Similarities and differences in our Easter menu

We all know that worldwide, the eggs are the symbol of Easter and of a new life that born. But in Italy we don’t speak just about chocolate eggs. We give them a much bigger role in the Easter table: they are part of the pizzas and/or pies we cook that day!

The most famous and characteristic is the Torta Pasqualina with herbs, eggs and milk or ricotta and the Pizza di Pasqua with fresh diced pecorino, grated pecorino cheese, eggs and olive oil. We normally eat this one in the morning with the salami and eventually even some wine.

Easter day signs in fact the end of the Lent a period of fasting and repentance, where is suggested not to eat meat. So, the first meal of the day have to be a big feast. When I was in Italy was probably the only morning in the year were I was used to eat a salty breakfast and it was so traditional that no one could refuse it.

For the same reason it's very common to cook lamb in this day. The lamb is for Christian the innocent body of Jesus crucified. But I saw in England there is the same tradition of serving lamb for the Easter lunch.

Then we have the classic ears of corn turned into bread, while in England there are the very traditional Hot Cross Buns .To Christians, the cross symbolizes the crucifixion and traditionally they eat them warm with butter on Good Friday.

Finally among the desserts, the most classic is the Easter Dove and the Neapolitan Pastiera made with wheat, symbols of new life, ricotta, candied fruit, eggs and orange flowers…just delicious! For more information you can check the post from last year about it.

But maybe this year, for a fair exchange I will try to cook a the Simnel Cake  rich with fruits, spices and marzipan, all forbidden during the fasting.

I can't wait to start to cook! Curious to know my main course?...stay tuned!

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More than 7 different  pasta dishes

Yes, this is the number of recipes he cooked for us all in one night! An explosion of taste, , traditions and high quality ingredients all mixed to create the perfect pasta night.
Between recipes, jokes, some learning from his experience and the italian tradition, Massimo Riccioli cooked some of the most famous Italian pasta dishes with Pastificio dei Campi and his personal touch!
Here a little recap of the night just to let you imagine the amazing time we had.
We started with some surprising pasta chips, fried Spaghetti served as a crunchy snack.

Then he opened the night with Vermicelli alla Sorrentina, with tomato, mozzarella and basil... This was just a little entry to tease the guests. “The red calls the black… like Pastificio dei Campi boxes, so here for you black squid ink pasta” This was one of the best dishes of the night Vermicelli with black squid ink and some grated salty ricotta! Everyone was amazed! 

To come back to the base of our cuisine, Massimo prepared a great Carbonara with Calle Pastificio dei Campi. Look at the pictures and tell me if it’s not tempting!

“ Now some inter regional Orecchiette with onion, like in Genova, broccoli and sardines from Sicily, the pasta from Gragnano and the original inspiration from Puglia.”

My favourite? Linguine with scallops, basil and a fantastic smoked ricotta cheese! Just a feast of taste.

When we were all thinking that the night was ending and with it the pasta dishes… Massimo started to cook again, and this time was… amatriciana of course, another pillar of the roman tradition! He chose Eliche Pastificio dei Campi for this dish and he didn’t put any oil or salt. All is left to the ingredients!

And to close the night, like in the most funny and long parties at home in Italy... Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino (oil garlic and chili). The  classic dish everyone cook in the long summer night, when all the friends are together in some house and the morning is approaching! Irresistible!

Do you want to come along next time to try Pastificio dei Campi as cooked by Massimo Riccioli? You are guaranteed to have a good time! Keep an eye on this space or write me in the comments space!

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Some recipes to enjoy this great ingredient and our pasta

I admit it: I love artichokes but has always been a bit difficult for me to clean and cook them properly. I want them but I'm always a bit too lazy to actually buy them often.

Today, with the official beginning of the spring season I decided that it's time to beat my enemy and shake a  bit my diet welcoming this great ingredient.

I then started to look here and there for interesting recipes and this is what inspired me. They really are pretty easy, so maybe is the time to go shopping soon.

Just few days ago in twitter @donalde asked me about the Pecorino cream. I didn't know what it was, because very local and typical of Sardinia, but it seems you can find it in London at Melograno Deli with the Provola cheese too. So here some recipes to enjoy them and the artichokes!

Fusilli with artichokes, goat cheese, pecorino and almonds or Mezzi Rigatoni with artichokes and provola cheese (smoked or not).

If you like goat cheese go for Fusilli, that are better with saucy cream, while if you prefer Provala Cheese (you can find it in Melograno deli) go for the Mezzi Rigatoni.

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Mother's day is near and Italy too

Thinking about a special present for your mum this year? If she has always been in love with Italy, you could think about offer her an holiday in Italy.

What if you can find Italy at your doorstep? 

Easy with one of our great MAXI CUBE Pastificio dei Campi: there is the one "To Taste" (50 euro) with a selection of pasta shapes already made for you; Then there is the "Customed Cube"(40 euro), if you already know your mum's favourite shapes of pasta and finally the  "Maxi Cube Selection Pastificio dei Campi"(65 euro), that is composed by pasta, Extra virgin Olive Oil L'arcangelo and a special kind of tomatoes, Miracolo di San Gennaro... so the best from the Campagna region. 

If you are interested in one of the 3 just let me know via Facebook and I will organize to send you one of the cubes.

If the present is not enough, why don't follow one of my recipe and invite your mum to a real italian pasta dinner all prepared by you? Here some of them.

And finally your italian day couldn't be easier than this: The Italian Cultural Institute in London has just started the new italian movie nights appointment from this friday: lot's of nice movies are in schedule in these days, all with subtitles and in a really beautiful environment.

Have a look here to chose the one your mum will be happy to watch and get ready for your Special italian Mother's day.

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An English ingredient used in an Italian way.

The celeriac in Italy is not very famous so I started to know this ingredient here, first from a chef friend of mine, who made it mash in a dinner we had some time ago, and then I tried a celeriac soup again in a restaurant in Ireland and it was delicious!

So it’s all the winter that I was waiting to have a little experiment with it, but I realized it’s not very common in shops. If the sweet potatoes, the swede and the other type of vegetables were there in January, my celeriac wasn’t and when I was asking for it everyone was giving me celery! ARGH! :(

Finally on the 29^th of February, leap day,  going some shopping I found it in front of my eyes and that was it: the dinner was sorted! 

Here the recipe I used for my Celeriac Pasta Soup. If the soup alone was great, this soup with the pasta it's amazing! I hope you will enjoyed it and ... don't wait another Leap day to try it :)

Ingredients for 4 people

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 big celeriac, peeled, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 vegetable stock

1 chilli

Lots of nutmeg and ½ large potato, peeled, chopped if you like

300 gr of pasta Mista Corta Pastificio dei Campi

Peal the celeriac and cut it in pieces. Then heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and fry over a gentle heat until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.

Add the celeriac (and the potato if you want) to the pan, some hot water and season, to taste, with salt, freshly ground black pepper, nutmeg and the sliced chili.

Add the stock and cook until the celeriac have softened. At this point add the 250-300gr of pasta and let it cook all together.

I don’t normally blend the celeriac or potatoes because I like the chunky beat in the pasta soup, but you can if you want, before to put the pasta in it. When the pasta is cooked and the soup is thick, you can serve it!

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But also with lots of families and cute children

As you may know i spend the last saturday at Massimo’s Restaurant and Oyster bar where took place a really nice event organized by Slow Food UK. The purpose was to let the children experiment with food and get curious, open towards new ingredients and to know them a bit better.

Massimo Riccioli was there to explain and to let the family try the classic roman dishes created with simple and good ingredients like Rigatoni with bolognese sauce, panzanella, focaccia with Parma ham , arancini,  suppli and some great fried prawn and calamars. These were absolutely amazing!

Then Slow Food prepared a long table with 5 tasting experience for all the children to get involved with the food, using all their senses. As you can see from the pictures they had great fun and they seems to be amazed by it. 

Pastificio dei Campi was there too with Food in the city, ready to explain a bit more about pasta, such a simple ingredient but so full of interesting stories: from the ingredients used to make it, to the roughness, from the drying process to the different shapes and their pairing with sauces.

For me it was really funny to play with the children, explaining them all about it, let them touch the pasta and show them the different shapes.

But I also had the chance to know much more about the Slow food educational projects like Slow food baby that has the aim to show how to introduce a varied healthy range of first foods and flavours to babies, or Slow food on Campus that brings the enjoyment of food to University students across the UK and lots more. You can check all the projects here: slowfood.org.uk

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Are you more for the Smooth or the Ridged pasta?

Inspired by a post written in the italian blog by Mafaldina dei Campi, about the smooth pasta or the one with ridges, I decided to write this post, because i just realized that here this division is actually not so noticed .

Here I have the impression that the majority of people divide the pasta in long pasta (spaghetti and linguine mainly), fresh pasta filled or not (ravioli and tagliatelle) and then all the short pasta (penne, maccheroni, etc).

I don’t really think anyone really cares about the difference between smooth and ridged pasta or  why we have these two different types of pasta and when to use them.

Anyway if asked the general answer is always: "Ridged pasta maintains better the sauce".

This is basically what we also say when we explain the bronze dying process that make the pasta (smooth or not) rough and so, better to keep the sauce anyway.

What in reality the ridges bring to pasta is just consistency and it’s an easier way to maintain the pasta al dente: if ridged the pasta will be of course thicker and the cooking time between ridges will be different so easier to don’t overcook it.

It will be a surprise for all the people from abroad to discover that the original pasta in Italy is smooth and that the ridged one was created for the norther market, where was missing the good quality of grain and they needed a shape that could help maintaining the form and the cooking time.

So at the present,  in the south, are mainly used the smooth types of pasta, generally long. The short pasta initially was in fact created from the long one, cutting it by hands. The short and ridged pasta instead is mainly used in the oven, for some baked dishes. This in fact will help the sauce to get thick if too liquid and to help the union with the pasta.

But of course I love both of the types and you can see in my recipes  I use both… but of course I will remember this  when cooking in the oven or when I have a sauce not particulary thick.

And what do you prefer?

Rigatoni, millerighe, conchiglioni or ziti tagliati, calle, and paccheri ?

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