Win tickets to Andrea Bocelli in Concert in Auckland

Festival Italiano ’14 is thrilled to open the official Italian Festival season in Auckland with the concert of Italy’s (and the world’s) most beloved tenor Andrea Bocelli on 11 September 2014, Vector Arena.

Be sure not to miss this very special event, book your tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/Andrea-Bocelli-tickets/artist/773296

And to celebrate the opening or the Italian Festival season the concert organisers are offering a Festival Italiano fan the chance to win two bronze tickets, to enter go to Festival Italiano FB Page.

Street art and money

I went to an art exhibition in Milan a few years ago, and this had just been sprayed on a wall.

What would be a good caption?

Italian tomato passata made with a sieve

After the arrabbiata post I was asked what I mean by 'putting' the tomatoes through a sieve.

Well, traditionally in Italy we put the tomatoes through a vegetable mill, but I don't have one so I use a sieve. The skins and most of the seeds are left behind (or all the seeds, depending on the mesh of your sieve), and the sauce (passata) gets through. This, to me, is the best sauce in the world! Of course you need to cook the tomatoes first (maybe with garlic?) then put the tomato 'mush' through the sieve and back into the pot to cook until thick. Then I just add salt, olive oil and basil and serve, possibly with spaghetti! It takes time, but it is worth it!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Arrabbiata sauce and what works best to stop chili burning

I pulled up my tomato plants, no more fruit now, and with all the rain we had the last tomatoes tasted more of water than of tomato! The solution? An arrabbiata sauce! Please note that the chilies here are not mine except for the fat black one (I had two, a couple more still on the plant, not sure if I will ever harvest them though…). 

My son Max loves arrabbiata, one of his favourite sauces, as long as it is not toooo hot. So I just used one chili and put it in the pot with the cut up tomatoes. I cooked the lot until the tomatoes where mashy (most were cherry tomatoes so it didn't take long!), then I put the tomatoes through a sieve and collected the pulp minus seeds and peels. I cooked this until thick, added olive oil and salt, and the sauce was ready. Another way would have been to cook the tomatoes first and then add the chili to the tomato pulp, but this worked well. 

Max fascination with chili led him to do a science project last year (year 8), and it was very interesting for me too. He bravely tried different chilies several times over a course of a few weeks, looking for the best antidote to spiciness. He was very meticolous, repeating the experiments over and over and even asked some of his friends to try (not very successful here though). For each type of chili he checked how many tbsp of water, apple juice, milk, yogurt or rice were needed to take the heat off.

The juice experiment soon became the hardest, as he quickly worked out that sweet fruit juices don't work! Water didn't help much either, since the capsaicin compound is hydrophobic, but these were all things that he had to work out himself, rather than reading them in books. As to be expected the best antidote in the list was yogurt, followed by milk (just above rice, the only solid food in the experiment).

Yogurt goes well with curry, and we often have a lassi drink or a raita when we eat Indian food, but what if the arrabbiata sauce is too hot? We wouldn't put yogurt here! Fortunately all fats work with capsaicin, and olive oil is one of the best, not good to drink, but perfect on pasta :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Happy Easter - Buona Pasqua

Happy Easter Have a wonderful holiday
Love and xxoxo

 Alessandra

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Picking, treating and preserving olives in brine, and olives marinated in olive oil and herbs

Preserving olives is a rewarding experience. If you don’t have an olive tree you may be able to forage olives from trees in community gardens and in parks.  Usually olives are ready around April-May (in New Zealand).

Pick the olives from the tree (never from the ground) and wash well in cold water. If you prefer sweet-tasting olives you can put them in a bucket of water for up to 40 days, or 20-30 days for very small olives, changing the water every 24 hours; the olives will become brownish in colour, and lose a lot of bitterness. After this period make a brine (recipe follows) and bttle your olives. If you prefer crispy green olives with a peppery taste, just wash them and soak them for a day, then preserve them in brine.

Brine for preserving olives

Before making the brine, be sure to have plenty of glass jars with lids, sterilised and completely dry.

Ingredients

Water

Salt

Prepare 10% salt brine (100 g of salt for every litre of water) by placing in a saucepan the water and salt.  Simmer until the salt is completely dissolved. Once the brine is cold place the olives into clean sterilised jars and cover completely with the brine.

To each jar add one more clove of garlic, a fresh bay leaf, a chilli pepper, or a fresh sprig of thyme.  Seal and put away in a dark place for three months. After this period the olives can be used in cooking or can be marinated with olive oil and your favourite herbs.

If you’d like to keep the olives for longer prepare a new brine with an 8% solution (80 g of salt every for every litre of water) and put the olives into new jars with the fresh brine (discard the old brine). Olives stored this way, and completely covered with brine, will last for years! Don't worry if you see white spots forming at the top of the brine, as this is natural — just remove them every time you open the jar, and always rinse the olives before using. Below is a recipe for marinating your preserved olives with olive oil and herbs, starting with your olives in brine.

  

Olives marinated in olive oil and herbs

I suggest you use a delicate olive oil for this recipe, like an extra virgin olive oil from the supermarket. Expensive olive oil is far too precious to marinate olives, unless you have your own press.

Ingredients

300 g olives in brine (green or dark)

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh oregano

1 sprig fresh rosemary

6 peppercorns

200 ml extra virgin olive oil

Drain the olives well from the brine, and give them a little rinse. Place in a large jar, add the herbs and pepper corns, and cover with the oil. Leave to rest for at least one day, and then serve. Store in a cool place and use within two weeks.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Sexy pumpkin!

 I got given this pumpkin, it is quite big and really beautiful, I am not quite sure about the variety, a long neck? I don't want to cut it yet (too pretty) so it has been posing in my living room like a big bottomed model in an art studio.
Does anyone know this variety, and what it is best used for? I expect that I can get quite a bit of flesh from the 'neck' while all the seeds are in the round bottom part… and if this is the case I may just keep some seeds for next year, so I can too have some fancy long neck beauties like this one!

Well, if you have a name, and some recipes, for my model I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fig tart and green lisianthus

There is a fig tree up the road from my house and every year I can forage a few figs. This year they abound and are small but sweet. The skin is a bit hard though, so they are perfect for baking rather than eating raw.

Fig tart

For the base:

- 200g plain flour

- 100g  butter, soft

- 100g sugar

- 1 egg 

- 1 drop vanilla essence

For the filling

- 12/15 figs (depends on size)

- 3 eggs + 2 egg whites

- 100 g raw sugar

- 100 g yogurt

- 1 drop vanilla essence

- Icing sugar to sprinkle

Prepare the base and spread over the base and borders of a 23cm tart dish lined with baking paper. Cut the figs into two and place over the pastry, cut sides up. Whip the eggs and egg whites with the sugar, add the yogurt and vanilla essence and then pour over the figs. Bake for about 45 minutes at 180°C or unit the centre is not wobbly anymore. Dust with icing sugar and let it cool down completely before cutting.

I am in love with lisianthus, especially the light green variety. It would be great to grow them in the garden, anyone out there that knows how? 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Polish Easter Egg Workshop Wednesday 16 April and the recipe of the day: Gluten free and vegan vermicelli with baby corn and Chinese mushrooms

Preserving and celebrating our traditions is at the heart of Slow Food.

 Celebrate a Polish Tradition and Create Beautiful Eggs for Easter

An Invitation from Regina

The Polish tradition is that after fasting for Lent for 40 days a family makes a basket of food to be blessed at Holy Saturday’s Mass.  There is a quiet element of competitiveness with the baskets with most parishioner’s, especially the women, checking out the baskets to judge who they believe has the best one.

The contents of the Easter basket are eaten by the family on Sunday morning, so everything one consumes for breakfast needs to be in the basket, this includes: decorated Pisanki (eggs), kielbasa (Polish sausage), a butter lamb, salt, a babka (pound cake from a moulded tin) or a sweet yeast cake.  A Pussy Willow branch or toy chick is also in a lot of baskets as this is one of the first trees to show signs of the impending and long awaiting Spring and both are a sign of new life.

Every year our family has made an Easter basket with many friends joining us for the decorating of the Pisanki.

We extend a warm welcome to all to join us this Easter!

The Details

Where: Oratia - address available on registration

When: Wednesday April 16th 7pm to 9pm

Cost: $5 Members $15 Guests

RSVP: Anutosh 8349909

RSVP: Slowfoodwaitakere@gmail.com

And now for the recipe of the day:

Gluten free and vegan vermicelli with baby corn and Chinese mushrooms

This is a cold dish, incredibly filling. 

Ingredients

1 handful mixed Chinese dried mushrooms

1 pack vermicelli 

A few drops sesame oil

1 can baby corn, drained

1 small carrot, grated

1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Juice from half a lime or lemon

1 fresh chili finely chopped (optional)

2 or 3 tbsp soy or Tamari sauce (Tamari sauce if you are gluten free)

Vietnamese mint fo decorate

Soak and then simmer the mushrooms until they are soft, then drain and cut into small strips. Cook the vermicelli in boiling water (or use the mushrooms' stock) for two minutes, then drain and rinse under cold water, place in a mixing/serving bowl and add the sesame oil. Mix well. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Serve at room temperature, or cold if it a really hot day.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Vegan and gluten free chocolate pudding for Sweet New Zealand

This is sooooo yummy, it reminds me of those soy chocolate puddings that you can buy in the fridge compartment of many organic-vegetarian stores (and now in some supermarkets too) but it is homemade and therefore even tastier.

For 4 puddings:

500 ml oragnic soy milk (I use Vitasoy, either Original, Milky or Calci Plus)

2 tbsp raw sugar

1 heap tbsp cocoa (the better the cocoa the better the flavour, so don't go for cheap baking cocoa, but for 'hot chocolate' quality)

1 tbsp cornflour

Natural Vanilla essence (or a little cinnamon if you prefer)

Dissolve the dried ingredients with a little soy milk to make a paste, then add the rest of the milk and mix well. Put on the stove on low and, always stirring, bring to simmering point. Make sure that you stir well, especially around the borders and bottom of the pot, so that the pudding has a smooth consistency. As soon as it start thickening turn the element off, add the vanilla essence (if using) and keep stirring until it has cooled down a bit. Divide into 4 dessert ramekins or small bowls (or teacups) and refrigerate.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

This recipe is for Sweet New Zealand #33, the blogging event open to all Kiwi bloggers (living in NZ or overseas) and expats blogging from NZ. April's host is Marnelli form Sweets and Brains, click here to enter. Also let me know if you are keen to be a host in 2014, and book a month!

Kashmiri Masala chickpeas and potatoes

Manu invited me to a 'Swap' on her blog, and my swapping partner is Billie from Scotland. We had to send each other an ingredient and then make a recipe with it. I sent Billie the Fresh As raspberry powder, and I look forward to see what she will do with it! She sent me some Kasmiri Masala, but because I got it late (I forgot to tell Billie my address, silly me, but fortunately she copied it from the parcel I sent her!). I had a super busy week (which included preparing for a full day TV shoot), and I am behind with my deadline for publishing a recipe! But the best thing about a Masala is that you don't have to sizzle all the spices at the beginning and work out the doses, in fact a masala should be added at the very end, to enjoy the fragrances of the aromatic spices (and the Kashmiri Masala is definitely very aromatic!!). So even if I was running around like mad I managed to throw together something starting with the leftover juice of a peperonata (stewed capsicums with celery, carrot, and garlic).

I had all that wonderful bell pepper's stock left from the night before (we ate all the capsicums and veggies), so I just peeled and cut 5 large potatoes, added the content of one can of chickpeas, and some cherry tomatoes from the garden (make an incision with a knife so that they don't 'explode' during cooking). I added a little salt and then simmered everything until the potatoes were soft. I adjusted for salt and added one tsp of Kashmiri Masala, put the lid on for 2 more minutes on low, and then served my aromatic stew to the family (with some roti and some raita). The only problem is that I don't have a last photo! We ate too quickly before remembering to take one! :-) But I hope that you will like the recipe, and it is super simple!

And for the weekly gardening photo: the last blueberry (I think) from my plant but still quite a few Alpine strawberries coming up, this is what we can pick every two days, not enough for jam maybe, but enough to decorate desserts :-).

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Celery, cucumber and coriander juice

Green, cleansing and refreshing! 

Celery stalks and leaves, cucumber, and a few sprigs and leaves of coriander (to taste, it can be really strong).

Happy detoxing!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©