Jellied Ham

My grandma used to have us screaming from the kitchen when she made this using a whole pig's head. I kid myself I can remember back to my childhood and what it tasted like though in reality, I'm sure I never was brave enough to even try it. She had enough natural gelatine from the head to make her 'jelly meat' set very firmly but I add a few extra leaves to make sure I get a good wobble. Following her lead, I set it in a bowl and scoop it out rather than in a classic terrine which is turned out and carefully sliced but you can do that, if you prefer.

Serves 4
1.5kg unsmoked gammon knuckle
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, sliced
few parsley stalks
few peppercorns/star anise/cloves/whatever whole spices you like
sprig of rosemary/thyme/bay leaf
4 sheets of leaf gelatine
5 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp capers
2 bunches of parsley, finely chopped

Place the gammon and the flavourings in a large pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 - 21/2 hours until the meat is fully cooked through, skimming the surface from time to time to help keep the stock clear.

Strain through a colander into a large bowl. Set the gammon on a board and leave to cool. Line a fine sieve with some muslin and pour through the stock. If it's a little cloudy, rinse out the muslin and pass it through again. Pour 750 ml into a pan (use the remainder of the stock and bit of the gammon for a classic pea soup) and bring to the boil then turn off the heat, stir in the vinegar and leave to cool a little.

Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.

Cut the fat away from the gammon then tear or chop the meat into small pieces. Place in a serving bowl with the capers and parsley.

Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and stir into the hot but not boiling stock. Once dissolved, pour over the ham. Mix gently together, leave to cool then cover and chill overnight. Serve with stacks of hot, buttered toast.

Aubergines Are For Girls?

I know it only takes a couple of days of sunshine and we want to light the barbecue and I know it's still only March but I have definitely noticed that the tomatoes and aubergines in the shops have started to look more plump, shiny and yes, summery.
I love aubergines but Robert doesn't. Not even in a curry. In fact I don't know a single man who doesn't really dislike aubergines except maybe my brother who wasn't given any choice. Perhaps I am wrong?

Melanzane al Forno
This is one of my favourite dishes of all time but I hardly ever make it because Robert won't eat it. It takes quite a lot of chopping and is not worth doing for just one aubergine so you need to really want it to go to the bother.
Serves 4
2 large, plump, shiny aubergines
1 thick slice of white bread, whizzed into crumbs
lots of chopped parsley
big handful of finely grated Parmesan
2 crushed garlic cloves
3 ripe tomatoes
1 egg, beaten
large pinch dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 200 / Gas 4. Halve the aubergines lengthways and scoop out the flesh with a tablespoon. Chop it finely and mix with the breadcrumbs, parsley, Parmesan and garlic. Finely chop one of the tomatoes and to the bowl along with the beaten egg and some seasoning.

Pile the mixture back into aubergine halves. Thinly slice the other two tomatoes and overlap on top. Season and sprinkle with oregano then bake for 40 - 45 minutes until nicely browned.

Home Made Pasta

Making pasta at home is probably more expensive than buying it from the supermarket and it certainly takes longer, it takes bloody ages in fact. But it tastes a billion times better than anything you could buy and is one of the most calming, hypnotic things you could ever make, quietly and alone in your own kitchen. I love it and it makes me a nicer person.
You can only ever eat pasta for lunch though as 8 stone Kerry Katona points out, carbs after 6pm are strictly banned.

Enough for 4
300g pasta flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling
pinch of table salt
3 large eggs

1 Place the flour and salt in a food processor and crack in the eggs. Pulse until the mixture forms sticky-looking crumbs. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and bring together to form a firm dough.

2 Cut it into quarters then pass each piece through the widest setting of a pasta machine, folding it over and passing it again a few times until it feels smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3 Working with a quarter at a time, pass the dough through the machine, moving down a notch each time and keeping it lightly dusted with flour if it starts to stick. If it gets too long, cut it in half to keep the lengths manageable.

4 If you are filling your pasta, use it right away. If you are using the pasta as a plain ribbon, leave the sheet of dough to dry on a clean tea towel for half an hour or so before cutting. Pasta will dry out completely within 24 hours if spread out loosely and can then be stored until ready to use.

5 To make ribons: roll out the dough into thin 25 – 30cm long sheets - any longer than this and the ribbons can get a bit difficult to handle. Leave the sheets to dry for about half an hour so they’re still pliable but no longer sticky. Loosely roll up the pasta then using a sharp knife, cut across the length of the roll. Start with 1cm wide strips for tagliatelle, cut a little thinner for fettucine and even thinner for linguine. Shake out each roll into a ribbon then pile loosely on a floured tea towel. Leave to dry for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

6 Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 3 – 4 minutes until tender.

Landcroft House Is On Holiday

We're off - see you in a week!

Italian Roast Lamb

On our way back from brunch yesterday, we stopped in at Waitrose and picked up a little shoulder of lamb for about a fiver. On the whole, most people choose a neat but pricy, boneless joint that's lean and easy to carve. I prefer a shoulder myself, it's fatty and tricky to carve so it can look a bit of a mess on the plate but if you roast it slowly, all afternoon, by tea time, it just falls off the bone, all sweet and tender.
Serves 3 - 4
1.2 - 1.5kg whole shoulder of lamb
2 rosemary sprigs
3 garlic cloves, quartered lengthways
150ml wine vinegar
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp dried oregano

1 Make deep slits in the lamb and stud it with rosemary and garlic. Rub in some sea salt then pour over the vinegar and leave to marinate for 20 - 30 minutes.

2 Pour away the vinegar, cover with foil and roast at 160C for 3 - 4 hours. Put the potatoes in pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes; drain well.

3 Drain most of the fat out of the tin then add the potatoes, tossing to coat them in the remaining oil. Sprinkle with oregano and salt and return to the oven. Raise the heat to 180C and roast for 30 minutes until the potatoes are turning golden.

4 Lift the lamb out onto a board, cover with the foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Spread the potatoes out in the tin and and raise the oven temperature to 200C and brown and crispen then up a bit while the lamb rests. Serve with gravy and greens.

White Spaghetti

This is a very old recipe. My mum has always called it white spaghetti just because it's not red spaghetti (tomato) and we pretty well had one or the other every night of the week when I was growing up. That was before the meat and salad. Anyway, it's basically anchovy and garlic but as a grown-up I add chilli and some chopped parsley if I've got any.
It is a genuine storecupboard classic.
Serves 2
200g spaghetti
2 - 3 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
50g can anchovies in olive oil
dried chilli flakes

Cook the spaghetti in a very big pan of salted water. Meanwhile, heat the oil in the smallest saucepan you've got and gently cook the garlic slices until golden - don't let it get dark or the flavour will become bitter. Lift them out with a fork (I keep them but mum throws them out). Add the can of anchovies, including the oil to the pan and sizzle gently for a few minutes, whisking with a fork so the anchovies disintegrate. Add a couple of ladles of water from the pasta pan and simmer very gently until the pasta is done. Drain the pasta loosely and return to the pan. Add the white sauce, some chilli flakes, plenty of black pepper and the fried garlic, if you want. Toss well together and serve straightaway.

These Old Italian Pop Records Are Nice

Gigliola Cinquetti: Zero In Amore (Compagnia Generale Del Disco, 1969)
This is a another beauty that Silvana got while having a trawl through an Italian art market. Gigliola was an Italian Eurovision / San Remo staple for years, here she is doing the a-side to this single (which, sadly, isn't as good). Silvana's uncle was convinced she had become a politician, but that doesn't appear to be true. It matters not, this is a properly groove-some slice of late-60s Europop. Enjoy...


Lory: I Sentimenti (GR, 196?)
Lory, as you're about to discover, doesn't have the most lung-bustingly powerful voice of all time, but that just seems to add to the wonder of this cover of the Francois Hardy smasheroo from 1967. I suggest that some clever person makes a new and exciting pop record simply by stealing the intro to this. Over to you, then...

Wood-fired Sparrows

At the very far end of Torre Del Lago, just across the square from Lake Massaciuccoli, sits a fantastic restaurant called Da Cecco. My family used to holiday in the region through the 60s, 70s and 80s and a selection of us, plus some friends, gathered there this weekend for my cousin Joanna's 30th birthday. After a hairy journey with my 74 year-old Dad insisting on driving our enormous hire-car (my sister in the back seat quaking while I shouted 'too close!' and 'change gear!' and 'bike!!'), we arrived at dusk just as the mist was gathering over the lake and the first glasses of Prosecco were getting lined up on the bar.

Twenty eight of us in all, sat round a long table and ate nine courses over a five hour period. After the first hour it all got a bit hazy but I can remember that there was antipasti, crostini (the restaurant's signature dish and secret recipe), two pasta courses, two meat courses and that it was one the best meals I've probably ever had (hic).
On the long table next to ours, a group of real Italians were celebrating a birthday too, but one of their thirty nine courses was being spit-roast over the log fire at the end of the room. The chef marinated baby sparrows in seasoned oil and threaded them onto a very long spike with some bay leaves, lardo and the odd little chunk of Tuscan bread. Uncle Gino says baby sparrows like that are usually eaten whole as the bones are so soft. Mmmmm.

Arthur's Ribollita

I was working with brilliant, award-winning Eco Chef Arthur Potts Dawson of Acorn House yesterday. I tried not to follow him around asking stalker-style questions or just tapping him on the back or tugging his sleeve going, "Arthur, Arthur?" too much but didn't do so well. And now I've nicked one of his recipes for you. This is Arthur's version of the Tuscan classic Ribollita and as I am off to Tuscany for a long weekend tomorrow, it was a great taster of what I hope is to come. Arthur's new restaurant Water House has just opened and he says the all day drop-in weekend brunch is really worth trying. Landcroft House will be going there next weekend.

Serves 8
1 head celery, cut in 1cm dice
2 red onions, cut into 1cm dice
4 carrots, cut into 1 cm dice
100ml light olive oil
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 x 400g cans plum tomatoes
1 head of cavolo Nero cabbage (about 600g) blanched and roughly chopped
400g can chickpeas, drained
lots of extra virgin olive oil
1 loaf ciabatta

Cook the soffrito (celery, onions and carrots)in the light olive oil in a large pan until deep golden brown and caramelised - about 30 - 40 minutes.

Add the finely chopped parsley stalks and garlic, then rinse the juice from the tomatoes and them to the pan. Cook gently for 20 minutes.

Add the cabbage, chickpeas and some of the water the cabbage was cooked in along with plenty of olive oil. Tear out the centre of the bread and add to the pan along with some salt and pepper and cook for another 20 minutes. Check seasoning and finish with more olive oil.

Lasagne

I've got a bit of a lasagne obsession going on at the moment. It started in November and is still going strong. I think it's because of all the rainy weather we've been having and what in the world makes you feel cosier than a bowl of starchy, slightly sloppy pasta and a glass of red wine? Like Spag Bol and Shepherds Pie, it's one of those dishes we can all make well without the need for a recipe. I like a mixture of minced beef and minced pork with a few nuggets of pancetta or chorizo. In my book, William Rose's mince is the best around as it's so finely ground it almost dissolves as it cooks rather than settling into tough clumps like the supermarket stuff. I know you don't need a recipe but this one of Delia's is a classic and comes from the 70s.

Hang On! This Record Is Quite Nice...

B For Bang: Julia (KML Recordings, 2007)
B For Bang are a group of (mainly) Italian artistes who have decided that Ver Beatles are a good stepping off point for their - and I quote - "discourse on the relationship between music and images". Well, that's what I thought! Anyway, Julia is a strong enough song to survive any onslaught - and this is one is, actually, rather nice. More stuff here...

Sharks, Spaghetti and The Captain of The Starship

We went to The Aquarium this morning and had a lovely time. The highlight for Scrap was when a very big shark swam right in front of us and then did a poo. Why do little boys have such an obsession with poo and burps?
After that we walked along the southbank and met Heidi and her boys for lunch in Strada. I liked it very much actually. They were extremely friendly, the boys shared a pizza, I had a respectable, if not quite hot enough, seafood linguine and the pink Prosecco was on special at £3.50 for a full-to-the-brim flute. The highlight for me was when the lady-friend of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (who was eating a big pudding on the next table) came over to say what lovely, well-behaved children she and The Captain thought our pizza-smeared mob were. I've seen him before you know, buying a very large pan in John Lewis using a very loud actors' voice. And I once saw Andrew Ridgeley (when Wham had just split up) reading a copy of Motorcycle News in a Soho paper shop.

Pasta all’Amatriciana

As we're about to go on holiday, I've spent the last fortnight trying to cook everything in the fridge. On our last night, all I have left is a vine of over-ripe tomatoes, one punnet of pancetta, a packet of ham, a tub of soft cheese and the end of a decent block of Pecornio. So that's super-quick pasta for tea then and sandwiches for the 4am drive to the airport. Hoorah!

Serves 3
300g spaghetti or bucatini
85g cubed pancetta
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 sprig semi-fresh rosemary
4 - 5 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
pinch of sugar
splash of balsamic vinegar
crushed chilli flakes and finely grated Pecornio, to serve


1 Cook the pancetta in a saucepan for 5 minutes or so until crispy. Lift out with a slotted spoon.

2 Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of lightly salted water.

3 Add the garlic and rosemary to the hot pancetta oil and sizzle for 30 seconds then lift out the rosemary sprig. Add the chopped tomatoes and sugar and cook gently for 10 minutes or so until pulpy. Using a hand-held blender, whizz until smooth. Return the bacon and rosemary sprig to the pan, check the seasoning and then toss with the cooked pasta.

4 Divide between bowls and serve with chilli flakes and plenty of cheese.

Bucatini with Brascioli

This a very old-fashioned Italian pasta sauce. My mum has cooked if forever using tough old braising steak and claims it was invented in her home town in Puglia but I'm not so sure about that. Traditonally, the meat is lifted out and served with salad after the pasta and sauce.

For more home-cooked pasta recipes go to the Presto Pasta Night Round-Up

Serves 4
2 x 400g cans plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves
bunch of parsley
few rosemary or thyme leaves
pinch of dried chillies
2 tbsp soft sun-dried tomatoes in oil
300g minute or frying steaks (you should get 8 - 10 for this weight)
500g pack bucatini and grated Parmesan to serve

1 Tip the tomatoes into a saucepan with one can of water. Liquidise with a handblender and a little salt until smooth. Stir in the oregano.

2 Place the garlic, parsley, rosemary, chilli, sun dried tomatoes and some salt and pepper in a mini-chopper and blend to make a paste. Spread the paste over the steaks with the back of a teapoon. Roll up to enclose the paste and tie with cotton or string to secure.

3 Drop the meat rolls into the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Bubble for a couple of hours until the sauce is dark and thickened. Serve with bucatini and pass round the Parmesan.

North London: Not As Nice As South London Then

Slovo: The One (Brixtown, 2007)
We thought it might be nice to go and have an ice-cream at the wonderful Marine Ices in Chalk Farm last night. Silvana's mum's here, so she was baby-sitting and we were free... It didn't take long to scoot up across town and we were soon pulling in a quiet side-street just by The Enterprise. We wandered up - past the bloke whose drug-dealer dog was emptying it's bowels outside a Chinese takeaway - and nipped inside MA for some fantastic ice cream. I recommend the hazlenut and the Italian toffee. And the hot chocolate sauce was amazing.

Anyway, twenty minutes later, full of dairy-based good vibes, we pushed past the drunk students outside the pubs and headed back to the car, only to discover that some tremendous fellow had smashed the passenger window and rifled around inside nicking not only Ken, but all his kit too. So, thanks for that.

We've left the front door open, we've left cards, phones and a purse on the front seat, we've left windows open, back doors open, keys in the door, we've left The Scrap out overnight to punish him for having curly hair (we haven't really), yet nothing has ever happened on Landcroft Road. Not sensible, but nothing. Not ever. But you take one trip to NW1... *shakes head sadly*

BTW: Slovo appear to be really good (as long as you like ancient Massive Attack records). And their record label appears to favour a local South London town *cries*.













Stay on the right side of the river!

Myriam's Sebadas

I love this recipe so I've lifted it off Myriam's blog Once Upon a Tart. I hope I don't get into trouble.

She says "These sweet ravioli are called sebadas and are a traditional sweets from sardinia. they are filled with pecorino cheese and drizzled with orange blossom honey.
i once saw an italian nonna make these on TV - i must have been 4 or 5 years ago. but she did such a good job that i was almost licking the TV-screen and i have never forgotten about it to this very day. i thought it was about time i tried to make my own sebadas. i added some cinnamon - it tastes just so wonderful with the cheese and honey."

Recipe
makes 4 large raviolis
4 slices of young pecorino, about 5mm thick and cut in circles of about 10cm (about 150g)
ground cinnamon
sunflower oil to fry
120g orange blossom or lavender-honey, slightly warmed in a pan
about 125g fresh pasta dough *

Place your fresh pasta sheets on a clean surface (or roll it out, if you are working with homemade dough). then cut 8 circles of about 15cm diameter. place one slice of cheese on 4 of the circles, brush the edges with water and top with remaining pasta circles. seal the edges tightly. or: cut cheese in 4 squares and place onto the rolled out pasta dough, cover & cut ravioli by using a ravioli cuter or sharp knive (thats how i did it - it's easy!) . make sure you seal the ravioli tightly since you dont want the cheese to run out while frying.

Heat the sunflower oli in a pot that's suitable for frying, making sure it's not getting too hot and smoky or the ravioli will burn. fry the ravioli for about 7-8 minutes until golden brown on every side. place them on kitchen paper and let drip off, then drizzle generously with the warm honey and dust with cinnamon. serve hot!

*If you cant get hold of fresh pasta dough at your deli, try this recipe

Venice

Summary:
Ice cream, The Lido, pizza, Prosecco, boats, bridges, steps, lots of people, Peggy Guggenheim, siesta, sunshine, skint

Click here to see our pictures

Cantina Del Ponte

So in our search for Best Restuarant in London we took Nunhead Mum of One's top recommendation for our Father's Day lunch today. It was a last minute booking which we made online - we looked on the menu, Nunhead Mum's favourite dish of monkfish was there, brilliant, and they did pizzas which guarantees a happy Scrap.

When we got there the waiter was charming and we chose a lovely outside table. Unfortunately the monkfish was no longer on the menu and the pizza oven had been broken for 4 months.

We had:
1 glass of house white - a lovely soft Trebbiano
2 bottles of san Pellegrino
1 starter which we shared: bresaola - very good and simply presented
1 kids spaghetti with tomato sauce - fine
1 slow roast pork - fantastically well cooked, fell apart as soon as the fork touched it, came with potatoes but no veg
1 bourrida fish stew (£15!) - pretty disappointing - so salty I couldn't taste anything and the squid was chewy
1 wonderful pistachio ice cream
1 creamy double espresso
1 fresh mint tea

You know, this is a good restaurant in a lovely riverside setting, but I think for a £68.06 lunch which included just one glass of wine, only one starter and only one pudding, it should have been a lot better. Maybe by night it is.

"The Best Restaurant In London"

So, we ended our day out yesterday with dinner at Locanda Locatelli. To say it was a bit good would be like saying Barry White was a bit big - it wouldn't do it justice. We had calf's foot salad, the selection of meats and salamis with a prosecco to start. The calf's foot involved the most delicious cartlilege / odd white bits you'll ever eat, by the way.

I - ever the adventurer - went for roasted pork and some Montepulciano. Silvana had the octopus spaghetti which she was so overwhelmed by she spent much of the rest of the evening, eyes shining with pleasure, telling me how LL was "the best restaurant in London". And, frankly, I believe her.

Then we had some amazing ice cream - some of which involved Mirto, served with chewy, crunchy biscuits and the like. The coffee was excellent too. As good as Estrella on the South Lambeth Road, which is my touchstone for great coffee (like I know anything). Anyway, we went home on the bus too. Not because there weren't any cabs, just, y'know, for the hell of it. And it was great.

By the way, I stole this picture from their website as our pictures looked terrible. But this is right where we sat...

Book it! Book it now!

Pea and Broad Bean Risotto

I really love a cheesey risotto and it makes a nice weekend lunch. This is a good way to use spring’s fresh peas and broad beans.

Serves 4
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
400g risotto rice
150ml Italian dry white wine
1.5 litres hot vegetable stock
200g fresh peas
200g fresh shelled broad beans
200g Gorgonzola or Dolcelatte, crumbled

1 Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion, garlic and rosemary for 5 minutes until the onion has softened.

2 Stir in the rice, cook for a minute then add the wine and cook vigorously for 2 - 3 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Pour in half of the stock and leave to cook for 10 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated, stirring from time to time.

3 Add the rest of the stock and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes then add the peas and beans cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has evaporated and the rice is tender.

4 Divide between bowls and top each serving with the cheese and a good grinding of black pepper.