A typical recipe to bring you back to the seaside!

This week was weird, maybe because the temperature are getting cooler here in London or maybe just because we are scared of the approaching autumn.
Anyway it’s such a long time I was dreaming about this recipe, that a very good Italian friend of mine decided to cook it for me.

I have never prepared this special seafood pasta at home and from scratch I can tell you is not exactly a quick thing.
Anyway my fantastic friend and massive food/cook lover Maria, decided to let me try her own recipe…and I have to say it was amazing. We had a massive plate of Paccheri allo Scoglio on Saturday night, so big and so good that I totally forgot about the horrible gray weather…I could even hear the sea instead :)

Do you want to have the same great sensation? Do you want to fell again in holiday on the seaside? Happy to push far away the autumn for a bit more? Follow this recipe then.

Ingredients
 for 4 people:

-    400 of Paccheri Pastificio dei Campi. This time I really recommend you to use this brand because this dish really deserve the consistency and the absolute beuty of this pasta

-    1 kg of mussels

-    1 kg of clams

-    12 shrimp

-    500 grams of squid

-    400 g peeled prawns

-    200 grams of shrimp in their shells

-    Other mixed rockfish found according to the season: crabs, spider crabs, shrimp, etc..

-    2 cloves of garlic

-    2 small onions

-    400 grams of cherry tomatoes or 1 can of tomatoes

-    Pepper to taste

-    2 glass of white wine

-    Olive oil

-    Parsley Finely chop an onion and divide it in two putting the first bit in a big pan with olive oil, chopped parsley and pepper. Put in different pans washed mussels and clams and let them open: to do this, keep them on fire without anything and covered for a bit.

Let them cool down and then remove them from the shell, except for some that you will use as a garnish. Strain the liquid and keep it aside.
 In a large frying pan put a little bit of olive oil, garlic, peeled but whole, get heat, being careful not to burn the garlic and add the prawns. Sauté for a few minutes (2-3 should be fine) over high heat, then pour the wine. Let it evaporate and turn off the heat.

In another pan (you can use one of the mussels or clams), place the remaining onion with a little bit of oil and pepper to taste, let it cook and then add the cuttlefish into strips. Pour wine over it. Let cook for 5 minutes, then add tomatoes and cook for another 25 minutes. Add the shrimp and let the flames further 5 minutes.

Combine all ingredients in the pan with the prawns, including the cooking liquid form the mussels and clams and simmer a few more minutes. Cook the pasta al dente in boiling salted water, drain it, pour it into the pan and let it season for a few minutes on high heat (1-2 approx).Serve it on plates, and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley .

Enjoy! Can you listen the sea weaves...? :)

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End of the summer recipe with Pastificio dei Campi

Last week speaking with Niccolo from *food in the city, he told me about one of his favorite recipes during the summer: Spaghetti with anchovies fillets and fresh courgette flowers...and my mouth started watering!

I love courgette flowers and here in London they are so hard to find... but some days ago magically on twitter @Andreasveg  tweeted a pic about his beautiful courgette flowers and the dinner was decided.

I took the flowers, the anchovies from *food in the city, Nick recipe and just a little bit of ricotta! It was gorgeous...an explosion of taste that i was really missing. A bit like my so loved fried courgette flowers, filled with mozzarella and anchovies.

However here is the recipes for you to try. For 2 people you will need:

- 200gr Spaghetti o Linguine Pastificio dei Campi

-80 gr Fresh ricotta

- 60gr Anchovy  fillets in Olive Oil

- 6/8 Courgette flowers

- 1 onion

- olive oil and salt for the water

Put on the fire a big pan with the water for the pasta. In the meantime cut the onion and place some olive oil on a pan. Add the onion in little pieces and let it cook a bit.
Cut the flower from the courgette. Take of the pistils and slice them. Place them in the pan and let it cook.

While the pasta is cooking add to the pan the anchovies cut in little pieces and a bit of water from the pasta. When the pasta is "al dente", drain it and toss it in the pan with the rest.
Add the ricotta and mix it all. Serve on a plate with just a bit of grated fresh pepper. Enjoy!

Do you want to find all the ingredients at once... write down this date on your diary 10th of September. More news to come soon.

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A real  GOURMET BBQ made by foodies for foodies

 
This saturday I have been to what I can describe as the best BBQ of all my life: organized by Luiz from thelondonfoodie, the London cooking club is now a tradition:

"Every month, I choose a theme, cookery book or cuisine, and have a group of readers of The London Foodie come to my home to cook, eat a delicious meal, drink and talk."

And this BBQ was really an epic event, just perfect in every little detail.

We were 12 just the good number to have the chance to know each other and have a common  conversation. Everyone was asked to propose 2 BBQ dishes of his own and then Luiz put together the menu choosing the right combination of dishes.

And this was:

Meats & Fish:  

Marinated Squids 

Hot Rub Chicken

Lamb mint and sugar snap pea sosaties - Gina

Chicken kebabs marinaded in garlic, cumin and sweet and hot smoked paprika

Pork and Stilton Burgers  Pork Ribs with Jack Daniels Smokey Sweet BBQ Glaze

Salads:  

Glass Noodle Salad with Mango and Chilli

Salad with beetroots and Comte cheese

French Beans, Mange-tout and Sugar Snaps w/ Hazelnuts and Orange

Accompaniments: 

Onigiri - Soy+miso flavoured crispy rice triangles

Desserts:  

Polenta, almond and lemon cake

Tiramisu 

Matcha Cheescake with Chilled Ichibancha Sencha

So not only we had recipes coming from any part of the world (thanks to the mixed group) but being all foodies, the food was absolutely stunning in taste and presentation.

I was really happy to participate too and of course I bring a classic for every italian party: not bruschetta, not pasta fredda but they have chosen my mum's tiramisu... And I hope it was at the level of all the rest of the dinner!
 
Massively thanks to Luiz to invite me to take part at this massive feast, allowing me to also add a bit of italian flair to it. And thanks to Gill once again to be a fantastic host!

PS. You can find all the pictures in a better resolution on my facebook page.

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A bright evening in London: the calm before the storm

It seems that London is coming back to normality after the crazy episodes of these days. As the city is quite again and the people are more relaxed, we all try to recuperate our daily routine and mood.

Just today I was thinking about one of the latest amazing dinner I had before to go in Italy for some days. We were at the OXO Tower some Sundays ago and now it just seems so far away. It was impossible to imagine that something so awful was going to happen just few days after.

However, trying to put up a good smile on our face and being thankful for the restored peace, here I leave you some pictures from that amazing Sunday evening in July with a view of the quite Thames. I hope you will enjoy them!

Twice cooked Vietnamese style pork belly, crayfish slaw salad, chilli jam. Roasted Roma tomato, buffalo mozzarella, artichoke salad, balsamic cream, rocket pesto.

Harissa spiced lamb rump, red pepper fried polenta, aubergine purée, pea and broad bean chorizo feta salad 

Bitter chocolate rose mousse, milk chocolate muffin, raspberries; Honey panna cotta, peaches, baklava; Trio of pavlovas

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The easiest recipe is always the most successful

In Italy we don't use to call this dish pasta salad (insalata di pasta) also if we have rice salad (insalata di riso). We normally call this cold pasta (pasta fredda) and it's a must in the summer and in any kind of party, bbq, pic nic and event with lots of people and a good weather.

Recently i have been invited in a house warming party here in London, and i though to help out the guest bringing some easy Cold Pasta that she could simply serve in a big pot.

The dish was a real success and it finished in no time. I was sorry for the other pasta cooked by another italian, but my recipe with PGI Gragnano pasta from Pastificio Dei Campi doesn't have any rival.

So here is my recipe to make your party a success too. It serve 4-5 people if you have also other food:

- 350gr short pasta (any kind you like but I love Tortiglioni, but i can suggest also the Elicoidali o the Tofette shape. I think they can be great too!),

- 1 tuna can,

- 1 mozzarella or 2 little bags of mozzarella in balls,

- some cherry tomatoes,

- some pitted black olives,

- oregano,

- fresh basil,

- some capers if you have

- salt, pepper and olive oil of course.

Boil the pasta in some salty water until "al dente", but be careful because this is really important. Drain the pasta and pass it under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Then place it in a big container and add some olive oil.

Mix until all the pasta is divided and start to add the ingredients: cut the mozzarella, the cherry tomatoes and the black olives in half.  Then add the tuna, the fresh basil (but cut it with hand, in this way it won't become black), the oregano, salt and pepper.

Mix it all with some more oil if needed and add some capers as final touch. Now be ready to enjoy! As you will se from the pictures at the party has been used plastic glasses instead of plates and it was great! It’s a good solution for lunches in the park too. I hope you will like it!

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Ready for the weekend?

 
Luckily the forecast give sun also for this weekend, so it is absolutely the time for a picnic pasta recipe. Sorry for this weird name but i don't want to call it pasta salad: I simply hate all the ones they sell in the supermarkets with all that cream, cheap pasta and strange mix of ingredients. This instead in Italy is called pasta fredda (cold pasta) and is a must in the summer, but the preparation doesn't normally requires cream and the ingredients are finely selected to

Here my recipe for this weekend inspired by "alla Norma Pasta" from Sicily and normally served hot. In London it's not easy to find the Ricotta salata, so i just swapped this cheese for Feta, but you can even use a Gouda, or mozzarella if you like it or I was even thinking about a smoked cheddar. What do you prefer?

 
This time I decided to prepare it with one of the pasta shapes I adore the most because simple but chunky and very good to take away: Mezzi Occhi di Lupo
 
For 8 people you will need:
700gr  Mezzi occhi di lupo Pastificio dei Campi 2 big aubergines
1 onion
30 pitted black olives
1 feta or 150 gr of any other cheese
Some salt, olive oil and basil leaves

Wash the aubergine and cut it in slices and then in little cubes. In a pan put some oil and half of an onion to fry a bit, then add the aubergine.Cook it until colored, adding salt and some other oil or a bit of water if needed.

In the meantime cook the pasta until al dente. Cut the cheese in cubes and the pitted black olives in slices. Put them in a big bowl and when ready, add there the aubergine to cool down.
When the pasta is al dente, drain it and pass it under cool water to stop the cooking process. Then mix all the previous ingredients altogether adding some salt and oil if needed.
 
Serve it with some fresh basil leaves, but cut them with hands and not with a knife to avoid them from getting black. Enjoy with lots of friends and sun!

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Maybe not hot but at least a tasty summer

The 21st of June is finally here and with it, normally comes also the great sun and the long bright days.

In reality what I’m waiting the most is the possibility to have lots of nice food in the park or even at home but easy, fresh and quick to prepare.

So also if the sun is not bright in these days, we can always have a a summer preview with a nice meal: here is my recipe to welcome the summer, a pasta dish made with a sauce you can eat hot or even slightly warm, simply tossed with some boiled pasta, and of course made with some seasonal ingredients.

These are the quantities for 3 people:

300gr Tortiglioni Pastificio dei Campi

150 gr of asparagus (already clean by the hard part)

100 gr ricotta cheese

20 gr peeled almonds

A garlic clove

Some pepper, olive oil and a bit of Parmesan

Cut the asparagus in little peace and boil them in some salted water. After around five minutes try them and see if they are done. 

Put them in a blander with some pepper a spoon of olive oil, and a garlic clove. And use the asparagus water to cook the pasta.

Them mix it in a plate with the ricotta cheese and half of the grated almond ( previously done)

Then drain the pasta and put the sauce in an hot pan. Add the pasta, toss it a bit  and it’s done.  Add in the plate the rest of the almonds and a bit of Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy and happy sunny days to everyone (or at least let's hope so!).

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