Goodbye Foligno - a few best bits

Over the past month and a bit, I have become pretty well acquainted with the little ancient town of Foligno, Perugia. I rarely returned directly home after dropping off the little girl at school, most mornings I'd detour off piste to explore another little cobbled street or coffee stop. Consequently, I started to build up a little mental list of a few of my favourite places. Foligno isn't particularly well known on the tourist circuit but, in my opinion, it's got a few hidden gems. The outskirts are mostly newbuilds, but the ancient centre is really beautiful and definitely worth a day trip - you can get a great view of the roof tops and church domes from the top of Via Gentile da Foligno (at the intersection with the larger Viale IV Novembre). Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza San Domenico are both beautiful squares and, as the oldest church in Foligno, I'd definitely recommend popping into the church of Saint Maria Infraportas in the second of these two squares.

In case you ever get the chance to visit, I've written down my mental list of my favourite haunts:


Bread and pastries: Forno Pizzoni
Largo Volontari Del Sangue 6, Foligno, Perugia

Not only the oldest bakery in Foligno, but also, in my opinion, the absolute best. Still run by the same family, incredible breads, pastries and pizzas are all made on site - the baking process starts at 9pm the night before! I came in almost every day to buy bread for the family, and occasionally stopped a little longer to take a coffee and a pastry (their cappuccino was also one of the best I had during my time in Italy). Every time they were happy to stop and chat and explain a new pastry they'd served up that day - even with my shaky Italian. With an equally tempting array of savoury treats, you could certainly also pop by to get something to take away for a picnic lunch. Easily favourite place in all of Foligno.


Aperivo: L'Ocabarocca
Rione Spada 30 (at the intersection with Via Maurizo Quadro), Foligno, Perugia

Do not expect 24/7 opening hours from this little wine bar. The opening hours are both vague and erratic, but I absolutely urge you to have a bit of time flexibility as you will be rewarded. Such odd hours are due to the fact that, for the owners, this isn't their sole employment. Flavio and his wife both work during the day, this is just an avenue to follow their passion when they can (most evenings and some daytimes). And boy do they have passion for their little bar. With nothing planned one night I spent a good couple of hours here, tasting meats, wines and cheeses, all accompanied by Flavio's endless product knowledge. The walls are also stocked with fascinating teas and spices - all of which Flavio will eagerly explain and uncover to let you have a smell. His spiced hot chocolate is something of a speciality, topped with a fine grating of the allusive Tonka bean. If you come here in the evening, the unbelievably well priced 4 euro tasting option is a must: for this price you get a glass of wine or prosecco and a tasting plate of incredible and unusual cheeses, meats, olives and little accompaniments like sticky balsamic glaze or sweet fig relish. L'Ocabarocca takes the simple aperitivo to a whole new level.


Gelato: Umamibar
Via Garibalidi 11, Foligno, Perugia

Foligno isn't famous for it's gelato, but there are a couple of lovely little artisan places where you can find great gelato made on site. Umamibar is my particular favourite because they have a real focus on quality practice and produce - and, unsurprisingly, the flavour of the gelato reflects these quality methods. If you want something a little lighter, you can also try their frozen yoghurt - great topped with toasted nuts and a swirl of nutella.


Culture: Cinema Astra/Liberia Carnevali
Via Giuseppe Mazzini 47, Foligno, Perugia

Book shop by day, occasional cinema by night. This is 'hidden gem' personified. On Thursday nights (normally at 9pm) the books get pushed to the side and it metamorphoses into a cinema, showing old/arty Italian films - don't expect the current blockbusters here. Don't worry if you don't know enough Italian to understand the whole film, I think it's worth going for the experience alone.


Literature: The friendliest newsstand!
Just off Via di S. Maria Infraportas on Via Gugliemo Marconi/Rione Ammannite, Foligno, Perugia

I know it seems a little odd to mention a newsstand in a list of places to visit, but I do have my reasons. I stopped off here a couple of weeks into my time in Italy to pick up some Berlusconi based information (seemed a pretty key time to get an Italian newspaper given that I'll be studying their politics at uni next year!) With no knowledge of the different Italian newspapers, I needed a little advice. I managed to explain that I was an English student studying Italian politics next year, and thus wanted to learn a bit more about Berlusconi. What followed was a wonderful debate between the newsagents as to which paper I needed to buy - two of them were from directly apposing political positions, and thus each thought I shouldn't buy the others recommended paper. This was all explained to me by the lovely lady who was serving me (the two men weren't actually supposed to serve, they were stocking the paper racks but couldn't help but get involved!) - all in good humour and a great insight into real Italian political views. I walked away with three papers (never one to want an argument!) and three more people to add to my list of 'people who I wave hello to each morning'. On the days that followed I often popped by for a paper or a magazine, often just for the sake of the conversation. Arrive with a conversation and a smile and you won't be disappointed.


Lunch: Hole in the wall Pizzeria
Via di S. Maria Infraportas 9, Foligno, Perugia

I have never once walked past this pizzeria without seeing a huge queue of Italians - I think that's enough of a reason to go. Pop in here for a couple of slices for lunch - it's only tiny so your only real option is to take out, but this is no bad thing - walk a few steps out the door to your right to eat them in the Piazza San Domenico, or walk a few steps to your left and sit in the leafy Parco dei Canape (the park is slightly raised up from the main centre, so you can often catch glimpses of the rooftops through the trees).


Homewares shop: La Bottega della Casa
Via Rutili 1, Foligno, Perugia

Full of gorgeous 'boutiquey' bits for the home, from photo frames to armchairs, there's enough to do up your whole house, or you could just get a lovely little gift for someone special. Quite 'Laura Ashley; in style, I was entranced and came away wishing I had more than the painful 15kg Ryanair baggage restrictions!


Off the highstreet: Vintage shop
Via Mazzini 36, Foligno, Perugia

This little shop doesn't even appear to have a name. I even lost on a couple of occasions as I kept whizzing past it on my bike, only to find it had disappeared when I returned more calmly on foot. Completely confused, I trawled through the town, only to find it again right back where I'd started - it had been temporarily hidden behind giant shutters whilst they'd unexpectedly closed (not unusual here!) - rookie mistake. Full of lots of little antique treats and unusual items, well worth a visit even just to have a look around. Most of the items are too big or delicate to take home on the plane, but, if you've got enough bubble wrap, they had some lovely little candle lanterns, jars and vases.

Cycling: Bike repair
Via delle Scuola d'Arti e Mestieri 12

I am fully aware that you are very unlikely to be in need of bike repair if you just come for a daytrip, but I couldn't resist including it. Foligno is a town of cyclists and, after becoming one of them, I soon realised that bike repairers soon become valuable friends. This tiny workshop was shown to me by Nonna Guiseppina as we wandered down Foligo's tiny back streets. No name, no sign, no official opening hours... and certainly no website. It is barely a few metres in width and what little floor space there is is covered in tyres, pumps and bike frames. Seemingly run by one man on his own, I popped in here on a number of occasions with a flat tyre and just about made out that I was to return in a couple of hours to pick it up. I left with no idea of the cost or any sort of receipt, but when I did return, the bike was in perfect condition and the charge was a mere 3 euros... a surreal little place, but well worth knowing about if you're travelling by bike.

Thank you gifts - amaretti chocolate biscuit cake

I'm sorry to say it's time to say goodbye to Italy. This past month and a bit has been more incredible than I ever could have hoped and, if one thing's for certain, it's that I will definitely return. Goodbye's are difficult enough as it is, but now I've been faced with the challenge of finding suitable thank you gifts. How on earth to you find something meaningful enough to say thank you to people who have fed you, housed you, taken you for coffee, invited you for lunch, taught you how to cook, welcomed you whole heartedly into their families and generally made you just feel completely loved and at home? No bar of soap or box of chocolates in the world could cover all that. I decided that the only option was to make something myself. No, in monetary terms, these biscuits are nowhere near as valuable as diamonds and pearls, but I think I gift that takes time, thought and love goes a lot further than a flashy purchase. I made these in big batches and packaged them up in jam jars with pretty bits of ribbon, but you could package them however you like, be a bit creative... or, if you've got no one to thank at the moment, just give yourself a pat on the back and tuck in. Having said that (and I'll apologise now because all these goodbyes are making my soft and gushy...) this makes a big batch, so it'd be nice to choose someone to share them with, even if it's someone you don't have an obvious reason to thank, people always love cake, and it's never a bad thing to brighten someone's day. Sorry, I think all that Italian generosity is starting to rub off on me... that was more sickly sweet than the biscuits.

As for the biscuit cakes themselves, I took inspiration from a community recipe for amaretti biscuit cake on Nigella Lawson's website. I found the recipe a little crumbly so I added a little more butter and syrup, as well as a topping of melted chocolate to help hold them together. I also decided to use 50:50 digestives:amaretti biscuits because amaretti alone was just too sweet for me (hence the further tiny addition of salt - it's no secret any more that salt is incredible when added to chocolate and it definitely does wonders here to take the edge off the sweetness).

This is essentially an incredibly simple recipe. The method looks big and complicated because I've tried to explain why you do certain things, however it is essentially: Crush biscuits; melt butter, syrup, sugar, cocoa and salt together, combine with biscuits, press into a tin and top with a layer of melted, slightly salted chocolate and toasted almonds - that's it. Feel free to read on to the more detailed method, but no offence taken if you can't be bothered.

250g digestives, finely crushed
250g amaretti biscuits (the crunchy ones, not the cakey soft ones), finely crushed
3 tbsp. golden syrup
2 tbsp. caster sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
175g butter
Two small pinches of salt
200g plain chocolate
100g whole, blanched almonds, toasted and chopped small

• Add the butter to a large, heavy bottomed saucepan and melt it slightly on a low heat.
• Once slightly melted, add the syrup, sugar and cocoa (this two stage approach is to stop the sugar and cocoa having direct contact with the bottom of the saucepan - they both catch very easily) and continue to melt on a very low heat, stirring regularly.
• Once fully melted (taste to check the sugar's dissolved) and combined, stir in a small pinch of salt.
• Add the biscuits and combine everything together - the mix will feel slightly dry, but don't worry - it should hold together if you squeeze a small amount in your hand to form a ball. If in doubt, just add the biscuits bit by bit and test as you go, depending on how chocolaty/biscuity you want your cake.
• Spoon the mixture into a rectangular dish with straight sides - don't worry about the size of your dish, you can choose how deep you want to make them - but don't go much thinner than a couple of inches or else they won't hold together.
• Press the mixture down really firmly with your hands.
• Melt the chocolate, combine with a tiny pinch of salt and pour over the biscuit mix to form a thin top (this helps them to hold together) and then scatter over the almonds.
• Chill in the fridge for at least two hours before cutting into squares - you may want to dip your knife in hot water before you cut to help it go through the chocolate layer.

Torta Caprese

My last couple of days in Italy have been filled with lunches, coffees and meals with friends - saying goodbye has proved a wonderful reason to get together with all the wonderful people I have met these past weeks, to share good food, good wine and good memories. Saturday night was one of these occasions.

6.30pm seemed a surprisingly early time to have dinner in an Italian household, but on my arrival I soon knew why. After another wonderfully warm Italian welcome, I was probed with the question (more of a statement really) "ti piace cucinare" (you like cooking) My obvious response of "CI!" was followed by "Perfetto, seguimi" (Perfect, follow me) The rest of the evening flowed into dreamy hours of cooking, eating, laughing and learning. My wonderful host was originally from Naples and thus she wanted to teach me some traditional recipes, this mind blowing Torta Caprese being one of them.

After such a perfect evening, it was painfully difficult to drag myself away. However, my host kindly softened the blow by packing me off with a large slice of tort, insisting I absolutely must eat it for breakfast the next day - oh I'm going to miss Italy!

Having done a bit of research, most recipes I see online call for ground almonds. Whilst these would work absolutely fine, the use of freshly blitzed almonds gives, in my opinion, a much more brownie-like, moist texture - and the little chunks of imperfectly ground almonds supply amazing texture that you just wouldn't get from perfectly ground shop-bought almonds.

250g whole almonds, skin on
200g butter
110g caster sugar
125g dark chocolate
5 eggs
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar to serve

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees c.
• In a food mixer, blitz the almonds to form a rough powder (you don't want it completely smooth, a few tiny chunks of almonds add wonderful nuggets of texture).
• Remove the almonds, then finely blitz the chocolate and then combine with the almonds and salt.
• Whisk together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one with a tbsp. almond/chocolate mixture (whisking again after each addition).
• Pour into a lined, circular cake tin (about 23cm diameter) and cook for roughly an hour - until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs, not liquid (you do want it to be moist inside, much like a brownie).
• Cool in the tin for at least half an hour before removing. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Tomato and fennel pasta sauce

I always looked on with envy at Italian families sat outside eating big communal meals, the air filled with enthusiastic chatter and, of course, the incredible smells from the kitchen. It always seemed too perfect, like something from the film 'Eat Pray Love'. Yesterday however, I actually sat in on one such event, and I wasn't dreaming! We went back to the house I described in my Caramelised Orange Cake post for, I was told, a simple lunch and an afternoon in the garden. To the contrary, I arrived to the sight of six other members of friends and family, all carrying their own foodie contributions: prosciutto, fresh bread, new season olive oil, rosemary roasted potatoes, Mediterranean vegetable tartlet... all gathered round the beautifully laid garden table, under a fig tree, in the sunshine - sheer paradise.

Although admittedly all a little full from this selection of 'bring and share' antipasti, we did find room for my contribution to the 'primi' course - this tomato and fennel pasta. Tomato and fennel are famous friends, but the little bit of sweetness from the honey really brings compliments the tomatoes, and the mint is a refreshing change from the typical tomato & basil combination. To bring out the best in the sauce you definitely want to stir it through the pasta with a good helping of excellent olive oil and a few tbsp. of the starchy pasta water.

Recipe adapted from 'honest food'.

Serves 6 - 8

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced (about half cm slices in width)
1 large jar passata (roughly 600g)
1 white onion, sliced in the same way as the fennel
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 tsp. honey
1 handful of mint leaves, roughly torn
Pinch of salt
4-6 tbsp. olive oil

- this makes quite a large portion so you can use some and keep the rest in the empty passata jar (in the fridge) for up to a week.
- I served this with wholewheat spaghetti which I just cooked to the packet instructions, then stirred through the sauce with a few tbsp. of the pasta water. To serve I merely topped it with some extra virgin olive oil, but you could certainly add parmesan if you fancy.

• Add the onion, oil and fennel to a large frying pan and cook on a low heat until translucent - roughly 10-15 minutes - this takes a lot less time if you slice the fennel and onion more thinly, so feel free to do so if you're in a rush.
• After about half the time, add the garlic and salt.
• Once translucent, add the honey, mint and passata and simmer for a further 10 - 15 minutes.
• You can serve it as it is, but I'd recommend roughly blending it with a stick blender to help thicken the sauce slightly, whilst still maintaining a bit of texture.

Pumpkin pasta

I thought I was getting quite good at this cycling malarkey. Yesterday I took the big step forward to venture outside the comfortable walls of my little Italian town and cycle to the next town along "A beautiful hill town" my host described it as... that should have been a clue. On a borrowed bike without gears, the school run is perfectly doable, but as soon as you throw hills into the mix, I look about as professional as a toddler on a trike. A few embarrassing dismounts later (and a few false claims that my bike was broken, hence the walking - an attempt to save face) I arrived at the pretty hill town of Spello - and yes, I did reach the summit.

I wasn't really remotely prepared for a  morning of sightseeing. My visit to Spello was essentially a rather elaborate detour from my return home from the morning school run. As I cycled home in the early hours of the morning, I contemplated my plans for the day. It was pretty cold and, knowing myself pretty well, I was sure that, if I returned to home, I would most probably curl up with The Great British Bake Off and remain in the warmth of the house for as long as humanly possible. Determined not to spend my morning in this fashion (tempting as it was) I turned away from home and straight in the direction of Spello. As much as this example of spontaneous exercise does reward a certain smugness, it does have it's downsides: I wasn't wearing anything resembling sports kit, and (more seriously) I hadn't brought snacks. Consequently finding myself more than a little hungry after my morning, I cycled home at double speed to make this little dish (the speed was also partly due to my desperate need for the bathroom - I won't go into too much detail on a recipe post, but it's safe to say that a lot of water + bicycle seat + cobbled streets = need to cycle home quickly!)

Quickly moving on from that topic, this is a healthy, yet comforting dish which is relatively cheap given the small quantity of ingredients (do splash out on good olive oil if you can though). I've used wholewheat pasta here, partly for health reasons, but also because pumpkin itself is quite sweet so I think it needs the nuttier flavours of wholewheat to contrast it.

Serves 3

1/5 of a whole, medium sized pumpkin - skin and pappy centre removed, sliced into thin strips (once removing the skin and centre, slice into thin segments then slice across horizontally to form batons - you don't have to do it exactly like this, this was just my method)
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
240g wholewheat farfalle pasta
Pinch of salt
Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil, to serve

• Fry the onion and garlic with 4 tbsp. of the oil on a low heat.
• Once softened (after a couple of minutes) add the pumpkin, bay leaf and the remaining 2 tbsp of oil.
• Continue frying on a low heat until the pumpkin is really soft (about 10 -15 minutes)
• Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
• Meanwhile, remove the bay leaf and roughly mash the pumpkin mix in the pan with a fork (you want it slightly crushed, not pureed).
• Drain the pasta (reserve 1 tbsp. of the water)
• Combine the pasta, 1 tbsp. water and the pumpkin mix.
• Serve with extra oil and parmesan.

Tomato and rosemary risotto

Being just a tad health conscious, my Italian host has all sorts of interesting flours and grains in her cupboards. Always wanting to try new things, I decided to experiment with one of these today: Riso Venere. According to my host, this rice makes you beautiful (like Venus the God of Beauty: Venere = Venus)... sounds like some powerful grain! Sadly copious quantities of pasta and pizza haven't done wonders for my figure, so I could do with a rice miracle right now. If eating risotto really is the answer to all beauty questions (we can always hope!), I think it may catch on faster than the 5:2 diet, but for now, whilst I wait for my sudden transformation into Venus, I'll just give you the recipe.

In England we often combine lots of colours and flavours on one plate, but in Italy things seem to take a 'quality over quantity' approach. With this in mind, I couldn't help but match my red rice with the fresh red tomatoes I picked up from the grocers yesterday. Add a flavour kick with some chopped rosemary and a little salt and you've got a great dish. I actually added a slightly bigger pinch of salt to this dish than I normally do because the sweetness of the tomatoes really pairs with it beautifully. If you really want to jump on board with the Italian 'simplicity is key' approach to food, then just roughly chop up any spare ripe tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. If I were you, I wouldn't even bother with basil, just let the tomatoes speak for themselves.

Serves 3

6 - 8 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
240g riso venere or riso rosso (red rice... risotto rice would also work)
4 large, ripe tomatoes (ideally on the vine), chopped into small chunks
Small handful of rosemary needles, finely chopped with a good pinch of salt
Pinch of crumbled veg stock cube
Water, simmering
Parmesan and extra oil, to serve

• On a low heat, fry the rosemary, onion, garlic and all but 3 tbsp. of the oil.
• Once softened, add the tomatoes and an extra tbsp. of oil.
• Increase the heat a little to help the tomatoes become a little sticky, rather than pappy.
• Add the rice and cook for a further couple of minutes to let it soak up the oil and tomato juices, stir regularly.
• Now add the stock and a little water and bring the heat back to low.
• Continue stirring and adding water bit at a time until the rice is cooked (about 30 minutes)
• Once the rice is cooked, stir through 2 tbsp. oil and serve topped with extra oil and parmesan.

My Pasta alla siciliana

Knowing I only have exactly one week left today, I have recently discovered a new determination to explore Italy whilst I'm here. I have loved living the life of a 'temporary local' but I thought it would be a bit of a waste to return home having not taken advantage of my location. With that in mind, and a few days off 'work', I got to grips with the train system and pootled off to Rome, Bologna and Assisi (posts coming soon). I had heard a lot of Italians complaining about the state of their trains, so I didn't have very high hopes. I, however, was pleasantly surprised. Admittedly I was travelling on the intercity trains and these are perhaps a little more catered to the high flying business men and women with equally high expectations Nonetheless, I was quite charmed by my second class seat (I actually had to double check I really was in second class - partly due to a previous embarrassing first class error - we won't go there). The carriages had a certain Hogwarts charm with compartments of six seats each, rather than row after rows of twos. If unfortunately gifted with unpleasantly scented compartment buddies, or irritatingly noisy neighbours, this 'quaint' experience could feel more like a prison. Fortunately I was lucky and ended up with four university students who were quite up for chatting to me and being patient with my Italian (it's always good to slip into conversation the fact that you only arrived fairly recently). Having previously been a religious 'quiet zone' frequenter in England, I think I'll now be quite disappointed the next time I zoom down to London on a silent train full of earphone wielding workers.

 

Sorry, enough about trains, now for some food. Having made Guiseppina's pasta alla siciliana, I decided to try my hand at making my own. Guiseppina's version had a pleasant simplicity about it but, having researched into Sicilian cauliflower pasta recipes, I decided to experiment with the addition of a couple of other traditional ingredients: sultanas and parsley. The traditional recipe calls for salty anchovies to contrast the sweet sultanas but, in a vegetarian household, I had to rely on other ingredients to play this role (parmesan and, a bit predictably, salt). You can of course add anchovies if you're not catering for vegetarians, but I think this is a great veggie alternative and also a good option for little ones who aren't yet accustomed to the strong flavour of anchovies.

1 small white onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tiny dried red chilli, finely chopped
1 large handful of parsley, finely chopped with a good pinch of salt.
50g sultanas
1 cauliflower, just cooked, then chopped into small florettes (or cut it first so that it cooks faster) - reserve the cooking water as you can cook the pasta in this to give it more flavour.
240g pasta (I used Sicilian maglie pasta, but anything resembling long macaroni would work just as well)
6 - 8 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan, extra virgin olive oil and toasted pine nuts (I didn't have these, but they're the traditional addition... and would definitely add a lovely flavour and contrasting texture) to serve.

• Gently fry the onions, garlic, parsley (reserve a quarter of this to add at the end), oil and sultanas for a couple of minutes until softened.
• Add the cauliflower and continue cooking, covered, on a low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes - you can cook the pasta during this time too, just cook to the packet instructions until al dente.
• Add the pasta and a few tbsp. pasta water to the cauliflower pan, then add the drained pasta and remaining parsley.
• Combine and serve with parmesan/extra virgin olive oil/toasted pine nuts - or all three!

Plum and maple crumble with butter-free topping

I think my healthy host's habits are rubbing off on me (sorry, the cheesy alliteration was unintentional). I went round to a friend's house for Sunday lunch yesterday and offered to bring a traditional English pud for them to try. This was the perfect excuse to bring heaps of butter, sugar and white flour back into my diet, all in the name of tradition, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it. I had become used to the quiet smugness of eating guilt free food, and didn't want to lose it just yet. Having said that, I will quite openly admit that I may be less saintly as I return to my chilly English home - autumn wouldn't be the same for me without pies, puddings and roast dinners.

Aside from the smugness, using oil instead of butter in the topping also has another advantage - speed. Without the need to rub in the butter, you can just mix together the topping all in one go. The maple syrup in the topping adds a bit of extra moisture to bind the dry ingredients together, but it also gives this dish a warm caramelly after taste which works beautifully with the sharp plums and the slightly salty nuts. Having gone quite far off piste with this recipe, I was a little nervous of the outcome, but I have to say I was pretty bowled over by this one and it got a reassuring big thumbs up from my Italian hosts.

Recipe inspired by:
BBC Good Food's Maple Plum Crumble
and Chocolate and Zucchini's Butterless Apple Crumble

8-10 large plums, halved and stoned
3 tbsp. maple syrup

250g spelt flour
Half a teaspoon of salt
50g whole almonds, skin on, roughly crushed and toasted
50g whole hazelnuts, skin on, roughly crushed and toasted
100ml corn oil
100g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp. maple syrup

• Arrange the plum halves (skin down) in your chosen pie dish (they should just squeeze in to make 1 single layer).
• Drizzle over 3 tbsp. maple syrup, then bake in the oven at 180 degrees c for 10 - 15 minutes until softened (they'll become all sticky and syrupy during the second cook with the crumble topping).
• Meanwhile, combine all the topping ingredients in a large bowl - you can just do this with a wooden spoon/your hands as, thanks to the use of oil, there's no need to rub in lots of cubes of butter.
• Pour this topping over the plums (you may not want to use it all - this makes quite a thick topping) and bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes at 160 degrees - you may need to turn the heat down a little part way through as you don't want the top to burn (dark golden is perfect) but you do want the topping to be cooked all the way through - you don't want it to be undercooked and stodgy.
• Serve with anything creamy - I always go for yoghurt as I love its sharpness, but the Italians here seem to think it a crime to eat yoghurt anytime other than breakfast... so I just had to force myself to eat it with Italian gelato - poor me!!

Fresh tomato pasta sauce with a little luxury addition... truffle!

Yesterday was the birthday of the little girl I'm looking after here in Italy. Today, that means one thing: Leftovers! Of course there is cake and crisps to be used up, but one particular ingredient has really caught my attention: Truffle Sauce. I have only eaten truffle twice before in my life, and I've certainly never had it in a quantity to have leftovers! Being told to 'use up' the rest of the sauce was a very enjoyable task to undertake, but admittedly with a bit of pressure. When using such a luxurious ingredient, you really don't want to waste it. I could have used it simply on bruschetta, or added to scrambled eggs (this is surprisingly delicious!), but I decided on a combination inspired by a friend. On one of the only two previous truffle eating occasions, an Italian friend conjured up an incredibly simple, but fresh silky tomato spaghetti dish. This may seem boring and uninventive, but the earthy truffle adds an incredible depth to the sweet, fresh tomatoes and, I assure you, once you've tasted it, you won't for a second think it's boring... you'll be too busy diving in for the next mouthful.

Serves 4

10 ripe medium sized tomatoes (on the vine, ideally), sliced about half cm thick.
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly chopped
5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
280g spaghetti
1-2 tsp. salsa tartufata* (truffle sauce - you ideally want to find one which contains almost purely truffle and olive oil, don't get one with cream. This is readily available here in Italy, but may take a little more searching for in other countries - good Italian delis/online sellers should stock some)

* Although the dish takes on a completely different dimension with the addition of truffles, you would still have a lovely fresh tomato sauce without it. If you are going without, I'd add a little extra oil and some fresh basil to give it a little more depth, then top with parmesan.

• On a low heat, gently fry the onions with all but 2 tbsp. of the olive oil until softened but not browned.
• Add the peppers and garlic and gently fry for a further 4 minutes or so until the peppers are silky and softened.
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil for the spaghetti, meanwhile add the tomatoes to the pan and keep the heat low.
• Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions (the tomatoes need to be cooking for about 5 - 10 minutes more to become really softened so, if using fresh pasta, you may need to wait a while).
• Once the pasta is a minute from being ready, add the truffle and extra oil to the pan. You mustn't cook the truffle, you're just gently heating it through to help it release its flavours into the sauce.
• Add a 2 - 3 tbsp. of the pasta water to the sauce, then drain the pasta.
• Combine all together and serve.

Fresh carrot gnocchi with rosemary olive oil

Although the sun is still shining here, I am definitely starting to feel autumnal. Not because I'm spending my morning playing conkers or kicking dry leaves, but because everything in our fridge appears to be orange. I've already made Spiced pumpkin cake with orange drizzle, Risotto alla zucca (pumpkin), Fresh pumpkin gnocchi and now I'm making carrot gnocchi. Fortunately I like being seasonal and, having only just entered autumn, these are still fairly novel ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Emiko Davies' Carrot Gnocchi. If you haven't come across her blog before, I urge you to pay it a visit. It's full of beautiful posts on Florence, food and all things Italian. I liked the way Emiko made larger gnocchi than the ones we normally see, these felt a little heartier and thus more appropriate as we head into the cooler months.

700g carrots
180g spelt flour (or plain flour would work)
1 egg
70g ricotta
6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 branch of rosemary, leaves finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Roughly 3 tbsp. semolina flour
Parmesan, to serve

• Boil or steam the carrots until cooked. Allow to cool a little, then blend to a puree.
• Bring together the carrots, flour, egg and ricotta into a very very sticky dough (don't expect to be able to roll it).
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
• Using a table spoon against the side of the bowl, shape the dough into quenelles (or into whatever shapes you can manage)
• Roll them in a little semolina flour before cooking.
• Cook in the boiling water until they float to the surface (this should take barely a minute or two).
• Meanwhile gently heat the oil, salt and rosemary.
• Once the gnocchi are cooked, remove from the water with a slotted spoon and add them to the rosemary oil. Turn after 30 seconds or so and then serve with parmesan (you're not trying to make them crispy in the pan, just allowing them to soak up the oil a little bit.

Tagliatelle with mushrooms and parsley

I've finally sat down to write up the sauce recipe to go with my semolina tagliatelle. I was too shattered last night as I went out to see an Italian play with some friends. That may not sound tiring, but I didn't get home until 2am because it turned out that the people whom I was with knew practically every cast member... so consequently we had about 3hrs of post-show 'meet and greet the English person' and once again everyone was ridiculously friendly and made me feel right at home in what could have been a bit of a nerve wracking environment. As for the show, it was an amazing spectacle, but I made the error of going completely unprepared and thus understood a pretty much zilch. When I say I wasn't prepared, I didn't even know the title - I've just developed a bit of a habit of saying yes to every social occasion on offer, concluding that it's good for my confidence and my Italian... and it makes every day less than a little predictable.

 

Now for the recipe, this sauce is made without butter or cream, so you can practically say it's healthy. The combination of mushroom, garlic and parsley is nothing new, but they complement each other so beautifully that I didn't want to ruin them just for the sake of being a bit original.

Serves 2

 

Two large handfuls of mushrooms, fairly thinly sliced - the more wild and interesting the better

1 handful finely chopped parsley

1/4 white onion, finely shopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Extra oil and parmesan to serve

1 egg's worth of the semolina tagliatelle (or shop-bought pasta would also work)

 

• Add half the oil to a frying pan (on a low heat) with the garlic and onions.
• Once they're slightly softened, add the mushrooms and half the parsley and continue cooking for about 5 minutes (until the mushrooms are completely cooked through.
• Cook your pasta (if you're using homemade pasta, this should only take a matter of seconds in boiling water).
• Drain your pasta and combine with mushroom mixture and the remaining parsley and oil.
• Serve with grated parmesan and extra oil if you fancy.

Semolina tagliatelle by hand

Having had success with my homemade spelt flour pasta, I felt a little more confident to make this semolina tagliatelle with a smaller time frame. I arrived home at 12:50 with a plan to have this served for three people at 13:30. However, this being Italy, our small lunch soon became a bit of gathering and we grew to a party of 6. When using shop bought pasta, this increase wouldn't bring even the smallest bead of sweat to the surface. For me however, making this quantity by hand (for only the second time this trip) was a little worrying. But I'm pleased to say that I pulled out my inner Nonna and managed it all in the time... and the results were delicious.

 



 

Serves 1-2 (easily doubled, tripled...)

100g semolina flour
1 egg
And a little extra virgin olive oil (this may not be needed, it depends on the size of your eggs)

I served this with a mushroom and parsley sauce - recipe coming soon.

• Pour the flour into a mound on a clean work surface.
• Create a well in the middle and crack the egg into it.
• With a fork, beat the egg and gradually combine the flour (keep tapping in extra flour from the sides of the well).
• When it becomes tough to work with a fork, resort to your hands and work it all in.
• If you used a small egg, you may need a little extra virgin olive oil as you want a slightly sticky dough which you can then kneed until smooth (the extra virgin olive oil also gives the pasta a lovely colour and a better depth of flavour).
• Lightly flour your work surface (and hands) and kneed the dough for about 10 mins until smooth.
• Wrap in clingfilm and set aside for about 20 mins.
• After 20 mins, unwrap and roll out on a floured surface until about 1mm thick (you can use a pasta machine if you prefer).
• Cut into tagliatelle strips with a knife, or a special roll along cutter if you have one.
• Dust the pasta strips with a little extra semolina flour and spread them out with your fingers to allow them to dry for a couple of minutes.
• Bring a pan of water to boil and when you're 30 seconds from being ready to eat, drop in the pasta (it should only take a matter of seconds to cook - it will rise to the top once ready).
• Enjoy with whichever sauce you fancy.

Fennel, quinoa and bulghar wheat salad

Stressful bike rides are becoming a bit of a theme in my blog posts from Italy, and I'm afraid today is no different. I was given instructions (in Italian) on how to get to the supermarket and they seemed relatively simple... until I actually followed them. I'm getting used to the fact that Italians seem to think nothing of cycling along fairly sizeable roads, so initially thought nothing of the many cars whizzing past me. I did however begin to doubt myself when I ended up at a set of traffic lights made up of six lanes of traffic, and then subsequently found myself cycling along the main road towards Rome. Sufficiently terrified, I decided tea would need to be a storecupboard affair. With a greengrocers next door, vegetables are no trouble and, with a health-conscious host, quinoa and bulghar wheat come as standard. This is a fresh and simple little salad, perfect if you're trying to hold onto the last remnants summer before diving head first into the land of blackberry and apple pies.

1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1 shallot, very  thinly sliced
250g mixed bulghar wheat and red quinoa, cooked to packet instructions
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Juice of an orange
Pinch of salt
4-6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

• Arrange the fennel and shallot on your chosen serving dish and drizzle with the vinegar, half the orange juice and 1-2 tbsp. oil.
• Combine the quinoa/bulghar with the salt and remaining juice and oil.
• Spoon this mixture on top of the fennel and serve at room temperature.
• Eat just as it is, or make it a little more Italian by adding few spoonfuls of ricotta (a suggestion made by Caterina, the little Italian girl I'm looking after)

Simple butter beans

Well yesterday's delivery never arrived, so I am yet again housebound from 9am until 6pm. Today however, I was not going to let that deter me from getting out and about and speaking some Italian. Having dropped Caterina off at school at 8am, I cycled to a nearby bakery to use some of my free hour discussing all things bread. To my pleasant surprise, the owner recognised my from a couple of days previous (I'm probable getting a reputation as the annoyingly chatty English girl!)... I don't know if it's from having grown up in a village, but I love it when you become a 'regular' at your local butchers/bakers/grocers, that friendly "hi again, so how did 'so and so go' yesterday?" fills me with a warm fuzzy feeling (sorry, I'm getting a bit gushy). Anyway, this feels even better when you're living in a town that's not your own, it gives you that little sense of belonging.

For a day of simple pleasures, this is a similarly simple but pleasing little dish. Very healthy, and most definitely upgraded by the use of really good extra virgin olive oil.

Sorry for the horrid photo, I am still without my camera and relying on my webcam... hopefully this gives you a vague idea.

1 can butter beans, drained
1 large tomato, chopped into small chunks
1/2 white onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Small pinch of salt

• On a low heat, gently fry the onion and oil until the onions are softened.
• Add the tomatoes and garlic and fry for a further couple of minutes.
• Add the butter beans and salt and cover. Leave to simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes or so and then serve.

Fresh pumpkin gnocchi

Sorry, I wrote this yesterday and seemingly forgot to press 'publish'!

Recipe adapted from Gennaro Contaldo's recipe on BBC food.

We're only into day two and I've already failed my dad's challenge (see yesterday's post). I had high hopes today of testing my Italian in a gelateria (can you tell I woke up feeling peckish?) but they were quickly dashed when I remembered that I had to stay at home to wait for a package to be delivered. Today was the third delivery attempt so I guessed I was probably on my last chance before I'd have to drive to Milan to pick it up. "Ooh Milan" I hear you say "must be designer clothes..." Nope, nothing of the sort, it's power socket adaptors sent over by my dad from England. Before you tut, yes I did bring an adaptor with me, but they seem to have three different types of socket here, none of which fit my 'European adaptor'. Well, I tell a lie, one does but it's in the bathroom and I feel I may be testing my luck a little.

Feeling a little down about not being able to go out and explore again, I decided to spend most of my morning cooking (no surprises there then). After a few morning tasks (laundry, beds, etc.) I set to work on this little recipe. I didn't actually plan to spend my entire morning cooking, but I somewhat over-roasted my pumpkin the first time round and had to start again. I do actually love it when roasted veggies go a little caramelised, but gnocchi are supposed to be light, fluffy little pillows, not black speckled bbq balls... or maybe I was actually on to something there! In my defence, Gennaro's recipe just called for 'roasted pumpkin', rather than actually explaining how best to roast it (I've explained how I did it - the second time round - below). Gennaro also called for a pumpkin puree style sauce to go with this, but I personally just found that to be just too much pumpkin, so I served it with liberal helpings of parmesan and really good extra virgin olive oil instead. Pumpkin itself can be pretty sweet, especially when roasted, so I found that the parmesan gave it a pretty essential salty balance, so don't leave it out.

 

 

Serves 4

700g raw pumpkin (weight without skin/seeds/pappy centre)
300 ml water
1 veg stock cube
1 branch of rosemary, finely chopped
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
Approx 600g flour - I used spelt flour
Lots of parmesan and extra virgin olive oil to serve

• Cut off approx. 100g of the pumpkin and cut it into dice (about 1cm/1cm)
• Add to a frying pan with 2 tbsp. oil, rosemary and a pinch of salt.
• Sauté until cooked through and slightly crispy. The original recipe suggests this should only take a few minutes, but I found they needed about 10-15 mins to ensure they were fully cooked through. Set the pan aside once they're ready.
• Meanwhile, cut the remaining pumpkin into chunks and roast for about 20 - 30 mins (at about 190 degrees) with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt - you want them cooked through, but not charred.
• Blitz this pumpkin into a puree.
• Add the pumpkin puree, water and stock to a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Turn off the heat and keep stirring as you add the flour (not all at once) until it begins to come together as a dough. It should still be very sticky (much wetter than pasta/pastry dough) so don't add too much flour or else they'll be really heavy once cooked.
• Generously flour your worktop and hands and separate the dough into about 6 pieces to roll into long sausages of about 1 - 2 cm in width and depth.
• Dust with flour again and cut into pieces of about 1 - 2 cm in length (depending on how big you want them to be).
• As you chop, keep the gnocci separate from each other and dusted with flour, they are prone to sticking together.
• Once you're ready to eat, bring your small pumpkin pieces back up to temperature and bring a large pan of water to the boil.
• Throw in your gnocci (if you haven't got a huge pan, you may need to do this in 2 batches) and they're cooked once they float up to the surface (this should only take a minute or two).
• Remove the gnocci with a slotted spoon, combine with the pumpkin and serve with lots of parmesan and good quality extra virgin olive oil if you can.

Spelt flour tagliatelle by hand

Today was my first day without Guiseppina. My new-found Italian Nonna returned home to Verona yesterday, leaving me officially in charge of everyone's lunch each day. Having already burnt onions whilst trying to make the base of a sauce, I was a little nervous. I came to the conclusion that, if I was going to fail, it would at least be worth failing in style whilst attempting something impressive. With that in mind, I decided to make my own pasta. To add to the complications, I was using spelt flour (for my host's health preferences). This may not seem like a big difference but, due to its lower gluten content, it's more difficult to roll out and stretch than regular 00 pasta flour. I am pleased to say however, that this recipe was a success. My Italian hosts ate it all, and even asked for seconds!

So how was my first day alone you may ask? Before now I have always had Guiseppina by my side, instructing me in the kitchen, with chores, running errands... and now I am on my lonesome. Of course I really miss my Italian Nonna but, to avoid moping about and wasting my remaining weeks, I have decided to seize the chance to be a temporary, independent Italian! With that in mind, after doing a few household chores, I strode out of my front door and into the cobbled streets and piazzas beyond (Well this isn't entirely true... I initially got stage fright, curled back into bed and watched The Great British Bake Off on my laptop). This was all because my dad had set me a challenge to help me keep up my Italian, and make the most of my time in Italy: Each day I am to go into a shop or café and make conversation, I can't just go in and buy something (anybody can point and say 'per favore') I am to find out something new, ask for advice, or simply chat to somebody. Today I decided to take advantage of the somewhat fraught political situation and buy a newspaper... and I managed to request a little introduction to the political position of each paper at the same time - cultured eh?

Anyway, feeling a little proud and a tiny bit Italian, I felt confident enough to start making pasta. It was actually incredibly simple and surprisingly quick (about 40mins start to finish, including 20mins resting)... all you need is a large work surface and a rolling pin.

Serves 1-2 (easily doubled, tripled...)

100g spelt flour
1 egg
And a little water (this may not be needed, it depends on the size of your eggs)

I would serve this quantity with half a portion of the tomato sauce from my spaghetti al pomodoro post.

• Pour the flour into a mound on a clean work surface.
• Create a well in the middle and crack the egg into it.
• With a fork, beat the egg and gradually combine the flour (keep tapping in extra flour from the sides of the well).
• When it becomes tough to work with a fork, resort to your hands and work it all in.
• If you used a small egg, you may need a little extra water as you want a slightly sticky dough which you can then kneed until smooth.
• Lightly flour your work surface (and hands) and kneed the dough for about 10 mins until smooth.
• Wrap in clingfilm and set aside for about 20 mins.
• After 20 mins, unwrap and roll out on a floured surface until about 1mm thick (you can use a pasta machine if you prefer).
• Cut into tagliatelle strips with a knife, or a special roll along cutter if you have one.
• Dust the pasta strips with a little extra spelt flour and spread them out with your fingers to allow them to dry for a couple of minutes.
• Bring a pan of water to boil and when you're 30 seconds from being ready to eat, drop in the pasta (it should only take a matter of seconds to cook - it will rise to the top once ready).
• Enjoy with whichever sauce you fancy.

Risotto alla zucca

As mentioned in my spiced pumpkin cake post, we have a lot of pumpkin to eat. Luckily I love it, so for me this is no bad thing. It is comfortingly autumnal and perfect on a rainy day (yes, we've had rain here, the first time since I arrived in Italy). Whilst I set to work on said cake, Guiseppina began concocting this recipe. The freshly pureed pumpkin gives the dish a fantastic creaminess, without the need for lots of butter or heaps of parmesan.

 

 

 

 

Serves 3

 

1 large wedge of pumpkin (about 500g)

1 shallot

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

180g risotto rice

1/2 tsp. crumbled veg stock cube

1 small knob of butter

Water, simmering on the hob.

Parmesan, to serve

 

• As shown in the pictures, remove the skin and fleshy middle from the pumpkin, then chop into small pieces (about an inch in size)
• Fry off the oil and shallot on a medium heat and, after a couple of minutes, add the pumpkin.
• Cook on a low heat for a further 20 minutes or so, until the pumpkin is soft and cooked through.
• Spoon the pumpkin out into a separate bowl and, without washing the pan, add the rice.
• Cook the rice in the pumpkin leftovers for a couple of minutes, then add the stock and gradually add water.
• Stir regularly and add water each time it goes dry (it should take about 30 minutes in total)
• Meanwhile, set aside half the pumpkin and blitz the other half into a puree.
• Once the rice is cooked, add the butter and both types of pumpkin and turn the heat off. Leave, covered, for a couple of minutes, then serve with plenty of parmesan.

Spiced pumpkin cake with orange drizzle

For a girl living in Italy, this recipe must look suspiciously American. As much as I confess that yes, it really is, my reasons for making it were very Italian... and it's in an Italian ciambella cake tin!

One thing I love about living in Italy, is the way generosity seems to come as standard. I don't think I've yet met a new person without being invited to go for a coffee, and they never let me pay - on one particular occasion I was physically pushed away from the till, so eager was my new found friend to treat me to the drink! So following this vein, one of our neighbours popped round yesterday with a gift of two pumpkins from her garden. I was, once again, amazed by all this generosity, but this seemed completely normal in the eyes of my adopted Italian family... oh how I love Italy! Guiseppina promptly set to work on a pumpkin risotto (recipe coming soon) but, as I've mentioned before, Italians simply don't do food waste, so I was put to the task of using pumpkin in a dessert.

Even if I say so myself, this is rather wonderful. Incredibly moist, slightly citrusy and beautifully autumnal thanks to the warming spices. You can of course make this with a can of pumkin purree, but it kind of ruins the story, so go in search of that kindly neighbour. Or, if you want to really go all out, you could be that kindly neighbour!

To keep the generosity circle going, I dropped round a big piece of this cake to the lady with whom I cycle to school each morning (she was one of the many people who took me out for coffee). This was all well and good, but there was one problem: when I dropped it round, she refused to let me leave without staying for another coffee, so I'm once again behind on the generosity game. Looks like I'm going to have to bake more cakes!

Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog

425g raw pumpkin (peeled and seedless weight)
100g light soft brown sugar
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g sunflower/corn oil
250g flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Zest and juice of 1 large orange
6 tbsp. caster sugar

• Chop the pumkin into chunks (about 1 inch thickness) and boil/steam until cooked.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees c.
• Oil and flour your cake tin (ideally a ciambella, but it would be fine in a different type, you might just find it needs a little more/less cooking time.
• Drain and leave to cool, then blitz to form a smooth puree.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Continue whisking as you gradually add the oil and then the pumkin.
• Fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest.
• Pour into your cake tin and cook for 35 mins until a skewer comes out with just the lightest smear of moisture and a couple of tiny crumbs.
• Cool in the tin whilst you make the drizzle.
• Combine the orange juice and caster sugar and, one the cake has cooled for about 10 minutes, turn it out (if you're using a ciambella tin you'll want to serve it bottom up, don't worry if the top has risen, this is fine. Equally, if you're fussy, levelling the top is a great excuse to eat the offcuts!)
• Prick it all over with a spaghetti strand and spoon over the drizzle to ensure it's all covered. It will seem like a lot of drizzle but just keep going, don't worry if it spills over the side.

Carbonara di zucchine

What? A carbonara without pancetta? Is that even still a carbonara I hear you cry. Well as much as I think almost anything is improved by the addition of a little smoky pancetta, this is a surprisingly satisfying vegetarian version. It is incredibly simple and much healthier than the original... just don't call it a carbonara and I'm sure you'll love it! You can also cook the courgettes in the time it takes for the pasta to cook, so it can be on the table in little over ten minutes.

Serves 2

140g spaghetti
1 courgette, grated (grate lengthways so as to get larger strips - if they're too small they'll become watery)
1 shallot, finely sliced
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
Pinch of salt and pepper
Parmesan, to serve

• Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions (if you're using fresh spaghetti it will cook too quickly, so just cook it once the courgettes are done)
• Whilst the pasta is cooking, fry off the oil and shallot on a medium heat.
• After a minute or two (once the shallot is slightly softened and the oil is sizzling) add the courgette and fry for a further 5 minutes or so.
• Beat the egg with the salt and pepper.
• Once cooked, drain the pasta and turn the heat off under the courgettes.
• Pour the pasta into the courgette pan and combine, then pour in the egg and stir to make sure it coats all the pasta.
• Serve with a generous grating of parmesan.

Cinnamon and peach polenta cake

It's cake time again! The little girl I'm looking after has toothache so, feeling a little sorry for her, I thought a soft and squidgy middle piece of cake with another batch of yesterday's custard might be just what the doctor ordered.

For this cake to get the approval of Mamma, I knew I'd still need to bear the health side of things in mind. Consequently I went for another twist on the polenta and olive oil cake (I needed to make this quickly so I didn't have time to go to the shops to buy alternative healthy options... so I'm sorry if it's a little similar to the Candied orange and polenta cake) This version is much simpler than my candied orange version, so it's a great one to whip up in a hurry. Peaches are also coming to the end of their season, so our local greengrocers was selling lots of lovely ripe ones at very good prices.

125g polenta
125g 00 pasta flour (or plain flour)
100ml olive oil (I used extra virgin as it's all they seem to have here, but in this instance I think it would actually work better with regular olive oil, as I think the extra virgin is a bit strong when tasted along side the cinnamon)
150g caster sugar + 1 extra tbsp.
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 large egg
2-3 tbsp. milk
1 large ripe peach, thinly sliced into crescents.

• Line a small loaf tin (mine was about 25cm by 10 cm) - or just oil it and dust it with polenta - and preheat the oven to 180 degrees c
• Whisk the egg and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Continue whisking as you gradually add the olive oil.
• Fold in the flour, polenta, baking powder and cinnamon, then finally fold in the milk.
• Arrange the peach crescents on the top, sprinkle with sugar and cook in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean (it may have a couple of crumb specks as the top will be slightly more moist due to the peaches) - don't be tempted to over cook it as it can dry out.
• Serve with a large dollop of yoghurt - or this crema pasticcera.

Crema Pasticcera

This basically seems to be the Italian version of crème anglaise, with lemon zest instead of vanilla. Use it like custard or, if you're having a low day, just eat it straight from the jug with a spoon.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, this was a last minute treat whipped up by Guiseppina and we all just devoured it before I'd even thought about a camera.

Crema Pasticcera

1 pint of milk
1 1/2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 egg yolk
1 piece of lemon rind (use a sharp knife to slice off a piece about the size of your thumb, but make sure it's only the outer rind, not the bitter white pith beneath)

• With a wooden spoon, beat together the flour, sugar and egg yolk.
• Beat for a couple of minutes then continue gently beating as you gradually add the milk.
• Cook on a low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened (it should coat the back of a spoon)... don't worry if it takes a while to thicken, Guiseppina's (the Italian Nonna) looked really thin for ages, then suddenly thickened up.

Candied orange polenta cake and the benefits of boring diary entries

 

Last year I started writing a five year diary, what with a gap year and four years at university coming up, it seemed like a good time. I was still in sixth form when I began writing it and I used to get quite irritated with myself if I couldn't write anything more interesting than "busy day at school. Nearly put the wrong fuel in the car today." However, on perfect days like yesterday, those uneventful days come into their own. When I'm homesick, I often look back at what was happening this time last year, today however I just had a look out of curiosity. As I flicked through the pages I was sat by the pool in the gardens of this stunning house in the pictures below (I was visiting a new friend for lunch... I know, I couldn't believe my eyes either). The sun was beaming down on the perfect duck-egg blue shutters, melons were tumbling from the kitchen garden, and I'd just ascended to the top heights of the fig tree to collect the harvest. I found it, September 25th 2012: "Ridiculous maths work today, I spent four hours on it and I still haven't cracked it. Felt a bit forlorn today - very tired of school, I just want to cook, surf and see my friends and family" A little further on I came across another entry: "Started seriously rethinking my gap year, I don't know if it's the right thing to do or not." Well, seeing as I've just come back from three months surfing and working with friends in Cornwall and I'm now in paradise with my new Italian adopted family, I think I made the right choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a perfect day requires a perfect cake. The seemingly obvious response to this would be to make a tried and tested old favourite to ensure success. I however am in Italy, and wanted to make something a little bit Italian, even if it meant making a few unpractised tweaks. On my hunt for Italian inspiration, I came across the online recipe archives of Babbo, the incredible Italian restaurant in New York (you can buy their book on amazon here). I wanted to make something citrusy for such a sunny occasion, and I was desperate to use the amazing extra virgin olive oil that they seem to have on tap over here. I searched through the painfully delicious recipes and came across this olive oil and polenta cake - perfect.

As much as I knew the Babbo recipe would need no improvements, I wanted to make it my own. The Babbo version is a citrus concoction of orange and lemon, but I decided to go all out with the orange as I had seen a brilliant recipe for homemade candied orange slices which I really wanted to try. I then used the left over syrup from this process as the base to make a sticky, drizzle glaze. To make my cake extra moist (I live in fear of dry cakes, particularly when polenta's involved) I added a little orange juice to the mixture along with the zest. I did also slightly reduce the salt content as many Italian dishes contain so much, so I didn't want to add to this in my dessert. My other two tweaks were more about the structure: I swapped the plain flour for 00 pasta flour as I know polenta can be a bit heavy so some recipes recommend accompanying it with a lighter flour such as potato flour or, in my case, pasta flour. This swap was also partly out of my frugalness - I had bought pasta flour to (yes, you've guessed it...) make pasta, and I was reluctant to buy another packet of plain flour given that the health-conscious family I'm staying with don't eat much of it. Last but not least, I also removed one tsp. of the baking powder and whipped up the egg whites instead to give the cake a lightness of texture (my Italian family also don't like to use much baking powder, so this swap was for them). The result is a textured, yet deliciously moist cake with a fabulous citrus scented sweetness. It is quite a sweet one however, so feel free to swap the oranges for lemons to make it a little more tangy.

 

For the cake

4 eggs, separated

200g caster sugar

220g extra virgin olive oil (this gives a wonderful flavour, but feel free to use regular olive oil if extra virgin is expensive where you are)

90g polenta

180g 00 pasta flour

Zest of 1 and 1/4 oranges

Juice of 1/4 orange

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

For the caramelised oranges

1 orange, finely sliced into discs (about 3mm thick)

350g water

100g caster sugar

For the drizzle sauce

Juice of 3/4 orange

70g caster sugar

For the cake

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c (fan if possible)
• Oil your chosen dish and dust all over with polenta to stop the cake from sticking, and to create a ever so slightly crunchy edge (I wanted my cake to be more like a traybake so I chose a tray with a depth of about 5cm, 20cm width and 25cm length) You can cook it in whatever you fancy as long as the depth is at least and inch or two. Bear in mind that anything deeper than what I have used will probably need a longer cooking time to ensure the middle is cooked through.
• Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
• In a separate (large) bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and creamy.
• Continue whisking and gradually add the oil, and then the orange juice.
• Fold in the flour, salt and baking powder and, once fully combined, fold in one third of the egg whites.
• Now very gently fold in the final two thirds of the egg whites until fully combined.
• Cook for 30-35 minutes.

For the caramelised oranges

• Make this whilst the cake is cooking.
• Add the water and sugar to a wide based metal saucepan and bring to the boil on a medium - high heat.
• Add the oranges and cook (still on a medium-high heat) for about 30 minutes, turning the slices a couple of times. When they are ready they should look a little translucent and the sugar water should be syrupy and have reduced in volume by about three quarters.
• Once the cake is cooked, prick it all over with a raw strand of spaghetti (I am in Italy after all!) and then arrange the oranges on the top, reserving the syrupy liquid.

For the drizzle sauce - make this as soon as the oranges and cake are done.

• Combine the sugar and orange juice with the left over syrup from the caramelised oranges.
• Simply pour this over the orange covered cake (slowly, otherwise it may spill over the sides) and leave to set and soak into the sponge.
• Once cooled, remove from the tin/dish and serve (or, as I did, serve straight from the dish) This is delicious as it is, or with a dollop of natural yoghurt/mascarpone... or a black coffee of course!