Well last night saw the start of my cooking, the recipe I followed was for Penne All'Emiliana which translates into:- Penne (pasta) with peas, pork, rosemary and white wine, Fairly simple I hear you cry! "well that's what I thought". Of to the shops to gather all my lovely ingredients...Could I find any rosemary leaves? could I heck as like, but I soldiered on because I didn't want to use thyme. Ingredients in basket, now I had to look for the white wine, challenge here was... do we drink the same wine as the one that's required for the recipe? I often go buy the rule of thumb that if you wouldn't drink it why put it in your food, this made life easier (Pinot Grigio OGIO it was then). Then I remembered Gino's friend Giuseppe offering to help select the wines for the meals in the cookbook. So here I was in a huge supermarket Twittering @madaboutwine. The first text back said he was genuinely stumped, but added that the dish was crying out for a hearty red. My favourite type of wine is an oak aged Shiraz (or so I thought), so off I went to look for a good one. But then another text came through, it read..."try a French Pinot noir" so here I am knowing very little about wine except how many glasses to the bottle (only joking) looking for the wine. Just when I thought I had got the wine covered another little text popped up! better still try a good quality Valpolicella classico (from a wine shop not a supermarket). I quite like Valpolicella after my father-in-law @stewper introduced me to it a while back... mm mm yes what a great choice.
Leaving the supermarket I decided to try and find a wine shop, this was the biggest task of the day! 5 hours searching for an independent wine outlet. I tried nearby town centres of Oadby & Wigston but to no avail. I face-booked friends for their ideas, frustrated at not being able to locate the accompanying wine was a disaster. Never mind, I have a good bottle of Chanti Classico at home.
I came home after a slight de-tore to take a friend somewhere, and started to cook. After almost 20 minutes and reading down the recipe I realised that I had to set the timer so that I could then add the peas (they had to be defrosted before hand). You will never guess what happened next? No frigging peas, what household doesn't have peas? I always keep the blooming things! So I grabbed my bag & keys and now at 8.30pm I'm out hunting for peas. Well who's going to be open at this time of night, Waitrose was closed, so it had to be the Co-Op. Checking my text messages as I walk around the mini-supermarket come garage, another one appeared from Giuseppe... "another wine i'd like you to try.. Ripasso from veneto. Yeah right I thought!!! Peas in hand I did go to the wine selection (all 2 racks of them) and what do you know... more confusion! There was a Ripasso Valpolicello (it didnt say Classico) and should there have been two separate wines- a Ripasso or Valpolicello? do you see my ignorance now? so I thought it sounds good anyway so for £7.99 per bottle that will do nicely.
Back home just before the peas were mean't to be added, excited at my find, I opened the wine. I love the sound of a nice wine "dont know what you call it but taking the cork out" and it has a lovely pop to it. I told hubby @SalesAde that we weren't allowed to look at the label on the reverse as Giuseppe wanted me to give him a description.... WOW this was hard! The colour was a rich dense red, and the aroma fruity and almost light (if that makes sense). Now for the taste... This was gorgeous, it coated the tongue with intense flavours but still felt smooth in the mouth, as it hit the back of the throat it was warming and left a peppery taste,"quite nice although I say so myself" we both agreed it was a lovely wine. Now back to the cooking.
Pasta was cooking, it needed to be al dente (not my usual slop) so I hovered over it so as not to let it go stodgy. Gino has some fantastic tips in this book, and a good one for those not blessed with cooking skills (like myself) is naturally how to cook pasta.
Pasta cooked and returned to the pan, sauce added, Voilla! hey presto, a beautiful looking dish was made.
Photo's taken as proof (I think my mother-in-law Gillian will be impressed, she is a fantastic cook). Check them out on http://twitpic.com/4nbn58 http://twitpic.com/4nboer http://twitpic.com/4nbp34
So to my new signed Gino D'Acampo 'Gino's Pasta' @Ginofantastico cookbook and to Giuseppe Bergonzi @madaboutwine
I thank you, Buon Appetito & Salute love from Dawn xx
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