Trattoria Del Rosso, Bologna, Italy

Last week I was in Bologna for an afternoon. Of course I walked around the historical centre to see some of the sights and then hurried to get myself dinner. Bologna is of course famed for the wonderful food. I went to a place which was recommended by the hotel.

Easy to find, I walked in to a place full of locals. A good sign in my opinion. A casual and animated crowd, there to have some good food.  The decor was quite typical and well done. A big desk at the front which I later discovered is where the diners queue to pay their bill.  Huge mirrors making this place look quite grand. As it was full I was led to the back which was also very busy. I sat down to have a look at the menu. While I was waiting I ordered some house wine and studied the menu. Enough dishes to give a good selection. And cheap.

I had an antipasti of cod pate with grilled polenta (€5.50). This was an interesting dish, with a perfectly textured pate. As a Primo Piatti I had another traditional dish. Papardelle al Ragu di Agnello (€7)- think spaghetti bolognese. By the way if it could talk, it would be music to my ears. Papardelle is my favourite pasta! such a simple yet tasty dish. I would go back any day for more.

I didn't have to wait long for my meal. The service was pleasant and although they spoke no English and I don't speak Italian they were helpful enough, at the end trying to explain to me about the history of the place. From what I gathered this is an old institution. I'm not surprised. They know what they're doing.

It's also worth checking their website. It's all in Italian but for you Italian speaking foodies you'll be pleased to know they have some recipes also.

Trattoria del Rosso, Via Augusto Righi 30, Bologna, Tel +39 051 236730 http://www.trattoriadelrosso.com/

Easter Roadtrip

I organised this trip so long ago that I had forgotten about it, up until the weekend before when it occured to me that I was going to Italy for a friends's wedding. I imagine you asking how could I forget about a trip to Italy (and then Greece to add to the fun). Well I did. Seriously, ask a friend with whom I made plans which I inevitably had to cancel, rather late, when I remembered about my trip.

I flew to Bologna and spent an evening there. The next morning a friend and I made our way to Florence to attend the wedding. The ceremony was held in the beautiful Palazzo Vecchio and the reception was in a castle in Tuscany, a 20 minute drive away. This was the most spectacular of weddings.

In true form of my good friend, the food also exceeded any expectations any of the guests may have had. Beyond all else, this was a truly gastronomic affair offering the best of Tuscany's culinary delights. The antipasti was divine and the main meal was equally as good. Every detail perfect. I have added some of my photographs as words can't do it justice. This was just magical.

  

Imam Bayildi, an inspiration to a recipe..

A friend asked me where it is that my love of food comes from. What do I remember that has made such an impact so that food is so important. I've been thinking about this. Foods that even now, after years, make me go mmm at the thought.

One of my favourite is aubergines, cooked aubergines. I have a distinct memory from my childhood in Cyprus. Sometimes when my mother picked me up from school, she would take me somewhere for take-away. This was no ordinary place. This was home-cooked food to perfection. The Greek lady who cooked and owned the place made this most amazing aubergine dish: Imam Bayildi. A dear friend of mine recently explained what this means. A Turkish dish, the name of which translates to the imam (priest) fainted. I'm not surprised. All these years later, I think about the Greek lady's imam bayildi and I still swoon.

There are many variations, the typical of which the aubergine is cut in half and stuffed with tomatoes and onions and cooked in olive oil and water for around an hour until soft.

My interpretation is different and much simpler but I did recently have a similar version at a restaurant as a starter

Serves 2 as a starter, 1 as a main
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 small tomato
1 small onion
1 aubergine
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
Salt 
Water
Feta

Method
Cut the tomato in about roughly 6 cubes
Cut the onions in quarter
Put the olive oil in a pot and heat. Add the tomato and onion.
Peel the aubergine and slice, about 1 1/2 cm thick, 5cm length

Add the aubergine to the tomato and onion together with salt and add about 100ml water. Bring to the boil and the reduce the heat to simmer. 

Check occasionally and stir. Add more water if necessary. You will see the aubergines soften and disintegrate. This is exactly what you are after. They should be done after about 30 minutes.

Serve warm in a deep plate with feta cubes on top and pitta bread.

Delicious. Every time..

Westfield, London

This evening found me at Westfield, the shopping centre. The obvious question would be what does this have to do with food. To my surprise: everything.

The last time I was there was over two years ago when it first opened. I didn't like it. It was all shops and any attempts to restaurants and coffee shops seemed to me overdone. Also the idea of going somewhere with the sole mission of shopping does not interest me.

I was meeting a friend for dinner. I arrived to find a series of restaurants, the Southern Terrace restaurants. All busy. This seems to be an oasis of restaurants. Some old favourites, think Wagamama, some newer favourites: I was delighted to see Wahaca there. There is also a substantial selection in the main building both in the Balcony and the Loft. We went to Byron's for burgers.

In spite of my initial concerns it would not take much convincing for me to go back. You never know. I might even get caught up in the vibe and do some shopping while I'm there.

Poule au pot

A friend came round for dinner last night. To add to the fun of it, I asked them to choose any dish they wanted and I would cook it. To make it challenging I had a short answer: Poule au Pot. Obviously this is a typical french dish. The was the ambition of Henry IV of France that every family could afford this dish every Sunday. I am not French, so I've never done this before. I spent some time looking up recipes and put together ingredients which are easy to find and went without the more difficult parts of some recipes. This is the result.

Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (between 1.5-2kg)
4 medium turnips cut in half
8 medium carrots, cut to appr 4cm-you can use baby carrots
8-10 shallots
2 celery sticks, cut to appr 5cm
2 large garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
3-4 tbp olive oil
250 ml dry white wine
10 peppercorns
One cinnamon stick
2 sprigs thyme, parsley
Freshly ground pepper & salt
You will need cast iron casserole, if you don't have one an ovenproof dish deep enough to cover the chicken, with a lid

Method

Put the casserole on the stove and add the olive oil, allow to heat on a medium heat. Add the garlic and the chicken. You want to fry the chicken. Keep turning until it is a light golden brown colour all round. Add salt and ground pepper at this stage.
While you are doing this, pierce the shallots with the cloves.
When the chicken is done add all the vegetables, peppercorns and cinnamon around the chicken. Place the thyme and parsley at the top.
Add the wine, then add enough water to cover all the vegetables. Leave on the stove for about five minutes to heat then place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees. Leave to cook for 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken.

Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables.

TIP: Prepare all the vegetables and ingredients before you start cooking, makes the whole process so much easier

Brazilian vs Hollywood

In case your minds are already wandering, I am talking about brownies. To clarify, brazilian were the ones with the brazil nuts. Of course the plain chocolate ones were the hollywood brownies. How funny is that as far as naming goes? I saw these when I was having brunch this morning and I was having a sweet craving after my eggs benedict. It lifted my spirits. I had a hollywood..

Have you seen any food names that made you laugh? Let me know. I'll be looking out for these and keeping you posted!

First Floor, Portobello Road, London

There is a distinct advantage of having friends who don’t live locally. The other day found me meeting friends in Notting Hill for drinks and dinner.

We went to the ground floor bar for pre-dinner drinks. Located on a corner, you find a very shabby bar with mis-matched furniture which I would imagine was sourced from a market, as damaged goods. As you can imagine this is a relaxed environment to have a drink. You can visualize this place having a mixed crowd of professionals who live in the area and the more dressed-down crowd, there to soak both the atmosphere and the booze.

After our drink we went upstairs having reserved a table. We were faced with something completely different here. Forget shabby, this is shabby-chic. Huge bouquets of roses and flowers decorate each end of the bar. Trios of roses together with candle holders adorn each table. A lovely big chandelier adds the finishing touch to the feeling of sheer decadence. Suzi, the restaurant manager, passionately describes it as ‘magical’.

We studied the menu at length. This is a set menu, £19 for two courses and £24 for three. The wine is also very good value with prices starting from around £15. 

In this place they don’t do things by halves. Unlike what I would usually expect of set menu where there is a choice of two or three dishes per course, here there was a choice of 10 dishes to start and 13 for mains. All looked equally appetizing. For starters I had the wild mushroom fricassee on bruschetta with rocket and parmesan. Suzi, who may I add, looks, quite reassuringly that she likes her food, assured me that it was good. It was better than good. I could not fault this; perfectly seasoned I can’t remember a better start to a meal. The mushrooms were in a very light cream sauce, and the bruschetta was lightly toasted. The rocket gave it a peppery taste while the parmesan brought everything together.

I then had for the sticky braised beef. This came on a bed of mash potato and carrot puree. The beef was cooked to perfection and simply melted in my mouth. So many chefs put flavours and textures together to complement each other, simply trying too hard. This though is a different case altogether. The accompaniments to the dish are there , in a simple version, without adding any more herbs or spices, successfully enhancing the taste and texture of the main focus of the dish, for mine the beef. Oh yes, I did say, they don’t do things by halves here. The portions are certainly not insubstantial.

Given that the first two courses were so good, although we were quite full, we had to try the dessert. You guessed it, it was divine. We all had the mascarpone and vanilla crème brulee with chocolate biscotti.

I should also mention that I found the service very efficient. It felt that as soon as we need something there was a waitor there for us, otherwise we were left to enjoy our meal and the ambience of the place.

There is also a Saturday brunch and Sunday lunch menu. I look forward to that.

Don’t miss this place, just make sure you reserve well in advance.

First Floor, 186 Portobello Road, London W11 1LA Tel: 020 7243 0072 www.firstfloorportobello.co.uk