A quite, peculiar and truly good market

It’s more than a year that everyone is speaking about this awarded market, basically created by the farmers as an alternative to the busy and overcrowded Borough Market.

This street characterized by the arches of the railway is now the new foodies destination for a special Saturday market experience. Packed with farmers and little producers this truly great place give you the time and all the fun you can have in discovering niche and unique products. From amazing sweets, to spanish ham, from smoked salmon to fresh oysters and flowers, you can really comeback in time.

In Italy for example every area has its weekly market, something very common and never, never, so full like the few very famous ones here in London. To go to one of this you really need to be motivaded and ready to spend the day between lots of people. In Maltby street instead is more the market that guides you in the exploration and you can only let it drives you, like when I was a child and i was going to the market with my mum.

The smell, the  beauty of the products, the peace under the arches can only make your Saturday morning better and even the past Saturday when all London was gray and miserable, there it was sunny and warm.

After a nice stoll, a little shopping and a beautiful coffee in Monmouth I then camback to the center passing by London bridge, but when I saw the amount of people, I just rememberd. For me the tranquillity of this place and the good vibe of the shops and the people was a really nice discovery.

Do you want to know what I bought? You will need to wait my next recipe… soon on the blog.

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Pastificio dei Campi and the best food and wine from Italy

 

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To remind you about "Children in need" this evening on BBC

Every year in November the BBC set aside one evening of programming on its flagship television channel, BBC One, to show events aimed at raising money exclusively destined for charities working with children in the UK.

In 2009, the charity raised over £20 million! The mascot is a yellow teddy bear with a bandage over one eye, called 'Pudsey'. Introduced in 1985 it has become a regular feature and a famous character.

The attention for this event it's high in all England and everyone try to raise money or spread the news around this project in every way. Very typical is the bake sale and especially the cup cake sale, with some created from famous chefs just for this event.

So, to remind you all this important event, I decided to make a list of the favorite pasta dishes for children, the ones they love the most and finish in no time.

Children normally like little shape of pasta because easier to eat and simple flavors. A part from the classic and simple tomato sauce pasta (made with passata, without any tomatoes chunk, or following this recipe), you can try to add some tuna too or you can cook some cheesy pasta. With  some butter and a good quantity of Parmesan, or even with another cheese they like, this pasta is really appreciated. Have you ever tried pasta wit ham, pies and cream? This is always a success and it puts together, protein, carbs and the vegetable too. Easy and quick to prepare, it's a must to remember.

Finally for the most creative and even fussy children, a good idea is to give them some cooked pasta (maybe with some butter), some cooked vegetables and other ingredients they can easily add to their plate. In this way they can decide what to eat, how much, and have the satisfaction to have cook this by themselves.

What is your secret recipe to make your children happy? Share this with us and I'm sure you will  help not just the little ones. And don't forget tonight the show on the BBC.

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And after the summer there is September with its fruits!

It's still hard to say goodbye to the summer, but what about all the new fresh ingredients September is bringing to us ?

The most characteristic for me has always been the fig, so little, so weird in it's aspect, so smooth and simple outside but so surprisingly reach and sweet inside! In italy we have a long tradition of products made with it, especially sweets, from cakes to biscuits to simple dry figs in the winter.

Then there is also this very famous combination of figs and ham, that for how much can appear simple and almost poor in it's origin, it's give you always an amazing tasting experience. And if the pizza with ham and fig is already a must and a great discovery, why don't try the pasta?

I looked in internet on italian and english blogs and i found similar recipes with figs and ham on the first ones, while in England you seems to enjoy more the combination of the figs with rosemary, so i decided to come up with a third idea: let's try the three ingredients together. 

I loved it, but you need to be very careful to put the right quantity of each ingredient, to maintain a balance between tastes. Not too sweet, not too salty, not to much of just one ingredients: they need to combine in a new flavor without delating the others.

I choose the spaghetti because i thought the creamy sauce was going to be well absorbed and well accompanied by them... and in fact i think it was the right choice. What do you think?

 Here is the recipe for 5 people:

- 500gr Spaghetti Pastificio dei Campi

- 6 fresh little figs

- 10 thin slices of Parma ham or even Serrano if you find it.

- a bit of fresh Rosemary... to still remember the summer 

- salt, pepper, olive oil and Parmesan or Pecorino cheese if you like the taste.

Put some oil in a pan and then directly the rosemary leaves and the ham cut in little stripes. Add some salt,  pepper and wait for the pasta to cook. When this is almost ready add the figs without the skin and in slices and let them cook for some minutes. Add some water if needed or a bit of cream if you prefer (i normally try to avoid it, but with strong tastes like these, sometimes can be the perfect missing link).

When the pasta will be "al dente" (around 7 minutes), drain it and pass it in the pan with the rest. Serve it with the grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese and say welcome to September!

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