Italian food is great. Everybody likes it and an Italian restaurant or a pizzeria are quite a sure investment as long as the location is good.
That it was probably lots of people thought before open a restaurant or a pizzeria anywhere abroad from Italy whether they are Italian or not. «Pasta? You boil some water, put the pasta in, you follow the packaging instruction and eventually you mix with some sauce and that's it, I saw it lots of time on TV.»
Well I tell you, it might be right, there's only a little concern about this. Italians are everywhere, and wherever they are they rather walk around all the city for hours until they find an Italian restaurant than walk in the first restaurant they find. Me myself used to be like that, but not anymore because London changed my mind but this is another story. This to say that too many times in my travel I ended up in so called "Italian restaurant" or "pizzeria" just to find out how rubbish the food was and thinking «for god sake if this is what people think about how we eat in Italy is a total disaster.»
Personally I've never been too much to Italian restaurants here in London, but I can suggest to check on line on the Harden's websites to find the best choice. I also suggest, actually I pray you to stay away from the big chain such as Bella Italia, Caffe Uno and stuff like that. You can easily doing better in 20 minutes at home......and they claim to serve the real Italian food. Sad.
Don't expect anyway to come to Italy and eat well wherever you go, we have our problems too. However and fortunately the average of quality is good, with lots of excellence spreads around; if you go to Italy I think the best thing to do is asking to the locals where you can have the best meal. And what's better is that you can even ask where to head to have something you really fancy, like where to find the best fish, the best boar, the best hare.....and all the Italians would love to inform you what's the local speciality and where to have it. Think about that in Italy every city, every town and village has its own speciality.
What will follow is an hypothetical menu you might find in some of the tavern in Livorno. It's been really hard for me choose the recipe to put in it consider the wide range we have, especially for the starter; anyway as all the last recipes were fish based, here you'll find something more earthy.
Antipasto (starter):
Sformato di porri e ricotta (Leeks and ricotta cheese pie)
Pappa al pomodoro (Bread and tomatoes soup)
Crostini di funghi (Mushroom crostini)
Primo (pasta):
Pappardelle al cinghiale (Wild boar pappardelle)
Secondo (second course):
Coniglio in umido (Rabbit with aromatics)
SFORMATO DI PORRI E RICOTTA (Leek and ricotta cheese pie)
Ingredients (makes 6):
4 leeks
A whorl of pennyroyal
A small bunch of other aromatic herbs
3 eggs
Breadcrumbs
200gr ricotta cheese
30g butter
1 dl extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Wash and clean the leeks, chop them finely and brown in oil with the herbs. Take off from the heat and add the ricotta cheese and the eggs beaten previously. Knead well the mixture. Spread the butter on the bottom of a pie tray and pour over a layer of breadcrumbs. Now you can pour in the tray the mixture and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes 180C
PAPPA AL POMODORO (Bread and tomatoes soup)
Ingredients (makes 6):
500gr stale good quality bread
500gr peeled, deseed and roughly chopped ripe tomatoes
8 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
1/s glass white wine
Garlic, fresh sage and basil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Soak the bread in cold water. Brown garlic and sage with the oil and then add the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are almost ready add the wine and the basil. At this point squash the bread to eliminate the water and crumble it in the pot with the other ingredients. Cook for further 10 minutes. If during this time the soup gets to thick you can add some vegetable stock or hot water with a stock cube. If you want the soup more «redish» add a little tomato paste. The final result should look like the above picture
CROSTINI DI FUNGHI (Mushroom crostini)
Ingredients (makes 6):
12 slices of farmhouse good quality bread
500gr mix mushrooms (porcini, royal agaric, field mushrooms)
1 garlic clove
A small bunch of parsley
50gr pine nuts
A small chilli pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Chopped together most of the mushrooms, parsley, pine nuts and chilli pepper and then add the rest of the mushrooms cut finely lenghtway. Toss the mix with olive oil and lemon juice. Spread on the bread
PAPPARDELLE AL CINGHIALE (Wild Boar pappardelle)
Ingredients (makes 6):
600gr home made pappardelle
500gr lean boar meat
1 red onion
1 celery stick
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
4 sage leaves
Few sprigs of parsley
Rosemary
2 bay leaves
150gr peeled, deseed and chopped ripe tomatoes
250ml red wine
1dl extravirgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Method:
Take a pan and add all together the herbs chopped and the lean boar. Cook over medium heat and before the blood of the boar has evaporated, add the red wine e allow it to boil off. At this point add the tomatoes and finish to cook the meat. Cook the pasta and toss with the sauce
CONIGLIO IN UMIDO (Rabbit in aromatics)
Ingredients (makes 4):
1 rabbit of about 1200gr
2 garlic cloves
2 rosemary sprigs
2dl dry white wine
300gr peeled, deseed chopped and ripe tomatoes
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Cut the rabbit in pieces (you can ask your butcher to do so). Put in a saucepan, enough big to contain all the meat, the oil and the garlic chopped together with the rosemary (but only the leaves). Add the rabbit and brown for few minutes. Pour the wine turn the heat up until the wine has evaporated; turn the heat to low and add the tomatoes. Cook until the rabbit is tender (about 35 minutes).
This way to cook in Italian is called in umido, and it can be used for other animal and also fishes
Well I tell you, it might be right, there's only a little concern about this. Italians are everywhere, and wherever they are they rather walk around all the city for hours until they find an Italian restaurant than walk in the first restaurant they find. Me myself used to be like that, but not anymore because London changed my mind but this is another story. This to say that too many times in my travel I ended up in so called "Italian restaurant" or "pizzeria" just to find out how rubbish the food was and thinking «for god sake if this is what people think about how we eat in Italy is a total disaster.»
Personally I've never been too much to Italian restaurants here in London, but I can suggest to check on line on the Harden's websites to find the best choice. I also suggest, actually I pray you to stay away from the big chain such as Bella Italia, Caffe Uno and stuff like that. You can easily doing better in 20 minutes at home......and they claim to serve the real Italian food. Sad.
Don't expect anyway to come to Italy and eat well wherever you go, we have our problems too. However and fortunately the average of quality is good, with lots of excellence spreads around; if you go to Italy I think the best thing to do is asking to the locals where you can have the best meal. And what's better is that you can even ask where to head to have something you really fancy, like where to find the best fish, the best boar, the best hare.....and all the Italians would love to inform you what's the local speciality and where to have it. Think about that in Italy every city, every town and village has its own speciality.
What will follow is an hypothetical menu you might find in some of the tavern in Livorno. It's been really hard for me choose the recipe to put in it consider the wide range we have, especially for the starter; anyway as all the last recipes were fish based, here you'll find something more earthy.
Antipasto (starter):
Sformato di porri e ricotta (Leeks and ricotta cheese pie)
Pappa al pomodoro (Bread and tomatoes soup)
Crostini di funghi (Mushroom crostini)
Primo (pasta):
Pappardelle al cinghiale (Wild boar pappardelle)
Secondo (second course):
Coniglio in umido (Rabbit with aromatics)
SFORMATO DI PORRI E RICOTTA (Leek and ricotta cheese pie)
Ingredients (makes 6):
4 leeks
A whorl of pennyroyal
A small bunch of other aromatic herbs
3 eggs
Breadcrumbs
200gr ricotta cheese
30g butter
1 dl extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Wash and clean the leeks, chop them finely and brown in oil with the herbs. Take off from the heat and add the ricotta cheese and the eggs beaten previously. Knead well the mixture. Spread the butter on the bottom of a pie tray and pour over a layer of breadcrumbs. Now you can pour in the tray the mixture and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes 180C
PAPPA AL POMODORO (Bread and tomatoes soup)
Ingredients (makes 6):
500gr stale good quality bread
500gr peeled, deseed and roughly chopped ripe tomatoes
8 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
1/s glass white wine
Garlic, fresh sage and basil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Soak the bread in cold water. Brown garlic and sage with the oil and then add the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are almost ready add the wine and the basil. At this point squash the bread to eliminate the water and crumble it in the pot with the other ingredients. Cook for further 10 minutes. If during this time the soup gets to thick you can add some vegetable stock or hot water with a stock cube. If you want the soup more «redish» add a little tomato paste. The final result should look like the above picture
CROSTINI DI FUNGHI (Mushroom crostini)
Ingredients (makes 6):
12 slices of farmhouse good quality bread
500gr mix mushrooms (porcini, royal agaric, field mushrooms)
1 garlic clove
A small bunch of parsley
50gr pine nuts
A small chilli pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Chopped together most of the mushrooms, parsley, pine nuts and chilli pepper and then add the rest of the mushrooms cut finely lenghtway. Toss the mix with olive oil and lemon juice. Spread on the bread
PAPPARDELLE AL CINGHIALE (Wild Boar pappardelle)
Ingredients (makes 6):
600gr home made pappardelle
500gr lean boar meat
1 red onion
1 celery stick
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
4 sage leaves
Few sprigs of parsley
Rosemary
2 bay leaves
150gr peeled, deseed and chopped ripe tomatoes
250ml red wine
1dl extravirgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Method:
Take a pan and add all together the herbs chopped and the lean boar. Cook over medium heat and before the blood of the boar has evaporated, add the red wine e allow it to boil off. At this point add the tomatoes and finish to cook the meat. Cook the pasta and toss with the sauce
CONIGLIO IN UMIDO (Rabbit in aromatics)
Ingredients (makes 4):
1 rabbit of about 1200gr
2 garlic cloves
2 rosemary sprigs
2dl dry white wine
300gr peeled, deseed chopped and ripe tomatoes
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Cut the rabbit in pieces (you can ask your butcher to do so). Put in a saucepan, enough big to contain all the meat, the oil and the garlic chopped together with the rosemary (but only the leaves). Add the rabbit and brown for few minutes. Pour the wine turn the heat up until the wine has evaporated; turn the heat to low and add the tomatoes. Cook until the rabbit is tender (about 35 minutes).
This way to cook in Italian is called in umido, and it can be used for other animal and also fishes
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