Carluccio's

I was catching up on my ‘mentions’ over on Twitter the other morning when I noticed that the Italian chef Antonio Carluccio was a member on there, naturally I clicked to follow him. Not only did I click the follow button but I clicked the profile button too; a dangerous thing of course as it then drew me onto looking at his delightful website/online store. As per my standard behaviour I ended up adding a few ‘essentials’ to my virtual shopping basket and a small(ish) order was placed.

The large box of exceedingly well packaged delights arrived the following day and two of the items became tonights dinner – fresh egg fettucce pasta and a jar of ragu di lepre (hare sauce).

Ragu di lepre is one of my all time favourite Italian dishes and generally the first thing I make a beeline for when I visit the beautiful country. I first ate it in a tiny trattoria in the Trastevere district of Rome; an area that hasn’t lost the ‘local’ feel and charm. Whilst the rest of Rome may feel cosmopolitan and incredibly modern Trastevere somehow doesn’t; it has kept its strong local (working class) identity; happen it is because it is separated by geography too – being separated from central Rome by the river Tiber. In Trastevere internet cafes are happily nestled side-by-side with gloomy ancient premises of uncertain function, trendy bars lie next to traditional bakeries down narrow cobbled lanes.

Image courtesy of Google Images.

That’s enough, I’ve said enough, Trastavere is Romes hidden secret gem and if I keep telling you all how nice it is, it won’t stay hidden for much longer

According to Carluccio’s website the ragu di lepre was based on a recipe from the Piemonte region but I have to confess it was most like the versions I have eaten both in Rome and Umbria. The ragu was spot on, it hit all the right key notes in flavour and texture.  When I considered how much pasta I’d got cooking and then looking at the small quantity of sauce I thought I’d made a big error, much as I like the Italian route of little sauce to lots of pasta the rest of the family are not always quite as keen, however with a tablespoon or so of the pasta water left clinging to the beautifully cooked al dente fettucce the sauce morphed and mingled its way through the golden strands to create one of lifes most wonderful pleasures when it comes to simple cooking – a bowl full of heartwarming, memory evoking pasta. We both throughly enjoyed it.

As for the pasta, well I’m always on the lookout for good pastas. They form a large part of the backbone of my pantry; perfect for speedy pre night shift meals that need to fuel me but not leave me feeling ‘stuffed’ and sleepy, wonderful for meals for one when a lot of preparation cannot be faced and for the times when you want to create decadent meals for guests. Pasta is most versatile, suiting any situation you wish of it; now if only I could convince my mother, hmmm.

This fettucce genuine all’uovo is made with at least 25% eggs making it incredibly rich both in colour and taste. It is apparently the use of  a bronze dye in the production process that leads to its rough and ready texture, perfect for helping sauces cling and stopping that terrible fate suffered all too much by pasta and sauce in the UK, the sauce simply being in one area of the plate and the pasta the other alla spaghetti Bolognese – a British created culinary travesty if ever there was one.

I will be ordering many more boxes of this pasta, it was so good I’d have been happy to eat a plateful of it simply adorned with a trickle of olive oil or a dot of unsalted butter. Trust me, its flavour and texture was out of this world.

A very beautiful pasta, wouldn’t you agree?

According to Carluccio’s website the ragu di lepre was based on a recipe from the Piemonte region but I have to confess it was most like the versions I have eaten both in Rome and Umbria. The ragu was spot on, it hit all the right key notes in flavour and texture.  When I considered how much pasta I’d got cooking and then looking at the small quantity of sauce I thought I’d made a big error, much as I like the Italian route of little sauce to lots of pasta the rest of the family are not always quite as keen, however with a tablespoon or so of the pasta water left clinging to the beautifully cooked al dente fettucce the sauce morphed and mingled its way through the golden strands to create one of lifes most wonderful pleasures when it comes to simple cooking – a bowl full of heartwarming, memory evoking pasta.

Of course I couldn’t resist getting myself a copy of Antonio’s latest book Antonio Carluccio’s Simple Cooking, either, after reading several good reviews by fellow Twitter members I felt a compulsion too great to fight. Once I’ve had time to curl up with the book and a couple of glasses of Carluccio’s wine and a listen to some Italian music, I’ll get back to you with my thoughts.