Family celebration
Take time to enjoy life with those you care about with these simple, fresh takes on classic Italian ingredients, writes Carina Contini
Ihaven’t laughed as much in years. My 89-year-old mother has just missed a family funeral because she was on a pilgrimage in Croatia (I suppose you have to do something with your spare time when you’re that age). Returning home, with poise and grace oozing from her, Gucci rosary beads in hand, having heard she’d missed the funeral, she announced that she was planning her own party.
Yes, Mummy has decided to plan her own wake. And it’ll be taking place while she is still alive; she’ll be top of the table so she doesn’t miss her big day. I think it’s fabulous. Only my mother would insist we weren’t having her party without her. Celebrating life is part of our culture, Scottish and Italian, and sometimes we do wait until it’s too late.
Food has to be at the heart of any celebration as far as our family is concerned, it’s what brings us together. Good food feeds the soul. A warm smile, a big hug, a kind gesture, and a “thank you” all count too.
The joke is that Mummy will have another 50 parties, at least, but good food will be at the centre of all of them. All the recipes today are Italian. Anytime I dream of heaven, this is the place my heart sings its way to. Here are some favourite recipes that are simple to make but taste heavenly, I promise. n
@continibites Plum tomato, mozzarella and courgette flower salad
I love the classic Caprese salad of good buffalo mozzarella and deliciously ripe tomatoes, drizzled with a perfect extra virgin olive oil. When courgette flowers are in season I like to enjoy them raw on my favourite summer starter. This salad is the antidote to fried dough balls, and has bags of flavour too.
Serves four
400g of baby plum tomatoes 2 x 125g balls of buffalo mozzarella 4-6 courgette flowers small handful of small basil leaves 4 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil Maldon salt black pepper
1 Place the salad leaves on a large plate, then cut the tomatoes in half lengthways and scatter on top.
2 Tear or cut the mozzarella and scatter over the tomatoes.
3 Dress with extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and salt. Finally scatter the leaves of the courgette flowers on top. Enjoy right away.
Pasta alla checca
San Marzano tomatoes, they say, are the best in Italy. Grown on the volcanic slopes of Vesuvius, they are packed with vitamins, sunshine and flavour. Good quality Scottish plum tomatoes will work if you can’t source Italian ones. The sauce is raw and has to be made about 2 or 3 hours before you can use it so the flavours can marinate. This pasta is so tasty it doesn’t need Parmigiano but go for it if you prefer. One warning: you need a brilliant olive oil. It has to be coldpressed, preferably an estate oil. It’s extravagant but it’s the Real Mccoy. The difference between heaven and hell is the quality of your olive oil.
Serves four
800g fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes 300-400g of your favourite pasta 8-10 tbsp authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil (we use our family oil from I’ciacca) 2 cloves new season garlic about 20 to 30 leaves of fresh basil Maldon salt
1 Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water. Remove one tomato at a time and start to peel the skin from each. Once you have peeled all the tomatoes, cut them in half and remove all the seeds.
2 Cut the tomatoes into long strips and place in a large flat bowl. Dress with the oil, salt, garlic and basil and leave to marinate at room temperature for two or three hours.
3 Boil the pasta in well-salted boiling water. Drain the pasta well when al dente and then add to the room
temperature tomatoes. Check the seasoning and enjoy.
Raspberry and Edinburgh Raspberry Gin Liqueur syllabub
Syllabub is something we always made when I was little. I never knew it had alcohol in it. Strawberries are a lovely choice, but raspberries are perfectly sweet at the moment. Very gently wash and dry the raspberries well with kitchen towel to make sure they are clean and free from any hidden beasties.
Serves four
300g fresh raspberries, hulls removed, washed and dried (reserve 4 with the hulls for decoration) 300ml double cream 100ml raspberry gin liqueur (less if that sounds too much for you) 2 tsp light honey pretty, edible flowers to decorate – violas, for example
1 Whip the cream, gin liqueur and honey in a large bowl until it forms soft peaks.
2 Cut the raspberries in half and gently fold into the cream.
3 Choose pretty glasses and spoon in the raspberries and cream mixture equally between four glasses. Serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar and a raspberry and a viola or crystallized flower to decorate.