Christmas Dinner

Wow, the party is over!

It was great fun and a wonderful experience. Check the menu:


Starters

• Swordfish carpaccio with green sauce and mustard
• Vol-au-vent with cheese, ham and crab
• Squared crepes with leek, salmon and robiola cheese
• Scallops au gratin
• Black gnocchi with saffron and sea bass sauce

Lemon sorbet

Main course

• Bouillabaisse
• Greens au beurre

Dessert and coffees

• Panettone cake with mascarpone sauce
• Gobino's Gianduiotti
• Peyrano Creations
• Fairtrade coffee, local roasting

Wines

• Gavi di Gavi 2008 - Fontanafredda
• Roero Arneis Sito dei Fossili 2008 - Tenuta Bric Cenciurio di Barolo
• Asti Spumante Mondoro

Just few notes:

• The order of the starters is important. They go up in warmth and taste, from the most delicate to the stronger (the scallops), then the gnocchi could be like a separate dish - a kind of first course for Italians.
• The gnocchi are just fantastic. The secret is in the potatoes (I think I have just been lucky I have found some "old potatoes"). The sauce can be too plain sometimes. It is a difficult balance of very delicate ingredients - sea bass and saffron, mixed with a bit of cream - that will hardly be right the first time.
• The bouillabaisse fits perfectly here. When you have finished with the starters, your guests will be scared by the main course: it is easy to slip into a too rich course. The bouillabaisse is just perfect. The warm and tasty stock, slowly cooked the day before, and the tenderness and delicate fish make the hole course highly enjoyable.
• If it is not Christmas, just forget the panettone (actually this time I did not bake it). You may go for an apple tart or something warm but not too rich. Actually, I would love to try the mascarpone sauce with an apple tart!

Enjoy!

Lunch at Fifteen's

Well, I wasn't planning on starting like this, I always thought that I would have posted about self-cooked bites...
Anyway, we are in Cornwall, at Watergate Bay to be precise. And just 100mt from our apartment we have Fifteen, the restaurant launched last year by Jamie Oliver.

So, we booked a table for lunch on Mon 2nd April 2007 at 2.30pm - dinner is out of question with our daughter - the only slot available for the whole week.

Let's start with the atmosphere: it is definitely a nice and friendly restaurant, with stunning views of the bay (the restaurant is right on the edge of the bay) and with a smooth style that immediately puts you at ease. The average age of the waiters and chefs is definitely under 30's. Basic furniture and almost minimalist tableware complete the picture.

First things first: drinks and (good) complimentary bread. Still water definitely good, tasty but not too heavy. I had a glass of house wine - a british chardonnay! - and guess what: it was pretty good! The bread came with a light and tasty extra virgin olive oil, very fruity and perfectly balanced.

We decided to go for a starter and a main course, although the menu was very Italian style, with first and second course.

Eileen had local crab soup with a crostone (big crouton, to make it simple). The crostone had some olive bits in it and came with a kind-of ajoli sauce and some crumbs of parmesan. Unfortunately, Eileen did not like the sauce but ate pretty much of the rest. I tried the soup and I have to say it was very good. Laura had smoked mackerel salad, which I did not try.

I had risotto with pear, Colston Basset blue and walnut. The mix was simply superb. Well, a cheese and pear mix is pretty well known in Italy, but I have to say the chef here did his best and created a wonderful combination of tastes.

As a main course, Laura and I had pollock with mashed cauliflower and spinach leaves (and some light-taste herbs on top). That was simply fabulous! The taste of the mashed cauliflower was perfectly coupled with the tender meat of the pollock. A minor critic goes to the sautéed spinach, which were a bit too oily, so the leaves were crunchy and tasty, but the oil covered their flavour. Nevertheless, it was one of the best dishes I've ever tried.

We've got another couple of restaurants to try - St. Petroc Bistro Padstow and Sticky Prawn in Falmouth - let's see.