Real Carbonara

Again, another frugal food recipe. Last week we were looking for things to cook for tea which were quick, filling and still cheap. And also I have recently been reading Antonio Carluccio's website (we are eagerly awaiting his new series, due in April, since it was produced by a friend and we've had a sneaky peak of some behind the scenes pictures). I came across his recipe for carbonara which is very simple, and most importantly authentic.
I've made carbonara before, or what I thought was carbonara, but the real thing doesn't have any cream, or mushrooms - like those supermarket versions have.
I forgot to print the recipe out, but thankfully we had a similar recipe in the Rick Stein Mediterranean Escapes book, so I decided to use that. The recipes do differ slightly, Carluccio uses wine, while Stein's doesn't. The use of garlic differs, and Stein also adds parsley. I have no idea which is more authentic, but both are clear on one thing. There is no cream. Don't even think about adding it.

The Stein recipe was for 4, but had 3 eggs, and I'm not about to start dividing up eggs somehow, so we kind of reduced it all by a third, and felt like pigs as we ate. We didn't opt for the suggested pancetta, but used some smoked streaky bacon which we had in the fridge.


Carbonara

The final dish was lovely. Very very tasty. In my opinion, it had the right use of garlic - fried with the bacon, and all it needed was a grinding of black pepper. Cream could make it feel more luxurious, but there really was no need at all.

For information, here is the recipe, taken directly from the book.

400g dried spaghetti
175g piece smoked pancetta, rind removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
Handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
3 large eggs, beaten
50g finely grated pecorino sardo marutro
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring 4.5 lites of water to the boil in a large saucepan with 8 teaspoons salt. Add the spaghetti and cook for 9 minutes or until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, cut the pancetta into lardons, about 6 mm wide. Heat a large, deep frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the oil and the pancetta and allow it to fry until lightly golden. Add the garlic and parsley and cook for a few seconds, then remove from the heat and set to one side.
3. Drain the spaghetti well, tip into the frying pan with the pancetta, garlic and parsley, add the beaten eggs and half the grated pecorino cheese and toss together well. Season to taste with a little salt and black pepper. The heat from the spaghetti will be sufficient to partly cook the egg but still leave it moist and creamy. Take to the table and serve in warmed pasta bowls, sprinkled with the rest of the cheese.

Florio's Pizzeria, Malton, North Yorkshire

Over Christmas on a visit to North Yorkshire we had an evening out with a friend to meet her new partner and reason for a forthcoming move to Australia.

We decided to go to perhaps the most popular restaurant in town, Florio's, after a couple of drinks at Suddaby's.

Whenever visiting Malton, I try to get to Florio's. The restaurant is always busy, full of couples, families, and parties. During a night there you are pretty much guaranteed to here the background music change to "Happy Birthday" and the whole restaurant joining in the singing, while a large desert of some nature complete with sparklers is carried across to the party table. My first visit there in fact was for a friend's birthday, and that was rather more years ago than I would like to mention as I'm sure it was for a 10th birthday party, or similar.

The menu has a large choice of pasta, pizza and meat and fish dishes as well as a generous selection of specials displayed on boards. Before my gluten/wheat free time I adored their baked pasta dish of Penne Alla Sbirraglia, only one time straying to try their lobster ravioli. And in fact this baked pasta was almost ordered by my friend. The staff in the restaurant are/speak Italian, and the kitchen is open, allowing you to see the fact that the pizzas are handmade, as the chefs toss the dough with flare! The food here seems to be consistently good, generous in size, and all made from scratch - making it far easier to cope when people like me come along asking for no gluten/wheat.

I ordered the mussels in a cream sauce from the specials board for a starter while the rest of the table shared a Rustica bread. This was a large pizzas-sized garlic bread with a tomato and herb sauce and anchovies and capers. If you weren't to know, you may order a garlic bread for one as a starter, but clearly, this would work for three! I had told the waitress about gluten/wheat free, and she instantly understood, saying that no bechamel would be added to anything I ordered and that most choices (outside of the pizza and pasta, obviously) would be fine for me.

The mussels were lovely. Very large and juicy, and the sauce beautiful. I did actually want to drink it from the bowl. The Rustica bread went down well too, delivering the right amount of saltiness to satisfy the cravings.

My main - to carry on the salty theme was Pork Puttanesca. Two generous pork steaks covered in a tomato sauce with capers and olives. This came served with rosemary and garlic potatoes and I chose the option of a side salad. The meal was very nice but there was no way I could finish it.

Tim ordered his normal for Italian restaurants of spicy meatballs. I think that is a rule. When meatballs in a spicy sauce are on the menu in whatever format, they have to be ordered.

We decided against desert as we simply had no more room, but the range on offer always includes fresh fruit and Italian ice cream as well as other specials. The bill came to around £30 per couple including a bottle of wine (our first bottle had been paid for by a friend who didn't eat with us).

Florio's is definitely recommended, and I'm sure we'll continue to visit every time we're in Malton. Just make sure you're very hungry before you go!

Beetroot Risotto

Last week we paid another visit to one of our favourite places: Kenyon Hall Farm to see what seasonal delights were on offer.  It had shrunk considerably since we last visited.  Apparently they are building a new cafe which should be interesting when it opens next year.  Despite the pending building works etc there was still a great deal of tempting seasonal produce for sale.

This time we were tempted into a fantastic pumpkin and a couple of gem squashes, tomatoes, carrots with tops and a lovely bunch of fresh beetroot.  Later today I am planning on cooking a pumpkin and chorizo risotto but last week I used the beetroot for a wonderful, healthy and fresh (and colourful) beetroot risotto.

Beetroot Risotto

What I used:

A bunch of fresh beetroot (about 300g), peeled and diced
250g Arborio rice
1lt chicken stock (gluten-free)
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
Large knob of butter
Glass of white wine
1 onion (or use shallots)
300g bag of rocket, watercress and spinach mix
50g grated Parmesan
Olive oil
Pepper to taste

Method

First prepare the beetroot.  I kept some back and made a raw beetroot and carrot salad for the side.

Bring the stock to a simmer and add the chopped beetroot.  Cook for about 15 minutes till softened. 

Drain the beetroot and put aside.  The red stock is now ready to use to make the risotto.

In a large pan heat some oil and butter.  Fry the onion till soft and add the wine.  Allow the alcohol to evaporate and mix in the rice. 

Then add the stock (keeping it simmering), ladle at a time, allowing it to almost dry each time but stirring constantly so it does not stick. 

This should take about 25 minutes.

When the rice is cooked, add the beetroot, Parmesan and mixed leaves.  Heat through and when the leaves are wilted it is ready to serve.







With a little pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan this was a really tasty, healthy and seasonal meal.  We had it with some raw beetroot and carrot salad.  For this we mixed grated beetroot and carrot as it is so sweet it doesn't really need any dressing.

Fantastic Ragu by Carluccio

One night last week we were trawling the books and web trying to find some comfort food.  I had the day off so we thought about a slow(ish) cooked recipe.  The recipe that nearly made it to our table was a Ragu by Delia.  Currently we have Delia Smith's Winter Collection which is rammed full of great comfort food ideas and we were particularly taken by the idea of doing a Ragu.  The only thing that bothered us was that her recipe was for 8 x double potions and as it is just the two of us we really couldn't be bothered trying to reduce the proportions to an eighth!!

That's when we hit the web and searched Antonio Carluccio's website for ideas.  Apparently Carluccio has a book and a TV series coming out soon.  How do I know?  Because my friend is the TV producer and I keep seeing pictures of Antonio on his facebook page!  Although I was very impressed that my friend is rubbing shoulders with such a food hero,  I was even more very impressed with Carluccio's recipe for Ragu see here.

Ragu Bolognese

Now Antonio says that it is only authentic if it is made with tagliatelle but unfortunately as Fran eats gluten-free we had to use the gluten-free spaghetti we had in the cupboard.  The spaghetti we use is delicious by the way but we take his point.  The sauce, however was wonderful and rich and we will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

First, finely chop the carrots, onion and celery and fry with the pancetta for 10 minutes.

Then add the meats and cook for a further 15 minutes.  Add the red wine and bubble for a few minutes and stir in a little stock.

Stir in the tomato paste and some more stock and leave to simmer for 1.5 hours

What you should be left with is a thick, rich, tasty sauce - note the colour change too.

As you can tell we loved this dish. The proportions made 4 (or 3 hungry servings in our case).  The recipe does not give quantities for the stock but we found a pint was ample.  We added a little from time to time to keep the consistency just right.  A little at the end and some seasoning is all that is needed.

Lucia's Beef Rolls and Caponata

Yesterday was a busy Sunday for me.  I was working till half past 2 then I had to go to my parents to pick up the bottle of Camel Valley Bacchus they had kindly bought for us while on holiday in Cornwall.  It got to about half past 5 and all this time I couldn't wait to get back home and try the recipe we had been planning all week.  For our Sunday dinner we only had to look as far as fellow food blogger Lucia and her wonderful Simply Italian Food.



Braciole Napoletane al Sugo (Beef Rolls the Neapolitan Way)


We had decided to try the Beef Rolls (the Neapolitan way).  See the link for Lucia's recipe but I will attempt to talk you through how we did it.

First we laid out the beef.  We bought Steak Sizzlers as they seemed to be about the right shape for rolling (more about that later)

Then we spread all the ingredients as per Lucia's instruction.  This included: garlic, Parmesan, pine nuts and chopped parsley

We then seasoned them, rolled them up and secured the rolls with cocktail sticks
These were then sealed in a hot pan with good olive oil - done in batches as it was less stressful

The rolls were returned to the pan and to it we added tomato puree and passata and left to simmer for an hour







We were very hungry as it was Sunday dinner so we served this with some gluten-free spaghetti and a side portion of warm Caponata.  For the Caponata we went back to the brilliant Jamie's Italy.  We cooked his Caponata as per the recipe except instead of herb vinegar we used red wine vinegar from Kenyon Hall Farm.

For this you will need:

2 Aubergines (large chunks)
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
Salt and Pepper
1 Small Red Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
Small Bunch Flat Leaf parsley - separated and chopped
2 Tablespoons of drained and rinsed salted capers
Handful Green Olives - stones removed
3 Tablespoons of Herb Vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
5 Large Ripe Tomatoes

This is a very easy stew cooked in stages and simmered for 20 mins - half an hour.  Jamie recommended less oil and less cooking time then we prefer so we kept Olive Oil on hand to keep the dish moist as we went along.  We were trying to get a consistency similar to that which we had in Carluccio's recently which was completely cooked down and shimmering in oil.  We made quite a lot so some is in the fridge to eat as a cold antipasto later in the week.

First, brown the Aubergine all over in a hot pan with a few glugs of Olive Oil and after five minutes or so, add the red onion, garlic and parsley stalks

Then add the capers, olives and vinegar
When the vinegar has evaporated add the chopped tomatoes, season and cook for about half an hour or to the consistency you prefer

Serve it warm with some parsley and some more olive oil drizzled over the top







This was a great meal, rather filling and very satisfying for what should be the best meal of the week in my opinion.  During this time Fran also made another Fritata so it was quite an epic hour or so for the more relaxed cooks among us!! 

Beef Rolls: First of all, thank you to Lucia for providing such a great recipe.  I must admit we were intrigued by the simplicity of the tomato sauce but perhaps the beauty of the dish is that the meat is flavoured rather than the sauce making it an altogether more subtle dish.  There are a couple of things to bear in mind - which we will think about next time we try this dish - and that is to think about the quality of the meat.  In hindsight we wished we had bought better meat from the butcher as the steak we used became a little tough in the cooking process.  Or maybe we should have tenderised it a little with a hammer before cooking.  Lucia - perhaps you can let me know what cut you used?
Also, as Lucia quite rightly pointed out - the Parsley is very important.  We probably didn't put enough in (and we were warned) as were were saving some for the Caponata.  This may have been to the detriment of the flavours and we will learn from our mistakes.  To summarise though: a great recipe with fantastic flavours - just make sure you use a good quality meat and plenty of Parsley (as Lucia suggests)!

The Caponata was great too.  It needed cooking longer than the recipe says in our opinion and make sure the capers are well rinsed as although it was ok on acidity any more vinegar would have taken it a bit too far I felt.

Italian Delights

Well, Friday night is normally Champagne night for Fran as I am usually at work.  I had an unusual free Friday this week so some slight changes were needed.  Fran's friend had acquired a bottle of Prosecco so we decided on having an Italian themed night.

Personally I opted for some Peroni.

So after the alcohol was arranged we began developing the menu.

We weren't too adventurous but for starters we found a nice recipe in Jamie's Italy, further developed a little side dish of mine and for mains we made some gluten-free pizzas.

So in the end it looked like this:

Starters:
Funghi al Forno Ripieni Di Ricotta - Baked Mushrooms stuffed with Ricotta
Fried Courgette and Patty Pan Squash with Oregano

Mains:
Pizza with Parma Ham and Basil
Garlic Bread

Desert:
Tiramisu


Funghi al Forno Ripieni Di Ricotta: (for 3)

125g Ricotta Cheese
Zest of 1 Lemon
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Oregano
Parmesan Cheese
3 Large Flat Mushrooms
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

(I just realised while reviewing the ingredients that there should have also been chilli in it but I forgot.  It worked without but maybe would be better as Jamie intended)

Mix Riccotta with lemon zest and salt & pepper (plus chilli if you remember!).  Fold in the Parmesan and oregano.
Remove the mushroom stalks and toss in a little oil and season.  Then fill the caps with the Ricotta mix.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake in the oven at 220 deg for 15 mins.




The other starter was the fried courgettes and Patty Pan Squash with oregano:

Courgettes
Patty Pan Squash
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Dried Oregano
Grated Mozzarella

Slice the courgettes and squash and stir fry in olive oil.  Add pepper (but not salt yet) and oregano - cook for a few minutes more and place on kitchen roll. 

Lay the veg on a baking tray, add salt and grated mozzarella and cook on a high heat for 15 mins.







Pizzas and garlic bread were quite simple as we bought the gluten-free bases and built from there:

I made the tomato sauce by frying finely chopped onion with garlic in olive oil, adding tomato puree and fresh tomatoes and cooked it down for 30 mins till it thickened.

I spread this on the bases.

Finally I added grated mozzarella then topped with parma ham and fresh basil leaves.







Jenny's Tiramisu - adapted from a Gordon Ramsay recipe:

The tiramisu was supplied by our friend Jenny and was delish but can't really explain how she made it.  It definitely had chocolate chips in it and was gluten-free.  Thanks Jenny, you can come again :)






Was a great night of pleasant eatings but I must admit at this stage that I made a few errors in the mushroom dish.  I mentioned earlier that I forgot the chilli, well I also forgot to season the mushrooms before baking - so I didn't do a very good job of a very easy dish really.  It was, despite my ineptness, rather tasty.  I will certainly be trying it again but paying better attention to the instructions (hangs his head in shame).