Beautiful Bologna

Everyone loves a good spag bol, right? I remember tasting my first 'exotic' meal as a kid in the form of slightly overdone spaghetti and a bright red sauce that inevitably resulted in a mouth that resembled crusty the clown. Fast forward 30 years and I think I have mastered the art of spaghetti Bolognese in the Giannasi household, although we generally use linguine. After many trips to Italy, I finally made it to Bologna this year and got to try out the real thing.

As you can see, authentic Bolognese is made with tagliatelle and you will be frowned upon if you ask for spaghetti Bolognese, it's just not a thing. While the ragu I tasted was delicious, it was nothing compared to the true Emilia-Romagna favourite, tortellini in brodo. Made from ham and cheese from nearby Parma and served in a classic broth, the flavours are simple but powerful, which is exactly what I love about Italian cooking. The best brodo we had was in a small restaurant in the centre of Bologna, Vicolo Columbina, that also served a great guinea fowl lasagne.

Almost every meal throughout our week in Emilia-Romagna consisted of a great antipasti board that was made up of local mortadella, ham, cheese and sausage. A particularly good platter came from Salumeria Simoni, a great little place to eat in or take away.

Of course, no trip to Italy would be complete without lots of Pizza and Gelato. The best of the pizza came from a little place that was very popular with locals at any time of the day,Pizzeria Due Torri, situated across the road from the two main towers in the city. The best gelato was hard to choose from as they were all great but Tasta Gelato just pipped the post ahead of Ugo, both on via San Felice.

A trip to Parma was quite understated, the food we had was ok but did not stand out and I felt like I missed a trick with the whole visit, maybe I need to read up on the best places to visit before another trip. What did stand out, as it always does, was a trip to Florence, especially as we had one of the best steaks I have ever had in the wonderful I'Tuscani 2.

Wherever you go in Italy you are met with people that are passionate about food and wine and something tells me that I will be heading back to Bologna one day. Until next time Italy!


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World Gin Night Recipes

Saturday 11th June is World Gin Day, yay! Yes, I know there is a day for everything these days and quite frankly nobody should want to celebrate 'World Marzipan Day' or 'Read a Road Map Day', but when it comes to gin any excuse to have a tipple is good for me.

Gin has experienced somewhat of a renaissance recently and all of the hipsters are drowning in bottles of the stuff. While it is slightly annoying how the whole world suddenly likes gin and dodgy 'gin bars' have popped up around the city, I love it and I am enjoying great new gin that has hit the market. I am quite partial to a Caorunn gin and the wonderful Liverpool gin but I am quite happy with Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire Star of Bombay.

In the spirit of World gin day, I plan on trying a few new gin recipes on Saturday evening and may just include these fabulous gin cocktails.

Runway Martini

This Liverpool Gin recipe sounds fresh and frisky for a hot summer evening.

Grilled Cherry Sour

Just look at the colour of this cocktail. With four simple ingredients, this grilled cherry sour is easy to make and is sure to pack a punch.

Southside Royal

If I am honest, I much prefer my gin served simply with a good quality tonic and traditional lemon and lime, which is why I fancy this zesty little number.

The Rhubarb Sour

With an abundance of rhubarb at my allotment at the moment this rhubarb sour looks like just the ticket, it's just a shame that the sun is not going to be out this weekend.

Summer Babe

I am partial to a Tom Collins but this 'Summer Babe' looks like she may just turn my head.

I think these are the best gin recipes that I have found, although I am sure that I will carry on looking! How do you like to enjoy your gin?

Liverpool Restaurants: Miyagi's

Image Mr Miyagi

Once again, it has taken me way too long to get around to visiting a "new" Liverpool restaurant, as life, work and a pre-schooler means that you don't get out as much as I used to. I have promised to make more of an effort this year to see more people instead of forever saying "we should meet up" and not seeing it through, but we will see how it goes! Anyway, I finally made it to Bold Street's Mr Miyagi, an Asian fusion restaurant and bar that has been getting rave reviews since it opened last summer. Apart from the odd few restaurants (Etsu and Yuet Ben come to mind),  Liverpool is a bit thin on the ground when it comes to good quality Oriental food, so I was looking forward to trying somewhere new.

First impressions were really good; cool decor, nice lighting, friendly staff and not too much hipster nonsense. On this particular occasion, I was not in a cocktail mood, but there were some pretty decent sounding drinks on the menu including The Bride in the Hood: fresh peach, vanilla, yuzu juice, palm sugar, grenadine, egg white sake and Beefeater gin. I think I will try a few cocktails next time I go as there will be a next time. Everything that we (me, Husband and our 4-year-old chopstick fanatic) ate was really good and there were lots more dishes on the menu that I NEED to try.

The menu is quite extensive and is split into a selection of starters/sharing dishes, 'big bowls' and Japanese classics sushi and yakitori. My meat loving little one wanted the beef teriyaki that was wonderfully tender and packed full of flavour although, in Sofia's words "it could have been a little pinker" and we also shared the black pig gyoza with plum chilli jam which was so good. The outside of the gyozas were light and crispy and the inside was jam packed full of meat which I was rather glad about, I hate it when you get a load of mush, but this was proper meat!

Image Mr Miyagi

The food is served as and when it is ready which meant that we could eat tapas style and pick from each others plates rather than a straightforward starter, main, dessert, which is the best way to eat in my opinion. Our other chosen dishes were the 'chicken for the soul' ramen, Togarashi confit duck with Hirata buns and samurai fries with (the best) kimchi mayonnaise. The ramen was nothing to write home about, but it was what you would expect and, to be fair, I only picked this dish to share with my daughter and I would have much preferred the delicious sounding Laksa. I tasted my husband's buns (oo err) and the were very good indeed, the wasabi celeriac slaw was crisp and not too overpowering so was a great match for the sweet duck.

I was truly stuffed by after eating all of the above but when I saw custard donuts on the menu I just couldn't resist. The donuts came in small balls, much like an African mandazi, with the homemade  cold custard on the side. The donuts were a little stodgy and the custard slightly too thick, but I still managed to polish them up, I love custard. After settling our very reasonable bill and finishing off our beers we went home feeling very satisfied and looking forward to visiting again soon. With such a great menu I am sure we will go back many times, as long as we can get a seat as there are no reservations and it is proving to be, very rightly, popular.

Easy Chicken Thigh and Barley One-Pot

Barley is a food that will be forever linked to my childhood as it brings back memories of Saturday afternoons spent at Nanna Kitty's house enjoying a big bowl of barley soup. My dad always makes a great bowl of chicken and barley soup, as can I but nothing quite beats my nan's recipe.

Barley is packed full of fibre, vitamins and minerals and has shown to help reduce cholesterol so it not only tastes great but is good for your health.

Image Sticky Goey, Creamy, Chewy

With winter now well and truly in swing there is nothing better than a hearty soup or a warm casserole to give your body a little hug. Over New Year, I made a one-pot ham and barley casserole and it went down really well with everyone who tasted it, so I thought I would try it with chicken this week. I love cooking with chicken thighs as they are so versatile and are packed with much more flavour than a boring chicken breast. I left the skin on mine, but if you want to reduce the fat content then you can remove the skin.

Ingredients

2 rashers of smokey bacon (cut into strips)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large carrot, chopped
1 stick of celery, chopped
Chicken Thighs ( I used 5)
Small bunch of fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
125g of barley
250ml Chicken stock
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Seasoning

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°/gas mark 5
2. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the bacon until browned. Add the chicken thighs to brown
3. Add the carrot, celery and onion and cook until softened then add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes
4. Add the barley, white wine vinegar, rosemary and stock and bring to the boil
5. Season then transfer into a casserole dish and cook in the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. You may need to add some water if the barley has soaked up the stock but it is still a bit too chewy. You may need to add further seasoning also.

I am really sorry that I have not got a picture, I asked my husband to take it out of the oven for me and he served it up before I could get a good picture. I will be making it again soon, I'm sure, so will post it then.