Having a Pizza with...Julia Roberts

Well, that would be one of my dreams...my wife knows, don't worry.
Julia Roberts is having Pizza in an old Pizzeria of Napoli, during the movie Eat Pray Love.
And she is very sexy anything she is eating: donuts, bread sticks or pickles.

The Pizza in Napoli is excellent . This is out of question, but somebody would not agree with that.
Once I have been there and had Pizza twice, but nothing special I remember. It was good, but nothing remarkable.
One thing I remember is the mozzarella. That was fantastic.

For making a Pizza you need three excellent ingredients:

• the dough
• tomato sauce
• mozzarella

In Norwich this is what I do

As for the dough, for a 500gr strong white flour, I use 280ml water and 15gr fresh yeast or 8gr dry yeast.
For the tomato sauce, not being in sunny Italy, I use Cirio plumed peeled tomatoes, they are better than the chopped ones.
As for the mozzarella, I normally use the the 400gr packet. It does not contain any liquid which is a nightmare on the pizza. Far better than the 150/200 gr portions, full of water/milk that we should drain for half a day!!!

That is it for now.

To be continued...
As for now enjoy Julia Roberts' picture

Spaghetti: an easy post

Hello guys,
This is for one of my colleagues who would love to know how to cook Spaghetti or other shapes of Pasta.

That's what you need for two people
A boiling pan with 5 liters of water.
Fire at highest heat and wait until it's boiling.

Then, chuck a spoon of salt in the water and wait until it gets back to boiling.

Time to chuck the Spaghetti in.

Spaghetti De Cecco

Once in, push them down gently, then stir gently trying not to break them.
The temperature of the water will drop for a minute. That's normal.

Stir again every now and then.
This is to avoid the Spaghetti to stick to each other. In England I have seen people pouring oil in the boiling pan. That's not completely effective. If you stir, they won't stick.

Cooking time. That is the point!

Read the label. Spaghetti, Linguine, Penne, Fusilli and so on, have different cooking time.

Some Pasta shapes

Read the label and you will know.

If it says 8 minutes, it counts since the water has got back to boiling.

Drain them and plate them.

Add your favourite sauce and mix up.

The next level? 

Finishing up Spaghetti in the Sauce!
Next time

Torta della Nonna

Ingredients (makes one 24cm round crostata plus some extras for biscuits)

for pastry
350 gr plain flour
150 gr white sugar
80 gr unsalted butter
3 level tsp baking powder

for crema
500gr milk
400gr sugar
4 eggs
half lemon zest

Without pinenuts

original recipe with pinenuts

Method

Start heating up the milk at medium fire and beat the eggs and sugar with a electric whisker in the meantime until pale and fluffy. When the milk is boiling, toss the lemonzest, turn the heat lower, pour gently the whisked eggs in and stir continually until the cream has been absorbed.
Now pour the flour in using a sieve and keep stirring until the cream is as thick as at your convenience.
This step is tricky. If the cream is too loose, it might soak the bottom of the Crostata.
You will learn it with experience.
When ready, leave to cook down for three hours.

Now, turn on the oven on 180C, 170C if fan assisted.
In a bowl mix sugar, flour, baking powder, crack the eggs and chop up  the cold butter in little cubes.
For a wonderful pastry the sugar needs to be cold.
With all the ingredients try to make a ball shaped dough, not sticky. If it is sticky, add just some flour.
When ready, lay the pastry onto the surface of the tin, and on the sides 1cm thick.
Pour the cream on the pastry and sprinkle some pine nuts on top.

The oven should be well hot by now.
Put the Crostata in the oven and wait for 20 minutes at least until golden brown.
This is very important: wait at least three hours until removing from the tin.
If you like it more brown, leave it in for 10 extra minutes. The Crostata will be more crunchy.
Sprinkle some icing sugar for a professional touch
Wait at least half an hour.


Tips
Soaking base? no, thank you. Check out the temperature of the oven. The oven should be on for 20 minutes before baking so the heat will give a big slap to the base. 

As an alternative of the crema, you may use jam. Be careful. It should not be too liquid or the base of the Crostata will soak up. And you could also use Nutella
Another alternative is given by using brown sugar instead of white. This is a tremendous version. Very yummy and healthier, as the brown sugar has been processed less in the factories.
Talking about the Alchermes, which is pretty impossible to find in the UK, I suggest to find some colorant in the groceries like Dr Oetker's.

Besciamella: the rule of 5

The second ingredient to get ready for Lasagne bolognese. The taste is really up to your favour about nutmeg. The more you like it, the more you add it but, mind you, not too much.

The rule of 5 is about quantity.

For every 500gr of milk, you need 50 gr of butter and 50gr of flour.

Get things done

Pour the milk in a boiling pan with the butter at medium fire and stir continually.

When the milk is boiling, gently sieve the  flour in, while stirring until the flour is completely absorbed.

The more you stir, the thicker the Besciamella sauce will be. Let's say in 4 minutes, it should have the thickness of a yogurt.

Move the pan away from the fire and season with salt and a pinch or two of nutmeg, depending on how much you love it. Period. The Besciamella sauce is ready.

Ideas

Perfect when preparing Lasagne, but also with Baked pasta!!

Have you ever had Baked pasta with Besciamella and Broccoli?

Fantastic! Soon the recipe

Ragù bolognese. My take

One of the ingredients of Lasagne bolognese, in order of time the Ragu sauce is the first to be prepared, ideally the day before as the sauce needs to settle and the ingredients mix better.

Officially gets its origin two centuries ago, from a cookery book of the famous chef Pellegrino Artusi. There are a few variations but here I describe my take.

First thing is the Soffritto which is the veggy base of the dish.
Get a bunch of parsley, a medium carrot, a onion, a stick of celery and chop them up finely. Chuck them in a large pan with three spoonfuls of olive oil. At medium fire, begin to stir the ingredients while sizzling. 

Keep stirring until this base is brownish colored, then add 500gr of your favorite mince meat.
The original recipe says beef, but you can use lamb instead, or add up two sausages to give strength to the sauce.
Stir the meat until it is dark brown and has lost all the liquid, then add one glass of red wine.
I would suggest a fantastic Chianti wine, which is one of the most famous red wine and produced in Tuscany, the region I come from.
If not possible, choose a good full bodied red wine from Italy.

When the wine has vaporized, meaning the alcohol has left the sauce, I'm afraid, add 200-300gr of Italian tomato sauce. Please, choose an Italian brand of peeled or chopped tomatoes, like Cirio.
Add two glasses of water and leave it to cook at low fire for three hours, adding up water if needed.

The sauce will be ready the next day.

Ragu bolognese at cookery class of August 2013

The Ask "Italian" Experience...better be reading

Ciao!

Here we are for a new review of an Italian style-ish restaurant in Norwich.

The weekend following Easter day I went with my daughter, a very keen reader, as you can see from the image below, to Ask Italian, just at the entrance of Chapelfield shopping center, strategic location.

more interested in reading

But let's start from the beginning.

Exactly noon of Saturday, the restaurant is empty and I guess it's closed. Nobody on sight, customers or waiters.
We find our way to our table and the supervisor comes to greet us kindly, giving us the Menu.

We order Antipasto Italiano Veggies as starters and Pasta Pomodoro and Pasta Pollo as main courses.

While waiting for our meals, waiters chatting up at the counter giving us (the customers) their backs

Water from Tuscany and background waiters

Meals. What can I say?
I would rather not to say anything, but this is a review, so let's get the job done. This is, not being too picky, well presented starter. 

my starter

But....starters are supposed to be a start, a beginning of a meal and then you get the rest, let's say a main course or a pudding, is it not?
But look at the picture below. What is the problem?
Just the time of a bite and, what the... heck?

Starter and main at the same time?

mix and match

My boss would tell me off, if I did that. But I would not. Never.

I guess, in the end, this is not the staff's fault.
This is the boss' fault. The restaurant was not even full, only 5 tables, maybe, at the ground floor and you serve starters and mains at the same?
This is Restaurant Service 101. The basics.
The room is quiet, take your time, get some time to engage with your customers, let them enjoy their meals at the right pace.
There is usually a button on PCs to be pushed when it's time and it says MAIN AWAY. Only at this point, the chefs get the mains ready.

Anyway, moving on about quality food wise, very disappointing.
The starters were fine and simple.
But, already said about my daughter's main, Pasta Pomodoro, she really preferred to be reading instead. The dish was tasteless. She said, "non sa di niente" meaning it doesn't have a taste.

Mine was nothing less, nothing more the same as hers.
I struggled to find some tasty piece of mushroom or chicken, but no luck.


Verdict

everything could be improved, but at the present, avoid.

Service
Four or five front of house staff, wasted to minding their own businesses, which should have been us, actually. Mark 5/10, supervisor and boss included. Staff are supposed to make your experience special.

Quality of food
see above. Mark 4/10

Potential
Italian food is a success, is a most wanted style
location at the entrance of Chapelfield shopping center
Chefs preparing the food in front of you is really fascinating.
More than enough staff for such a restaurant
Mark 8/10 


looking for a genuine Italian style restaurant in Norwich, still searching.....until the next stop

Ciao

New Italian Cookery class on the 27th June. Join in!

The only Italian Cookery Class of Norfolk held in a lovely farmhouse of the Broads




Beautiful country kitchen, stove and ...fresh eggs in case somebody wants some scrambled.

Tea and Italian Coffee available throughout the session

Awesome focaccia

Aprons and hats are available. Pens and paper are not needed, there is nothing to write.

..but most of all... lunch is included!!!

Generous lunch

lots of chats

and more chatting up

You will learn how to make Lasagne, how to cook properly Spaghetti, how to make an awesome Focaccia and Pizza.

all hands on deck

And you will choose your favourite toppings!!

Crunchy Pizza

Join in for only £ 35,00 per person for the day.


Sign up @ a.fanciulli@btinternet.com or 07879 408882


Ciao!!

The Secret of the Perfect Carbonara? La Pancetta!

Ciao!
At every cookery  class or party or hen do's, Pasta Carbonara is a must.
I have made some attempts at some Carbonara in England, unfortunately all of them have failed.
Not any restaurant has succeeded.

Bacon. Are you joking?
Cream? No way!
Overcooked pasta? No, thank you. What's the soup of the day?

Pasta Carbonara begins with the ingredients.

Pancetta. What is it? It is the pork belly but the secret is the cure. Which is not an 80's music band, led by Robert Smith....
In the Tuscan tradition, this is how the Pancetta looks like. It is called Rigatino.

Tuscan Pancetta

Look, look at the picture. There is no bacon getting even close an inch to that.
And this is the curing process. It lasts from 40 to 50 days.

Black pepper, salt, fennel and some other spices that change depending on the local tradition.
Some might add wine, garlic or other ingredients.
Where can you find it? You would be very lucky if you found it at some Deli in big cities, specially Italian Delis. What is your best option? Ask me and I will have it delivered for you from Tuscany.
The compromise is a not cured Pancetta you might find at the biggest groceries. It is not ideal, though.

Next? Olive Oil. This year the harvest has been dreadful in Italy and some other countries overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. A wet summer and the fruit fly really affected most of the harvest. If somebody had wanted to produce it last year, the oil would have been very acidic, such a shame and would now cost more than the previous year.
You might find some quality extra virgin olive oil at Waitrose or Sainbury's.
But please, don't use butter.

What to do

For 4 people, get a big frying pan.
Generously pour four spoons of Olive Oil.
Chop up 1 medium onion, brown skin and chuck it into the pan.
At the same time, put on a hob at max, a big boiling pan with 5 litres of water.
When it is boiling, add one spoon of cooking salt.

Turn the hob at medium fire and keep on stirring the onion while sizzling.
Slice up the Pancetta in thin 1x1cm cubes and when the onion gets brown, add it to the pan.
Sprinkle some ground black pepper at your pleasure.

Pans

When the Pancetta gets brown and crispy, turn off the fire.

In a bowl, crack 1 fresh free range egg for each person and whisk them quickly.
Don't add any salt, because the Pancetta is very tasty.
I want to point out that the eggs won't be cooked through, as if they were fried or scrambled.
They barely heat up. It is important that the eggs don't get crumbly.

When the Pasta is ready, as to say Al Dente, chuck it into a strainer (or colander).
Get the frying pan on a medium fire, add the Pasta to it and start stirring.
The Pasta will mix up perfectly with the Pancetta.

When everything is warm enough, move the pan away from the fire and add the eggs, stirring gently for 1 minute. Ready to dish up, add only grated Parmesan Cheese.
I would add some Ricotta Salata (Salty Ricotta) instead and some more black pepper.

Salty Ricotta

The dish should not be dry.
So, remember. Italian Pancetta, not Bacon.
Olive Oil, not Butter
Parmesan Cheese or Salty Ricotta.

Join in to one of my classes and you will learn how to make a yummy Carbonara!

Buon appetito!!
Ciao

Springtime in Tuscany

When people asked me where I was going on holiday last Easter time, I always thought saying Italy, my country, was natural and innocent.
People are right here. Even if it is not an holiday, like going abroad, all-inclusive, full board, but yet in Italy, Tuscany, to be more accurate, it is in one of the most wanted holiday destinations on the planet.

That was a fortnight full of foodie wonders and classic Italian dishes.
From day 1 collecting bay leaves for my pickles, around my house,

through visiting the Fridays market in Colle Val d'Elsa,

through seeing old time friends, who could enjoy this view from their house, at Barberino Val'Elsa,

to the departure day, enjoying a special treat on the airplane, homemade Focaccia bread with Tuscan Prosciutto.

I feel lucky.

ps. soon a few posts about my stay

Amatriciana row - garlic or not garlic?

City of Amatrice versus Masterchef Gracco
What is the matter? The ingredients of Pasta Amatriciana.
With or without garlic? I can't live......actually, I can.

Amatriciana - photo PR

The name Amatriciana finds its origin in the village of Amatrice in Italy.

One of the most famous dishes of the Italian tradition with Carbonara, Puttanesca and so on.
Official ingredients are pork jowl, San Marzano tomatoes, Pecorino cheese, chilli, black pepper and white wine. What the heck? my daughter would say!
With or without garlic? It does not matter! as long as you...

Mr Gracco, got famous after his restaurant got 2 stars Michelin, which apparently it's enough to give you fame, but it does not necessarily mean that you can turn upside down everything you want in the kitchen.

Also, talking about the Amatriciana in that Food TV Programme he introduces the garlic as a secret ingredient of the recipe. Well, let me tell you something. It is no longer a secret if you tell everybody. 

He should have presented it as his personal touch. I would agree with that. The personal touch is what makes recipes and restaurants different and attractive.
The point is: should the Amatriciana Association make all the fuzz about this?
They have spent a lot of time through the years to treasure and defend this tradition and the dish should be handled with care.

In the end, In one of Giorgio Panariello's movies, a popular comedian, he asks a lovely girl whether one of the ingredients of Spaghetti Amatriciana is garlic or not. Guess what he says in the end?

panariello