Food Glorious Food

Paris, France

Le Petit Pont

Le Petit Pont cafe' is a fabulous place for Breakfast, located near the Latin Quarter in Paris. Enjoy a Crossaint and Coffee while you take in the view while passers by from all around the world share a moment and admire the morning.

Le Bistrot 30'

French Potato Salad with capers and radish

The Latin Quarter

The latin quarter is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. The area houses many students as the University and Library is nearby. There is an abundance of restaurants and bars which evoke bohemian images of Paris, which continues to attract tourists from around the globe. If you wish to experience the traditional tastes of Paris then you must visit the Latin Quarter.

Barcelona, Spain

Seafood Paella



Ingredients

• 6 boneless chicken breasts or thighs,

preferably free-range or organic, skin on, each quartered
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• plain flour, for dusting
• olive oil
• 100g chorizo, sliced
• 6 slices pancetta or streaky bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 litres hot chicken stock, preferably organic
• 2 large pinches of saffron
• 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
• 500g paella rice
• small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked

and chopped, stalks chopped
• 2 handfuls peas, fresh or frozen
• 10 king prawns
optional: 500g mussels, scrubbed
• optional: 2 small squid, halved and scored

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5.

Season the chicken pieces and dust with flour.

Heat a little olive oil in a large deep pan

 and fry the chicken until golden brown on both sides.

 Place the pieces on a baking tray

 and into the oven for 30 minutes.

Put the pan back on the heat. Add the sliced chorizo

 and pancetta or bacon and fry until browned

 and crispy. Then add the onion and garlic

 and cook until soft. Meanwhile infuse half the hot

 chicken stock with the saffron. Add the smoked

 paprika, rice and infused stock and leave

 to cook on a medium heat, stirring from time to time.

After 20 minutes the rice should be nearly cooked.

 At this point, pour in the rest of the stock

 along with the peas, prawns, and the mussels

 and squid if you are using them. Place a lid

 on the pan and cook for 10 minutes more.

Finally, add the cooked chicken and serve

 sprinkled with chopped parsley and a wedge of lemon.

Tapa Tapa

Seafood Paella

Variety of Tapas

Churros

If you are a lover of sweets you absolutely must try the famous spanish doughnut, churros with hot chocolate sauce. You will find churros on the menu of most restaurants in Barcelona and there are also specialty shops which offer various flavours of dipping sauces.

Venice, Italy

Eventhough Venice is not very famous for its food, there are dishes that originated from venice and have now become apart of italian cusine. For example Spaghetti Vongole (spaghetti with clams) was originally created in Venice, it is just so delicious that it has now become a classic Italian dish.

 

Spaghetti Vongole

Ingredients

• 1kg small clams,
scrubbed clean
• a small bunch of fresh
flat-leaf parsley
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 250ml white wine
• 400g dried spaghetti
• sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1–2 dried chillies    

Method

Put a pan of water on to boil.While that’s happening,sort

 through your cleaned clams and if there are any that

 aren’t tightly closed, give them a sharp tap. If they

 don’t close, throw them away. Put a large pan with

 a lid on a high heat and let it heat up. Finely

 slice the parsley stalks, then put them to one side

 and roughly chop the leaves. Peel and chop the

 garlic, quarter the tomatoes and get your wine ready.

Add the pasta to the boiling water with a good pinch

 of salt and cook according to packet instructions

 until al dente. About 5 minutes before your pasta

 is ready, get ready to start cooking – you'll have

 to be quick about this, so no mucking about! Put 4

generous lugs of extra virgin olive oil into the

 hot pan and add the garlic, parsley stalks and

 a good pinch of salt and pepper. Crumble

 in the dried chilli and add the chopped tomatoes. Stir

 everything around constantly and just as the garlic starts

 to colour, tip in the clams and pour in the wine. It will

splutter and steam, so give everything a good shake

and put the lid on the pan. After about 3 or 4 minutes the

 clams will start to open, so keep shuffling the pan around until

 all of them have opened. Take the pan off the heat. Get

 rid of any clams that haven't opened.

By now your pasta should be just about perfect.

Drain and add to the pan of clams along with the parsley

 leaves and an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Stir

 or toss for a further minute or two to let the beautiful

seashore juices from the clams be absorbed into the

 pasta. Serve right away. No sane Italian would eat

this dish without some fresh hunks

of bread to mop up the juices. Beautiful!

P.S. The first time you make this it will be good,

 but you might find things don't come together exactly

 at the right time. But don't worry, this dish is all

about confidence and the more you make this, the more

 you'll find the pasta and clams are ready and perfect

 at the same time. And then it will be great!

Sicily, Italy

Arancini
(rice balls)

Arancini also known as rice balls are originally considered a dish from Messina in Sicily.  These balls of rice are traditionally filled with a ragu`, which consists of meat, mozzarella, tomato and sometimes peas. There are variations to the fillings throughout Sicily including arancini con funghi (mushrooms) arancini con aubegine (eggplant) or con burro (butter).

Arancini con funghi (mushrooms)

Pistacchio Gnocchi

Siciliano di pasta con melanzane e pomodore torrefatto

- Sicilian Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Aubergines

Ingredients

8 oz (225 g) spaghetti

12 large tomatoes (roughly 2 lb/900 g)

1 large aubergine, cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes

2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

about 4 tablespoons olive oil

12 large basil leaves, torn in half, plus a few extra for garnish

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C).

Method

   * Put the aubergine cubes in a sieve and sprinkle

 them with salt and leave to stand for at least half

an hour, weighed down with something heavy

to squeeze out the excess juice.
*While waiting, pour boiling water over the tomatoes and

 leaving for 1 minute, then as soon as they are

cool enough to handle, slip off the skins.
*Cut each tomato in half and place on one of the

 baking trays (cut side up), season with salt and

 pepper(prefera\bley freshly milled black).
*Sprinkle over the chopped garlic, distributing

 evenly, and follow with a few drops of olive oil in each tomato.
*Top each tomato half with half a basil leaf,

turning each leaf over to give it a good coating of oil.
*Place the baking tray in the oven and roast the

 tomatoes for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are slightly blackened.
*While this is happening, drain the aubergines and

squeeze out as much juice as possible, then dry them with

 a clean cloth and place them in the other baking tray.
*Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over them and

 place them on the top shelf of the oven, above

  the tomatoes, giving them half an hour.
*In the last 15 minutes of the cooking time, cook the pasta.
*When the tomatoes and aubergines are ready, scrape them,

 along with all their cooking juices, into a pan and place

 it over a low heat, then add the cubed Mozzarella and stir gently.
*Drain the pasta, pile it into a warm bowl, spoon the tomato and

aubergine mixture over the top and sprinkle over a few basil leaves

I Dolci

Sicily is reknowned for their sweets and amazing cakes. The baker's in Sicily keep themselves busy as they create the most amazing variety of biscotti and little cakes, each made with love.

Canoli

Custard or cream filled pastry with a crunchy casing.