Mare!

Everything is so fresh here and so delicious. Like the spaghetti with clams and mussels that Piera cooked the other day. By the way...not sure I should be indulging in all this seafood but baby Noah seems to appreciate it so...no guilt! A little garlic, parsley and good olive oil can do wonders. I love how food is honest and uncomplicated here. We had dinner at a friend's house yesterday. Prosciutto and melon, "bis" di gnocchi (gnocchi served with two different sauces, ragù and pesto) and boiled asparagus with salt, oil and balsamic glaze. Now...how simple is that!!! Let's take the fuss away from food and focus on fresh, simple ingredients! I love how you can revisit tradition with a personal twist. His ragù had no oil in the soffritto and he added capers and taggiasche olives ( a typical quality of this region) to the meat. It was yummy! I'd like to experiment on these little detours from traditional regional recipes...

In cucina con la Piera

Piera is Nico's Mom and Noah's proud grandma to be! She is a lovely lady who loves to talk. She talks to flowers, seagulls and televisions among other things. But most importantly she is an amazing cook. She makes cooking seem so effortless and when you ask her how she manages her answer is simple: "Oh dear, I've been doing this for fifty years!" Men in Italy didn't know how to cook when she was young. Some, like her husband Franco, never learned. I am jealously trying to steal all her secrets... and want to share the extraordinary result of our afternoons in the kitchen. Will post the full recipes once I have masterized them myself! 

I muscoli, (literally muscles but actually mussels!) are a very common fresh produce of this area. They are traditionally prepared "ripieni", stuffed with bread soaked in milk, mortadella, garlic, parsley, egg and a bit of parmesan and cooked in a white wine, garlic, herbs and tomato sauce. 

Cleaning them is tough and not for the squeamish or faint hearted! They come from the sea, not from the frozen department in Waitrose! They need to be rinsed and left on a tray to release their juices that can then be used to add flavour to the sauce. The most important bit is to delicately break their "nerve" so they don't open when they are cooking. 

Of course the " ripieno", the filling is very important and fresh ingredients are the key! And you need a bit of patience to stuff them one by one...

But in the end...it will all be worth it!

Festa!

So many things have changed since I last posted. We have moved back to Italy and there are only a few weeks to go until the baby is born. I am enjoying a few weeks of Sun, food and sleeping bliss before the many sleepless nights to come! Today is mother's day in Italy so we celebrated with some "pasticcini", traditional sweets that are usually eaten on special occasions or bought when invited to someone's house. Loving Italy but have to stop eating. No, seriously. Nico's Mom is an excellent cook and the fact that I eat like a man encourages her to cook even more... Soon I'll be sharing some of the things she has been cooking over the past few days...