There is so much to learn, but I’m really enjoying the process! Last Sunday, finally dry with lovely spells of sunshine during an otherwise very wet autumn, we have taken out the nets the previous owner has left behind and for the first time ever took down the ripe olives from our few trees. We only have 9 trees, some of them very heavy with fruit, some had barely any, so we only ended up with 12kg of olives, which all fitted in a big Esselunga bag. That same afternoon we took it down to a local frantoio in Torre, which was closed, but two lovely blokes who were there said we could drop them off and come pick up our oil 2 days later.

Sergio and Lara, who have around 100 trees had a really impressive harvest.

On Tuesday afternoon, having picked up Izzie and Ilan from school we stopped at the frantoio. It was open and busy and the smell in there was astonishing! I wish it could be bottled and preserved! It was like a freshly cut grass, but oily, olive like super fresh scent. Lovely community feel in there too, people come over with their harvest, all chat and look inside, in spite of the sign Ingresso Vietato.

So, we brought home a small can of fresh, cloudy olive oil, some of which was made with our olives. It cost 6 euro to have it made. I baked a small sourdough with pecans to go with it and it was an absolute treat.

We keep learning new things. My project for next spring is a small veggie garden under the olive trees, which will have to be well planned, as we need to flatten out some of the big slope we have. Then I will give all the olive trees a decent cut, I hope if we look after them, they will be more productive.

Tons of happiness nevertheless.

Out of 3 dishes I have made with that chunk of cinghiale, the last one was excellent. I decided to mince the remaining meat I had leftover from Sunday. I purchased a small, silly looking mincer especially for that purpose, it was hard work, but I got there in the end. All of the veggies from the sauce went in, plus some soaked porcini and also some cup mushrooms and onions that I had fried, there is always space for more flavour. It needed no extra seasoning. This filling went into some very sexy pierogi, that were finished off with crispy guanciale ( excellent idea, taken my cholesterol levels) and enjoyed thoroughly by all three of us.

That done and finished I will shelve my cinghiale ambitions for the time being, I will happily enjoy it cooked by someone else.

Summer has finished so abruptly this year, it felt like somebody switched off the light at the beginning of September. Lots of rain immediately followed, the pool got covered over a month ago, jackets were taken out. Nectarines disappeared from Esselunga, but there are plums, wonderful dark purple plums, which which I have baked a couple of times and shared the cake with the neighbours.

A breath of fresh air in terms of my sourdough baking. I neglected my starter a bit and it become unattractive in looks and smell, so I made a new starter from scratch and also decided to reduce the bread recipe by half and bake smaller loaves regularly, without wasting too much. I now tend to take the starter out of the fridge in the morning, get it warmed up and bubbly at room temperature, prepare the bread in the evening, leave to rise on the worktop overnight and bake it first thing in the morning while getting ready for school. This morning’s loaf is a beauty;

It was enjoyed with some canned tuna, avocado and tomatoes.

I should also mention that we have finally gotten around to testing our blood, Florek and I and we both have high cholesterol. It’s very annoying, as I really don’t think I cook unhealthily. Yes, we love cheese, but do we eat too much of it? Butter and full fat milk, yes, all the way, but in moderation, I think! And yet the numbers were ugly. I have started my daily pilates again, something must be done ( but butter stays!!).

With the help of Lau I have bought a chunk of wild boar meat( kinder in terms of cholesterol than regular pork), divided it in half and got cooking. The first batch was turned into cinghiale ragu, I used the recipe from youtube. It wasn’t a revelation, it must be said. We all ate it, but all agreed that my other, traditional ragu is much more exciting on the plate.

Last night after defrosting the other part of the meat I cooked it in the slow cooker, without recipe this time, following my instinct. Served in its own sauce with kluski slaskie and a lovely roasted beetroot salad. Again, nice, ok, not mind blowing in anyway. The roasted cinghiale Nadia treated us to a few weeks ago was the kind of plate to aim for. Still, I have some left for Wednesday lunch time, Steve will come over and help us chop up the mimosa tree that has fallen last weekend.

And the next weekend it will be time for our first ever olive harvest! Even if we get a bottle or 2 of olive oil from those few trees we have here- still, we’re doing it!

Internet is a wonderful tool sometimes. I had some pork in the oven, as we didn’t have pulled pork in too long, but I had no BBQ sauce to finish it or to serve it with. And we were not supposed to be leaving the house today, we were promised a new asphalt on the drive – but as it was raining, they will do it tomorrow, hopefully.

So I looked up how to make a simple and delicious BBQ sauce and I was stunned how easy and delicious it was. That’s why I’m keeping the recipe!

In my small KA food processor I blended about 160g of brown sugar, 125g of ketchup, about 60ml of white wine vinegar( red was recommended, I had none), 60ml of water, a good splash of worcester sauce, some mustard- traditional, I had no powdered one. Some hot paprika, salt and pepper. I simmered it for maybe 15 minutes and when I tasted it I was surprised at how good it was and it needed nothing else!

It went down a storm with our pulled pork burgers, the cucumbers seen on the photo have grown on the patio. 🙂 A glass of Italian Cabernet was enjoyed alongside.

Festa della Repubblica yesterday, it would have been a day off for everyone, if it didn’t happen to be Sunday. But we had guests for lunch and ended up spending a beautiful day with Laura, Dennis and Nadia and Cristian – it is priceless to have great neighbours!

Grilled octopus was my choice for our main course. Sometime ago Dennis cooked some for us before Christmas, it was spectacular, yesterday we made it even better. The beast was from Garfagnana, Dennis chucked it into the pot of boiling water with 3 bay leaves in it, no salt, having initially dipped it in 4 times “for shock effect”. It cooked for 30-40 mins, until the fork went into it easily, then the pot was taken off the heat and left to cool with its contents for about 3 hours. Then it was chopped up, seasoned with salt, pepper and lime juice and was ready to grill.

We served it on a delicious bed of broad bean puree, made with some fried aubergine and onions too and also grilled asparagus. Phenomenal plate of food, it tasted as good as it looked.

One has arrived at the point in one’s life, when one is ready to start making jam. 🙂 Ha!!

Our last shopping trip to Nice resulted in bringing( among shit loads of other foodie stuff) some blackcurrant jam, for the sole purpose of making my favourite cake, but also some raspberry confiture, which Izzie has destroyed within a couple of days. The strawberry season is slowly coming to an end, what we grow in the garden is nowhere near enough for jam making, not this year anyway, so I got 3 packets in Esse yesterday, got some Fruttapec and made some jam this morning, for the first time in my life. Hopefully not the last too. I really enjoyed making it.

I started with sterilising a few jars, washed, they went into the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees, while the lids sat in boiling water the same amount of time.

I took my time cooking down 1,5 kg of strawberries. When they were mostly all dissolved, but some pieces left for texture, I added 300g of sugar together with 1,5 packets of Fruttapec, I weighed it all, can’t be too sure you’re getting stuff right when making something for the first time.

Cooked and stirred the mixture for about 4 minutes, then divided it between my jars waiting on the side, screwed the lids on and turned the jars upside down for about an hour, before setting them straight up.

Once the stuff gets tasted and tested by all the Bankses, ideally on top of a wonderful toast, I might think of purchasing some jars and getting on with filling up a shelf in the pantry. Onwards and upwards!

Last September, a few weeks after we moved to Lucca, Laura and Dennis were our first guests for dinner in the new place. Last Sunday the situation repeated itself. The garden table and chairs and ombrellone have all been delivered, 98% of stuff is unpacked and finished, it was time to have lunch, or pranzo, as they say here. Italian summer is in full swing, it is bloomin’ hot, the patio resembles a frying pan, if one makes a mistake of walking out barefoot.

I couldn’t decide what to make for lunch; it’s baking hot, so we wouldn’t want anything heavy, but L&D are fellow foodies, so it had to be good. With Florek’s generous financial support I decided on Thai beef salad, but Italian version, without beansprouts ( not seen them anywhere yet!), for mains some grilled chicken of Donal Skehan’s recipe. Beef salad was a winner, the steak we bought in Esselunga was all but cheap and we could taste the quality, it was well rested and delicious, plus Dennis saved the day and brought 2 packs of fresh coriander I could not find on the day. Even Izzie had some and finished it!

Chicken thighs and some breasts, for those who don’t like meat on the bone( one such individual among us!) were marinating for 24 hours prior to cooking. Everyone liked it and it was enjoyed, I would’ve liked more heat, more chili next time. I used some grated fresh ginger, 4 grated garlic cloves, zest of 2 limes, 2 fresh chilis( but it’s always a lottery, these were not very hot), some fresh thyme, coriander, dried oregano, 3 tsps of all spice, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, 6 tbsps of ketchup, salt, pepper and oilve oil to bring it all together.

Chicken was grilled, served with fresh coriander and lime wedges. The only side was a nice, fresh salsa-mango, spring onions, cucumber without seeds, fresh chili, lime, coriander again, olive oil, s&p. Very nice indeed.

Before it was time for desserts, we hopped in the pool for a quick swim and a g&t.

A tasty, great day in an excellent company. Next time Dennis is going to teach me how to cook octopus.

11 months after we have left Winchcombe to embark on our new life in bella Italia, here I am, by the same table, but this table now stands in a house we have bought, after months of waiting, dealing with stuff, another round of packing boxes, then another one of unpacking them. We’ve here. Siamo arrivati. 🙂

There is a Tuscan kitchen, smaller than the one in Winchcombe, but the door the patio opens lots of new possibilities! There is a driveway, on which grows the most frangrant and wonderful thyme, lots and lots of mint on the sides. There are olive trees all around. There are neighbours who grow their own lemons and lots of wonderful looking veggies and also other neighbours above us, who make their own wine. Speaking of wine I must mention yesterday’s visit to a vineria Enrico and Molly recommended to us. Back in the UK the idea of buying and drinking wine from the tap at 2 euro per litre would have amused me, but I quickly changed my mind here. Enrico brought over some locally grown vermentino a few months back, then Molly gave me a bottle with a local sangiovese blend. We drove to Lammari yesterday with a box full empty bottles and filled them all up for less than 29 euro.

And because the wine is great and the service from Igor, the owner, just as good, we will go back when we run out of wine.

One of the nicest things made so far in the new kitchen was tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes, but spiked with fresh, chopped mint, as there is so much of it around. It was enjoyed with simple pasta for lunch, but also on a pizza.

And then, a few days ago I decided to have a go at making sourdough bread. Florek, true to his word, has treated me to a lovely, brand new oven, first one ever that I didn’t have to scrub before I put food in it.

I’m using Paul Hollywood’s “How to bake book”, which has an entire chapter on sourdough.

Right now my starter is comfortably bubbling away in the bowl, until tomorrow, when I will proceed to stage 2. By the end of the week we should be tasting some Torcigliano sourdough.

To be continued! 🙂