Displaying items by tag: italian foodie

Jamie Oliver sent us a useful guide to buying olive oil which we have shared on our facebook page. For special occasions we really like one we bought in Sicily; Lorenzo No 5 is expensive but Inspector X gives her daughters a bottle each for Christmas. Each bottle says 'I dedicate this bottled essence of olives to my son, Lorenzo, with all my love'  Manfredi Barbera.

We went to Buxhall Coach House this week, it was fun trying to work out where to go in the dark... not much exterior lighting, so we seemed to land in what we hoped was a parking space, and found our way in by the candle lantern that was by the front door. Honor cooks and her mother, Sarah looks after the front of house, with the help of some shy young staff. This is not a pile-them-in and rush-them-out sort of restaurant, but has one sitting (everybody arrived at once on the night we were there) and service depends on the dish you have ordered; everything is prepared in-house. Their excellent menu makes ordering very difficult, and it took a while to decide. Honor is a fabulous chef and her abilty to work these flavours with a balance of ingredients, all of which were top quality, is a real art. There are only a handful of places that I could name in Suffolk where the food has a "wow" factor and this is one of them. My pictures are tagged so you can see what we ate but some dishes were wolfed down before we got a chance to take a photo!

• Pasta al forno
• Plum and frangipane tart
• Hunters style rabbit
•  

...and they are on our Spring Recipe pages. 

Crespolini

(Italian Spinach and Ricotta stuffed, vegetarian pancakes)

Make up a batch of pancakes, either plain or Buckwheat, using the pancake batter recipe

For the filling:

• 500g/1lb ( raw weight) of spinach leaves
• 500g/ 1lb Ricotta cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the spinach until tender (microwaving in a cling filmed container works very well for spinach, don’t add water)

Drain any excess liquid from the spinach and add the Ricotta cheese, salt and pepper to taste, mix well.

Divide the mixture between the cooked pancakes and roll up. Place the pancakes in a single layer in an ovenproof dish.

For the Béchamel sauce

• 600ml/1.5 pints milk
• 1 onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 6 black peppercorns
• 50g/2oz butter
• 50g/2oz plain flour
• Pinch grated nutmeg (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 100g/4oz Parmesan Cheese

(for those of you in a real hurry, forget the onion, cloves, bay leaf and peppercorns and just go ahead making the sauce with the butter, flour and milk)

Impale the onion with the cloves and place in a saucepan with the bay leaves, peppercorns and milk.

Bring to a simmer and then leave to stand

Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour, cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes

Strain the milk into the flour and butter and stir well (a whisk is best to avoid lumps)

Cook for a few minutes and add the grated nutmeg if using.

Pour the sauce over the pancakes and sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven 190C/380C Gas 4 for 30 – 40 minutes, or microwave, and grill the top.

Went to see The Social Network and tried to get a pizza afterwards but full of Office Christmas Party people. Haven't been to Carluccio's yet and it was ok, but they need to slow down - we practically had the card machine before we finished dessert. PS. If you don't work in an office but would like to go to an Office Christmas Party it's not too late - we can organise one?