round the edges of the cheesecake to loosen any parts stuck to the tin. Slide the base of the tin away from the crust.

Inspirational Cookery Books

Given the opportunity to show off about my cookbook collection,I will talk about them with the same zeal usually reserved for Evangelists. I just want to spread the word about these Good Books. Anyone who expresses even the slightest interest will be given a full tour of the shelves, and probably a book or two pressed into their hands so we can talk recipes at a later date. Picking favourites was difficult process, but here are some can't-live-without gems.

Fruit Book- Jane Grigson
The title doesn't give much away, and neither does it's appearance. It's not a glossy coffee table book, it's basic paperback filled with a huge amount of recipes, written in such a way it makes me want to cook everything as soon as I pick it up.


How To Eat- Nigella Lawson 
Say what you like about her on-screen persona, but you can't fault Nigella's writing especially in How To Eat, her first and best book. I've cooked from this a lot, and it's all been wonderful.

The Book of Jewish Food- Claudia Roden
I love any book by Claudia Roden, but this the best. She covers in depth the food and traditions from both the Ashkenazi and Sepherdic worlds, including stories from her own life. Quite possibly my all-time favourite.

 Cooking in 10 Minutes-Edouard de Pomaine
I like this more for his prose-it's very, very French. He begins:

"First of all, let me tell you that this is a beautiful book. I can say that because this is its first page. I just sat down to write it, and I feel happy, the way I feel whenever I start a new project. My pen is full of ink, and there's a stack of paper in front of me. I love this book because I'm writing it for you. It's nice to imagine that I'll be able to let my pen go and you'll understand everything it writes down..."

How can you resist that? Any eighteen year olds heading off to university should shun those awful patronising student cookbooks and take a copy of this instead.

Honey from a Weed- Patience Gray
A beautiful, slightly chaotic book, covering food from Greece, Italy and Spain. Pure escapism.

The Classic Food of Northern Italy- Anna Del Conte
This book demonstrates just how regional Italian cooking is- covering just part of the country, its still a pretty thorough read. Not that I'm complaining, Anna Del Conte's writing is wonderful, as well as being the final word in Italian cookery for me.

Meat Book- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
I'm glad I'm not so much a food snob as to dismiss all celebrity cooks- I wouldn't want to be without Hugh's meat encyclopedia. Lovely recipes, and good in-depth writing on cooking techniques. I like refering to this for meat cooking times, and advice if I have bought an obscure cut I want to try out my own recipe for.

Croatia Bound

My usual holiday preparation drill goes: book holiday, buy guide to city, read the eating out section of said guide and none of the other chapters, ask around for recommendations of foods to try, places to eat and what to bring back, make a list of these, make a shorter, more realistic list taking into account financial and time constraints, buy some terrible fiction to read and absent mindedly pack.
Well, I've packed. But I'm off in less than 24 hours with only a dim idea of Croatian cuisine and it's unsettling. Weeks ago I started looking for a book on Croatian food, but as there has yet to be a fashion for food from there, there seem to be very few on the market. I've resorted to the Wikipedia article, which wasn't especially satisfying, I would prefer an Elizabeth David-style read on the subject. All I really know is that Dubrovnik is coastal, so good seafood should be available, and that the city's food is heavily Mediterranean. 
Maybe it'll be more of an adventure, and I'll stumble across places that the guidebook would never have told me about. Or maybe I'll end up eating in tourist traps with pictures on the menu (the only restaurants where this isn't an indicator of a dire meal is in China Town). Fingers crossed for the former, or I'll be resorting to the odd drop of kruškovac to keep up my holiday spirit.

A bit of latte art

The humidity and a virus have mostly depleted my appetite this week, so I haven't had anything to write about. Just so you know that I haven't given up on the blog, have a photo of a coffee I made today:

 

 As soon as I get better, I'll put some more recipes up, which I'm sure is a great relief to you. Probably not as much as relief that customers will have knowing they won't be getting their drinks photographed anymore.

Leamington Spa, you're not so bad.

Although in my heart I still feel very much a Londoner-albeit a rather suburban one-I've been living in the West Midlands for the last few years. There has been the occasional setback caused by living in Not London (a minor tantrum based on not being able to locate filo pastry for love nor money is particularly memorable), but they are balanced out Leamington Spa's foodie gems. In no logical order:


Millennium Sweet House
If you like sugary Indian sweets, this is the place for you. Ask for the gulab jamun, and have the number of your dentist to hand.

Bridges Newsagent
From the outside, a newsagent. From the inside...still a newsagent. But at the back, you can stock up on storecupboard ingredients for Indian cooking, such as big bags of whole or ground spices, pulses and nuts. Its far cheaper than the supermarket too.

KL Oriental Supermarket
Well stocked South-East Asian food store, with an emphasis on Thai ingredients. You can get fresh lemongrass, holy basil and tamarind among other exotic goodies. You can get all the ingredients for this recipe here, or good quality ready made paste if you're feeling lazy. I get frozen raw prawns from there too, it's cheaper than anywhere else I've found. Word of warning: they don't sell rice in bags smaller than 5 kilos, so come feeling strong.

Aubrey Allan
Moving into the upmarket territory here. Fantastic meats and deli products served by incredibly helpful and friendly staff. You get the same charming service if you are buying (or rather being bought by your very kind mother) steak, or going there begging for free pork rind to enrich a stew.

S.H. Jones Wines
Great range of hard-to-get spirits, such as 100% agave tequila. Admittedly I've never bought anything there, I just like to look and dream, but the staff are very nice and don't seem to mind. I can't say much for the wine range- not because it's bad, but because I know nothing about wine.