Food & Drink
Recreating flavours of Italian holidays at home LoCAL PRoDuCE • RECIPES • EvENTS
by Holly and David Jones
Running a close second to Indian food, Italian cooking has a special place in the British heart. Conjuring up holidays in the rolling Tuscan hill or on the Amalfi coast, the fresh flavours bring a zing to our grey northern climate with little more than the best seasonal ingredients and a light touch. In the summer we can easily recreate flavours of Italian holidays at home – find some tomatoes bursting full of flavour, rip over some pungent peppery basil leaves and add a dribble of golden olive oil and you’ve got a light lunch that packs a punch. In the depths of the winter though, a melting slow-
cooked shoulder of lamb or pork with shallots and rosemary and a big bowl of garlicky beans with a final sprinkle of lemon zest and parsley are perfect ways to lift the spirits even on the gloomiest wet winter’s evening. Simplicity is key both for the preparation and for the final dish. A bowl of olives, some bread, a few slices of salami, some salad and a simple dressing – simple to put together and perfection as long as they are the best ingredients you can find for your money. Inspiration comes from all angles - from Nigella, Jamie,
Carluccio and Delia to the River Café, Angela Hartnett, Elizabeth David and Claudia Roden. There is a book for every Italian-inspired cook, both at home and at work. Admittedly if you’re going to make your own pasta,
you need to set aside a morning to do so – and clear the work spaces as you’ll need a lot of room. However if you’re not too worried by a bit of a mess to clear up, and after a bit of practice, you’ll create the most melting, silky pasta you’ll have ever tasted. Pasta making is one of our most popular family days here at the cooking school – I think for kids because they get to create something delicious out of the most basic ingredients of eggs and flour, and for adults as the mess is being made in some- one else’s kitchen. When it comes to dishing up though, everyone’s agreed it’s probably the best pasta they’ve ever eaten.
Back in the depths of winter, we love soups – perfect
for lunch or dinner and here are 2 of our current favou- rites. Beans and cabbage sounding a little too worthy? Try our ribollita and see what a little Italian magic can do to transform these rather workaday ingredients. Our other soup is from mitch Tonks at the Seahorse who recently came to do a guest day at the cooking school and his Italian Fish Soup was a big hit. You can get all the ingredients locally – veggies from Jilly’s Farm Ship or Riverford, fish from mark Lobb, moby Nick’s or David Walker’s in Brixham.
MITCH’s ZuppA Del pesCATORe
• 1 stick of celery • 1 head of fennel • 1 onion • 1 red pepper (roasted, peeled and deseeded) • 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped • 50ml olive oil • 1 small jar anchovies in oil • 1 dried birds eye chilli • Pinch saffron • Pinch dried oregano • 3lt Fish or Shellfish stock • 1 x 400g tin good tomatoes • 250ml white wine
• 500g boneless fish fillet, ideally red mullet, gurnard and monkfish
1. Roughly chop the celery, fennel, onion and red pepper into smallish pieces approx. 1- 2cm in size.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the vegetables and garlic and sweat gently for 5 minutes over a medium heat.
3. Add the saffron, anchovies (and the oil they are in) and oregano. Crumble in the dried chilli and cook for a further minute until the anchovies have melted.
4. Pour in the tinned tomatoes with their juice and the white wine.
5. Stir well and increase the heat until simmering gently. 6. Cook for 5 minutes to boil off the alcohol.
7. Remove from the heat, and use a stick blender to blend the mixture until all the ingredients are well blended - you are not looking for a silky smooth texture more of a smooth pulp.
8. Add the stock and return to a gentle simmer for about 1 hour. The soup should reduce by about a third.
9. Roughly chop the fish into small pieces. If using red mullet and gurnard leave the skin on as these add a nice flavour to the soup. Add to the soup and cook for a further 15 minutes.
10. Either serve straight away or cool and serve later.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132