eat

After the Eat & Snap group on Saturday the die hards decided to go for a cocktail at one of the interesting looking venues along Maltby Street.  We settled on Little Bird Gin because it had pretty glasses.  Yup that is the way these bloggers roll.  We sat at an old sewing table and found some vintage scissors and a bobbin inside.

I have to admit the drink was a little strong for my palette but I’d buy another one and sit down there on a lovely weekend all the same.

It is quite funny how when you start looking for something it pops up.  As part of Eat & Snap I suggested some things people should look for to ‘concentrate the mind’ as it were.  One of those things was red.  You can see it popped up very prominently at the table we sat at.  As well as in a few of my other photos of the day.

On Friday I started planning for a recipe that Tim and I could film.  It was similar to things I had made in the past, a zucchini cake inspired by a recent purchase (La Cucina).

Unfortunately, my baking calculations didn’t succeed and the cake (more a loaf) didn’t turn out quite as planned.  So back to the kitchen.  But in the meantime you can enjoy a movie.  I am sure with the abundance of zucchini coming into season in season I will get the chance to experiment a bit more.  You know that whole thing about baking being a science.  Yeah that is true (despite my successes at normally just throwing things in a bowl).

Lesson learned: perfect a recipe before making a movie!

If you get this by email or on your phone you can check out the video here: Zucchini Cake (by Tim)

Last weekend I bought some frozen peas.  And then accidentally left them out.  So I had to eat a whole bag of peas very quickly.  With spring in the air I didn’t really feel like I wanted to make soup to eat the whole week.  So after a little search on pinterest I came up with a couple easy options for things to do with peas.  Bonus: they are all pretty cheap and healthy meals and fit perfectly with one of spring to do goals.

Pea pesto:  Inspired by this amazing looking pesto I went for a much simpler version using what was in the cupboard.  Good on toast or pasta, and I really want to try it as a pizza base like in the inspiration recipe.  Something I will definitely make again.

Pea ‘sauce’ with gnocchi:  Again inspired by this gnocchi sauce via pinterest but I didn’t have cream so it was a lot thicker.  I fried some leeks and then added two cups of peas, added some garlic (roasted or like this) and then heated it up with a bit of water and salt.  I always pan fry my gnocchi to give it a bit of bite and it worked really well with a dollop of ricotta.

Any more suggestions? I might just go defrost a bag of peas now …

I like to think of myself as a bit of a gelato expert.  I have no idea how to make the lovely stuff (although I have dreams of having a gelateria in Italy one day) but i have tasted an awful lot of it from a large number of establishments (particularly in Italy).  I feel it is my duty to try as many gelaterias as possible when on holiday in order to find some of the best.  It is always the first thing I research when I head to my favourite country.

Before we move onto the best gelato in Venice, it is important to note that gelato is not ice-cream.  This is a really useful infographic, but basically gelato uses less butter fat (so is better for you!), has less air and is served at a higher temperature than ice-cream.  This means that it melts quicker once in your mouth and the flavour is released faster giving you an instant flavour punch plus is a lot creamier.

Okay, to the places we tried. I can’t guarantee, of course, that I had the best gelato in Venice but I can certainly recommend a few places.  I made a map!  I have numbered them in the order that we tried them, although I have realised that I have know left one off (it was more ice-cream than gelato so avoid the red lettered gelateria in the corner on St Stefano Palazzo). (Yup that is dedication, 4 nights – 6 gelato tastings!).

1. Alaska Gelateria was one of the internet suggestions I found.  On the first day in Venice we ended up walking for a very long time and after finding a place for lunch I realised we weren’t far from this place.  Unfortunately it was a bit disappointing.  The flavours were interesting enough but I would say that it was a little too much ice-cream and didn’t have the smooth and creamy texture that a gelato should have.
2. Ca d’Oro had a very modern and sleek interior (which I quite like).  The flavours were a bit safer but it was much of an improvement on the first try.  I went for my favourite combination of pistachio and chocolate.  I would have preferred a more intense chocolate but it was definitely good.
3. We had gelato from Majer after an hour plus walk to try and find the Museum of Fabric and Costume, which we then discovered was closed until May and then went to the Natural History Museum instead.  Sitting in the nearest palazzo eating gelato was the perfect remedy for my sore feet.  I have a feeling it might be a chain (although I didn’t see any other gelaterias with the name I had spotted some deli type stores with the same name) but it was still pretty good.  Again only a small selection was available but it was delicious.
4. Grom is a chain that we have tried before in Bologna.  On our last day as we passed one on our way to number 5, concern that number 5 would be as disappointing as number 1 made me suggest a ‘sure thing’ for our last day.  There was a good queue outside and their flavours  include some standards as well as some more adventurous ones.
5. As it happened we then passed Gelateria il Doge which had a massive queue of Italians outside.  I had to try it.  I ended up getting their ‘Crema il Doge’ (or something close to that) which was a cream flavour with chocolate saucy bits and orange peel.  I love traditional Italian flavours that might not be so well known to the foreigner and really enjoyed this.

I didn’t get to to trying all the suggestions on the internet (partly because I couldn’t seem to find them before but there seem more that came up in my searches now), but tried a few places.  So when you head to Italy and you don’t have any suggestions of where to go here are some tips for spotting the good gelaterias from the tourist traps:

1. Because gelato is served warmer than ice-cream it melts faster.  Those shops with mile high towers of frozen dessert are unlikely to have the creamy texture of gelato because they would just melt.  Unless there is a massive queue (preferably of Italians) avoid it.
2. Look at the colour of the gelato.  If you spot bright blue bubblegum carry on walking.  A good marker is always the pistachio.  It should have a subtle light green colour (as shown below).
3. When put in a cup/cone it should have a softer consistency than ice-cream.  This doesn’t form perfect little ice-cream balls but is more pliable and has a more rustic look.
4. Look for some unique flavours.  Why would you want to go to Italy and have plain chocolate when you can have cioccolata noir with little chocolate nibs for an intense chocolate hit.
5. Ask an Italian eating gelato!

I hope you find this useful if setting off for Venice (or Italy generally) and would love any suggestions if you have been.  You never know when I’ll head back.

I am not sure what happened to the “healthy” Italian diet.  These ‘plain’ cornettos (that’s Italian for croissant) where sprinkled very liberally with sugar.  Our hotel cornetto options were either filled with sugary jam or chocolate spread.  Admittedly, they might just think the tourists like a liberal helping of carbs while they are all secretly eating fruit somewhere.

This rather large doughnut looking item above is a buranello – a traditional biscuit from the island of Burano.  Of course I went for the chocolate covered one.  Lots of gelato was also had (I’ll share my recommended places next week).

Anyway, for a good chunk of a year now I have been eating horrendously (and the holiday in Venice was just the sugar on top).  It is not unknown for me to polish off a packet of biscuits.  And I have got into terrible habits of not cooking enough from scratch, treating myself for a long day at work and a rather pavlovian reaction to a visit to Marks and Spencers and getting one of their bakery chocolate biscuits.

Last year I gave up sugar for a month in a bid to reset my eating habits.  It worked really well until I went on a two month holiday (after which I never recovered).  My willpower with food is incredibly weak but I have a theory that willpower is like a muscle and the more you exercise it the stronger you get.  So despite having a WHOLE SHELF OF SUGAR in the house I gave up sugar as from Monday.  I am still eating fruit but no fruit juice or dried fruit and will be trying my utmost to avoid high sugar foods along with all the normal junk.  It sounds hard but I didn’t struggle too much last time so hopefully it will be the same this time.

Any tips or recipes much appreciated.

Well I had to make use of my charity shop find from a few months ago.

I wanted to find a healthier sugar cookie recipe so that I could use a cookie cutter and thought these would do.  Based on a recipe from the Moonblush Baker I paired it down to something pretty ‘simple’ in flavour. Peanut buttery but still with a bit of healthy tasting-ness.  I still used some butter but think you could take it out totally and use coconut oil instead.

Ingredients:

• 240g spelt flour
• 80g smooth peanut butter
• 30g butter
• 30g coconut oil
• 40g icing sugar
• 1 flax seed “egg”
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, oil, butter and peanut butter in a food processor until it looks like bread crumbs
2. Add the flax egg and vanilla extract
3. Start pulling the dough together and form it into two discs
4. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the freezer for half an hour or fridge for two hours
5. Roll out the dough (with a bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin) to a thin even layer
6. Cut out the dough with a cookie cutter (it’s okay if you don’t have a bunny)
7. Place the cookies on greased and papered tray and put in the fridge for another 30 minutes
8. Preheat oven to 180°
9. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes and let cool

Have a lovely Easter weekend!