Italian Food Project: Spring

For spring, I am starting a new Italian cookery book as I have cooked most of the things I fancy from Gastronomy of Italy. Today I cooked lamb steaks marinated in herbs and garlic, with a sauce of lemon, olive oil and mustard. I griddled the steaks and then finished them in the oven so they were pink inside. 

There are a few recipes I still want to score off, including prawns in tomato sauce, semolina gnocchi and spaghetti puttanesca. I would recommend this book, which is a great source on ingredients and cooking from all over Italy.

My new book is Polpo by Russell Norman. This concentrates on Venetian food. It is especially strong on unusual pizza and bruschetta toppings, risottos, meatballs, lentil based dishes and warm salads. There is less emphasis on stews and pastas which makes it ideal for the hopeful arrival of warmer weather. This is quite a trendy and beautifully produced book which is more informal cafe food orientated, whereas Gastronomy is more classic home cooking style. I will not be cooking octopus as they are highly intelligent and friendly creatures which we should respect. Lovely cover artwork though.

For my food project I like to make a list of recipes I want to cook from the book and use it as a book mark in it. I can then tick off and rate the recipes as I cook them. This means I can easily find a recipe to cook and enables me to see which were successful. 

I think Italian food might last me all year as I also have The Harry's Bar Cookbook to go. There are also Italian recipes in New York Cult Recipes, Slow Cooker Revolution and European Peasant Cookery. Definitely a year of Italian food.