Lunch at Jamie's Italian: a feedback

A Monday afternoon in August.
smiles at the entrance and 12 tables present
background music, not Italian

been given the menu but no signs of a smile, hardly an eye contact

quick service, order in 5 minutes
Artisan Italian Breads and Tagliatelle Bolognese.
Breads meant to be a starter (it's among the nibbles on the menu) but been given after the Tagliatelle.
I don't know why

food brought over before the drinks ?!?

Food
The Tagliatelle have the lovely idea of tiny bread crumbs instead of Parmesan cheese,
which is actually compulsory, but I have been amazed by the crumbs, so I'll accept it
The Egg pasta is cooked properly but the sauce tastes too much of bay leaves, which is good in itself,
but it is not in the original recipe of Bolognese sauce.
A friend of mine, Giuseppe from Sardinia, during University time, he would do Bolognese sauce with bay leaves. The name Bolognese comes from Bologna, a town in the north of Italy, where this sauce comes from. There is no sight of bay leaves.
Actually, it could be a good idea if was delicate and the taste should remain in the background, not the first thing it pops in your mind.
Also, it urged to me drink a lot while having the Tagliatelle, to wash out the bay leaves taste.

Back to Jamie's, too much bay leave in the sauce, but 7 out of 10 from the plate.

Italian Breads. Not an astonishing presentation, but essential

Selection of white and brown sourdough (from the day before), Grissini, Focaccia and music bread.
Some of the breads come from Jamie's bakery in London and you can tell...
I should not really say anything about the Focaccia....
The olive tapenade was excellent, spicy and lovely
Olive oil was a bit pungent, but this is the commercial olive oil we find in the groceries.
There is really nothing you can do. 6 out of 10


Staff
chefs shouting "Service!", desperate to find a waiter
beards for 3 waiters and 3 overweight (plus me, makes 4, ah ah!)
a waiter, used to be a supervisor for a chain restaurant in the city center, leaning onto tables while taking orders...
a bit disappointed, miles away from Jamie's appearance


This is the lovely Deli...

I was wondering who is going to have all those Prosciutto and Salami, but most of all, when?

In the end

Food 6/10 and 7/10
Service 5/10

It is worth a visit but nothing exceptional from the experience.
hope it helps

New season of Italian Cookery classes starts on 21st September...join in!

Here we are, ready for a new season of Italian cookery classes




This year we begin with a "Pasta and Pizza" theme on 21st September at Manor Farmhouse, on the way to Cromer.

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

10am to 3pm

Tea and Coffee (Italian) available throughout the session

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

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


You will learn how to make egg pasta, how to cook property pasta, how to make an awesome Focaccia and Pizza.

And you will choose your toppings!!


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

The Class is run by Arturo from Tuscany, genuine Italian, with a catering background and a passion for food and teaching.

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

Ciao!!

End of Summer treats: a lobster, sea fruits and fried fish

If you had a lunch at Arturo's in Porto Santo Stefano (Italy), during summertime, you would probably end up enjoying this kind of menu

Spaghetti with Lobsters

a fresh lobster, ideally from the sea, linguine, tomato sauce, parsley

Sea fruits salad

calamari, octopus, mussels, clams, shrimps, vinegar, pickles, parsley, sunflower oil 

Anchovies in sour sauce (scaveccio)

anchovies, onion, carrots, rosemary, vinegar, sunflower oil 

recipes to follow.....

Getting ready for the series of cookery classes

The first part of the new series will be focused on Pizza and Pasta.

Do you know the meaning of TRAFILATA AL BRONZO on a packet of Pasta?

Producers use bronze or teflon plates to shape the pasta. Bronze looks more 'precious' even by the sound of it. 

In fact, bronze plates are better for several reasons....

Dinner at Paolo's

In this new section of the site I will tell the experience I had at some places in Norwich that feature Italian dishes.
I start off with a dinner at Paolo's in St. Giles.
A Monday of August, 6.30 pm.
As I get in I am approached by a lovely waitress, without an English or Italian accent, probably from the East Europe, but smiley and kind. The only other waitress has the same features.

6 tables being served, quite environment.

The background music is Italian: Venditti, Raf, Battisti, Vanoni and Morandi among others.

Quickly given the Menu I order in 5 minutes.

The Menu, a bit sticky if I'm honest, has a generous selection of typical Italian dishes. Among others Lasagne, Spaghetti Carbonara, Antipasti and a neverending list of Pizzas.
The Menu is satisfactory.

There is also a board of Specials that comprises Ravioli, Melanzane (aubergines) and Affettati (Prosciutto, Salami...)

Basic selection of Beers like Peroni and Moretti.
Wine list satisfactory with Chianti Classico, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo,Valpolicella, Verdicchio and Pinot Grigio.


I order Calamari fritti, Spaghetti Carbonara, a selection of cheese and sparkling water.
And here they come the problems....

The Calamari are served in 10 minutes with tartare sauce (not home made), tomato, cucumber and rocket.
Fish should not smell fishy when they are cooked, but they do in this case.
The batter is a bit heavy as you can see at first sight, brown color. 4/10

Main course is Spaghetti Carbonara. I wanted to compare the ones I make at the classes with this one.
Smelled of garlic at first I soon realized that it also has a lot of onion.
The thing is ..... in the kitchen one must choose onion or garlic, not both of them.
In the case of Carbonara garlic is not acceptable for the only reason that the recipe requires onion and that excludes garlic.
Moving over, the sauce is a bit too liquid mainly because of the cream, which is like swearing.
But this is the english way. Even if olive oil was among the ingredients, it is not recognizable among all that cream.

The Pancetta is smoked and this is not good, it clashes with the tradition.
The Spaghetti are AL DENTE, after all, and this is reassuring.
In the end, my vote is 5/10

The board, actually a plate, of cheese is made of Taleggio, Brie and Smoked Cheddar Cheese.
This is when I thought I was missing something. Should not have they been all Italian?
4 on 10, I am afraid.

I should have chosen a dessert but I fell over my passion for cheese. This time I got hurt.



Finally
Environment, Music, Menus, Service Pass
Food quality, tradition, Resubmit





Next time I will have the lovely pizza which I already had but carefree....

Focaccia Genovese - Versione Italiana per il mio amico Beppe

Ingredienti

15 gr lievito fresco
300 gr acqua tiepida
500 gr farina da pizza
2 cucchiaini sale
2 cucchiai olio di oliva
Rosmarino e salvia essicati
Condimenti a piacere

Procedimento

Sciogliere il lievito nell'acqua in un recipiente. Aggiungere olio e la farina.
Iniziare ad impastare e poi aggiungere il sale.
Impastare per 10 minuti fino ad avere un impasto morbido e elastico.

Riporre l'impasto in un recipiente oliato fino a che raddoppia in volume.

Oliare generosamente una teglia da forno sul fondo e sui lati. Nella foto è 26cm per 36 cm. 

Se la teglia è più piccola, la focaccia sarà più alta. Se più grande o divisa in due teglie, sarà più bassa.

Rovesciare l'impasto sulla teglia e, senza tirare l'impasto, schiacciarlo verso i lati.

Cospargere generosamente di olio e di un pò d'acqua.

Fare dei buchi con le dita. L'olio e l'acqua ci scivoleranno dentro.

Lasciare lievitare per un'altra ora. Ecco il risultato quà sotto:

Adesso condire a piacere, per esempio con cipolla, acciughe, pomodorini freschi o secchi, olive ecc.

Io aggiungo rosmarino essiccato e salvia tritata, ed infine sale grosso. 

Attenzione, evitate di mettere il sale dove ci sono già ingredienti saporiti come le acciughe.

Accendere il forno a 230 gradi e aspettare mezz'ora per mettere in forno la focaccia.

Adesso, se vi piace morbida, come da ricetta Genovese, dopo 20 minuti è pronta.

Altrimenti, se piace più croccante, lasciare 5 minuti in più.

Appena fuori dal forno, mettere su una gratella per far respirare la base.

Se invece piace plain, cioè senza buchi, allora non si fanno i buchi e si lascia senza condimenti (con qualche eccezione!). S'è capito che mi garbano l'acciughe??

In questo caso, si taglia nel mezzo e ci si metto il nostro bel Prosciutto Toscano.

buon appetito

Giardiniera Veloce - Quick Pickles

Ingredients (makes a few jars): 

1000 gr of your favorite vegetables (carrots, cauliflowers, courgettes, peppers and so on) 

500 ml white wine 

500 ml white vinegar
100 ml olive oil
110 gr sugar
60 gr salt

Bay leaves

Rosemary

Black pepper grains

Process 

Choose 1 kg of your favorite veggies and chop them up in small pieces (like half fingers sized)

Pour wine, vinegar, sugar, salt and olive oil in the boiling pan.

Put on a fire and wait until boiling.

Chuck into to boiling liquid the hardest veggies (like carrots and cauliflowers) for 7-8 minutes and drain them. Scatter the veggies on a big plate so they cool down quicker.

Proceed with the other veggies in order of hardness, like red or yellow pepper for example

and finish with something soft like courgettes.

Boil them in order of hardness: 5-6 minutes for medium hardness and 3-4 for soft veggies.

This choice really depends on your taste. If you love the veggies softer than this recipe suggests,

leave them in the boiling water for a couple of minutes more.

When they are done, drain them so they cool down or they will keep on cooking and wait until the liquid has got colder.

Distribute them in jars alternating veggies, bay leaves, rosemary and black pepper.
Close the lids and put them upside down.

They will last a month in an excellent condition, but I guess they won't last so long....

Buon appetito!!

class of 6th July 2014

excellent class very responsive. proud of you. its been a smashing year! thanks everyone

Sbrisolona (or Sbriciolona) on the way

it means crumble, easy. the recipe comes from the city of Mantova, North of Italy and it was first noticed in the 16th Century.
It was called initially "of the three cups" because it contains fairly the same amount of maize (fine), flour and sugar. 

Recipe
.... in due time, as HM the Queen says

Crostata di Ricotta

this lovely recipe comes directly from my father's hands. he makes this Crostata every time a get back to my roots in Monte Argentario. the liqueur is a little secret that my father's been using since he worked as chef on ships


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

350 gr plain flour
150 gr white sugar
80 gr unsalted butter
3 level tsp baking powder
250 gr Italian Ricotta
choc chips
Alchermes liqueur
2 eggs

Process

Turn on the oven on 180C.
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 some flour.

When ready, lay the pastry onto the surface of the tin, 1cm deep.
Lay the dough on the sides.

Then, in a little bowl pour the ricotta and a some choc chips, as many as you wish and a spoonful of sugar.
Mix up everything and spread up around the base of the pastry.
The pink color in the picture is given by a famous Italian liqueur called Alchermes.
Use the left over pastry to do the crossings on the ricotta.
Roll up some pastry and build up bread-stick shaped (half the size of an average bread stick) stripes and lay them up on the Crostata.

The oven should be well hot by now.
Put the Crostata in the oven and wait for 20 minutes at least.
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

Tips
As an alternative, 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.