A Taste of Tuscany!

Ok so I've been back from Italy for a week now but thought I would carry on my ramblings about all things Tuscan.

Whilst staying with friends near Lucca we had wonderful meals a casa; home-made pizzas cooked in the outdoor pizza oven, home-grown yellow plums, a delicious antipasti supper etc., and some delicious (and interesting*) meals out.

A favourite starter was a variety of pecorino cheeses served either with honey and walnuts or a selection of chutneys such as chilli, onion and ginger. For il primo or il secondo I enjoyed pasta with sage butter, gnocchi with pesto and a walnut and corgette flower pasta. Not to mention wonderful gelati!

In Florence I feasted on pizza, pasta, melanzane parmigiana (an aubergine bake), tuscan tomato soup and salads. The two most interesting courses were at a new restaurant called La Menagere. For primo I had a kind of risotto made with rice, rosemary, coffee powder, raisins and roasted seeds. Unusual tasting but rather nice. 

For secondo I had a poached egg on stewed red radicchio with melted pecorino cheese and red wine reduction served with a barley cracker - so pretty it looked like dessert! It was lovely to try different vegetarian food combinations.

My only downfall was agreeing to tagliata di manzo* (for 2 people) to share with my friend. Sadly we had only glanced at the menu and mistook tagliata for tagliatelle! The huge platter of sliced grilled beef served on a bed of rocket and tomato arrived with great aplomb and was promptly waved away. We re-ordered whilst the meaty dish was enjoyed by the men in our group!

Perhaps it's time to start learning Italian!

In the market for tasty food!

Having just returned from a week in Tuscany I can't wait to share my new found favourite foodie place with you. Having visited many cafes, bars, restaurants and gelaterias, my favourite is on the first floor of the Central Market in Florence, in the San Lorenzo quarter.

The building itself is very impressive with its two storeys made of glass and cast iron from 1874. It has, in recent years been renovated. The ground floor market itself sells an array of meats, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, pastas, nuts, spices, olives, oils and some takeaway Tuscan foods. 

Move upstairs and you will find a large airy space flooded with light, vibrant with colour and echoing with the chatter of people enjoying good food. There's a choice of 500 seats so you can be right in the heart of the dining or tucked into a quiet corner to read and eat in solitude or merely people watch in fascination. You will be surrounded by 12 food shops selling ready to eat cheeses, breads, pizzas, pastas, truffles, vegetarian burgers and salads, cakes and pastries (as well as meats and fish). There is a beer bar, coffee bar, Chianti tasting and refreshing juices. Cookery books are sold in one area and a cookery school is tucked into another. It has a great vibe with people from all nationalities coming together and enjoying good, healthy, tasty food.

The strapline is "Quality is a value. Spread the word!" 

The tables were kept clean and clear by a number of staff sporting logo t-shirts and the Mozzarella Man could be heard tooting the horn of his trolley as he moved amongst the customers with his wares. There was a definite sense of pride amongst the people working there. A map showing the layout of the market could be picked up at various points as well as the Information Desk where bookings for the cookery school were taken and a green home service ensured delivery within 3 hours.

I overheard an American lady exclaim how great it would be to have the same set up back home in the USA and I wanted to shout "no, bring it to the UK first!" Many of our markets have become tired and underused and it would be wonderful to re-energise them by bringing people in to eat locally produced and prepared food. Yes we have local farmers markets but how wonderful to be able to go to one central place in the towns and cities and enjoy a quick, nutritious, good value bite whilst on a lunch break from work, shopping or sightseeing.

I enjoyed pizza caprese on my first visit and a popeye veggie-burger the second time - both scrummy!

Taking flight!

Friday afternoon saw me taking a Ryanair flight from Leeds to Pisa. As soon as we boarded I was handed a menu card which, unbelievably, had a good selection of vegetarian snacks. Yes there were the usual pop and sweets and crisps and buns along with a host of hot and cold beverages but, on this occasion, I was not limited to a tube of Pringles and a Kit Kat. This menu offered croissants, cereals and porridge for the morning traveller, two vegetarian snack packs, olives, nuts, two flatbreads, patatas bravas, mozzarella sticks, salad, oven chips, ratatouille with fusilli and a panini. All the food had clear labelling and, in fact, the patatas bravas and snack packs did not have the v-sign, so was very useful.

 

The menu card had this Andy Warhol cartoon type figure and encouraged us to "use call bell to order at any time!" What service!

For a low-cost airline I would agree; definitely a spiffing selection!

Several years ago on a flight to Špain my pre-booked veggie meal was nabbed by someone else. Sure, Spain isn't exactly long-haul but if I don't have food I tend to suffer a travel migraine (as demonstrated on my birthday last year with the infamous birthday barf whilst trying to locate the villa!) The stewardess was very apologetic but could offer nothing vegetarian. She did, in fact, kindly give me an apple from her own locker.

Airport and airline food can be tricky. Even last year when delayed at Barcelona airport the poster in the cafe read "healthy Mediterranean veggie paninis" but was actually with chicken and bacon! 

Of course these obstacles can pale into insignificance compared to actually trying to get a veggie meal abroad ... but those stories can wait until another time! 

Let them eat cake!

I have reached that time in life when the offspring of old friends start to find their way in the world, meet partners and settle down. Yesterday we attended a beautiful church wedding followed by a decadent reception at a picturesque venue. Everything went swimmingly with everyone wearing their best bib and tucker, the bride and groom clearly in love, the food being delicious (including my special vegetarian meal) and the speeches hitting the right notes. It was a fairly traditional affair with the symbolic cutting of the cake at the end of the meal.

At least this groom did not hit his bride over the head with a loaf of barley bread as the Romans did! Nor did the couple have to stand on tip-toe over a pile of buns and attempt a kiss without bringing them toppling down like a stack of jenga bricks!

Food, and particularly cake, has played a big part in wedding celebrations around the world. For instance, in Canada they would hide a nutmeg inside the cake and the person who found it would be next in line for being wed (possibly less of a scrum than trying to catch the bride's bouquet). In Brazil they give cake as favours to guests; we were given iced biscuit dresses and waistcoats as favours.

At yesterday's wedding the Best Man said it had been a very emotional wedding - "even the cake was in tiers!" Haha! In the UK it has been traditional, since Victorian times, to have a tiered icing covered fruit cake. Fruit, nuts and marzipan represent fertility and good fortune. The smallest tier was often saved for the christening of the couple's firstborn (in my case it was eaten the following Christmas which was a good thing as a baby didn't follow for 9 years and the cake would have been mouldy by then!) 

In Ireland, as well as the fruit/irish whisky cake, the couple are served mead, a honey wine beverage, believed to bring virility and fertility. In times past they would have been given a supply of mead to drink until the first moon of marriage and that is, allegedly, where the phrase "honeymoon" comes from.

Nowadays people often have other cakes in their tiers such as sponge, chocolate or red velvet as many people do not like dried fruit. The ritual of the bride and groom smearing each others faces in frosting is not one I like to see; never mind that they've just spent a fortune on hair, clothes, makeup and photos to capture their perfection, what a waste of cake!! 

Whatever the flavour, it's good to see some traditions continue and cake, and hopefully marriage itself, will last until infinity and beyond!

Talking Rhubarb!

Happy Fathers Day! My father, now in his eighties, grew up in the area known as the Rhubarb Triangle (between Pontefract, Wakefield and Leeds) in a small village called Robin Hood. Field upon field of rhubarb grew as the area used shoddy, an early form of recycled scraps of wool from the textile mills, which was shredded and used successfully as compost. The Yorkshire rain also played its part in growing good rhubarb!

Dad has many memories of the rhubarb fields and they provided his childhood with many activities:

- making dens amongst the large plants

- eating raw rhubarb dipped in sugar (a poke was a brown paper cone filled with sugar, coconut or cocoa and sugar for dipping rhubarb, or fingers, for a sweet treat)

- hollowed out rhubarb made a good vibrating whistle (like comb and paper)

- rhubarb seeds made the best pellets for pea-shooters

- the pool of liquid at the base of a pulled stem was seriously alcoholic!

Outdoor grown rhubarb has a season from April - September and is very hardy. It is actually a vegetable and contains carbohydrates, fibres, potassium and vitamin C.

In 1817 the Chelsea Physic Garden made a chance discovery when gardeners accidently buried some rhubarb under soil. When they later dug it up, it had young bright pink stems as it had been denied sunlight and could therefore not use photosynthesis to develop. It was found to be juicy, tender and attractive and has since been grown in the Rhubarb Triangle in dark warm sheds. The plants only need water and heat and are picked by candlelight. It is said you can hear the rhubarb growing as the buds of new stalks pop. This is known as forced rhubarb and is available from December - March.

After the Second World War the sales of rhubarb deteriorated as tropical fruits were introduced from abroad and were more popular. The Rhubarb Triangle therefore became smaller but there are still growers continuing the tradition and, in recent years championing local home grown produce, rhubarb is once more having its moment to shine.

There are lots of recipes using rhubarb and it loves to partner ginger, strawberries and, of course, custard. I have recently put some to good use with an easy rhubarb and custard compote.

450g trimmed rhubarb

150g caster sugar

2 x 15mls vanilla extract

Boil then simmer together for a few minutes until rhubarb is soft. Leave to cool and serve on vanilla ice cream, a thick greek yogurt or a bowl of porridge. Scrummy!

Not so green as you're cabbage-looking!

Yesterday a door was opened and I stepped in to another world. No, it wasn't the back of the wardrobe and no, I didn't find Narnia. It was The Great Yorkshire Vegan Festival held in the fabulous Leeds Town Hall. I approached to the sound of live music and the aroma of cooking burgers outside but inside did take me by surprise.

In the main hall, as expected, were numerous (150 apparently) stalls selling freshly cooked foods and ingredients from around the world. There were also stands with hot chocolate powder and coffee, chocolate and cakes, cider, beer and coconut milk. What I hadn't expected were the stalls selling cosmetics and candles, pet food, homeopathic remedies, slogan t-shirts and jewellery. Many were asking for us to sign up for this and that; save this animal, save that fish, say no to fur, say no to animal cruelty etc etc. Why exactly I hadn't expected it I can't say. I suppose being vegetarian because I don't like to eat meat (it started as not liking the texture) had not made me sit up and question the bigger picture.

Upstairs at the venue was an exhibition on veganism. It was not particularly impressive; just a few screens starting with the evolution of dinosaurs and ending with celebrity vegan quotes and endorsements. I wanted to find out more so went to listen to one of the lectures. In this I learnt that owning a car, flying on holiday, eating honey and even almonds were all bad things. I shouldn't shop in supermarkets but ought to find good sources of vegan produce on the internet but then again, these would have to be delivered from some far-flung place ... and that's a bad thing too. Honestly, it sounds as if being vegan is truly difficult as much research must be done in to where and what is ethically sound, environmentally friendly and sustainably sourced!

Another "vegetarian" in the audience was trying to do her bit and lean towards being vegan and she was praised for just being there and trying to learn something. I took heart from that and have given myself a little pat on the back too. I can't see me ever becoming vegan but it has opened my eyes and made me think of some tiny steps I can make to become that little bit greener!

Brighton Rock(s)!

Bright and breezy Brighton - I am buzzing from my two night stay there with my teenage daughter and anxious to tell you all about the fab places to dine out.

Brighton is famous for many things and we took in the pier, the beach, the Royal Pavilion, the museum and art gallery. Best of all were The Laines with their quirky shops and array of coffee shops, cafes and restaurants. The overriding theme was of real artisans at work using seasonal, local, best quality ingredients. There is a real boho, anything goes, vibe in Brighton and they certainly cater to vegetarians with veggie cafes and nearly everywhere boasted some veggie and vegan choices. We even spotted a vegetarian shoe shop!

In The Laines we visited:-

Coffee Tree - afternoon tea of delicious cakes washed down with tea and fresh smoothies

Grow 40 - breakfast yogurt and granola with a good coffee

Gelato Gusto - caramel & seasalt and creme brulee flavour

The Flour Pot Bakery - bakewell tart with a pot of tea and an iced coffee

Kooks has great reviews but we were disappointed with our breakfast

Evening Dinner:-

Cote (opposite The Dome and situated in what was once the Music Library). This is part of a chain of modern french brasserie style restaurants. After some nice salty olives and warm sourdough bread the asparagus risotto was full of summer flavours yet still warm and comforting.

Terre a terre (on East Street). Featured in the Michelin-guide, this vegetarian restaurant is a must visit (and a must book). The combination of imaginative ingredients, intense flavours and wonderful textures add up to a unique vegetarian taste sensation and I would defy any meat-eater to miss the meat from their plate. The ambience and friendly waiters helped to make it a truly great experience.

My daughter had the Better Batter and Lemony Yemeni Relish which arrived looking for all the world like fish and chips with mushy peas but was in fact a battered halloumi with the most delicious accompaniments. We both (I tried a bit) loved it.

My dish was the Bonbon Beets and Bigarade Rosti which appeared to be a giant thin crispy rosti piled high with artichoke, beetroot and almonds surrounded by a tasty sauce. 

You need to look at the website and menus - there were roughly ten listed ingredients in each dish (some of which I was unfamiliar with) but boy the chef knows how to amalgamate them into something really special. I can't recommend it highly enough. We ended the meal by sharing Churrosimo - yum!

On my to do list for next time is Choccywoccydoodah, Boho Gelato and the newly opened Breakfast Club.