Ribollita with a Yondu Twist

 

Have you heard of Yondu? Not the blue character from Guardians of the Galaxy who has kidnapped and raised Star-Lord... I mean the Korean seasoning sauce which unlocks natural flavours in blander foods. 

This Vegetable Umami all-purpose savoury seasoning is perfect for plant-rich cooking. It is a combination of triple-fermented soybeans and concentrated broth from 8 vegetables. Yondu is USDA certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, contains no artificial ingredients, carbs, sugar or fat.

This versatile ingredient is a healthy flavour booster.

Use Yondu as substitute for:

2tbsp Yondu = 1 bouillon cube

1tsp Yondu = 1 tsp fish sauce

1tsp Yondu = 1tsp soy sauce

2tsp Yondu + 1 cup water = 1 cup of dashi

1tsp Yondu = tsp Worcestershire

Yondu could be used as an ingredient in many international cuisines, including Italian. This month they come up with an inspired twist on a classic Italian stew/soup Ribollita. 

Ribollita is a vegan/vegetarian dish, which features seasonal produce and makes the most of traditional ingredients bringing stale sourdough back to life to with the warm cream of cannellini, and uses every part of the celery, peppers, and carrot, making it more affordable to shop organic as the seasons change.

Root for Vegetables with a Ribollita Stew and an Umami Twist

Plant-based seasoning brand Yondu has taking inspiration from the hills of Northern Italy with their take on a rustic Ribollitta. Just a tablespoon of Yondu’s all-purpose seasoning can add depth to flavour whilst adding an umami twist to the dish and reduce the need to simmer the veggies for hours

Lighter than a stew, but chunkier than a soup, this Mediterranean-inspired meal will be on the table in no more than thirty minutes. Using seasonal, readily available produce, the dish is a comfort that can be brought to the office for lunch or shared with family on cozy evenings in.

Take notes from Tuscany, where a culture that has been built on using leftovers and reducing food waste. Bring stale sourdough back to life to with the warm cream of the cannellini, and use every part of the celery, peppers, and carrot to make it more affordable to shop organic, this autumn.

Yondu brings out the best in the vegetables, while beans and spinach layer this dish full of texture. Freezable, this hearty meal, can be cooked in bulk and kept aside for days you haven’t had a chance to do the food shop.

Originally served to those working on the autumn harvest, the hearty meal offers sustenance and strength as the days get shorter and the weather gets cooler. This humble dish is a celebration of living better for less!

A Ribollita stew (recipe courtesy of Yondu)

Total time: 30 min

Serves 2

Yondu effect: Replaces broth and boosts the flavor of each vegetable

Recipe benefits: Healthy and quick complete dinner

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

½ onion, diced (100g)

1 carrot, sliced (80g)

1 celery stalk, sliced (50g)

¼ red pepper, diced (25g)

¼ green pepper, diced (25g)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. flour

500ml. water

1 Tbsp. Yondu

1 can of cannellini beans, drained

A sprig of thyme

50g fresh spinach

1 slice of sourdough bread

1. In a pot over medium heat, combine olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, peppers and garlic and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
2. Add flour and stir well. Add water and Yondu and stir again.
3. Once it starts boiling, add beans and thyme and let is simmer for 5 minutes covered with a lid.
4. Turn off the heat and stir in fresh spinach. Stir until spinach are wilted.
5. Rub some fresh garlic and drizzle olive oil on the slice of bread before toasting it. Serve the stew with this toast on top and freshly grounded black pepper.

Notes/tips:

You can use gluten free flour or corn starch instead of wheat flour if you want to keep it Gluten Free.

From pastas and salads, to mid-afternoon snacks, Yondu’s fun and simple recipes can found on their website (www.yondu.co.uk/recipes/) or on their Instagram @yondu.uk All choices are healthy, natural and aim to bring pleasure to cooking for friends and family.

Yondu is available to purchase via its UK website and Amazon, retailing at £6.88 for 275ml. Visit www.yondu.co.uk/recipes/ for cooking inspiration.

Notes about Yondu:

·       Yondu’s philosophy of healthy living stems from its creator company, Sempio, an established Korean food company

·       For over 70 years Sempio is committed to expanding the world's culinary horizons through the art of fermentation

·       Yondu is a 100% plant based product. It includes organic soybean, sea-salt, eight vegetable broth, and yeast extract  

·       Yondu is clean label, certified Organic, non-GMO, vegan, and gluten-free 

·       Non-GMO organic soybeans are triple-fermented over the course of 100 days, then blended with the savoury broth of onions, white radishes, leeks, cabbage, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic to create Yondu’s unique flavour that enhances the taste of a variety of cuisines 

·       The Yondu Culinary Studio in New York is where Yondu develop culinary solutions and ideas. Including a team of chefs that create healthy recipes. The team is led by Jaume Biarnes who was previously the culinary director at Alicia Food & Science Lab founded by Ferran Adrià, a pioneer of molecular gastronomy 

I cooked this Ribollita with a Yondu twist yesterday. It is a delicious and healthy stew/soup, which is a great addition to our range of vegetarian meals for the family. I would ordinarily use a stock cube/pot in a similar recipe, but adding Yondu was a revelation. It is a great substitute for stock cubes.

It might sound strange to add a Koren seasoning to the well-known Italian recipe, but it works as a perfect fusion of international flavours. 

Yondu emailed me several recipes throughout this year, and I'm very keen now to try several of them, so watch this space for more Yondu recipes.

Disclosure: I received a bottle of Yondu to try the recipe. All opinions are my own.

Minestrone

 Last week's Feast featured a recipe for summer minestrone, which made me think just how authentic Felicity Cloake's version is. I remember she totally butchered the Russian salad recipe earlier this year. As I have a couple of hundred cook books, I thought I'd do a quick research from the Italian authors. There are obviously many regional variations, so it's not easy to say which recipe could be called a classic one.

From consulting several authors, you can come to a conclusion that olive oil, onion, celery, potato, carrot, beans and courgettes are the must-have ingredients, which appear in all recipes. But then the variations sweep you away.

Julia del Croce, who is described as a Doyenne of Italian food and cookery, has a recipe for Classic Minestrone in her book Italian Comfort Food (Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2010 edition). Julia says the secret to the success of this colourful, meatless vegetable soup is the use of fresh vegetables, high quality olive oil and authentic Parmesan.

She uses a battuto, a chopped mixture of garlic, rosemary and parsley, adds a butternut squash, cauliflower florets, pasta and freshly grated Parmesan.

Biba Caggiano, author and cooking show host, comes from Emilia-Romagna. Her recipes reflect the vibrant food of her childhood. In her book Biba's Taste of Italy (William Morrow, 2001) she introduces a recipe for Minestrone Modenese which includes chicken broth, pancetta, prosciutto, tomatoes, mushrooms, Savoy cabbage and asparagus in addition to the staple ingredients. That recipe requires simmering soup for over two and a half hours.

Giorgio Locatelli (whose smouldering looks make my heart skip a beat) offers two recipes for minestrone in his book Made In Italy Food and Stories (Fourth Estate London. In his opinion, this is the best soup in the world, and who are we to argue with him.

One is a Minestrone Verde with Pesto. Giorgio says he likes to add rice to minestrone, just the way his Nonna did. Here he adds a leek, Swiss chard, courgette flowers if possible, cavolo nero, fresh peas, broad beans, spinach, chickpeas and pesto.

The second recipe is a non-vegetarian version - Minestrone with Langoustines, where you start with cooking a langoustine consommé.

Trendy Chiappa Sisters offer the version of minestrone that they eat regularly in the Chiappa household. I have a copy of Simply Italian (it's even a signed copy!) in front of me - their version of Hearty Vegetable Soup is a more simplified one in comparison to the recipes mentioned above and has a sweet potato, leek, fresh tomatoes and tomato puree, and with pastina added near the end of cooking. 

And finally, let's consult Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian (Chronicle Books, 2001) - I bought this book when we lived in the States, and I often bought Saveur magazine. They publish a recipe for Minestrone Genovese, which includes porcini mushrooms, Swiss chard, spinach. eggplants. tubetti pasta and white beans plus pesto among the other ingredients.

I didn't consult the British chefts like Jamie, Nigel or Nigella, not because I don't trust their opinions, but because I have to stop somewhere.

Basically, it's up to you, which vegetables you want to add to the main five-six. Looks like there is no definitive, undisputed recipe.

And here is the one I made yesterday. It was a rather cold, miserable rainy kind of day, when I crave soup. 

Minestrone

Ingredients:

1 onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot

2 sticks of celery

1 clove of garlic

3tbsp olive oil (I used Filippo Berio)

1/2tsp Knorr rosemary and onion seasoning (optional)

2 medium potatoes

1 pot of Knorr vegetable stock

1 courgette

1 tin of borlotti beans, rinsed

3tbsp risotto rice (Gallo is my choice)

80g of fresh peas

parsley 

basil

grated cheese - I used grated mozzarella (vegetarian), but Parmesan would be more authentic

Peel and finely chop an onion, carrot and two celery sticks. This will be the base of your soffritto.

Heat the oil in a big frying pan, cook onion for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the carrot and celery, keep frying until softened. If using the rosemary and onion seasoning, add it at this stage with a finely chopped clove of garlic.

In the meantime, prep the remaining veg - peel and chop potatoes, slice a courgette.

Add the fried soffrito mix to a big pan, add the potatoes, beans and risotto rice, pour about a litre and a half of water and add a stock cube (or 1tbsp powdered stock). Cook for five minutes, then add the courgette and peas, and cook until all the veg is soft. 

In the last minute or so add a handful of chopped parsley and basil. If the soup is too thick, add more water to the pan.

This is a pretty straightforward easy recipe. You don't need to spend two and a half hours, simmering it. 

Serve hot, with grated parmesan or mozzarella on top.

This is a recipe, very similar to the minestrone my mother-in-law cooks. 

If you don't have time to chop and cook soffritto, Waitrose and some other supermarkets make it easy - you can buy a pack of pre-chopped soffritto mix.

In this recipe I used a bit of Knorr rosemary & onion seasoning, which was one of the products from the last Degustabox. This handy seasoning is great for BBQs and roasted vegetables. Rosemary goes so well with a wide variety of vegetables.

You can use a bit of finely chopped fresh rosemary, if you prefer. My mother-in-law has a selection of herbs growing in pots in the balcony outside her kitchen, so she just takes a few steps from the stove and picks some basil, sage, rosemary or thyme, when she needs it in cooking.

If you cook minestrone, what are you must-have ingredients? Do you like to improvise, depending on what vegetables and herbs you have?

Ricotta cake with marmalade

We woke up yesterday morning to a strangely nippy house. When I went down to the kitchen, I realised our boiler was flashing the F28 code, which means it's broken. 

Trying to get to the British Gas customer service is a feat in itself, everything is annoyingly automated, and you cannot get to talk to a real person. The earliest we could book for someone to come and look at the boiler was Tuesday. 

My husband kept calling, and finally managed to get hold of someone. They promised to come today.

Well, it's almost 5pm, and no sight of any engineer. And now that my husband called them again to ask what time the engineer might be coming, apparently they didn't book us in at all.
And the house in the meantime is getting colder and colder. I know that people live in igloos and all that, but it's a pain not to have the heating or hot water. The floor is church-cold on the ground floor, I can feel my feet turning into icicles, and that's me earing two pairs of socks and slippers.

I've been having endless cups of tea and coffee to keep myself warm, ironing (did a lot of ironing today), and baking too.

Yesterday's bake was a variation of the ricotta cake recipe given to me by my husband's aunt Giuseppina. It's a classic Italian cake, which is very tasty.

I had a jar of Duerr's Half Sugar Seville Orange marmalade from the latest Degustabox. My guys prefer jams to marmalade, and I don't eat it that often either. I decided to use some of the marmalade in the ricotta cake, and it worked really well.

Ricotta cake with marmalade
Ingredients:
zest of 1 lemon
3 medium eggs
180g caster sugar
3tbsp marmalade (+ 2tbsp for drizzle) (optional)
200g ricotta
300g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50g Italian mixed peel (optional)
2tbsp lemon juice

Zest an orange in a medium sized mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs with caster sugar and marmalade. Add the ricotta, sift in the flour and baking powder. Leave about 1tbsp of flour, and dust it over the peel, then add the peel to the cake batter.
The cake batter is quite thick. Spoon it into a well-oiled bundt cake tin. Place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for about 45 minutes. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick.
Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the tin. Mix 2tbsp marmalade with 2tbps lemon juice and spread over the cake.
Eat warm, or cold. It tastes good, with a cup of tea or coffee.

If you're not a fan of peel, swap it for raisins or pine nuts. A few years ago, I baked this cake with the addition of a savoury note from Grana Padano.

Minestra with star pasta

Having grown up in Russia, I have eaten a fair amount of soup. In the days of my childhood, the soup was a staple first course, which people would eat daily. I think the Russian grandmas' mantra was that you had to have "hot food" (or you won't grow up).
I actually do love soups, from stodgy winter ones, to light summer ones.
And though these days I don't eat them every day, I cook soups often enough.

This is a variation of an Italian pasta and vegetable soup. There are as many recipes, as there are Italian nonnas, who, of course, know the best recipe, and use the "secret" ingredient.
My mother-in-law cooked a soup like that for my boys, when they were little, using the alphabet pasta shapes to keep them entertained. Star shaped pasta or mini shells are great in soups.

Minestra with pasta stars
Ingredients:
1 medium carrot
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1 small courgette
1 medium potato
a handful of baby tomatoes, halved
a handful of olives, halved
1 sweet pepper
1 vegetable stock cube
a big handful of pasta stars (pastina)
1tbsp vegan mayonnaise for the soup, plus 1tbsp per portion to serve
fresh herbs, chopped (to serve)

Peel and chop the carrot, and fry it in the olive oil, with the finely chopped half onion for about 5-6 minutes stirring frequently. Add a crushed clove of garlic and fry for another minute.
In a medium sized pan add a cubed potato, chopped courgette, halved tomatoes, sliced (deseeded) sweet pepper and a stock cube, add enough water to cover the vegetables, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer. Add 1tbsp of Hellmann's vegan mayonnaise to the soup, as well as fried carrots with onion and garlic, and halved olives.
Cook for about 10+ minutes, then add the pasta shapes. They cook very quickly, it takes a couple of minutes.
Serve hot, with a spoonful of mayo in each plate.

Adding mayonnaise or soured cream to the soup is one of my Russian habits. I plop either of the two to most soups. A thick Greek yogurt is also a good choice.

There are no fresh herbs added to the soup in the photos, I realised that after I looked at the photos.

Almond milk panna cotta + Valsoia at Ciao Gusto

I was in Italy when I've tried a panna cotta for the very first time, and it was quite a revelation. I understand why the Italians are so much in raptures over this dish. As Carluccio said in one of his books, "One of the main reasons for its popularity is its simplicity, and another is the sheer pleasure of eating it".

This delightful Italian dessert is traditionally made with sweetened cream, set with gelatine and flavoured with vanilla, coffee, pistachio etc. It is a very rich dessert, and if ordering it in a restaurant, I find that sometimes I struggle to finish it. You also need a sharp note to accompany it, like a lemon zest sauce or lime and basil jelly.

As a foodie, I'm always fascinated by new foods and ideas. Recently I was asked to come up with an idea of a recipe, using a Valsoia plant-based milk (almond or oat). And though I'm not planning to turn a vegan any time soon, I'm happy to test vegan-friendly foods and drinks.

About Valsoia:
Valsoia has been Italy's premier health food company since its foundation in 1990, leading the market for quality, product innovation and choice.
Utilising the finest ingredients, its wholly plant-based, GMO-free foods are produced with all the expertise of Italian food traditions and perfectly balance great flavour with healthy ingredients.
Valsoia's products enjoyed by millions of Italian families and the company is listed on the country's stock exchange.

Valsoia Longlife Almond Milk Alternative (£2 for 1L) is a plant-based alternative to dairy milk, enriched with calcium, vitamins B2, B12, D2 and E. It's high in fibre, gluten free and naturally lactose free, and is suitable for vegans.
This is a slightly sweetened almond milk. Nutritional info: 25kcal and 3g sugar per 100ml.

Valsoia Longlife Oat Milk Alternative (£2 for 1L) is another plant-based alternative to dairy milk. Enriched with calcium, vitamins B2, B12 and D2, it has no added sugar, it's high in fibre, low in fat and naturally lactose free.

I have tried both varieties with tea and coffee, and think they work better with coffee. I'm not a big fan of milk in tea anyway, and find that the plant-based milk disguises the flavour of tea, while it enhances the flavour of coffee.

As you can see from the photo below, the oat milk frothes well, if you're making a latte. And while you cannot mistake it for a dairy milk, as an alternative, it's pleasant on the palate. It's silky in texture, and slightly thicker than the dairy milk. It also has quite an oaty aftertaste.

Of the two Valsoia plant-based milk alternatives I prefer the almond milk, as it has a nutty flavour, which goes well with porridge or cereal.

Almond milk is, of course, not a recent invention. It's been a staple in many world cuisines for centuries, and was very popular as an alternative to milk during the Lent in the Middle Ages. In the Tsarist Russia there was a sweet drink called Orshad (Orgeat) made with almond milk and rose water. Yelena Molokhovets - the Russian equivalent of Mrs Beeton - has a fine recipe for this sweet dish.

To celebrate the Italian origins of Valsoia, I wanted to use its products as a base of an Italian-inspired recipe, and a panna cotta was a natural choice.

I must confess that my first attempt at making a panna cotta with almond milk was a disaster. I went shopping to Waitrose, but couldn't find any vegetarian gelatine. The assistant suggested using a pectin. I haven't used pectin recently, but in the past added it to jams. Though I followed all the advice I found online (and there are recipes for panna cotta with pectin), it just didn't work for me. I was left with a sweet gloopy mess.

Back to square 1. I found a Dr Oetker Vege-gel in Sainsbury's, and have made a new batch. This time the panna cotta has set beautifully.
If you are not concerned about the recipe being vegetarian or vegan, you can use a standard gelatine in this dish.

Almond Milk Panna Cotta (serves 4-5)
Ingredients:
400ml Valsoia almond milk alternative
80g caster sugar
1 sachet of Vege-Gel or another vegetarian alternative to gelatine
170g coconut yogurt (for example, Waitrose Vegan Coconut yogurt)
1tsp vanilla essence
a punnet of raspberries (to make coulis)

Heat up half of the almond milk in a small pan, add the sugar, and stir until dissolved. Take off the heat.
In a separate small pan or cup beat in vege-gel in cold milk (first add milk, then vege-gel). It has to dissolve completely.
Pour the dissolved vege-gel into the warm milk into the pan, add the remaining milk and yogurt, vanilla essence and stir well.
Pour the panna cotta into lightly oiled cups or containers. Let it set for several hours, preferably overnight, in the fridge.
You will have 4-5 servings, depending on the size of cups you use.

I used different sized cups & containers

The panna cotta is beautifully set after a night in the fridge

To serve, overturn the cup onto a small dish and spoon the raspberry coulis over.

Tip: Place a cup with pannacotta into a pan of hot water for a few seconds, then the pannacotta will slide out easily.

To make a raspberry coulis, just blend the raspberries and then press through a fine-mesh strainer. You can add a squeeze of lemon or lime to loosen it a bit. I didn't add any sugar, as the main dish is sweet enough.

You can also serve it just in a bowl or cup, just pour the raspberry coulis over, or place some chopped mango with a squeeze of lime juice.

If you would like to try Valsoia, you can find it in Ocado. In July these products will be offered as part of a special promotion - buy 2, get 25% off.

I've been shopping online with Ocado for a year, and have discovered so many delicious European products which I haven't seen or tried before. Their Italian range is very impressive. I always sneak in a bag or two of Mulino Bianco biscuits with every online order. My husband is very partial to San Pellegrino soft drinks, so they are part of a regular delivery as well.

Picking up all your favourite authentic Italian food and drink has never been easier with the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli at Ocado.

As Ciao Gusto explains: "For the first time, a simple tab brings together over 30 of Italy's most popular brands, so you can find exactly what you're looking for - and discover new and exciting ingredients - in just one click.
There's more information about our brands too - many of which are still owned and run by the same families who established them - some as far back as in the 1800s".

You'll be familiar with many products, such as Riso Gallo, Filippo Berio, Giovanni Rana and Cirio who are joined by products less well known in the UK such as Valsoia dairy free ice cream, Auricchio cheeses and Negroni charcuterie - everything you'll find at the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli has been specially selected for its reputation as an authentic Italian favourite.

Here is a full list of the Italian brands you'll discover at the Ciao Gusto Italian Deli:
Pasta - Barilla, Rana
Rice - Riso Gallo
Flours - Polenta Valsugana
Tomato and Vegetable Conserves - Cirio
Cheese and Dairy - Auricchio, Parmareggio
Fish - Delicius, Medusa
Herbs and Spices - Cannamela
Tuna - Rio Mare
Cured Meats - Negroni
Soya and Rice Products - Valsoia
Olive Oil - Filippo Berio
Vinegar - PontiDried fruits - Noberasco
Jams - Santa Rosa
Coffee - Lavazza
Herbal teas - Bonomelli
Water and Fruit Juices - San Benedetto, Santal
Wine - Zonin, Santa Margherita
Spirits - Vecchia Romagna
Cherries and Syrups - Fabbri

As you can see, it's an excellent list of Italian products, some of them are well-known and much-loved, some are waiting to be discovered by the British foodies. I'm delighted to see some of the foods which we buy when we stay in Italy, it's lovely to be able to buy them here as well.


Disclosure: I received a small budget to spend on the products necessary to write a recipe post, including Valsoia. All opinions are our own.

The MamaBake Book by M.Shearer & K.Swan + Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni

I am a busy Mum, and there are days when I'm feeling totally exhausted and overwhelmed by the dietary demands and wishes of my family. And yes, there are moments when I feel like throwing a tantrum and refusing to cook. Sounds familiar?
I was very curious to discover a new cook book which evangelizes weekly meal plans and batch cooking.
The MamaBake Book (HarperCollins, published 22 February 2018, £12.99) professes to be no ordinary cookbook. It claims to revolutionise the way we prepare family meals - "once you try the MamaBake way you will never look back!"

I'm mistrustful by nature when any big claims are made, but I'm also open to new ideas and happy to be converted.

MamaBake movement and cook book are the brainchild of two mothers - Michelle Shearer and Karen Swan. It was Michelle who founded their community in 2010, with the grassroots cooking club and a meeting place for young mums who would cook meals in batches, then share and swap their prepared meals to take back home a week's worth of food enough to feed a family.
This big batch cooking granted them free time during the week.

I had to smile, when I read about "mothers united in their passion to free up women from the unending pressures of domestic burden through the power of The Sisterhood".
It reads like a revolutionary pamphlet, rather idealistic.

Take me: I love cooking, and wouldn't dream of not cooking for a whole week. Yes, it is a burden at times, and I do moan about it, but half-heartedly, as basically I love cooking. In my situation it would be impossible for other mothers to cater to my family's special situation with an autistic child who would most likely not eat any of the foods cooked by someone else. But I digress...

I was intrigued as to how this book teaches you to plan meals a week in advance, make shopping lists and batch cook.
If you discard the grandiose statements about The Sisterhood and domestic burden, it is actually a clever guide on how to be more organised and adapt your cooking to make life easier.

Many things mentioned in the book make a lot of sense, like labelling containers or zip lock bags which go in the freezer. Guilty as charged: how many times I took out the container out of the freezer without a clue as to what's inside and how long it was stored there.

The MamaBake Book features many inspired once-a-week cooking plans and big batch recipes. There are over 200 recipes to choose from.
The book would better suit a non-vegetarin/vegan family. There is a Meat-free week menu and the vegan slow cooker menu, but I would say the majority of recipes are for meat-eaters.
Some weeks' menus include meat on an almost daily basis.

The book conveniently offers shopping lists which include everything you will need to cook meals for a week. The once-a-week plans include seven different recipes with step-by-step of prep and cooking.

It is an inspiring concept. And while I don't think I'm ready yet to do a week's worth of meals in one go, I might just try to batch-cook more often and freeze (and label!!!) the meals.

I would have liked to see illustrations of at least some of the recipes. For me photos and/or illustrations are the main magnet to cook books. The MamaBake book is free from illustrations.

There were quite a few of recipes I have bookmarked, for example, Vegetable & bean pie with polenta crust, Greek honey biscuits, potato pizzas, pumpkin falafel & flatbreads and more.

One of the recipes I have tried already - and which we loved - is Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni.

Pumpkin & Ricotta Cannelloni (recipe reproduced with kind permission from HarperCollins)
Ingredients:
1/2 butternut pumpkin (butternut squash in the UK), peeled, seeds removed and cut into chunks
1tbsp oil
2 x 400g tins whole peeled tomatoes
1 bunch basil, leaves finely chopped
250g ricotta
150g mozzarella (plus extra for sprinkling)
1egg, lightly beaten
2 handfuls baby spinach shredded
375g fresh pasta sheets (I used a pack of 250g lasagne sheets)
100g parmesan, grated

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a ceramic baking dish.
2.Drizzle the pumpkin with the oil and roast in the dish until tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and mash. Set aside to cool.
3. To make the sauce, place a medium-sized saucepan over high heat and add the tinned tomatoes and half the basil leaves. Season, to taste. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until reduced by one-third, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
4. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, egg, spinach and mashed pumpkin. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Lay out the pasta sheets and place 2tbsp of the pumpkin mixture in the base of each sheet and roll up into a tube. Lay each cannelloni in the baking dish. Top with the prepared sauce and grated parmesan.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for further 15 minutes.

Serve with a fresh green salad.

Allow to cool completely before chilling or freezing. The cannelloni will keep for 1 week in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer.
If cooking from frozen, defrost overnight in the fridge. Cover with foil and bake in a 180C oven for 30 minutes until thoroughly reheated.

Disclosure: I received the MamaBake Book for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are my own.

Birthday lunch at Frankie & Benny's

To celebrate Federico's birthday today, we decided to go out for lunch to Frankie & Benny's in Marriotts Walk. We visit it a couple of times a year.
The menu is a typical American-Italian food, quite heavy on meat, with a big choice of burgers, pasta and pizzas. Most of the things come with fries.
There are some vegetarian dishes on the menu, which I have tried in the past, but they were a bit boring. I don't think salads are their forte.

Going out with Sash is always tricky. If it's too noisy, he might get stressed and want to leave at once, but we decided we'd still go out together, as we wanted to celebrate Fede's birthday as a family.
Thankfully, Sash was in a good mood.

At some point, there was a young child running around and screeching at the top of her voice, and I braced myself, thinking Sash would get anxious, but the child was soon removed somewhere else to annoy the other people.

When the time came to order, first they didn't have prosecco, then champagne was only available as a bottle (at £35+), which we didn't want.
Steak was all gone, except the biggest size.
In the end we ordered a pina colada cocktail, a glass of rose for me, pepsi and blackcurrant drinks for kids.

Bruschetta looked pretty, but I'd prefer it more toasted.

For me pasta is not a celebratory meal at all, but our birthday boy opted for a plate of carbonara.

A Triple Cheese Burger is as full of calories as it sounds. It has mozzarella sticks inside and lots of mustard, and comes with fries. I should go on a diet tomorrow, shouldn't I?! And no dinner tonight.

Eddie wanted burger slides from children's menu, with fries and peas.

Desserts' list was full of temptations. My guys fancied milkshakes with all sorts of toppings, like cookies, waffles and donuts, but I was wondering if the stodgy bits get soggy in milk.
Have you ever tried those Freakshakes and would you recommend them?

In the end we picked a Can't Decider dessert, which is a perfect option for those who cannot make up their minds. You get four small slices of different cakes - a lemon tart, a pecan pie, a chocolate fudge cake and an Oreo cheesecake, and a mini bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Children's meal deal includes a dessert. Eddie liked the sound of fruit skewers with a chocolate dip.

He said he wished there were more strawberries rather than apples.

We enjoyed our meal together, which is even more precious because Sasha was with us and appeared to be happy and smiley. Simple things like that - eating out together - are often fraught with stress for families with special needs children, so we appreciate these times even more when everything goes without any trouble.

Eddie loves going to Frankie & Benny's, and we had a good laugh together, taking selfies and telling jokes.
The bill was £60+ for four of us.
Our birthday boy got three balloons to take home.
On the way home I was singing aloud "Ding dong merrily on high... Hosanna in excelsis" which left Eddie in stitches, though he kept looking back if anyone could hear us. And I only had one glass of rose, honestly.

Torta della Nonna

Torta della Nonna or Granny's Tart is one of classic Italian recipes which has as many versions as there are Nonnas in Italy. I've been looking at my Italian recipe books as well as browsing recipes online, and the amount of egg yolks for the custard varies from four to eight. Some cooks add vanilla seeds, some add lemon zest, and the amount of pine nuts is also different from recipe to recipe.
I've been planning to bake this simple custard tart with pine nuts ever since I finished reading The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall.
This delectable dessert has been mentioned more than once among the numerous food descriptions and menus (one of the protagonists and a love interest is a chef in the eponymous hotel, so food features heavily in the book which I found very enjoyable).
"A wide slice of torta della nonna - she recognised it straight away - sugar-dusted, scattered with pine nuts... She took a forkful of tart, and felt her chest heave. She'd forgotten the flavour of the sweet custard, the toasted pine nuts. Torta della nonna, she said out loud, Granny's tart, it meant, but as a child she'd always called it torta della mamma, because it was her mum who'd made it for her, just as she had done everything else".

Torta della Nonna
Ingredients
For the pastry
150g cold butter, from the fridge
300g 00 flour
100g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2-3tbsp icy cold water
for custard:
1 pt of milk
125g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
3tsp cornflour
2tbsp milk, cold
vanilla, grated or paste
100g pine nuts

Sift the flour and salt into a big mixing bowl and add cold cubed butter. Cut the butter into flour into smaller pieces, so that they are coated with flour. Using hands, rub the flour and butter together until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.
Beat in 4 egg yolks. Add a bit of water to make the dough more pliable. Knead it until smooth and elastic, form into a ball and put the bowl in the fridge for half an hour.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a big circle about 5-6mm thin. Cut out a circle bigger than a round pie/baking dish, so that you have enough to have the sides. Drape the dough disc over the rolling pin and place it inside the pie dish. Gently press down.
Bake for 10 minutes at 180C.
While the pastry case is baking, scatter the pine nuts on a baking tray and place inside the oven on the lower shelf to toast for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In the meantime make the custard filling. Heat up the milk with caster sugar, then remove from the heat and let it cool a bit. Beat in the egg yolks in a pan or bowl, add a bit of hot milk and whisk, keep adding all milk and whisking. Add vanilla (I used a vanilla grater) and cornflour which has been mixed with a dash of cold milk separately.
Cook custard over the low heat, stirring constantly, or put a pan with custard over another pan with boiling water, and keep stirring. Once custard starts to thicken, set it aside and let it cool slightly.

Scatter half of the pine nuts over a pastry case and pour custard over them, scatter more pine nuts over custard. Place the pie into the oven preheated to 180C for about 20-25 minutes.

If you don't fancy making your own pastry (and I very rarely do that, it's usually Jus-Rol) or custard, I think any bought good quality dessert pastry and custard would be just fine.

This Italian custard tart is lovely warm or cold. My guys loved it. For a more authentic touch dust it with icing sugar before serving. I didn't add more sugar, as the tart is quite sweet as it is.

Have you tried Torta della Nonna on your travels to Italy, or perhaps in an Italian restaurant?