Gnocchi With Sage & Sun-dried Tomato Butter

Two blogs in one day today! Its my night off cooking tonight and from tomorrow night my friend Ashleigh is here so I don't think I will be able to get any more blogs done before Sunday evening. But don't worry, I am catering for a Halloween party on Friday so there will be lots of party food recipes going up soon! I spent a large proportion of my day searching the supermarkets in Venice for jelly and red food colouring - haven't managed to find any yet, but I have found cherry syrup which is the ideal blood colour for my Halloween cocktails!

I am dressing up, I didn't bring any costumes with me but I thought I would work some magic with make up and create an Ice Queen costume. I have been informed, that I sometimes I come across as having an icy personality (basically a more polite way of saying I have an attitude problem - so thanks Jamie) but I'm using it to my advantage. I have forced my flat to dress up as well and between the four of us and Ashleigh (who is not one to shy away from a theme either) we are going to look spooktacular...

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Packs Gnocchi
1 Handful Sun-dried Tomatoes (Finely Chopped)
6 Large Sage Leaves (Finely Chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
100g Butter
1 Large Handful Grated Parmesan

Boil some salted water and add the gnocchi. Whilst the gnocchi is cooking, melt the butter with the sage, sundried tomatoes and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the gnocchi is done (when it starts to float) drain and add to the butter. Allow the gnocchi to soak in the sauce before covering with the parmesan cheese.

Gnocchi is very filling, much like risotto it never looks like it will fill you up, but it does believe me!

Lasagne

My apologies for the lack of blogging recently, I would love to blame it on my essay but actually we have been eating later and when I sat down to eat I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture! Lasagne is my favourite dinner, it is probably one of the meals that I could not live without. My lasagne is not a traditional Italian one, according to my mum, as it features a lot of cheese sauce. Incidentally, when I made this there was more cheese sauce over the hob and sink than there was in the lasagne, it is a messy dish to make, especially if you're the most clumsy cook alive - like me - but it is so worth it.


Serves 4 very hungry girls or 6 normal appetites. Set oven to 200 Degrees C.
Ingredients

For the Cheese Sauce:
25g Butter
25g Flour
300ml Milk
2 Large Handfuls Parmesan Cheese (Or Cheddar)
2 Tbsp Ricotta (Optional)
Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux, then add the milk little by little until it makes a smooth white sauce, add the cheese and leave to melt. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Once done leave to the side.

For the Meat Sauce:
1 Pack Lean Beef Mine
1 Pack Lardons
4 Carrots (Diced)
1 Stick Celery (Diced)
1 Onion (Diced)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
2 Jars Passata
Salt, Pepper & Oregano

Fry the onions, garlic and celery until soft, add the mince and the lardons and fry until browned. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano. Add in the passata and the carrots and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Other Ingredients:
1 Pack Lasagne Sheets (Fresh or Dried)
1 Ball Mozzarella (Finely Sliced)

Once both the sauces are done, layer the bottom of a rectangular baking dish with 2/3 spoonfuls of meat sauce and cover with the pasta sheets (you may have to cut the sheets down to the right size). On top of the pasta, spoon over a quarter of the cheese sauce and spread it so it covers all the pasta. Repeat these steps four times at least. Cover the top of the final layer of cheese sauce with the mozzarella slices and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Even if you just make this for two people, it freezes really well. I used to bake about 6 portions and freeze them individually so when you can't be bothered to cook you have a home-made ready meal just waiting to be microwaved!

Exciting Chicken Caesar Salad

Had a really busy weekend because we have essay deadlines this week and everyone is getting a little stressed so haven't really had much time to relax or blog. My wisdom teeth are also causing me some trouble, they are really painful this morning and according to Lucy I keep making noises in my sleep that sounds like I'm chewing which I guess is probably because of my toothache but also highly likely that I'm dreaming about eating.

Speaking of dreams, I had one about mackerels last night, I don't remember much of the dream but my sub-concious made it very clear it was a mackerel which is weird seeing as I don't like them at all. I think I'm going a bit mad. Perhaps the essay stress is getting to me?

This meal doesn't really count as cooking because its a salad, but it was yummy so I thought I'd put it up anyway.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
400g Salad Leaves
200g Cherry Tomatoes (Sliced)
100g Sun Dried Tomatoes (Sliced)
6 Rashers Prosciutto
2 Breasts of Chicken (Thinly Sliced)
1 Packet Croutons (Or homemade ones - see previous salad blog)
1 Bottle Caesar Dressing (Not homemade unfortunately)
1 Handful Parmesan Shavings

Pretty much all you have to do is fry the prosciutto and chicken, leave to cool on some kitchen roll, crumble the prosciutto into the salad and add the chicken. Mix in all the other ingredients and serve the dressing either over the top or on the side. Really easy, but everything compliments each other and its not too unhealthy!

On top of essay writing this week I am also organising a Halloween party on Friday, because my friend Ashleigh is coming over to visit this weekend and we are having a little get-together. I have been known to go slightly overboard when it comes to themed events and I am in the process of working out how to make ghost shaped food. I'm also insisting on everyone wearing costumes so if you're coming, be warned I'm expecting complete dedication to the theme.

Chicken Gratin & Dauphinoise Potatoes

 

Apologies for the bad photo, best I could manage with my rubbishy digital camera! This dinner was kind of a random meal that I threw together with the left over ingredients I had in the fridge, the dauphinoise potatoes were yummy, you really can't go wrong with carbs smothered in cream and garlic can you? On a massively unappetising note, I have an unfortunate pigeon story this week. Over these five weeks we have been in Venice, I have become increasingly annoyed by pigeons and have resorted to attempting to kick them at every opportunity. I have a huge dislike of most birds (don't even get me started on the Warwick geese...) but pigeons are now at the top of my list for birds I hate. Basically a pigeon slapped me in the face, I'm sure it was karma from trying to kick its mate or something, but I got a full sweep of pigeon wing across my face yesterday. It was probably the worst experience of my life and I had to calm myself down by having a few scoops of ice cream.

 

Anyway, on to the recipe before my blog descends into pigeon-related hysteria.

 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Gratin:

4 Chicken Breasts

Handful of Sliced Cherry Tomatoes

4 Rashers of Prosciutto

1 Large Handful of Parmesan

1 Large Handful of Breadcrumbs

 

For the Dauphenoise Potatoes:

4 Large Baking Potatoes (Sliced)

3 Cloves Garlic (Finely Sliced)

300ml Cream

1 Onion (Finely Sliced)

1 Handful Parmesan

 

Layer the sliced potatoes with the sliced garlic and onions in a baking dish. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the cream and pour over the top of the potatoes. Top with the parmesan and bake in the over on 180C for 40 minutes. (this is not a traditional dauphenoise, I added parmesan and onions for a bit of variety).

 

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, fry the prosciutto rashers in a pan until crispy, leave to the side on some kitchen roll to remove the excess fat.

Cover the chicken breasts with a sheet of cling film and hit with a rolling pin until flattened (this is the fun bit). Then lay the flat breasts (haha) on a baking tray and top with the sliced cherry tomatoes. Crumble the prosciutto on top of the tomatoes and then sprinkle the parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and bake in the oven on 180C for 25 minutes.

 

Once the chicken is done and the potatoes are cooked through, serve with a side salad!

 



Aubergine Parmigiana & Lottie's Birthday Meal

I went out for dinner this evening for my friend Lottie's birthday, so the Parmigiana was last nights meal. The rest of my flat were left to fend for themselves in the kitchen, but it sounds like they had a good meal without my help (I'm very proud and means I can have more nights off). I had a mixed platter of fish for dinner this evening, which I filleted at the table to everyone's surprise (not just a pretty face eh), fish was yummy but even after one and a half fish I was still hungry! We basically had the restaurants to ourselves and they let us have control of the stereo so we had some classic fever tunes going on it was amazing, really enjoyed myself.

There is also a flasher on the loose in Venice at the moment according to the lecturers - so we aren't supposed to walk home alone, I don't like wandering around by myself anyway, but I think I would find it more funny than frightening if I was flashed. But I wasn't (unfortunately?!) so I can't comment.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 Large Aubergines (Sliced into circles approx 1.5cm thick)
1 Onion (Chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
Handful Cherry Tomatoes (Chopped)
1 Jar Passata
2 Balls Mozzarella
1 Handful Parmesan (Grated)
Salt, Pepper & Oregano

Roast the aubergines in the oven for 15 minutes on 200C. Whilst roasting, fry the onions and garlic in a little oil and add the passata and chopped tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano and leave to simmer. I usually layer the aubergines, mozzarella & tomato sauce like a lasagne (top with mozzarella and the parmesan) and bake for 20 minutes in the oven, but I did individual ones wrapped up in baking parchment because our roasting tray was dirty and I didn't want to clean it. I served this with a warm baguette, because I find it is not very filling otherwise.

I have also been doing some baking recently, in the spirit of bake off final and Lottie's birthday - sorry, no recipes as I can't tell you the quantities (I guessed) but I will make them again once I am home and write them up. Here are the pictures of my Chocolate Ganache & Raspberry Cake and my Tarte Tatin. Both would not meet Paul Hollywood's high standards but they aren't bad considering.

Just like to say a massive Happy Birthday to Lottie and a quick mention to my BIGGEST fan Stephen, whom I bonded with earlier xx

Chicken, Bacon & Leek Pie

At home on Sundays we pretty much always have a roast, even if I'm at work I usually manage to get a bit of beef and a Yorkshire pudding if I butter up the chefs with coffee. If a roast isn't possible, Sundays are definitely the day for a really hearty meal, and if you can't have a roast - the next best thing is definitely a pie. I can eat my weight in pastry, you can often find me lurking around the west Cornish pasty shop after their pork and apple pasties (best pasty ever). I know pastry isn't necessarily "healthy" but I don't care, especially on Sundays. 

This particular pie is my favourite, we often have it on Boxing Day - mum will make a chicken & bacon pie and also a turkey one. We have the pie in the early evening and snacks later on (mainly cheese). Christmas is the best time of year for food because Dad makes his Christmas ham which is AMAZING. I can't stress enough how good it is, I'm going to try and get him to show me how to make it when I'm home so I can share the recipe on here. Anyway I've been distracted, back to the pie...

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Breasts Chicken (Diced)

1 Pack Lardons or 4 Rashers Sliced Bacon

3 Leeks

2 Onions (Diced)

100ml Dry White Wine

50ml Single Cream 

1 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard (optional) 

Salt, Pepper 

1 Sheet Ready Rolled Puff Pastry

1 Egg Yolk (Beaten)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Soften the onions in a little olive oil and ad the chicken and bacon, fry until completely cooked. Add the white wine and the leeks and leave to simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Add the cream and salt and pepper and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Once done, transfer the filling into a oven dish (I had to use a tray) and cover with the puff pastry. Brush a little beaten egg yolk over the pastry and bake in the oven for 20 minute or until the pastry has risen and is golden brown. 

It's really easy to make and it can almost live up to a roast dinner. 

Spinach & Ricotta Canelloni

 

Fixed my laptop so I have finally managed to add the picture! I have only ever had this dish in ready meal form from tesco and I didn't really like it but I'm running out of new ideas for pasta dishes so I thought I'd give this one a go. Needless to say stuffing the Canelloni tubes got very messy and I managed to smear ricotta all over the cupboards and the kitchen surfaces, and its in my hair.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 Pack of Pre-Made Canelloni tubes (approx 20)
500g Ricotta
300g Spinach
1 Jar Passata
2 Balls Mozzarella (Thinly Sliced)
1 Clove Garlic (Finely Chopped)
Salt, Pepper, Oregano

Wilt the spinach in a pan on a medium heat until soft and drain away the water. Place the spinach in a mixing bowl. Heat the passata with the garlic and add a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano. Mix the ricotta into the spinach in the bowl. Then spoon approximately 2 teaspoons full of the mixture into the Canelloni tubes and place into a oven dish. Once all of them are filled and placed in the dish, cover with the passata and top with the sliced mozzarella. Bake in the over on 200C for 20 minutes.

Turns out that this dish is actually quits nice when its homemade, and definitely something I will add to my repertoire. If you can't find pre-made Canelloni, you could blanch some lasagne sheets and roll the mixture up in those, or just layer the spinach and ricotta with sheets of pasta and the passata to make a vegetarian lasagne. The possibilities are endless.

On another note, I found some pine nuts today at long last, so expect to see those featuring in a recipe soon.

Macaroni Cheese

I actually made this on Saturday night, but I forgot about it until today. I made spaghetti bolognaise this evening because I was cooking for 7 (we have guests) so I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen all night making something overly complicated.  I am now so full of spaghetti I can't move from my sofa and everytime I walk around the house shakes like godzilla is in the building. not cool.

We visited the Doges Palace yesterday, but only actually looked at half of it as the Doge's apartments were shut. Afterwards we were so hungry we stopped for ice cream at Il Penguino (our favourite ice cream parlour) and I had a reaaaaaaaally good fig ice cream. Highly recommend any fig based foods. Mum made fig and goats cheese tart yesterday - a la Howard from Bake off and it looked fab.

Ingredients for Macaroni Cheese:
1 Packet Macaroni/Penne
1 Large Tub Mascarpone Cheese
3 Large Hundfuls of Parmesan Cheese
2 Balls Mozzarella
2 Handfuls of Breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper

Melt the Mascarpone in a pan with 2 handfuls of Parmesan and the 2 balls of mozzarella. Simmer on a low heat until melted. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

While melting the cheese, boil a pan of water with a bit of salt and cook the pasta until its al dente. Drain the pasta and stir into the cheese sauce. Put the cheesy pasta into a baking dish cover with breadcrumbs and the remaining parmesan and bake on 200C for 10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden and crisp.

I served this with some courgettes and tomatoes which I sautéed in a little balsamic vinegar and oregano.

What cheese should you use to hide a small horse?

Marscapone 

Hahah

Mask a Pony...

Chicken Wrapped In Prosciutto

There is a shortage of goats cheese!!!

As you may have guessed, I like cheese, any cheese, except Stilton. So when browsing the daily mail for gossip on Robin Thicke's new excuse for blurred lines (like the song but I really don't think its about his wife) I was horrified to see that lots of European goats are being culled because of some disease (I was too upset to read the whole article but I assume its a goat version of foot and mouth). Anyway, this means that there is a shortage of goats cheese and the cost of any left over is about to rise significantly. I spend too much money on cheese as it is, so this is not good news and I'm not happy about it. I'm getting my mum to stock pile it because I refuse to be without a staple cheese at Christmas.

Anyway enough about goats cheese, this meal is one of my old recipes in fact it was the first thing I ever cooked for my boyfriend - Matt, although it had cheese sauce not garlic butter (trying to fatten him up)

Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Ball Mozzarella (Sliced into 8 Pieces)
8 Slices of Prosciutto
50g Butter
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
4 Large Potatoes
Splash of Milk
200g Spinach

Butterfly the chicken breasts (slice down the middle without cutting in half) and fill each with 2 slices of mozzarella. Place each chicken breast on top of two slices of prosciutto and roll up to form a cylinder shape. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes on 200C.

While the chicken is cooking, peel and slice the potatoes, and boil the, until cooked thoroughly in a pan of salted water. Once cooked mash them with a splash of milk until smooth.

Melt the butter with the chopped garlic on a low heat, while doing this pan fry the spinach in a tiny bit of butter until wilted. Then serve!

It's a dish that you can make look really presentable but really it's super easy to make. I'm now making a tarte tatin to take my mind off the goats cheese dilemma and in preparation for watching The Great British Bake Off tomorrow. No spoilers please!

Minestrone Soup

Spent a long day at uni today, after not being able to come up with a decent excuse, I had to do my shift as a librarian this morning. This was not ideal as I bruised my bum climbing on lion statues on Friday night and the chairs in the library do not come equipped with cushions. This dinner took less than half an hour to make so perfect for a stressful day being surrounded by books that I'm never going to read.

I made enough for about 8 but soup freezes well so it will keep.

Ingredients:
2 Red Peppers (Chopped)
2 Large Courgettes (Diced)
1 Pack Mini Pasta (Still haven't worked out what they are called)
3 Jars Passata
150ml Water
1 Onion (Diced)
Handful Fresh Basil
Tbsp Tomato Purée
Salt & Pepper

Soften the onions, pepper and courgettes in a little oil. Add the water, passata and tomato purée and simmer for a few minutes. Add the cute pasta and a pinch of salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the fresh basil and serve.

Serve with crusty bread and butter and that's it. Easy peasy.

Emily and I had ours early as we were too hungry to wait for the girls to get back from their stalking/ italian class (they followed a strange man from italian and ended up going the wrong way). I now have to read a book about Venetian renaissance art before tomorrow, not expecting my evening to be much fun - also I watched Downton Abbey and I'm feeling a little depressed, I won't give away any spoilers though.

Also saw a really cute puppy on my walk to the shop to buy some crisps, it looked like a husky crossed with a tiger - and it was chasing pigeons! CUTE.

Savoury Pancakes

As I am writing this, I am feeling a little fragile. Drank a little too much and got lost on the walk home from the bar last night. Not sure we will ever really know where we are going here in Venice - everything looks the same, although once I handed the map over to someone else we found our way much easier, so maybe its just my rubbish semse of direction. Anyway, last night we had pancakes for dinner, savoury ones of course, couldn't possibly have nutella pancakes as a main meal...

This recipe is an adaptation from a recipe introduced to me by my friend Martina - it takes quite a while to make but it is well worth it.

Ingredients for the pancakes (This is a basic recipe I got from BBC food as I don't have any scales I just guessed):

110g plain flour - sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml milk combined with 75ml of water

Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and crack the eggs into the flour. Whisk together with the salt whilst adding the milk and water slowly. To cook the pancakes, heat a frying pan with a little butter and spoon 2-3 ladles of the pancake batter into the pan, let the pancake brown on both sides (you can attempt to flip them if you're feeling brave) and once done transfer onto a plate with a sheet of kitchen roll on the bottom. Repeat until you have at least 8 pancakes that are relatively thick - pile them all up on a plate with a sheet of kitchen roll in between each one. Leave to cool.

Ingredients for the filling:

1 Pack Lardons/ 5 Rashers Bacon (Sliced)
250g Mushrooms (Chopped)
250g Spinach
3 Handfuls Parmesan
50ml Dry White Wine
1 Onion (Chopped)

Fry the onions and bacon in a little olive oil, once browned add the wine and simmer on a medium heat until the wine has reduced by half. Add the mushrooms and the spinach and 2 handfuls of the parmesan and leave to simmer for 5-7 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Next spoon 2 dessert spoons of the filling on to the middle of a pancake and fold the sides over to make a square. Repeat this step until you have 8 filled pancakes and place them all on a baking tray. Sprinkle the last handful of parmesan over the top of the pancakes and bake in the oven for 15 minutes on 180C.

I usually add pine nuts to this recipe but I can't find any anywhere! I'm sure pine nuts are used in pesto and other italian things but I can seem to get my hands on any!

Pizza & Pasta 'Carbonara'

We had pizza for dinner last night, not quite as good as a real one from the pizzeria we live above, but on a budget it will do. Its easy to buy ready made pizza dough, as you could imagine in Italy but at home you can buy packets of dough mix that you just add water to. Then just top the dough with passata or tomato purée and then whatever else you want! We had one with mozzarella with parma ham, fresh spinach & parmesan. The other had mushrooms and mozzarella. We definitely could have eaten one each, but I don't have the oven space, so we had cornflakes covered in nutella for pudding while watching Great British Bake Off.

This evening we had my own variation on pasta carbonara. By no means the traditional recipe (no egg and extra chorizo) this one came about when I had my own ready steady cook challenge one week when there was not a lot of food in the fridge back home.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 Onion (Finely Chopped)
2 Garlic Cloves (Finely Chopped)
1 Pack Lardons/ 4 rashers Bacon (Sliced)
100g Chorizo (Diced)
Handful Parsley (Finely Chopped)
3 Tbsp Philadelphia/ Cream Cheese
1 Large Handful Parmesan (Grated)
1 Packet Pasta (Any Type)
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

Place a pan of salted water on to boil. Once boiled, add the pasta and cook for 15 minutes.

Fry the onions and garlic in a little oil and add the chorizo and lardons. Once cooked thoroughly, add the cream cheese and the parmesan with 5 tbsp of boiling water (use the water for the pasta). Stir together and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and half of the chopped parsley. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and stir into the sauce. Top with the remaining parsley and serve with grated parmesan on the side.

We ate a whole pack of pasta again today - but we had a two hour seminar - more time than is usually expected from a history student, so we had to treat ourselves.
 

Giant Salad & Bruschetta

I'm not strict with my diet at all, my biggest weakness is my ability to justify eating more food. Like ordering a cheese board as well as a dessert because I can never decide on what I want, or having a second ice cream after a long-ish walk back from uni, so I'm surprised at myself for choosing to make a salad for dinner. Don't worry though, this salad isn't just rabbit food, but its a salad so it must be healthy...

Serves 4

Ingredients:

750g Mixed Salad Leaves

150g Cherry Tomatoes (Sliced in half)

2 Small Cucumbers (Peeled if Necessary and Sliced)

1 Large Carrot (Grated)

Half a Baguette (Diced - For Croutons)

1 Pack Lardons

Handful Sun-dried Tomatoes 

1 Ball Mozzarella 

Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Salt & Pepper

Fry the lardons until they start getting crispy on the edges, once done empty them onto some kitchen roll to soak up the excess fat and leave to cool. In the same pan, gently fry the baguette pieces in a little oil until they start to crisp up, once done, leave them to cool on the kitchen roll as well.

To make the dressing mix 7 tbsp of olive oil with 5 tbsp white wine vinegar in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper. You can add a spoon of Dijon or Wholegrain  mustard to the dressing to add a little more of a kick, but I didn't have any.  

Wash the salad leaves and place them in a large serving dish with the cucumber, tomatoes (fresh and dried ones), cooked lardons and croutons and mix together with the dressing. Top the bowl with the grated carrot and rip up the mozzarella and sprinkle over the top. You could also throw in some toasted pine nuts to the salad if you wanted, although I couldn't find any in the supermarket. This makes a lot of salad, but if you're having this as a evening meal, you do need a fair amount to fill you up. If you wanted to make this as an accompaniment I would use half of the ingredients and perhaps leave out the croutons.  

I also made Bruschetta for lunch today, with the left over bread from the croutons. Slice the bread and toast under the grill. Top with finely sliced tomatoes and a little chopped onion. Season with a little glug of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and a little fresh basil. Yum.






In other news, I see dogs walking around all the time here and I feel like I may end up involved in a dog napping soon. I spoke to Tigs (my puppy) on skype the other day but she was just confused, she is an Irish Setter and unfortunately confusion only comes too naturally to her. I definitely miss her the most (sorry Mum), she comes in handy in the kitchen as well - she is my own personal hoover, my flatmates certainly are not as keen to eat off the floor.

Spaghetti Bolognese

My Dad makes the best spag bol in the world, although in our house its called spag bog (no idea why). I don't know what he puts in it that makes it so tasty, but it always tastes amazing. I made my version last night, it didn't hold a candle to Dad's but it was still nice. In my flat, we aren't big meat eaters but I have to sneak it into our diet somehow so I filled my bolognese with bacon and carrots to disguise the meat. I'm also a huge passata fan (don't think I'll ever buy a can of chopped tomatoes again) and this totally changes the sauce, makes it taste a lot more fresh and 'tomatoey'.

Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
1 500g Pack Lean Beef Mince
1 Onion (Diced)
1 Packet Lardons
1 Large Jar Passata
1 tbsp Tomato Purée
3 Small Carrots (Diced)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
1 Packet Spaghetti
Salt, Pepper, Oregano & Olive Oil

Soften the onions and garlic in a little oil. Add the mince in small chunks, if you buy lean mince you shouldn't get too much fat, but drain away any excess. Add the lardons and fry on a low heat until mince is completely brown and the lardons are cooked. Add the passata, tomato purée, pinch of salt, pepper and a little oregano (or fresh basil if you prefer) and leave to simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes. Put a large pan of salted water on the hob to heat.

After leaving the meat sauce to simmer for 15 minutes, add the carrots and leave for a further 15 - 20 minutes on a low heat so it doesn't burn. Once the water has boiled, add the packet of spaghetti - make sure it is totally submerged and leave to cook for 10-15 minutes until cooked.

I served the spaghetti bolognese with salad, home-made garlic bread (a baguette sliced with a little garlic butter spread on each slice) and of course, lashings of parmesan.
In Casa Bamford, we have different names for portion sizes created by Dad:

The Ballerina - Tiny Portion
The Allegro - Medium Portion
The Largo - Large Portion
The Wild Pig Loose In The Strawberries - No explanation needed right?

Well, the portion below is definitely a wild pig sized plateful (was bigger than it looks) and I had seconds...

Chicken & Chorizo Soup

We spent a long day yesterday nursing hangovers and sore feet after Saturday's party. After losing my own drinking game at pre-lash and having to drink 2 shots of rum from our coffee making contraption, getting us totally lost in Venice for over an hour and having to be rescued by the host of the party from a location far away from pretty much anything - we had already had a pretty eventful evening before we even made it to the party! The tiramisu made it though and wasn't totally destroyed by our slightly drunken stumbling through the back streets of Venice. I'm pretty sure it was popular - it had totally disappeared within 5 minutes of arriving and I was lucky to get a taste.It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated and if I make it again I'll try and do a blog friendly recipe. I'd really like to thank the hosts of the party for inviting us, we had a great time and it was definitely worth the hour and a half walk home at 1 in the morning.

So on Sunday, after a long lie in and my version of a full English (the full Italian) for lunch, I only wanted to make something easy for dinner. This soup is kind of like a stew or a minestrone without the pasta. It is very tasty and warming and you don't need a lot of it to fill you up. I served it with a crusty bread roll each.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 Red Pepper (Diced)
1 Courgette (Diced)
1 Onion (Diced)
150g Spicy Chorizo (Roughly Chopped)
1 or 2 Chicken Breasts (Roughly Chopped)
750ml Passata
Oregano
3 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
4 Crusty Bread Rolls
Salt, Pepper & Olive Oil

Fry onions, garlic and chorizo in a little olive oil for 5-10 minutes until the chorizo starts to brown. Add the chicken pieces and cook through before adding the oregano and the passata. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes on a low heat. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the chopped pepper and courgettes and leave for a further 5 minutes. Serve into bowls with the bread on the side.

Its so easy and saves a lot of washing up because its a one pot meal. Sorry, no pictures today (I totally forgot because I was so sleepy...) If you wanted to bulk this meal out a bit, you could add a few handfuls of those really cute little pasta things in with the passata (you might want another 250ml of passata for this) and leave to cook until the pasta has cooked before adding the veg. I don't cook the veg for too long as I prefer them to stay crunchy for a bit of texture.

Remember - Drink Responsibly ;)

Hard Rock Cafe & Tiramisu

We had a long day yesterday, most of it spent standing on boats for well over two hours, so once we got back to Venice we decided we were well and truly in need of a cocktail. In Venice there are plenty of bars that do cocktails but we thought we would head to Hard Rock Cafe as their cocktails are - hands down - the best in existence. Not great for students purses but we've been budgeting our food well so why not! Once we arrived and took our place at the bar, the smell of deep fried american food tempted us upstairs to the small restaurant area and before we knew it we had ordered dinner...

I know its ridiculous to go to Venice and to eat at Hard Rock but we are here for 11 weeks and anything that comes with barbecue sauce really floats my boat - so don't judge us. The food was good and for the portion sizes it wasn't crazy prices either and we had a great evening over indulging and persuading each other to order another round of cocktails (like I needed any persuasion). Also, I'm willing to forgive them forgetting our cutlery because their Pina Coladas are the best I have ever tasted. After we had finished our dinners we started our trek back to the flat, feeling a little tipsy and discussing the best way to try and board Pamela V (a large, posh, yacht that is moored near our street) All in all, a great way to end a busy day. 

This evening we have been invited to a party at a friends apartment on the other side of the Rialto. I have made it my rule to never go to a party empty handed, mainly because I get hungry and need a snack (I have been known to carry a kitkat in my clutch bag on nights out) so I made a Tiramisu earlier to take along. I can't tell you the recipe, not because its a secret family recipe or anything but because I don't have any way of measuring ingredients here so I had to guess. I've made it before, so I know what to put in it and I have tasted the components individually and it seems OK if not a little too much rum (perfect for a student party then?!) so I will have to wait and see if its good or not. I also don't have an electric whisk, so I'm hoping the cream has been whisked properly too... Fingers crossed. 

P.s. A good tiramisu recipe is Delia Smith's - its my mum's go to dinner party dessert (see, no secret family recipe). To find it, click here.

Pasta Alla Puttanesca

Today, after our seminar, Holly and I had to go and look at a Campo (or square) for some homework - essentially using this as an excuse to go sit in a bar we trekked for 30 minutes across the Rialto to find this place. It took us longer than expected as a quick detour to find H&M (I needed some shoes as my only comfortable ones are sandals and its cooling down fast here in Venice) resulted in us ending up past the Rialto and not finding H&M at all. So by the time we had visited the campo and caught the vaporetto back home, we were hungry and I could only be bothered to make something easy.

Pasta Alla Puttanesca (or Whore's Pasta?!) is a tomato based pasta dish flavoured with a little chilli, anchovies and olives. For those of you who just went 'ew anchovies' don't be put off - I don't like them either, they are slimy and smell weird but they do wonders with a pasta sauce.

Serves 6 (or 4 hungry students)

Ingredients:
1 Small Onion (Finely chopped)
3 Cloves Garlic (Finely chopped)
3 Little Red Chillies (Remove seed and chop finely - DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES)
5 Small Anchovies (From a jar is fine - chop them finely)
1 Small Jar Black Olives (Pitted is best)
1 Large Jar Passata
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil
Oregano
1 Packet Pasta Shapes or Spaghetti

Put a pan of water on to boil with a little salt.
Fry the onions, garlic and chilli in a little olive oil to soften before adding the passata, add the olives and anchovies and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes on a low heat. Cook the pasta until Al Dente, drain and add to the sauce.

I served this with sliced ciabatta and a salad with a balsamic dressing. You can't taste any anchovies (if it had tasted fishy, my mum would be in big trouble as this recipe was her idea). I intended this dish to serve the four of us with left overs for tomorrow lunch, but we ate it all... a whole packet of pasta and over half a ciabatta. Safe to say, our pasta to salad ratio was not acceptable.

 

To Mummy Tatlow - I promise not to fatten Emily up with too much pasta in future!

Stuffed Peppers

I had a day off today but even though it was a lovely day outside I had lots to do and didn't even make it out for an ice cream! I wanted to make a quick dinner so we could watch the Great British Bake Off afterwards, so I made stuffed peppers. The peppers we got from the market were huge, so we only really needed one each - if I was having this at home I would probably need two to fill me up.

Ingredients:
4 Large Peppers (I chose red ones)
4 Large Handfuls of Risotto Rice
Jug Of Boiling Water
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
250g Cherry Tomatoes (Chopped into small pieces)
1 Courgette (Cubed)
1 Onion (Finely sliced)
2 Garlic Cloves (Finely Chopped)
Salt, Pepper & Olive Oil

Heat the oven to 250C.

Fry the onions and garlic in a little olive oil and once softened add the rice and the stock cube. Add the boiling water a little at a time until rice has absorbed it. You don't want to add enough water to cook the rice fully as it is cooked further when baked inside the peppers. Once the rice has absorbed enough water to be soft but still Al Dente, add the chopped tomatoes, courgette and salt and pepper. Leave this to simmer on a low heat while you prep the peppers.

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds from inside, keep the tops to serve as lids later. Fill the peppers with the rice and place on a baking tray with the tops and bake in the oven for 10-15 or until they start to brown on top - don't let the peppers get too mushy. Serve with freshly sliced bread - we had a baguette - with some butter.

After our Nutella overload yesterday, we stuck to fresh fruit for pudding today - but I did notice a new pack of biscuits in the cupboard earlier which will probably make an appearance at some point this evening.

Nutella hidden on top of the fridge, its reachable but only by chair and its been decided that climbing on a chair to get to the Nutella is too embarrassing if you get caught, so its safe for now.

Fishy Fishy

Today we had an early start doing a library tour - what fun - so on our way home we ventured to the fish market to get some for tonight's dinner. I love fish and I worked in a fish restaurant for 4 years so I'm no stranger to big ugly fish complete with eyes, heads, bones, you name it. I'm terrified of crabs, because one of the chefs once placed a large snow crab on my shoulder when I had my back turned, but fish are fine and I've seen fish a lot uglier than the ones I bought today. The girls on the other hand, remained a safe distance from the fish counter and were not overly keen when I wiggled the fish in their faces at home.



The man at the counter asked if I wanted him to de-scale the fish, which in hindsight would have been a good idea, as although I successfully managed to remove all the scales I did not manage to keep them contained in the sink. While at the fish counter, I noticed that they had fish like mackerel and gurnard - but they have a lot more bones and are harder to fillet, so I chose the Bronzino fish because it looked most like a fish I was familiar with - a bream. When I got back, I used the most important website for a history student (Wikipedia) to find out what it actually was and it turns out that it is a Mediterranean sea bass!


For dinner tonight I think I'm going to bake them whole and then fillet them before presenting them to the girls, as they had made it clear that they don't want to see a head or any eyes. I like filleting stuff though, we used to have to do it in front of guests at the restaurant and I like to show off!!

I stuffed the bass with slices of lemon and baked for 20-30 minutes on 180C and after removing the unappetising parts of the fish, I served the fillets with sliced potatoes and green beans which I sautéed until the potatoes were cooked (par boil the potatoes for five minutes or so first). Finally I added the juice of 1 lemon to a large cube of melted butter and served on top of the fish.

After dinner we decided we needed a pudding and as we have been healthy by eating lot of fresh fruit we thought we needed a treat. Emily ran to the shop to grab some eggs and a kilo (yes...a kilo) of Nutella and I whisked up some pancakes, you can't go wrong with Nutella but Emily had honey on hers and sugar and lemon is also yummy. I've had to hide the Nutella from the girls in a place only I can reach as there was talk of eating it from the jar with a spoon...