Local Italian Produce

Since building my pizza oven, I’ve become a bit of a snob when it comes to topping ingredients for pizzas. I like to make my own Frito base tomato sauce and bubble it down over a few hours to thicken it up, but I’ve always struggled getting a good quality cheese or sausage to add to the toppings. I try to use Mutti as a tomato base, or a good quality tinned whole tomato, and first fry garlic and dried oregano in olive oil, before adding the tomato base. I then simply bubble on a low heat until it thickens to create a paste-y sauce. Mutti is available in Sainsbury’s but it’s a treck across town for me, so I was delighted when Just Italian Food opened a unit just round the corner from me!

Regularly importing delicious produce from Italy, they couldn’t be friendlier. There’s a huge range of dried pasta, Italian biscuits and other dried produce, but also a small selection of cheeses, salamis, nduja and other fresh produce. I even found a pizza flour I’ve been searching for for a while and couldn’t resist the buffalo mozzarella and Neapolitan salami! And if you can’t get down to the shop, which I highly recommend, if only for a wander and to get your taste buds going, then have a look at the website...delivery is free for local residents when spending £40 or more.

The shop is at Unit 19, Waterhouse Business Centre, just off Waterhouse Lane. Pop down there this weekend and say Buongiorno, or Ciao if it’s easier! 

The website can be found here or search Facebook for Just Italian Food. 

Prep Ahead Weekly Meal Planning - February

This week's menu might be a little more 'prep on the night', but I don't think anything took longer than 15 mins, so still fairly quick. In fact, only the duck and the tarte needed this for the assembly and the greens respectively. 

Menu:

Monday: Mediterranean pesto tarte with salad

Tuesday: bangers, mash and spinach

Wednesday: crispy duck, steamed buns, jiggy jiggy greens

Thursday: slow cooked chilli

Friday: peri peri chicken pot

I haven't planned for the weekend as the other half is away so me and F will grab what we fancy when we fancy it. Click on the duck for the recipe as this is something we had a couple of weeks ago. F declared she didn't like duck, then proceeded to eat two full buns of the stuff, so this week I bought four legs rather than two! The batch of buns I'd made stored well in the freezer, tho I had a panic when I got them out that they'd be very heavy. But, again, I was proved wrong and, when simply resteamed, they puffed up perfectly again! 

This week, I also used the new meat grinder attachment for the KitchenAid to homemake sausages and beef mince for the chilli. It worked well, although making from scratch took me an extra 45 minutes of prep. Worth it though to know what's gone into your food. If you don't have one, simply throw the meat into the food processor, or ask your butcher to grind your chosen cut of meat. He'll do it for free. 

The shopping list is here.

Hope you enjoy the ideas this week...please comment under the posts to let me know how you got on!

Scallops with Chorizo and Minted Pea Puree

Yet another post with mention of scallops - the third in as many weeks I think. Read about a restaurant version or a Caldesi / Merlotti recipe here!

As mentioned, I have grown to love these little sea-things, but only after training myself and making it three times in a week initially so I'd get to know them! I'm still working on the coral but now love the white meat! This was one of my first recipes and, I think, still the most tasty! It's simple - pan-fried scallops, minted-pea puree and fried chorizo. I never said it was going to be 'all-out' healthy!

For the minted pea puree, simply blanche some frozen peas, add a dollop of creme fraiche, a little chicken or vegetable stock, salt, pepper and fresh mint (even mint sauce will work!) and blitz with a blender - easy. Re-heat on the hob, or even in the microwave.
Cube the chorizo in small pieces and fry off in olive oil, leaving the juices in the pan. Use these to fry the scallops, about 2/3 minutes each side in a hot pan. Just before they're ready, add the chorizo pieces to re-heat.

Place each scallop on a dollop of the puree and 'sprinkle' the chorizo over! Pour the pan juices over the whole plate and serve. So simple and yet great flavours and, despite the spicy rich chorizo, it's still the scallops who shine through!

Petatou

Wanted to blog these photos as this really was a delicious meal! It was inspired by a lovely-sounding recipe from Dan, potato Petatou, from Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. Dan served it as a starter but I thought it held its own well as the potato dish of a main course.

I chose to grill a pork chop, serve with potatoes and spinach, and I added a little twitst to the parsley oil which was a little balsamic vinegar to give a sharpness to the meal. The balsamic was already in the potatoes themselves, so I knew it would complement the potatoes and the pork.

Thanks Dan, it really was good!