After 3 months of living at Via di Poggio we decided it was time to resume our social life and get some nice people over for dinner. No one better than Laura, our Italian teacher, a fellow foodie and wine fan and her man Dennis we only met for the first time. In terms of food I decided not to cook Italian food for the Italians, I went with what I know and I can do well ( with limited ingredients, I realized I won’t do ponzu dressing for duck tataki, as I have no rice vinegar, but Chief Masaki came to the rescue again via messenger and told me to skip the vinegar altogether and use soy sauce, lemon juice and some honey, I did and it worked a treat, no surprise!).

So we started with prawn toasts, Marion’s, but simplified, again. On a thinly sliced baguette out of Conad I have thickly spread the blitzed mixture of king prawns, fresh chili, some coriander, spring onions, garlic, all well seasoned with salt and sesame oil( no fish sauce in my pantry currently). This sprinkled with black sesame seeds was then quickly deep fried, prawn side down first and then drained on kitchen towel and finished off with a drizzle of sweet chili sauce. I’m keeping this recipe, not a piece was left! Photos are by Dennis, skilled cook himself I hear.

After that the mentioned duck tataki, followed by char siu pork with basmati rice and broccoli. For dessert creme brulee, not caramelised due to no gas in the blow torch situation, but roasted plums did the job instead.

3 bottles of wine completed the picture alongside some mature cheddar Floro brought from England and a piece of comte.

Era una buona serrata! 🙂

One of the best ones I’ve ever made. Everything eaten, to the last grain of rice, all the Bankses were fed and happy.

Before Laura came over today for another productive Italian lesson, I had roasted my pumpkin with some olive oil and a some red onion for sweetness. I mentioned to her that I was looking for some Asian ingredients and condiments( that’s following a chat with Steve) and she directed me to a place in Lucca, where I could find some. So right after school we went home longer way, found a small Asian place and I bought a few things they have never heard of in my favourite Esselunga. I’m dying for some Chinese food, for some spice and some kick and tomorrow I’ll be making some char siu pork.

This evening however we had risotto. All the usual procedures while making a good risotto, good chicken stock, good Umbrian vermentino, excellent parmesan and that roasted pumpkin puree, which I kept adding every time I added more stock. I’m still in awe of guanciale ( sometimes we are low on milk, but there is always a pack of guanciale in the fridge), so I topped my risotto with some of this crispy, wonderful pork and pinoli, for texture. Very pleased with it. Also excited, as last time I made bao buns was a very long time ago. 🙂