Perfect Pasta

Yesterday Tastes Deli, in Eton, was visited by a lovely couple, stocking up on the spaghetti they brought from us a few weeks previously. It being the best spaghetti they'd found, of course. While they were here, they admitted to reading this blog. I wasn't sure there were any real people out there reading along. Very motivating for me! What better way to repay loyal readership than a blog post about their favourite spaghetti! So here it is ....

Rustichella d' abruzzo Spaghetti was one of the first things I stocked at Tastes Deli. It should have been here on our opening day, but if I remember correctly, was delayed in transit somewhere and actually arrived two days later. It rapidly became a firm favourite with our regular customers and we sold that first case within a month. It retained its space on our pasta shelf for many years, while other products came and went. Then in September 2012 the importer we used discontinued the spaghetti. I bulk bought a lot before it disappeared, but eventually my stocks ran out. It wasn't until February this year that I found a new supplier. Rustichella spaghetti returned to Tastes Deli and is selling better than ever.

Why, you may ask? It's just spaghetti. Well... this is no ordinary spaghetti. 

Rustichella spaghetti is cast from bronze dies (the pasta dough is forced through small holes on a bronze disc to create the strands). This gives it a very rough surface, ideal for absorbing sauce. It is air dried for 56 hours and made from just two ingredients: Durum Wheat Semolina and Water. It has a wonderful springy texture when cooked, which takes about 9-11 minutes.

Just recently I was given a copy of the Rustichella catalogue. Possibly the most beautiful product list I've ever received. Packed with stunning photographs and delightful illustrations. It even has waxed paper between some of the pages like an old fashioned photograph album. It's also a really interesting read, with lots of detail on the history of pasta. Did you now pasta dates back to ancient Rome and Greece and it is believed the Arabs introduced died pasta cooked in boiling water, during the conquest of Sicily? According to the catalogue this particular spaghetti was first produced in 1924, is rough-textured, yellow to white in colour with a solid consistency and slightly bran-like taste. So now you know!

Rustichella spaghetti was the spaghetti of choice of Heston Blumenthal in his In Search of Perfection series (episode 7, the pasta part starts around 21 minutes in if you can find the episode). So for anyone looking for the perfect spaghetti bolognese recipe then a pack of this pasta and his recipe for sauce is a great start. Delia Smith's Ragu recipe in "Complete How to Cook" came to me very highly recommended by a customer, and I've managed to impress every time I've made it at home. It doesn't seem to be on Deli Online, but there is a similar recipe listed (it doesn't include any chicken livers which I'm sure are in the original). The spaghetti is also delicious with a simple pesto dressing, or sometimes I pour over a jar of Olive Branch Aubergine and Basil paste. 

I've just started a pinterest board for spaghetti recipes. I'll be trying some out over the next few weeks, but one which caught my eye immediately used cauliflower  (the romanesco cauliflowers are in season right now!). 

Tapas

At Tastes Deli we sell lots of unusual and hard to find ingredients. I get to experience "The Delia Effect" first hand and see exciting trends emerging in what people are cooking and buying. Such as the sudden demand for pomegranate molasses, sumac and za'atar (thanks Yottam Ottolenghi) or marshmallow fluff (Hummingbird Bakery and their Whoopie Pies).

One of the most satisfying parts of my job is when someone comes to the shop for the very first time, driven by a desire to track down a particular item they need for a recipe but have been unable to find anywhere else. It's great to be able to say we have the elusive item and take them to it.  More often than not, a conversation ensues about the journey to find this ingredient, or the recipe(s) for which it is essential.

And so it was that I was told about the Morito App. Morito, the tapas bar of Moro, published its own cook book in 2014, along with an accompanying free app (i phone and i pad only). The app turns out to be a mini recipe e-book with enticing photography.

Queue, four happy hours cooking tapas dishes at home and far far too much food!

Peas, Gem Lettuce & Sweet Herbs.
Cous Cous with Broad Beans, Cumin & Yoghurt.
Grilled Onion, Pepper & Lentil Salad.
And my favourite: Beetroot, Almonds & Mint.
Plus some Morito flat breads which don't appear in the app, although the recipe is elsewhere online.



With the exception of the red peppers and the fresh pomegranate, all the veggies were English and every ingredient can be found at Tastes Deli! I made four portions of four of the dishes, plus two portions of the cous cous and spent just £15 on the vegetables. We ate like Kings for days afterwards!

Ultra Local Produce

The most local product on sale at Tastes Delicatessen at the moment are the gooseberries. Grown in Tom's "secret garden" less than 50 metres from the shop. Yes metres, not miles!

Tom harvests the fruits every year and usually distributes them among his friends and family (and his trusted deep freeze). Last year he started to supply our shop as well; to give those who he doesn't know a chance to enjoy the delicious tart berries.  Gooseberries don't seem to be available in the supermarkets and there aren't any wild bushes near here, so demand is high. Tom is picking at the moment and I have a waiting list of customers to reserve berries for when he comes in!

This year's supply started last week and already customers are returning for their second batch; having stewed them, made jam, compote and fools. There is something pleasing about being able to create a dish using a fruit picked just hours before and I'm sure the enjoyment is enhanced when you know it is unlikely to be repeated until next year.  I really enjoy hearing about the dishes our customers have created.

Today a customer popped in for spelt flour to create a cake with the gooseberries she bought yesterday. She even bought the recipe with her; from Diana Henry's A Change of Appetite. I had a quick flick through the book. Some really lovely looking dishes in there, mouthwatering and beautifully presented. The gooseberry, almond and spelt cake looks fantastic. If anyone else fancies trying it, the recipe is available online at www.sourdough.co.uk. I think I've found a week's worth of Diana Henry dinner recipes now!

Other gooseberry recipes I've heard good things about include:
Gooseberry Curd from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (while searching for that online I found 3 other good looking Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall gooseberry recipes)
Gooseberry & Vanilla Jam from BBC Good Food.
Gooseberry Fool from Nigel Slater.
Gooseberry & Elderflower Fool from the National Trust.
Gooseberry Cobbler from Delia Smith.
And Tom says just stew them with a bit of water and serve with a dollop of cream.

How to Cheat at Cooking

Whenever Delia Smith, "the nation's favourite cook", launches a new book you can expect a great deal of media attention. Her latest book and television series: "How to Cheat at Cooking" is no exception, generating both acclaim and impassioned debate about the ingredients used and the recipes themselves. Frozen mashed potato and tinned mince aside, a common challenge facing Delia's fans this time around is the difficulty in obtaining the ingredients featured in the book. Many are not carried by the major super markets. This is where we come in!

On hearing what would be in the new book, and realising that many of the items were already being sold at Tastes (and not in the major supermarkets), I set out to source a few more of the high quality and hard to find items. Whilst the series runs on the television and until the end of 2008 at least, Tastes will be able to offer more than thirty of the specialist ingredients used in Delia's book. Many of these are old favourites of ours, some are making a special appearance and will only remain on sale if sales are sufficient.

So if you are hunting high and low for any of these, pop along to Eton:
Vietnamese Spring Roll Wrappers (traditionally made with rice flour so naturally wheat free and essential for making spring rolls at home).
Smoked Spanish Paprika
Tracklements chilli jam
Baked Aubergines
Peraud fish soup
English Provender Company Very Lazy Caramelised Red Onions
Green and Black's Chocolate
Antipasto in a jar (olives, mushrooms and artichoke hearts)
Mother's Garden extra virgin olive oil
Nabisco Premium Saltine crackers from the US
Seasoned Pioneer Spice Blends (we carry the 10 Delia used plus a lot more).
Sapori di Napoli and Martelli Italian pasta
Jars of chillies
Coco Lopez creamed coconut (a sweetened coconut milk designed for making pina colada)

Tales of nice people

I think I've said before that it is the people I meet every day that makes running the deli so enjoyable. But it isn't just the wonderful food producers, it is the customers as well. Dan, who sells his wife Anila's, curry sauces at the Windsor farmers market, has been telling his customers that if they run out mid month they can now buy the same products in the new delicatessen in Eton. (He's a very nice man!). His customers have been popping in to see what else I sell, which has been wonderful! I got chatting to one and he told me about a recipe involving Halloumi and Capers (both of which I sell). He was having it for his dinner and very excited about it. And it did sound good; simple and tasty. The next day he came back with a photocopy from his wife's recipe book so I could make the same meal. (How very nice and unexpected!) And last week I did. And it was good. And easy. And the only thing it needed that I didn't sell was a lime and some fresh coriander. I happened to have a lime at home and made do without the coriander. And it was good. Delicious, quick and easy. I've since found the recipe on Delia's website so thought I would paste it here and share with some more people. Thank you Dan and the customer whose name I don't yet know!

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/fried-halloumi-cheese-with-lime-and-caper-vinaigrette,1315,RC.html