Baking and raw meat

We're a bit behind in the posting game here, but I really wanted to post these three things before the next round of great stuff still to hit TGL. First, for Andri's farewell dinner, Laura cooked a meat-theme meal, the starter of which was this carpaccio. Elia and me (and I think the rest) agreed that it was almost perfect (except perhaps for a millilitre of too much lemon juice). We had it with the focaccia here as well.

Later that week, I rediscovered baking in tins, which is actually a great thing, although for many years I didn't do it. At this point, I still had some fresh yeast and I used a left-over of yogurt, which I always find makes the bread really nice. Andri taught me a trick of how to fold up the dough in a way so that when it gets baked in the tin it becomes really evenly shaped and gets this line at the top which one knows from the bakery shops. Great stuff, indeed.

Burns Night!

I had bought haggis in Pitlochry (I went there with a freind who was visiting Scotland) because they told us a story of them being the best haggis in Scotland. I bought them for Elia although he had promised to make me try them long time before. So he proposed to make burns night at home. The Haggis preparation in it self is quite easy- just boil them. But Elia made the best mash potatoes ever, though I persistently objected to the long and complicated process he chose. I made some onion gravy to go with it. And some honey roast parsnips. It was great!

Voro ergo sum

Just to say I have updated my food page after the season's traveling... You may find it here.

The Lodge Christmas Party

So we celebrate our Christmas party with some Mulled Wine, a cheese board with about 8 types of cheese (Among them an interesting goat blue cheese, and also manchego, reblochon, vintage cheedar, gouda, brie, smoke cheese and goat soft cheese) We also had chicken liver pate, most people's favourite apparently, since it almost dissapear; and then black olive tapenade, aubergine pate, feta cheese, walnut and herbs pate, and beetroot relish. All homemade :)
I think everybody enjoyed it a lot.

Andri's Lamb

Andri got inspired one morning (apparently, with the help of Andreas' suggestions) adn decided to cook one of the lamb recipes from the Silver Spoon book: Lamb with Mushrooms. I would have never thought a creamy sauce with lamb, but it was so good, I think I may reproduce it for Christmas.

Silver Spoon

Re my last comment, I thought I'd just post the book cover and give people the link to the Amazon place for this encyclopedia Italian cook book. So here it is: 

 

It's a perfect Christmas gift, if you're still searching. This book also contains a whole section with 'Menues from Famous Chefs', which we've yet to try out, although we definitely should - at least some of them.

Pizza night!

I was very happy when the boys called me to ask whether I wanted to have pizza with them for dinner, particularly because Andri was making them. Andri doesn't cook a lot but he is very perfectionist when he does. The garlic bread that he makes is just perfect to me, and its texture and delicated flavour, so I though these pizzas were gonna be good!

And so they were, but I think Andreas was also involved in deciding the toppings.
We have one with mushrooms and feta cheese, another with anchovies, and the last, my favourite, with prosciutto, rocket and some pesto... mmm