Thank you to Tony Naylor and the rest of the team from Olive Magazine for my inclusion in this month’s Italian special edition!

Apparently a number of people there are followers of the blog and a few months back I was contacted and asked to be one of their ‘experts’ for this special edition.

I was asked to recommend one of the places in the southwest where you can buy the best mozzarella, and I chose Murrays Delicatessen/Restaurant in Clevedon.

Tony especially wanted to know how to tell the different types of mozzarella apart, so I explained that mozzarella di bufala is a saltier, more interesting cheese that is flavoursome yet delicate, while cow’s mozzarella, known in Italy as fior di latte, is normally sweeter and firmer.

My own personal favourite, however, has to be the heavenly burrata from the deep south, with its buttery, creamy texture (its name means literally, ‘buttered’) that is just perfect for a summer evening’s antipasto.

I’m sorry that I’ve not had much time to update the blog recently but look out for for more photos and recipes in the near future!

If you are asking who took a spoonful from this delicious dessert, well, look no further - it was me!

By simply looking at this picture you can understand how fantastically tempting this dessert is.

Flawless, smooth, vanilla-scented cream followed by a vibrant fuschia wine sauce enriched by deep purple fruity berry bites. 

Hmmm! Heaven!

In my defence, if I must, I can say that:

1) I cook only what I like.

2) I personally take the pictures of my food.

3) There are only so many shots that I can take of a wonderful looking panna cotta without falling into temptation…

I love preparing panna cotta because once you have mastered the technique to beautifully cook the cream and agar agar together you can add nearly any sweet or even savoury flavour to it and end up with a magnificent dessert or a delicate, unique starter.

I want to share with you the recipe of one of my most recent and best-selling versions - Vanilla and yoghurt panna cotta with Marsala wine and blueberry sauce.

For my panna cotta I use agar agar, a vegetarian alternative to gelatine. Cooking with agar agar can be a little bit more fiddly to start with but once perfected the flavour in your panna cotta will be even better. There is none of that chalky, jelly aftertaste or old-fashioned, stiff, aspic texture. Just a pure creamy texture that miraculously is able to stand upright, beautifully accompanied by a neverending choice of sweet flavours.

Without any further ado and in order to stop conspicuous salivation here is the recipe:

Vanilla and yoghurt panna cotta with Marsala wine and blueberry sauce

Ingredients for the panna cotta:

• 500 ml whipping cream
• 60g caster sugar
• 125g natural flavour bio-yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon of agar agar flakes
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 50ml Marsala wine
• 50g caster sugar
• 150g washed but not dry blueberries

Instructions for the panna cotta:

• Combine the cream and the sugar and pour into a medium-size saucepan.
• Bring to a gentle simmer and stir for 5 minutes without boiling.
• Turn off the heat and scatter the agar agar on top of the panna cotta.
• Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
• Stir the agar agar and bring the mixture once again to a gentle simmer.
• Once the panna cotta is simmering keep stiring it for a further 5 minutes making sure again that you don’t let it boil.
• Turn off the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes or until it is just luke-warm.
• Once the panna cotta has cooled pass it through a fine sieve. Use a spoon to push through the remainder of the softened agar agar.
• You shouldn’t have too many agar agar flakes at the bottom of the pan. If you do then warm the whole mixture again and let it simmer for a bit longer.
• Add the natural flavour bio-yoghurt to the sieved panna cotta.
• Finally, stir in the vanilla extract.
• Pour into 4 containers, cover them and refrigerate.
• Leave in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, until set.

Instructions for the Marsala wine and blueberry sauce:

• Pour the Marsala wine into a small saucepan and stir in the sugar.
• Bring to a gentle simmer.
• Add the blueberries.
• Without using a spoon or a spatula, gently shake the pan in a circular movement to make sure that all the blueberries are coated with the Marsala wine syrup.
• Let the blueberries simmer for a further couple of minutes then turn off the heat and let them cool.

I normally prepare the panna cotta one day in advance, followed by the Marsala and blueberry sauce just before serving.

I think that the contrast of the cool panna cotta and the gently warm, syrupy sauce finish of this dessert beautifully.

What do you think?

Shall we go shopping? Isn’t this just a wonderful world…

Before we go any further, I am not suggesting shoes or handbags. I know all too well that no woman can resist the spell of beautifully-designed stiletto heels or the charm of a must-have leather bag.

After 12 years in the luxury market, 32 designer handbags and I can’t even begin to count how many pairs of shoes later, I have learnt my lesson.

The kind of shopping that i want to talk about is food. Gourgeous food of course! I must say that old habits die hard so unsurprisingly I’m thinking about food shopping in one of the world’s most fashionable places … Paris!

Still, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of summer shopping wearing a crispy cotton-print dress, flat diamante-thong sandals and carrying a country-chic willow basket. It’s like looking in the mirror!

That is exactly what I did last summer, shopping for fabulous, new ingredients in this wonderful city. Everything was so beautifully packaged and incredibly temtping that it was almost impossible not to buy and taste everything.

One of the things that I liked the most was the red quinoa that we bought from La grande épicerie, think Harvey Nicks meets La Rive Gauche. As soon as I came back to England I introduced the red quinoa with poached chicken salad to my customers.

But the red quinoa was always difficult to get hold of. So, I was very pleased when one of my suppliers included it in their selection!

As it is now possible to buy red quinoa from good health food stores, here is the wonderfully easy recipe for everyone that is so deeply found of this salad.

http://www.delsole.co.uk/recipes/red-quinoa-and-poached-chicken-salad-with-roasted-hazelnut-peas-watercress-and-lemon-oil-dressing/

P.S. For your summer shopping outfit drop the diamante-thong sandals for a pair of comfy pumps. Swollen feet in hot temperatures and sharp edges of the diamante are not a good combination!

Or just get a Joe Le Taxi to take you everywhere and never walk more than 10 minutes at a time! 

In my regular ‘From my kitchen to yours‘ newsletter this week I’ve been sharing my thoughts and memories about my Easter holidays.

Pasqua, or Easter-time in Italy is in many ways my favourite holiday time of the year. It is much calmer than Christmas, and in some ways more spiritual.

Normally it coincides with the first wave of warm spring weather (… so no chance this year!) and of course, another opportunity for the family to spend time together eating and talking and eating and talking… !

Easter Monday itself is normally the classical day per fare una gita - to go on a trip together. Maybe a picnic in the countryside, or even the first trip to the seaside of the year.

Perhaps my favourite memory though is that every year our local priest would come to bless our house, bringing with him an olive branch as a symbol of peace.

Not only would the priest bless our house, however, he would also bless a basket of hard-boiled eggs we had prepared, so we could then colour and paint them  afterwards.

This was perhaps my favourite Easter activity, well, perhaps a close second after eating our uova di cioccolato themselves!

Click to browse our full Easter Gift range

Click to browse our full Easter Gift range

Mamma is the word!

This post is dedicated to all Mums, and my mum was the perfect host for it. As you can see from the pictures she is a 69 year old larger than life character.

She is utterly inspiring for her uncomplicated way, honest and sharp eye for the things of life!

She was the one that started me in the kitchen by putting me on a chair in front of our kitchen hob to stir the risotto. I cannot even begin to tell you how boring that is for a 5 year old…

However, mamma managed to make me feel on top of the world by tying her prettiest apron just under my armpits and making me wear a pretend chef’s hat (actually it was more like a pirate’s…) from a crispy linen napkin.

In no time at all, and with her singing in the background to help keep the tempo of my stirring, the risotto was ready. Ta da!

Little girls always have a special relationship with their mums and the chemistry of mixing cooking ingredients can only improve it!

Even though my mum was born just before the second world war, listening to the stories of her growing up in the countryside of Bologna seems like listening to the tales of a hundred of years ago.

Her connection to the land and its bounty is so much stronger than any of us seem to have now. In today’s world, organic food sometimes appears to just be the lastest food fad and Gucci-healed professionals get squeamish when they see that a cabbage at their local farmer’s market has a little slug in it!

What is it happening to us?

One of my mum’s best recipes is her apple, lemon zest and vanilla cake. She used to wait for the apples in her garden to be ready, pick them and then bake this delicious cake.

She thoroughly enjoys baking it and it is extremely popular with our customers. So much so, in fact, that apple cake is never missing from our daily choice in the deli!. Even if I have to say that sometimes it’s a challenge to bake it at the speed that it sells!  

For all the mums and daughters out there here is our much-treasured recipe:

Ingredients: (Serves 12)

• 1 lightly greased 23cm spring cake tin with a base lined with baking paper.
• 5 large organic eggs.
• 300g caster sugar.
• 200g ‘00′ flour or else just plain flour.
• 120g melted butter.
• 3 apples, pealed and thinly sliced for the topping.
• 7 apples, pealed and diced.
• 1 rounded teaspoon of baking powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
• Juice and zest of 1 untreated lemon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla exctract.

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (gas mark 4).
• Beat the eggs and the sugar until fluffy.
• Mix the baking powder and soda with the flour and sift the mixture into the eggs and sugar batter.
• When the flour has been incorporated well add the melted butter, the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
• In the meantime pour the lemon juice on top of the cubed apples and let them marinate for a few minutes.
• When the apples are ready fold them into the cake batter.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin, making sure to keep it level.
• Top the cake with the thinly sliced apples and bake for 50/55 minutes or until the middle is firm to the touch.
• When the cake is cold, if you wish to have a shiny finish spread a thin layer of melted apricot jam and water on top or sprinkle the cake with icing sugar.