... is it London the new "gastronomic capital of the world"?

Yesterday the Michelin stars finally arrived in UK and Ireland too and everyone was expecting new winners, old confirmations and maybe some fall, but none could think these countries could collect together 143 stars, more than anytime before.

This news created lots of talk about the fact that the english gastronomy finally reached the dignity and the respect needed.  Derek Bulmer, the editor of the guide, said to the Telegraph, food in British restaurants had improved immensely since he started. In 1974, the first year Michelin Guide published its guide in Britain under its current format, there were just 25 stars in total: " Our gastronomic reputation was, let's be generous, poor!"

He also added that though Britain may not have as many stars as France, Italy or even Germany, there were few cities in the world that attracted as many top-flight chefs as London. Truth is that in England at the moment you can find any kind of cuisine from all over the world: not just Indian and Asiatic, but I personally had the chance to try food from Ghana, Persia, even Mongolia, thing that is not so easy in other countries. 

Joël Robuchon, pluri- starred french chef, who has a restaurant in Soho,  just admitted few days ago that the restaurants in London are now more innovative than those of Paris.
The 65 year-old, also claimed that "London is very possibly the gastronomic capital of the world”. “Why? Because it’s only in London that you find every conceivable style of cooking. When it comes to what’s new in cooking, to innovative cuisine, it’s all happening in London."

But let's talk about this edition of the Michelin Guide, that this year celebrate in England also its 100th anniversary. Another good news in fact is the presence of new awarded female chefs: the first one is Hélène Darroze who received her second Michelin star, at The Connaught in London. Then Skye Gyngell, with her first star for the Petersham Nurseries Cafe in Richmond, and finally Clare Smyth, who runs the kitchen at Gordon Ramsay's  restaurant and was confirmed as one of just four chefs in the country to have three stars.

 
Lots were the restaurants awarded yesterday and I'm especially happy to notice also some good italian ones maintaining their star: Casa Mia in Bristol, Zafferano, Semplice and of course Locanda Locatelli here in London! Between the italian restaurants awarded a Bib Gormand there are Trullo e Zucca. I will need to try them soon!

So congratulations to  the women and to all the winners of this 2011 Michelin stars edition.

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Joining the worldwide ola of Homemade Pesto Genovese

Today, 17th of January is International Day of Italian Cuisines again, and this time is all dedicated to the Pesto Genovese.

As in the past editions, the IDIC is a worldwide celebration of authentic and quality Italian Cuisine, to defend it from bogus and counterfeiting. Hundreds of chefs and restaurateurs all around the world will prepare simultaneously on today Pesto Genovese with pasta, according to an authentic recipe. 

All the food lovers too where invited to join the ola and cook some Pesto, and i couldn't miss this international call to action.

The International Day of Italian Cuisines is born from a mission: "we certainly aim at educating worldwide consumers, but more than anything else, we want to protect their right to get what they pay for when going to eateries labeled as "Italian", that is: authentic and quality Italian cuisine." says Rosario Scarpato, GVCI Honorary President, and IDIC 2011 Director.

With this in mind,  today i won't  just give you here the most classic and official recipe for the real pesto, but i will also tell you about the best combination of pasta you can have with this sauce.

But let's start from the recipe as written by the cooperative of the Pesto Genovese:

- 50 gr of fresh young basil leaves.

- 1 big spoon of pine nuts

- 6 spoons of Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese freshly grated.

- 2 spoons of Pecorino cheese

- 2 garlic cloves

- 10 gr of  gritty salt

- Half a glass of  Extra Virgin Olive Oil (better if it's from “Ligurian Riviera” d.o.p.)

- and finally 600 gr Trofie Pastificio dei Campi (the name comes from the genoese dialect and the way to call the manual movement necessary to create the shape).

The procedure is quite easy, but to be traditional, you will need a marble mortar and a wooden pestle. This because instead to chop the leaves you will need to crush them to have the leaves' oil necessary for the sauce.

Wash the basil leaves in cold water and dry them on a paper towel. Don't squeeze them.
Then crush in the mortar the garlic clove the pine nuts and the basil leaves, add  the salt, the Parmesan, the Pecorino cheese and keep pounding using a light circular movement of the pestle.

Add some of the Extra Virgin Olive from time to time and keep  mixing until  you obtain  a smooth creamy sauce. Pesto should not be greasy and the amount of oil used must be well absorbed and not floating on top.

Trofie and Trenette are the pasta used in Liguria, however linguine or spaghetti al dente will make a good companion to this sauce. The original recipe also says to cook the pasta in the water with french green beans and potatoes and serve all together dressed with pesto (more like a salad type of dish), but you can just mix this with pasta and will be great!

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Some original ideas from the Pasta World for your Christmas.

Just few days are separating us from Christmas, so it's time to put together all our energy to buy the latest presents and prepare the house for our guests. This will be the focus of my next posts.

Let's start directly with the first idea: the Christmas pasta tree. A new way to decor your tree and your house for the festivity, using some natural and easy material like pasta... ok it's not exactly something that I suggest everyone to do, but it's just something that come up in my mind observing the pasta from Pastificio dei Campi: it's not just great to eat but it's really beautiful! A pleasure for the mouth and for the eyes :) Just have a look a this "Santa Pacchero!"

Let's speak now about something a bit more interesting and serious like the gift list: are you sure you have bought all the presents you needed? Have you already wrote all your desires to Santa or are you still putting down the latest ideas? Here few more suggestions all absolutely "pasta related".

Do you often cook the same shape of pasta, or you try to combine the right pasta shape  with  sauces? Do you need help and some more learning about this? here is the book for you (and for me, considering is at the top of my personal wishes list).

“The geometry of pasta” by Caz Hildebrand e Jacob Kenedy. " The perfect shape + the perfect sauce = The perfect Pasta!" Problem solved. Kenedy is the chef and owner of the restaurant Bocca di Lupo in London, while Hildebrand is a designer. By their union has born this elegant, simple, but extremely beautiful and interesting book to learn how to team up sauces with pasta shapes. Really unique in its genre, this book it's really something useful even for an italian like me, who can always miss some perfect combination. Is better penne or eliche with arrabbiata sauce? Spaghetti or bucatini for carbonara? etc.

Then for the ones in troubles with the long pasta, like linguine, spaghetti or bucatini, instead of the classic spoon to help you with, why don't try this technological fork? I have to admit I found it a bit weird, but maybe could be a real solution. Do you have a friend always in trouble when eating pasta? Or you simply don't want to splash sauce and pasta everywhere  anymore? Another problem is solved with Hog Wild’s Twirling Spaghetti Fork

Finally if you simply want to give a nice pasta hamper for Christmas, Pasta di Gragnano PGI from Pastificio dei Campi, is here to help, offering you one of the most high quality products on the market.... and look at the packaging. It seems to be made to be a gift!

You can buy this directly here in the shopping section of the website, or on Food in the city site, or you can even purchase them in all the Harvey Nichols shops around England. Finally you can even try to win an hamper on the blog Eat like a girl, but run because you won't have so much time left.

I hope this guide will help you with your latest presents, or simply letting you know a bit more about the pasta world!

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Do you have any plan? Here are some ideas for you

Since few days in all UK started to snow and you have definitely the sensation to be already in Christmas. All the decorations, all the people running for shopping and lots of ice rings around the city. In Italy we use to decorate our house and Christmas tree  the 8th of December, that is holiday and it's a good occasion to stay with all the family.

So I have decided to spend  next weekend in markets and typical english events around London to look for my Christmas decorations and typical products to be ready for the 8th.

Here are 3 nice events for all the people who love food and the Christmas mood and atmosphere:

The first one is  the Real Food Christmas market taking place at the Southbank Centre Square this weekend:

"Traditional seasonal fare of mince pies and mulled wine will sit alongside other delicacies including fabulous cheeses, delicious chutneys and pickles, wild game, hams and charcuterie and all manner of chocolate delights. Why not stock up your Christmas larder with gourmet goodies and find the perfect food gifts for your friends and family"

The second one I can suggest you is Taste of Christmas held at ExCeL London, located just 10 minutes from Canary Wharf.

"Twelve of London’s top restaurants will be serving up seasonal menus of everything from traditional classics to cutting-edge cuisine - plenty to fire up the imagination, and your tastebuds."

There will be stands with the typical ingredients for your Christmas dishes and famous chefs will share their secret recipes for some special menus'.

And last but not the least, is the Underground Christmas Market organized by Marmitelover, great food blogger and creator of one of the first UK supperclubs 'The Underground Restaurant'

On Sunday the 5th of December, in her secret house in Kilburn there will be music, an ironing board cocktail bar,  a ruffle, cooking demonstrations, Christmas puddings, craft stalls and lots more! When you will buy the ticket here, you will be informed about the precise address.

Are you curious to know which one i will choose? You will see it in the next posts. In the meantime I hope you will enjoy the weekend in one of these events or just staying at home and maybe cooking a good plate of pasta.

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Let's start from here: Food in the city Warehouse

It's missing just one month to Christmas and nowhere like in London everyone is talking about the festivities: from recipes, to holidays, from homemade decorations to the classic shopping for presents.

Lots are the little Christmas markets popping up every weekend  in the city and the shops are starting to get busy between clients, boxes and wrapping papers.

Here I have a little suggestion for you: what about food presents this year? Are really few the people who won't enjoy something like this! Have you never thought about something special like  an hamper or a selection of high quality products, not easy to find in the normal shops or supermarket?

I'm sure I have in mind a place that really can make your Christmas shopping very easy: Food in the city, a very special warehouse in the beautiful St. John's Wood, where you will be able to find lots of products and of course our Italian pasta from Gragnano.

On the 27th and 28th of November there will be the warehouse Sale, where you will be able to buy all the products with a big discount.

Are you curious to try our pasta?  Do you have some great food or pasta lover in your family? Are you planning to invite people and cook for them on Christmas? Or you just fancy high quality products and to try new specialties and delicatessen from different countries? Whatever is your need, I'm sure that passing by, you will love this place.

And if you are not near the city, just go online and enjoy the sales comfortably seated on your sofa! And don't forget to check all the different shapes of pasta available from Pastificio dei Campi.

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Some guidelines to choose between the best italian wines

I admit it: I'm italian but I'm not a real expert about wine, especially if not produced in Italy. I love Sangiovese for example, but I could not really tell you which brand sell the best wine, or entertain you with a little insight about the taste and flavors in a wine.

So I was really happy today when I discovered Tom Hylands's blog and his article about "Duemilavini". I knew about the Gambero Rosso Italian Wine Guide called "I vini d'Italia 2011", but I didn't know about this other guide for italian wines made instead by the Italian Sommelier Association.

This is something I wanted to share with you, readers of this blog, because I'm sure you will find in this two books a big help to learn and understand more about italian wines and their characteristics. Both of them are based on a very simple system: glasses or grape bunches. More glasses or grapes bunches they give and better is the wine.

Gambero Rosso's guide arrived this year at the 24th edition and it reviews around 20,000 wines and more than 2,300 different companies. The guide reports the price of the wine and a quality judgment based on glasses: 3 is the excellence. This year they were 402.

Duemilavini instead, at its 11th edition, tastes as well more than 20,000 wine, but gives the 5 grape bunches (the maximum score) just at 298 wines and, simple but detailed, it has also a part dedicated to the food and wine pairing.

Did you always wanted to learn more about italian wines, or you simply wanted to make your dinner just perfect matching the right wine with the dish you have prepared? Now you don't have any more excuses: here is your solution for an excellent italian wine to pair with your excellent pasta dish.

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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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