Chunky Vegetable Minestrone

2 carrots
1 onion
200g celery
2 pints vegetable stock
1 leek
100g green cabbage
2 tomatoes
50g soup pasta

Chop the carrots, oniions and celery, gently fry in a lrge saucepan until softened. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the pasta shredded cabbage, finely sliced leek and skinned, deseeded, chopped tomatoes. Cook for a further 15 minutes. Season to taste.

Pesto Sauce

In a blender whizz together, 50g basil, 1 large garlic glove, 1 tbsp pine nuts, 6tbsp olive oil, and 50g pecorino romano. When you have a smooth paste its ready.

Meatballs

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

250g minced pork
250g minced beef
1 egg
2 tbspns freshly grated parmesan
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
3 tbspns semolina or breadcrumbs
good grind black pepper
1 tspn salt
Just put everything in a large bowl, and then, using your hands, mix to combine, before shaping into small balls. Place the meatballs on baking sheets or plates that you have lined with clingfilm, and put in the fridge as you finish them.

for the Tomato sauce:

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tbspn butter
1 tbspn olive oil (not extra virgin)
700g bottle tomato passata
pinch sugar
salt and pepper
100ml full fat milk
Put the onion, garlic and oregano into the process and blitz to a pulp. Heat the butter and oil in a deep wide pan, then scrape the onion-garlic mix into it and cook over a low-medium for about 10 minutes. Don't let the mixture catch, just let it become soft. Add the bottle of passata and then fill the empty bottle half full with cold water. Add this to the pan with the pinch of sugar, some salt and pepper, and cook for about 10 minutes. The tomato sauce will appear thin at this stage, but don't worry as it will thicken a little later. Stir in the milk, and then drop the meatballs in one by one. Don't stir the pan until the meatballs have turned from pink to brown as you don't want to break them up. Cook everything for about 20 minutes, with the lid only partially covering it. At the end of cooking time, check the seasoning as you may want more salt and a grind or two more of pepper.

Italian shopping spree

I am, an italiaphile. One day I'm sure I'll get around to learning the lingo and perhaps even visiting. Until then I'll contend with cooking the food and drinking the wine.

My spending spree bought me:-
100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Olive oil wil juniper berries and bay leaves
olive oil with oregano
Olive oil with pink pepper corns and rosemary
Lemoncello
Risotto rice
Crissini

and a spanish chorizo

Olive Oil

What is extra virgin olive oil?
Before we can understand ‘extra virgin’ we first have to clarify the word ‘virgin’. What it describes, quite simply, is oil pressed from the fruit of the olive tree under conditions that cause no deterioration of the finished oil – the olives are not damaged, bruised or subjected to adverse temperatures or too much air, and they must not have undergone any additional treatment such as heat or blending (other than with other virgin olive oil). The supreme quality is measured by acidity or, more precisely, the lack of it – too much acidity gives a harsher flavour, which can, with skill, be refined out. What is simply termed olive oil is often a blend of lesser-quality refined oils with some virgin added to give the right balance of flavour.

Extra virgin olive oil could, in fact, have another name – perfect virgin olive oil, because this is precisely what it is: virgin olive oil with no flaws whatsoever. By law the acidity of extra virgin olive oil is never more than 0.8 per cent, and what does this mean? Flavour. First there is an aromatic fragrance, then a sweetness not marred by acidity, and then an abundant taste of fruit, verdant and luscious, not tasting like olives exactly but like some other mysterious, unique fruit. Like very fine wine, extra virgin olive oil is both rich and flavoursome.

Which country produces the best olive oil?
Difficult to answer, this. The olives of each country have their own character and flavour, which will even vary from region to region: a Tuscan olive oil, for instance, is different to a Ligurian olive oil. If I were being a purist I would suggest that Provençal dishes should be made with oils made in Provence, and Italian, Greek or Spanish dishes made with the oil produced in that country. But unless you do masses of cooking it’s best to find an olive oil you’re happy with, and my recommendation is to have an extra virgin oil for special occasions, along with an everyday