A Lunch to Remember - Agriturismo Tenuta Monte la Guardia

You know those "amazing food places" that you dream of finding - the kind of place that someone else you know, or a friend of someone you know has been to and raves about? Agriturismo Tenuta Monte la Guardia is one of those places.
 
While England was battered by storms, we swanned off to Italy for half term and soaked up some very welcome sunshine. Staying first with friends just outside Rome and then in Naples, we were mainly there to see some old friends, and for 'culture' of the child friendly 
variety, but on our first day, we had the most wonderful, foodie experience.

We drove through the Nutella hazelnut groves, skirted the shores of Lake Bracciano and passed the castle where Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes. You'll be pleased to hear that our visit had a far more auspicious end than the ill-fated Cruise/Holmes union - LUNCH!!

Eventually, the road petered out to a dirt track on the edge of the village of Castel Giuliano, and at the end of the track: Agriturismo Tenuta Monte la Guardia. 

Piggies. (Actually these are boar, and were behind a fence. The piggies were too quick...

It's a little compound of buildings, pretty 'rustic' with some rather cute families of pigs (yes really!!) running around. You can stay here, and there's also an organic restaurant where, for a fixed price, you can sit down and get what they are serving up. No menu, just what they are cooking. And all utterly fabulous.

 



 The owners are much in evidence, really friendly, and it's a lovely place to eat. While my university friend who we were staying with took us, her husband came on a little later with their daughter (so she could have a nap before we ate) and this was all perfectly acceptable and easily accomodated. The presence of the pigs in the garden, giant acorns to be gathered, and the relaxed Italian attitude meant that the kids could get down and run around when they needed a break, leaving us to enjoy the chat, the food and the wine.

 

We kicked off with antipasti of bruschetta, salami, cheese with a kind of fruit jam smeared on it, and slices of a rustic savoury tart reminiscent of a Greek spanakopita. There were also 2 delicious dishes, one a barley salad and another a dish of bread, cabbage, onion and cheese, that sounds like nothing but is just the sort of thing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would weep for joy over. 

 







This was followed by the pasta course - tagliatelle with a delicious sausage sauce, then the  meat course: 2 dishes, one a mouthwatering, rare roast beef, sliced wafer thin, the other a divine venison casserole, flavoured with lemon and juniper, plus some beautiful fennel roasted potatoes. Just wow. 

There was of course wine and water to wash it all down. We also had puddings (not included in the fixed price, but oh so worth it) - a choice of 3 and between us we sampled the chocolate brownie tart - rich and luscious - and also a local loaf cake/pudding which was a bit like soft biscotti, packed with nuts and fruit. Both came with cream and strawberry jam, a combination I intend to repeat.
 

Mmm - which would you choose?

When we felt like we could move again, we spent some more time admiring the pigs, then took a slow meander through the woods, just starting to hint at the possibility of Autumn...

down to a nearby waterfall. 

Pretty much the perfect day.

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365 Food Calendar

Hi everyone! I created a food calendar. The calendars are $15 each and 100% of the proceeds go to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. 

A little about the calendar and what it contains:

• Facts about the RICFB and hunger
• Each month has an original and seasonal recipe created by yours truly (example Bourbon Maple Mousse for Nov.)
• Professional and fabulous photos by Shelby Beamon 
• Includes fun food days (example National Vinegar Day on November 1)

You can purchase the calendars online at http://www.rifoodbank.org/gifts 

The calendar CAN be shipped all around the country, but if you are from RI stop by any of the following stores to get yours!

• Barrington Books
• Books on the Square
• Farmstead
• Stock Culinary Goods
• Twice Told Tales
• and at select Dave's Marketplace locations

If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at camoriggi@cookingwithcath.com 

Everyone needs a calendar, so get yours and feel good about doing it!

Happy Eatings!

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Tomatoes on toast

Did I mention that we are going away for a week? 

I'd like to say I'm being ever so casual about it, that it's no biggie, but who am I kidding? 

We are going to ITALY. To Rome, then to Naples.

I am very, VERY excited. 

Of course, in the run up to any holiday there is the finishing up of work. 

There is the 'weather checking and clothes washing' to be taken care of (you might not like me to mention that it's currently getting up to 28C in Rome - now where did I put my sandals?)



There is the consideration and purchasing of useful literature (I am very pleased with my 'overlay' book of ancient Roman sites (which has photos of the current ruins, with artists impressions of how they used to look which you can overlay onto the photos), purchased on Amazon for a mere 1p as opposed to the 10 Euros I am informed it will cost us in Rome)

There is the finding of the passports and the checking of the tickets. 

There is the daydreaming of how perfect it will all be as long as we don't try to do too much and wear the kids out on day 1 (actually unlikely as we are staying with friends just outside Rome first and we have been promised a relaxing day on Sunday revolving around lunch somewhere very lovely.)

And then there is 'Operation Fridge Run Down'. Easier said than done when the courgettes are still coming, as are the tomatoes.

I managed to get a whole yellow ball courgette into a quiche the other day - grated and squeezed out before I cooked it up with 3 thinly sliced onions. It made a delicious supper, and the courgette went completely undetected by those who did not know it was in there.

I could have cried when the next day, the Husband brought 2 more green courgettes in from the garden...

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are something I never tire of. The kids eat them raw and cooked, and it's very easy to turn them into soup, passata, anything really. Proper tomatoes, grown with some love, just smell delicious - of sunshine, of warmth, of halcyon days. If I had nothing else to do, I'd quite happily sit in a greenhouse of tomatoes and smell the smell all day. A bit like Ferdinand the bull smelling the flowers all day - but he was in Spain, and not many people know that story these days...





If you've never smelt a freshly picked gorgeously ripe tomato, you might think this all sounds a bit wierd, but I'm betting I'm not the only one who feels like this...

Tomatoes, of course, remind me of Italian food - the classic insalata tricolore with mozarella and basil, all that pasta sauce flavoured with basil, with chilli, with all sorts of things, brushcetta... I'm anticipating more than the odd stop during our sightseeing to partake of all things gorgeous, Italian and tomatoey - plus the odd glass of chilled white wine, of course.

For now, though, something much more English. I could have gone the bruschetta route for lunches the last few days, but these are English tomatoes, and oddly, bruschetta never occurred to me until just now when I sat down and started writing this. So I've been eating tomatoes on toast - inspired by a friend who's on the 5:2 diet and who advises me that if you use Nimble or Weightwatchers bread, 2 pieces come in at around 132 calories - including a dollop of Lidl's lowest fat mayo. Now I am no longer following the 5:2 diet. I'll tell you about it sometime, so my tomatoes were sliced and arranged on slices of homemade bread, drizzled with some (Italian) olive oil, sprinkled with some sea salt and pepper and served with some delicious Hampshire watercress. I decided to pass on the mayo...

Tomatoes on Toast (serves 1)

2 reasonably thick slices of good bread
tomatoes (the exact number will depend on the size of your tomatoes, how thickly you slice them, also the size of your slices of bread - may be 3-4 small to medium sized tomatoes as a guide)
Olive oil, seasalt and fresh ground pepper
Watercress to serve

Toast the bread lightly on one side under the grill. Flip the bread over and cover the uncooked side as much as possible with slices of tomato, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, then pop back under the grill for a few minutes till the tomatoes are starting to soften. Alternatively, you could sprinkle a little sugar on the tomatoes for a more caramelised effect.

Serve on a plate with some watercress.

Ciao!

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Homemade Applesauce

One of my favorite things to witness and anticipate is the changing of seasons. The main reason why is because I look forward to the change of produce and cooking styles that come along with the season. The best time to buy produce is when it is in season. It tastes better and is usually more affordable. For me, whenever I think of fall I think of a more rustic and cozier cooking style with ingredients such as pumpkins, squash, wild mushrooms, pears, brussels sprouts- and oh did I mention apples?!

 I went apple picking with my sister (Jackie), brother-in-law (Jeff), sister (Christina) and sister's boyfriend (Bryan).....talk about being a third wheel! We had a lot of fun picking apples at Jaswell's Farm (RI'S oldest apple picking orchard).

Coming home with some pounds of beautiful hand-picked local apples I was inspired to make homemade applesauce. Making applesauce is so easy and much tastier than store-bought. Out of all of the traditional things to make with apples I really think that applesauce is one of the most easiest and rewarding. So if homemade apple pie, crisp or butter intimates you, try my applesauce! I really don't know why more people don't make it.

Can I just mention that it doesn't help to be a ripe 5'3" when picking apples- luckily I had some taller friends to help.


Ingredients:

6-8 apples,  peeled, cored, and quartered (it is best when you use a variety of different apples such as Granny Smith, Macoun, Empire, McIntosh ect...)

1 cup apple cider

3 tbs. apple jack brandy or calvados

zest of 1/2 a small lemon 

2 tbs. butter

1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch salt

1. Put all of the ingredients together in a medium sized pot. 
2. On medium-high heat cover the pot and let the ingredients boil. One the ingredients boil, lower the temperature and bring it down to a simmer. Cook for about 25-35 minutes or until the apples are tender when pricked with a fork. Taste to adjust seasonings (depending on how sweet your apples are you may need to add more sugar). 
3. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher. Mash until the apples reach the consistency you desire (I kept mine chunky). 

Happy Eatings!

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Pasta Ratatouille

This could be called desperate veg growers' dinner, but I prefer to call it 'pasta ratatouille'. It sounds much smarter, doesn't it?

Easy, undemanding, a great way to disappear some of the glut of tomatoes and courgettes that you might be lucky enough to have (yes, still, even in October) into a healthy and tasty dinner.

This is definitely one to take as a guide rather than a defintive recipe. Use whatever you have.

Pasta Ratatouille
(serves 2 aduts & 2 children)

300g pasta
3 medium sized courgettes (I had 2 green ones and a yellow ball one)
2 green peppers
5 large beef tomatoes
4-5 small onions
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 tablespoon capers
grana padano cheese

Heat the oven to 200C, and when it is to temperature, put in a roasting tray with a good slosh of olive oil in the bottom of it to heat up for 5 minutes.


While the oven is heating, top and tail the courgettes and chop into bite sized pieces; deseed the papers and similarly chop up.

Peel the onions and quarter them; peel the garlic cloves and finely slice them.

Halve the tomatoes and cut out the woody bit where the fruit was attached to the vine - you don't need ti be fussy about removing too much of the seeds or anything.

Once the oil has had the chance to heat up, take the tin ot of the oven and chuck everything in, and roast for a good 45 minutes, shaking the tin every now and again to make sure it's all getting cooked.

While the veg is roasting, cook the pasta according to packet instructions, drain, and if the veg still needs to roast for a little, stir through a little olive oil to stop it sticking together.

When the veg is roasted, mix it in with the pasta and stir through the capers. Put it all back into the roasting tin and grate over some of the grana padano cheese, then pop the tin back into the oven for 10 minutes tilll the cheese is melted and everything's really hot again (you coud put it under the grill if you prefer).

Serve - with extra grated cheese, and chilli sauce - if needed

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Condensed Milk in 'Beaker-Gate' Shocker (and another banana loaf recipe)

The other day I made Dan Lepard's ultra delicious Lemon Butter Cake, which requires 125g condensed milk.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that this left me with 272g condensed milk (give or take). By the way, why are the tins 397g? Does anyone know? Are they really 400g but state a weight which allows for the bits that you can never get out, even with your finger a spatula? Would it be too hard to make a tin that tiny bit bigger? Big enough to carry a full 400g? This is something I genuinely wonder about, so if anyone can enlighten me, please do.

But back to the matter in hand. What to do with 272g of condensed milk? I pondered the question idly on social media and received a number of suggestions, including drinking it in tea, making it into a sandwich and using it as a sex aid (this was the day of 'beaker-gate', after all). I had been contemplating nothing more complicated than a quiet corner and a teaspoon, but only in a half hearted sort of way: not only can I no longer drink 10 pints, dance till dawn, consume a doner kebab with extra hot chilli sauce and survive the next day; it seems that I can no longer face eating most of a tin of condensed milk. Age is a cruel mistress.

 So I did not consume the condensed milk. Oh no. I conscientiously decanted it into a mug (a mug, note, NOT a beaker...), popped some clingfilm on the top and consigned it to the fridge. Now in this house the Husband and I have one of those 'standing jokes that's not really a joke' which has developed over the course of our life together. I hate to throw food away, so anything that can't be frozen in a little convenient portion will find its way into the fridge, and I  genuinely, I mean, really GENUINELY, mean to use it again. But it doesn't always happen.

Sometimes I forget.

Sometimes it wasn't actually that nice in the first place.

Sometimes I just want to cook something else.

Sometimes, it disappears to the back of the fridge, only to re-appear weeks later with all sorts of interesting mould growing on it.

Sometimes, I really do use it.

When we're clearing up after a meal, the phrase you're most likely to hear him say is "Shall I throw this away now, or put it in the fridge and throw it away in a week's time" . You get the idea.

This particular 272g of condensed milk (give or take - I couldn't say for sure that a teaspoon's worth didn't somehow come my way) did get used. It ended up in another version of Banana Loaf. I wish I could settle down to having a 'go to' recipe for things like Banana Loaf, but it seems I can't help fiddling - probably because so much of my baking depends on what's knocking around in the kitchen. I can't even stop fiddling with the flapjacks I swore were the best I'd ever made. In case you're interested, it's worth swapping some of the oats for dessicated coconut...

Another Banana Loaf

100g chopped dried fruit - I used apricots and a mixture of currants, sultanas and mixed peel that was in a value bag of dried fruit I bought last Christmas for mincemeat/Christmas pudding purposes...
100ml black lapsang souchong tea (what I made at breakfast time - Earl Grey would be good too)
100g unsalted butter
272g condensed milk (give or take - obviously, a teaspoonful either way isn't going to make much difference, so go on, treat yourself...)
225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb
about 350g (peeled weight) mushy bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Soak the dried fruit in the tea - probably an hour minimum, or longer - I started mine off at breakfast then baked the loaf at tea time.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and line a large loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

In a large pan, gently melt together the butter and condensed milk, stirring occasionally.  While this is going on, measure your flour, baking powder and bicarb and mix together. Mash up the banana with the vanilla extract, then beat in the eggs with a fork.

Beat the mashed banana & egg mixture into the melted butter and condensed milk, stir in the soaked fruit, then finally, stir in the flour about 1/3 at a time.

Scrape into the loaf tin and bake for about 45 minutes to an hour till a cake tester comes out pretty much clean. Keep an eye on it - if it looks like it might catch, cover lightly with some foil or something.

Leave to cool in the tin.

It will smell delicious - and (and now I really am getting old) it tastes delicious with a nice cup of tea...

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Carrot & parsley soup

I swore, as you do, before you have kids, that I would be no ferrier of children from one activity to the next. My life would not be ruled by what they wanted to do. They would know the benefits of down time, of being able to come home to a homemade cake and a drink before relaxing, completing any homework, generally having time to recover from the day at school.

Of course, the children didn't know that, and as they have got older, have other plans. 'Home' is far too boring. Apparently, it's not enough that they've been at school all day, giving their all. They want to do other stuff, and while it caught me a little by surprise, well, I guess that's fine.

What's a little less fine is that although I work from home, I'm still working, and so 3.15 sees me legging it up to school desperately trying to remember who needs to be where at what time and crucially when they need to eat.  It doesn't matter that it's the same each week, and I don't know whether it makes it better or worse that most of what they do is local. I don't have to get in the car and drive them anywhere - which is a good job, because now it's October, the camper van has gone back into her winter quarters and I no longer have wheels, but it feels like I am constantly running up and down the road: football, choir, cubs, ballet, brownies.

This term, Blue has thrown a big spanner in the mix by wanting to join an orchestra (with his trombone) which requires being OUT  OF THE VILLAGE at 5 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon. In terms of how he gets there, this is not so much of a problem as one of his friends was already in the orchestra and his parents suggested that Blue join in, in full knowledge of the fact that there would be no lift sharing possibilities. Pink has no commitments on a Tuesday evening, which makes things slightly less complicated but there's still the issue of making sure that everyone gets fed without me having to cook more than I have to. 

Soup is a pretty good option in these circumstances - easy to heat up quickly and feed people as they need it - particularly Blue, who, along with most nearly 10 year old boys, lives with the beast of constant hunger raging inside him. On a Tuesday, by 6.30, when he gets home from his orchestral endeavours, the beast needs feeding - now...

Carrot & parsley soup

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 stalks of celery
350g peeled carrots, sliced into chunks
Olive oil and a knob of butter
1tsp cumin
800ml chicken stock
80g red lentils
a large handful of flat leaf parsley





Peel and chop the onion and garlic, clean and slice up the celery.

Heat the oil & butter in a large pan, and chuck in the onion, garlic, and celery. Fry gently for 5-10 minutes till everything is softening, then stir in the ground cumin. Cook for another minute or so, then add in the carrot chunks and pour in the stock. Bring everything up to a simmer then tip in the lentils, and cook for 20-25 minutes till the carrots and lentils are cooked.

Rip off the parsley leaves from any really big stalks, chuck the leaves in to the pan, allow them to wilt for a couple of minutes, then blitz the whole lot. Season if necessary, and if the soup's a little thick, add in a little more water.

Heat up as necessary and feed to hungry daughters, hungrier husbands and ravenous sons, as and when necesary. Oh, and don't forget to feed yourself too...

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