You know what is one of hubby and my most favourite thing to do over the weekends? You guessed it – making delicious food!
But it’s not just the fact that we make nice food that we enjoy; more importantly, it is making food that brings back memories of wonderful places we’ve visited, special memories we shared when we first had it… and then, getting to share a piece of that with our nearest and dearest, or even just for the two of us. I think what it really boils down to is that we actually love to make food with meaning.
However, we don’t always want to spend hours in the kitchen; especially if there is beautiful summer days to enjoy outside on the patio. And beautiful summer days inevitably remind me of Italy and that real ‘outdoorsy’ lifestyle that we fell in love with. And if I think of Italy I think of focaccia, cold meat, cheeses… and balmy days where lunch has to be enjoyed outside in the shade.
Beautiful Tuscany – balmy summer days, worthy of spending your time outdoors
So these chunky breadsticks really reminded me of our time in Italy. What’s great about it is that you don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen! Sure, it takes a little longer to make as the dough needs to prove, but that just gives you time to spend outside, sipping on a glass of wine! These ones are made with sundried tomatoes anchovies, but you can really add anything you like; think of olive tapenade with a sprinkling of rosemary, or even red pepper pesto with herbs and feta.
Sundried tomato and anchovy breadsticks
(makes about 24 breadsticks)
Ingredients:
Making the bread
4 cups whitebread flour
2 teaspoons salt
10g instant yeast
4 teaspoons sugar
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
For the filling
4 tablespoons anchovies, roughly chopped
1 cup sundried tomato pesto
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup grated Grana Padano
A few grindings of black pepper
Poppy seeds, to garnish (optional)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
In a bowl, add the flour, salt, instant yeast and sugar. Mix well and then add the lukewarm water little by little. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough. Once you’ve reached this stage, add the tablespoon of olive oil, and knead that into the dough.
Place the dough into a large bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of oil the top to stop the dough from sticking and cover the bowl with cling film. Place the dough in a warm place and leave to prove until it has doubled in size.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out with a rolling pin unitl thin and even.
Spread the sundried tomato pesto over the dough then sprinkle anchovies, the rosemary, the Grana Padano cheese and grind over some black pepper to taste. (Be sure to spread to the edges.)
Fold the dough in half and form a rectangle.
Cut off the edges where there is no filling, and then cut the dough into one 2.5 cm strips. Give them a slight twist. (You are looking for a loose corkscrew effect.)
Place your breadsticks on a lightly floured baking tray (keep them slightly apart to leave enough room for them to rise). Brush them with water and then sprinkle over some poppy seeds.
Leave them to rise until they are twice their size.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp.
It is lovely when you serve it shortly after baking – just leave it to cool long enough so that it won’t burn your mouth! We had ours with some lovely Italian cold meats and cheese. And the wine of course!
Rome was an amazing city to explore; the only thing was that a map of the city was just about useless for me. I remember standing at the corner of a street, turning the map in any which way you can think of, but I just could not make sense of it! It seemed as if every single street led to yet another piazza and I could never figure out which was the right street to take once we walked out the other side! But this was actually the best part – just walking about and ending up seeing much more than what we would have if we just went straight to the next destination. Even to this day we don’t use online ‘street view maps’ when we arrive in a new city. I see too many tourists walking with their noses pressed up against the screen of their phones, never stopping to look up and around at all they are missing out on.
It’s hard to pick a favourite from all there is to see and do; but I will start with people watching. I loved the people watching. Be it sitting on the Spanish Steps, watching locals and tourists, watching locals and tourists alike (!) or sitting in small, unknown piazzas we stumbled across, watching real Roman life go by. In one particular little square we sat down on the steps, and a local mom and her daughter came to sit next to us. The little girl had so much energy and you could tell all the mom really wanted to do was to sit and take a bit of a break. Very excited the little girl talked and gestured to her mom and off she went – running around the square, and back to her mom. Turns out mom was “timing” her little run around the piazza! She kept going for at least half an hour – and remarkably her time “improved” each time she came back to check! A very creative way to tire the little one out, if you ask me.
Rome has an inordinate amount of things to see. I can’t remember how many things we had on our “must-see” list, but what I do know is that we definitely did not make it to everything!
Down romantic cobbled streets and alleyways we walked into countless beautiful churches (and not even the famous ones!)
But St Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums were definitely a highlight. However, we warned, the Vatican museums are packed in the morning. We booked online tickets and got to skip the line (which was at least 1.5km long!) but still, once inside the entrance area, hubby had to hand in his back-pack and I had to pick up our actual tickets. We split up to do this, almost to never find each other again amongst what seemed like 10 000 people mulling about! (Top tip #1 – If you decide to split up in the entrance hall, agree on where to meet each other again. I will never forget the feeling of dread when I turned around from the ticket counter and saw a sea of people, and no hubby in sight! Top tip #2 – Visit the Vatican museums in the afternoon. We left around lunch time and the entrance hall was like a graveyard!) It was pure instinct that drew the two of us towards each other. It was such a relief to see him again! However, all the stress was worth the crowds and you’ve got to go see it for yourself.
No visit to Rome would be complete without visiting the spectacular Colosseum. We booked a tour that included access to the passages underneath and that ends up with you walking out into the arena. WOW! It was really worth booking this. I could not even begin to imagine how overwhelming it must have been walking out to a packed amphitheatre full of people screaming and shouting. It’s hard to believe that this was constructed in AD 72 – 80. The ingenuity of that time is something to behold. (We went on to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill after visiting the Colosseum. (Top tip #3 – bad idea! We were exhausted afterwards… and the 37° heat didn’t help!)
And as much as the piazzas stood in the way of my navigation skills, I loved all of them. Sure, some are filled with touristy restaurants with waiters all but fetching you in the middle of the square to come and dine at their establishment, but the vibe is undeniable. We stayed close to piazza Navona and had the privilege of walking through it a few times a day! The Four Rivers fountain roars with water as street performers and artists rival for your attention. My favourite night time spot was probably Campo de’ Fiori. Musicians battle it out in the square for their turn to play, while people would buzz in and out of the restaurants and bars that line the piazza. We sat down at a place with an odd name: Sloppy Sam’s – and they tagline “sloppy in the back, classy in the front”! Huh? Who cares?! I loved it!
From a food perspective, Rome was the last stop on our three week Italian holiday. At this point there was not a parma ham, prosciutto or bruschetta that we didn’t know, a pasta or pizza we didn’t taste or a gelato flavour unbeknownst to us! Being from the South African Karoo, growing up in region famed for flowers and lamb, I craved meat! So for me, the best meal I had in Rome was at a little restaurant that had lamb chops on the menu! Three beautifully prepared gorgeous lamb chops… but with the requisite paste course preceding it, of course!
We saw so much, but left behind so much more to see. So we did what needed to be done… Some say that if you throw a coin from your right hand over your left shoulder into the Trevi fountain, you will definitely return to Rome. So to make sure, we duly did the coin toss! (An interesting fact about the coins from the Trevi fountain… on a daily basis the coins are collected and it is actually used to help subsidise a special supermarket that serves the poor in Rome, with help from the Italian Red Cross.)
So now I know without a doubt that we will walk down the streets of the Eternal City again soon; it is a city that feels like and indoor and outdoor museum, it causes you to stop in awe around every other corner as it reveals a bit more of its history and it’s a city that completely dazzled us with its soul.
I will never forget the first time I ever laid my eyes on the Mediterranean. We arrived in Rome after a 21 hour flight from Cape Town. Exhausted we had to rush to catch a train from Rome to Naples. Two hours later (and no chance of sleep; I was petrified of missing our stop!) we arrived in Naples and had to rush to make the next train; a commuter train called Circumvesuviana that runs to Sorrento. That was a horrid journey – “commuter train” translated means that there are no seats (well, at least not in the coaches we were in) and we had to stand the whole way to Sorrento. I was so tired and exhausted that I could hardly stand on my feet and hubby had to give a lot of moral support to stop me from bursting into tears from sheer exhaustion. Arriving in Sorrento, waiting at the station for the SETA bus that would finally take us to our destination, Praiano, I caught I small glimpse of some blue water between a row of houses. So to be fair, that was probably the first glimpse of the Mediterranean. But then, as we finally got on the bus and started the last leg of our journey, the blue jewel revealed herself to us and in that instant we fell under her spell.
The first picture we took of the beautiful Mediterranean – from the SETA bus!
The famous Amalfi Coast drive was everything the books tell you it is – twisty, turny, breathtakingly beautiful and quite the adrenalin rush. The speed with which the bus drivers navigate the narrow road is something to experience. At first I did not understand why the driver was hooting randomly; was he just greeting people or were people upsetting him on the road? After paying a bit of attention I figured it out; he hooted every time we approached a bend so that if there were cars approaching from the other side, they would hear the bus coming. That way they would know to stop or get out of his way! Ingenious! And testament to the fact that they slow down for nothing!
Views of the Amalfi Coast drive from the bus!
Views of the Amalfi Coast drive from the bus!
Views of the Amalfi Coast drive from the bus!
Impossible to believe how the lemon groves cling to the side of the cliffs!
Views of the Amalfi Coast drive from the bus!
So just about 24 hours after we left Cape Town we finally arrived in Praiano. Exhausted, but in love! I have previously written about my love for Praiano and its little beach La Praia. This is undoubtedly where our love for the Mediterranean comes from. I know what made this extra special for hubby was a trip that we took from Praiano to Capri. A local tour operator offered day trips to Capri and eagerly we signed up, wanting to see Capri but also the beautiful Amalfi Coast from the water. The journey by speedboat was amazing. Half way to Capri, in the middle of the ocean, our skipper stopped the boat. In his best English and with some hand gestures he indicated: “Now you swimming!” Hubby loved it! They had snorkeling equipment on the boat and he said it was the experience of a lifetime. The water was crystal clear; you could see down into the water for meters and meters and the fish….according to him it was like seeing a world that you never knew existed; swimming alongside fish that you have never seen before. With the water being so salty you did not really have to do a lot of swimming and floating was easy. To this day this is really one of his biggest highlights of any holiday. Me, being a novice swimmer, I didn’t have the courage to jump into the ocean; if my toes can’t touch the ground I get panicky!
View from the boat.Amalfi Coast from the water…The view from the top of Capri!Fraglioni rocks, off Capri
And maybe that is part of the allure of the Mediterranean for me. The gentle waves. And the swishing sound it makes. The sea along our coast is much different, with waves thundering down. I’ve never known what “gentle waves lapping the shore” meant until I experienced the Mediterranean. And the best part of that is that it gives someone like me that is a bit scared of the big, rough seas the opportunity to swim in the ocean. Oh, and how I love it. The water is so quiet and clear that even I feel comfortable splashing about; even swimming a bit… provided that my toes can touch the bottom! Some of the best times on our holidays have been when we were laying next to the sea, listening to the hypnotic sound of the waves. Very few things come close.
Laia Praia harbour and beach
La Praia Beach
Sunset on our last night in Praiano
But in talking about the first place where we’ve seen this beautiful blue ocean, my mind instinctively wanders to the place we last basked on her shores.
It was last year September (way too long ago, if you ask me!) and on the last day of our holiday on the Côte d’Azur we took the train to Menton. What drew us there were all the good things we read about its stunning beaches and with Menton also being just about the last stop on the French Riviera before you head into Italy it made me think that I might be able to have a pretty decent pizza while we were there! (It was uncanny to see road signs, showing Italy was just 10 miles away!)
The beautiful Menton beach
When we arrived at the train station we immediately set off for the beach. It was not hard to find; we just followed a group of locals who were carrying beach chairs and umbrellas! And when we got there, we knew that we picked the perfect place to end off our holiday. The water was warm, calm and clear; I could swim and for a moment I forgot that my toes needed to touch the bottom because for once there was a view that could compete with the beauty of the Mediterranean – Menton’s old city cascading down the hill.
The Mediterranean and the old town of Menton. Bliss.
Laying on the beach was surreal. Just closing my eyes, feeling the sun on my skin and listening to the ocean. Staring out in front of me into the big blue and when I turned my head sideways, this stunning old city (and hubby) to my right. It was a perfect day! For lunch we didn’t have to go far; there was an amazing restaurant close to where we were. Hubby had an amazing seafood platter; he says the best he has ever had and me? Well, I had my pizza!
Hubby enjoying the water!
Perfection!
Me, doing some r&r!
View from the restaurant in Menton.
According to Hubby: “The best seafood platter ever!”
I love pizza!
So if you crave a taste of the Mediterranean, I suggest you play this video on repeat, while preparing a bit of fish.
Cheers, until my feet touch your shores again!
Kingklip with sundried tomato marinade
(serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 kingklip fillets (or any firm fish that you can source locally)
Juice of half a lemon
60ml olive oil
3 tablespoons of sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 clove of garlic, crushed
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped finely
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
Mix lemon juice, olive oil, sundried tomatoes, sugar, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper together
Pour over fish and marinade for 30 minutes
Transfer the fish to a baking tray and place in the oven for 15 minutes until the fish turns opaque and flakes easily when prodded with a fork
Venice was nothing like I expected. Sure, we’ve seen it on tv many times before and we knew it was going to be absolutely stunning, but arriving at Santa Lucia station and walking out onto the Grand Canal rendered me completely immovable, with the exception of my jaw dropping to the floor and my eyes popping out my head. I was spellbound. And no matter how hard I try, my words will never be able to do justice to just how beautiful and mesmerizing Venice is.
Our first look down the Grand Canal
When I eventually came out of my daze, hubby and I went off to find the vaporetto (water bus) stop. It was a bit of a mission to find out which one to take and when it arrived it was packed. Hubby and I managed to squeeze in quite near to the front but we did not mind one bit as it gave us fantastic photographic opportunities. Off we went down the Grand Canal, gaping at the splendour of it all. We became aware of some commotion behind us at some stage; someone shouting really loudly, but nothing could take our attention away from the spectacle that is Venice. I felt like Angelina Jolie in the The Tourist (albeit a tired, hot and sweaty version… with a heavy suitcase…) but I could imagine myself getting…
Vaporetto’s are really packed
Getting shouted at is worth it!
My daydream was rudely interrupted by a tap on the shoulder; rather an elbow in the ribs to be more exact. The elbow belonged to an elderly lady, red in the face, shouting in my face “Attenzione! Attenzione! Attenzione!” She was clearly the source of the commotion that we’ve been ignoring, and we were actually the cause of it! She, being a local resident, was not at all impressed by two silly tourists blocking her exit from the water bus! She was shouting all kinds of, what I decided to take for Italian pleasantries (!) at us, while wiping the sweat of her brow. We tried to apologize in our best Italian and with one last infuriated look our way she took her leave! But we were not in the least bit offended. We were in Venice.
View down the Grand Canal from our vantage point on the vaporetto!More views from the vaporetto
We went to Venice because it is one of those bucket-list places. There is something about this city built on top of the water that is just magical. Its got a charm that is indescribable. And the feeling that you get from it will never escape you. Whenever anyone would ever utter the word “Venice” again, you will always yearn to go back to it.
An added bonus was the food we tasted there. The shops have the most beautiful way of displaying even the simplest things. We walked past a shop that sold dried pasta; complete with farfalle inspired by the Italian flag! And restaurants would advertise their seafood in a dazzling display (especially the touristy ones!). We were lucky to have found some really great little restaurants tucked away in small side streets as we did not stay so close to the tourist centre. On our first evening we had amazing seafood with pasta. What still amazes me about pasta in Italy is how simple they make it. Not smothered in all kinds of thick and creamy sauces like we are typically used to, but rather letting the ingredients shine and the pasta really just becomes a vehicle so mop up all the natural goodness and flavours of the star ingredients.
Look! Italian flag pasta!
Restaurants showing off
Fantastic first night supper
The next day, we decided to just walk the streets without a map. What an adventure. It was amazing and we came across little squares and cafés we would have otherwise probably missed. (We also discovered one or two dead ends!) Lunch was in some neighbourhood restaurant where no one spoke a word of English and menus were only available in Italian. It was filled with locals and I would have rather died than to take out my camera and take a photo! We managed to order fegato alla veneziana (calf’s liver and onions) for hubby and pizza for me. (Yes, not the quintessential Venetian dish, but I am a bit of a pizza addict and any pizza in Italy must be the real deal, right!) It was simply delicious. And we had to finish it off with tiramisu, of course! There is no photos to show for it, which probably will necessitate that we go back there again one day!
Not that you need any excuse to go back to Venice. I find it hard to describe the feeling I had when we were there. I have tried to give a little glimpse of it above and when I read it back it seems so inadequate. Maybe music can do it justice.
The Rialto bridge at night
This is part of the soundtrack from the movie, The Tourist. I think they have the music just spot on – every time I listen to it, it takes me back to that magical moment I first laid my eyes on the Grand Canal. Click here and listen to at least about 45 seconds in… To me that is the music my soul makes when I think of Venice. It is an incredibly special place and I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to see it. I truly hope I can go back one day.
PS: And picking photos for this piece was agony! I wish I could post all 1 032 we took!
One of my favourite parts of Florence is Piazza della Signoria. It is located near the imposing Ponte Vecchio, spanning the Arno River. It is truly the ‘open air art museum’ so many travel books refer to. Walking in between the copy of Michelangelo’s David, Perseus with Medusa’s head and the Medici lions, you can’t help but feel like a culture vulture! And, if that is not enough arts for you, the Uffizi Gallery is just around the corner.
The Palazzo Vecchio on the Piazza della Signoria
Hubby and I chose the perfect day for an outing to Uffizi: windy, with thunder clouds looming in the sky. We started out all excited, admiring each piece of art we walked by. Slowly the admiration turned to awe as we marvelled at the hall upon hall, each filled with exquisite art and sculptures. But as the hours passed, the wonderment slowly started turning into a feeling of trepidation, especially when we realised that after four hours we probably did not even see half of the things on display yet. And when we finally arrived at the Uffizi rooftop café and even it was closed, desperation took over and I thought to myself that I might never make it out alive again!
Luckily we eventually managed to find our escape and headed towards the Piazza del Duomo. On the way there the clouds finally gave in and it started to pour down with rain. After our exhausting day I really started to feel sorry for myself (and my feet in particular), when hubby spotted a little trattoria. What a lovely place. The décor was so special; wagon wheels against the walls, filled with wine corks! The aroma from the kitchen made our mouths water. So with a lovely glass of Chianti in hand, we studied the menu and finally decided on a wild boar stew (have to try something new every now and again) and a bistecca Fiorentina for supper. Red wine and red meat, just the thing to comfort you after a long and tiring day! Hubby had the wild boar and it was truly delicious, with a rich tomato based sauce. The steak was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much for me to finish but was really cooked to perfection. (However, not the best thing to have this meal if you still need to walk back to your hotel afterwards!)
The little haven we discovered!
Seeing that this was a particularly trying week for me, what better way to start off the weekend than with the comfort food that includes some good meat and good wine. So with that said, buon appetito!
Italian style Bistecca
(serves 2)
Ingredients:
2 T-bone steaks (about 350g each)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon chopped thyme (fresh)
Salt and pepper to taste
300 ml chicken stock
2 corn on the cob
125g polenta
200g baby spinach
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Method:
Fill a pot with water, enough so that it will cover the corn, and bring to the boil.
Once the water reaches boiling point, add the corn and boil for 10 minutes.
Remove from the water, rub with half the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Place the corn on a griddle pan and char the the corn slightly.
When done, slice off the kernels (holding the corn upright and cutting top to bottom). Set aside.
Add the chicken stock to a pot and bring to the boil.
Add the polenta to the stock by whisking it in. Cook for 25 minutes, until creamy.
Rub the steaks with the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper.
Get your griddle pan really hot and fry for 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and cover the meat with some foil. Leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes.
Heat a little butter in a pan and add the spinach and corn. Just warm it through so that the spinach wilts.
When serving, place the polenta on the plate and put the steak on top of the polenta.
Place the spinach and corn on top of the steak.
Drizzle the left-over meat juices over the steak and serve with lemon wedges on the side.
Italy was nothing like I thought it would be. I thought I would really be keen on the history, the culture, the food, the wine… but I was wrong. I didn’t like it. No. Instead I fell completely and utterly in love with each and every aspect of this incredible country. From the breath-taking beauty of Venice to the magical Amalfi coast, with incredible Tuscany in between.
We spent our time in Tuscany using Florence as a base. It was so much more than I expected! It is a city of art, culture, great food and music. Everywhere we went we were greeted with a tune; from street performers playing as twilight fell, while we marvelled at the Tuscan hills twinkling with lights and while famous Renaissance landmarks stood silhouetted in the foreground gazing out from Piazzale Michelangelo, to being caught up in marching bands walking down the street towards the marvellous Piazza della Signoria and its line-up of sculptures. Life had a soundtrack when we were there! Florence is really a place I think I could call home. Sitting next to the beautiful Arno River, watching row boats go by, sipping aperol (without pulling a face), life felt pretty good. (OK, if you’ve been following my blog you would know aperol is not a personal favourite… but as they say – when in Rome… or Florence!)
Lovely farm
Great food, great views
On one of the days we explored the Tuscan country side, we stopped for lunch at a farm called Fattoria Poggio Alloro. It is just outside San Gimignano where you can find twelve beautifully preserved medieval towers (in its day it had seventy!). The farm produce and sell everything from olive oil, pasta, cured meats and of course, glorious wine! Hubby and I first did a cellar tour before we sat down to an amazing lunch. The setting was really what Italian dreams are made of, with spectacular views over the Tuscan country side and the towers of San Gimignano looming on the horizon.
Beautiful Tuscan landscape
San Gimignano in the background
Lunch consisted of lovely fresh breads with some prosciutto, salami, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Main course was the kind of Italian pasta you hope to have on a visit to Tuscany, served with a rich, delicious meat ragu and a side salad. And don’t forget the wines! We ended off with a sweet dessert wine. Simply put – it was a foodie’s heaven.
So tonight, while weather is cooling down here in Cape Town and light rain falls outside, hubby and I thought we would pay homage to this wonderful meal we had. Definitely a good way to start the weekend.
Lamb shank ragu with homemade cavatelli pasta
(serves 4)
First get started on your lamb ragu. While that cooks away, you can start on your homemade pasta.
We use a pressure cooker to cook the lamb shank quickly. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you should aim to cook your meat for about 2 hours to ensure it is nice and soft.
Lamb shank ragu
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
500g lamb shank
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 medium carrots, peeled, and sliced diagonally
2 celery stalks, chopped
½ cup of frozen peas
Bunch of rosemary and thyme (tie it up, so you can take it out easier at the end)
1 cup of good red wine
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoons tomato puree
400g tin of diced tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
Salt and Pepper to taste
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the lamb shank and fry until brown on all sides.
Add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the garlic and stir for a minute longer.
Add the carrots and celery and fry for another 2 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.
Add the cup of red wine and let the alcohol cook down.
Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, and the cup of water.
Next, add the sugar, stock cube and season with salt and pepper.
Now add your bunch of herbs and close the pressure cooker.
Cook on medium heat for an hour. Now get on with your homemade pasta – see the recipe and method further down…
After an hour, remove the lamb shank from the pressure cooker. Discard the bunch of herbs.
Shred the meat off the bone – it should be soft and very tender. Discard the bone and any fatty pieces.
Reduce the sauce in the pressure cooker pot (lid off) until it has thickened.
Add the peas to the sauce and return the meat to the pot.
Simmer at low heat, while you boil your pasta
Fry lamb shank until brown and veggies until soft
Add wine and cook down
Add rest of liquids and add herbs. Cook for an hour.
Remove from pressure cooker.
Shred the meet fine.
Reduce the sauce in the pot.
Homemade cavatelli pasta
Ingredients:
500g of “00” flour
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ¼ cups of cold water
Method:
Place the flour in a large bowl. Make a little well in the center. Add the salt, oil and water and mix with a fork until a dough is formed. (It works best to get it together in a bowl and then turn it out on your counter and work into a firm ball.)
Divide the dough into small pieces and roll it on your countertop to form a “sausage”/rope that is about 1cm thick. Start by working your hands from the inside to the outside to try and keep the shape as even as possible.
Using a knife, slice the dough into about 2 to 3 cm pieces.
Next, shape the cavatelli with your thumb. Put the piece of dough on the counter and push the dough against the countertop away from you so that the dough stretches slightly and folds around itself, creating a little pocket in the middle.
Place the cavatelli on a lightly floured baking tray (do not let them touch) and let it rest for 40 minutes.
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Toss the cavatelli in and cook until it floats to the top and stays there. It takes approximately 3 – 8 minutes, depending on the size of your pasta.
Transfer the pasta to a strainer and drain.
Make your cavatelli by pressing it down with your thumb on to the countertop, pushing away from you
Roll the pasta in thin “sausages”/ropes
It should be no more than 1cm thick
Lastly, add your drained pasta to the ragu and let it simmer for 10 minutes to absorb all the lovely flavours of your ragu.
The small town of Praiano on the Amalfi Coast of Italy
Being from the southern tip of Africa meant that it was about a 24 hour journey before we finally arrived in the beautiful little town of Praiano, on the Amalfi Coast of Italy. The last stretch of the trip was done by bus from Sorrento, along the treacherous Amalfi Coast drive, and as the bus made its way around the corners it offered us little glimpses of its splendour.
I am not sure if it is the way that the houses seem to cling to the impossibly steep slopes rising out from the sea, the way lemon trees are planted at stupendous angles or the hypnotic beauty of the sea, speckled with white foam lines as speed boats and yachts make their way across the glistening blue ocean, but I fell completely and utterly in love with this place.
One of the views from our hotel room balcony
Just down the road from our hotel was a wonderful little restaurant called M’ama! (Via Umberto I, 72, Praiano). Located on top of another hotel it offered uninterrupted, panoramic views; in front of you, as far as the eyes could see, was just this mesmerising ocean and at the back was the beautiful mountains with houses dotted in between the green.
M’ama! The view towards the mountains.
Their food was amazing. Especially the seafood. Fresh, simple and delicious. Not trying to be too complicated and just letting the beautiful local produce do its thing. Think freshly made pasta, cooked to perfection, with clams and mussels, just dressed with some tomatoes, basil and some olive oil. Lemon sorbet. Wonderful wine. To top it all off, after the meal, we were presented with small, icy cold glasses with the local lemon liqueur called Limoncello. It was so cold that you could only take the smallest of sips at a time, but it was delicious and a perfect way to end off the night.
Perfection – looking out over the ocean.
On our last night in Praiano, we just had to go back to M’ama. After a wonderful meal, the little glasses made their appearance again. So I looked at hubby and asked whether he thought they would sell it to us. I really wanted to take a little piece of this paradise with me. When it was time to pay the bill we asked the waiter if this was possible but unfortunately it was not to be.
However, as we were making our way out the door, the waiter came rushing down the stairs. He spoke to the manager and explained that we were regular customers that week. And the manager gave permission to give the glasses to us for free. No sour endings here!
Salute!
Today this is one of my most treasured ornaments that we’ve brought back from any holiday. I can’t wait to return one day but until then, we will sip Limoncello at home and talk about when we are going to retire there. Dream big, I say!
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