Pan'ino in Florence

Recently I was sent at the last minute to Florence, Italy for work. I had lived there as an 18-year-old during my gap year, but I hadn't been back since. Not knowing the current state of florentine restaurants, I consulted my favorite food blog, Parla Food, in search of some tips. Katie Parla appears to have impeccable taste and her blog is a vast resource of tips and observations. In one of her posts she recommended 'ino, a panino shop in an alley behind the Uffizi Gallery, calling it 'one of most delicious sandwiches of recent memory.' For a girl who will do anything to eat an outstanding hot sandwich, 'ino got jotted down in my notebook immediately. I was going to be filming on my own with a tight schedule, so I knew I wouldn't have much time to eat and 'ino seemed to be the place to try.

I showed up at 'ino sweating like a pig with all of my gear and was greeted with a cute little shop, minimalist and modern and air conditioned (phew!). Speciality products from all over Italy lined the walls and people sat chomping on gorgeous panini. On the walls are pieces of brown paper with handwritten panino suggestions. I ordered 'Il Solito' ('the usual') which was toasted and filled with fresh pecorino, prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, and olive paste. If you've never had fresh pecorino, it's a dream AND spreadable. I had my lunch with the chinotto (slightly bitter soda made from myrtle-leaved orange trees - similar to campari, but sweet) they stock and was determined to come back the next day for more. This was probably the best panino I've ever had.

I did show up the next day for lunch and had a gorgeous panino with finocchiona (salami with fennel seeds), mostarda di peperoni (roasted pepper paste), and fresh pecorino. Then I got another one to take home on the plane to London.

At 8 euro per panino it's not the cheapest, but it filled me up and the quality of the products was outstanding. You could easily spend double on lunch in one of Florence's many restaurants and not eat nearly as well.

‘ino
via dei Georgofili 3r/7r

055.219.208
www.ino-firenze.com
Mon-Sat 11am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm

*Please note that panino is the singular and panini is the plural. This is a common mistake by English speakers, easily rectified!

Home Alone

This weekend my flatmates abandoned me, but this girl kept herself happy with the leftovers in the fridge. I sit here gobbling down Fusilli with Sausage, Broccoli and Fennel, but this weekend there were peppers and cream... Never be afraid to pamper!

Fusilli with red pepper cream sauce and jamón Serrano (or prosciutto)
Serves 1
Cooking/prep time: 25 minutes

Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 large onion, finely chopped
5-6 pimientos del piquillo (or any small, red, roasted pepper in oil), chopped
3 slices of jamón Serrano or prosciutto, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pint single cream (though I would only use about 5 tbs, depending on how much sauce you like)
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan to garnish
100g fusilli

How it's done:
In a non-stick pan, gently fry the onion until translucent. Put the pasta water to boil. Add the jamón/prosciutto to the onions and fry for just a minute. Then add the peppers and stir just to warm and blend flavors (2 min). Add cream and stir to warm and blend, but don't let it boil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add pasta to water. After a couple of minutes, blend the pepper-cream mixture in a blender until smooth. When the pasta is al dente, drain and coat with olive oil and the blended sauce. On your plate, cover in a light coat of grated parmesan and a bit more black pepper.

Tip: As a side dish I had steamed purple sprouting broccoli. Counter that cream with veg!

I also made some sort of rustic egg bread with dried cranberries and poppy seeds. Yum.

Italian supermarkets = heaven

A couple of us pigs went on a four-night jaunt to Venice and instead of staying in a hotel, rented a cute little apartment in the Castello area (authentically Venetian with only a few brave tourists, crumbling buildings and grafitti-smattered streets). The place was delightful and had a full kitchen. Armed with Italian language skills and culinary know-how, we decided to pig out at the grocery store and cook all our own meals. They usually added up to less than half the price of what if might have cost in a horribly over-priced Venetian restaurant.

One night we had a smattering of antipasti, such as bresaola, mortadella, prosciutto, olives, mozarella (latte di bufala), sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and fresh bread from the bakery down the street. A tip on mortadella - always try to get it as thinly sliced as possible, like tissue paper, so that it practically melts in your mouth.

On the same evening, we had a first course of a mix of ravioli, some filled with radicchio and prosciutto, others with pumpkin, both specialities of north-eastern Italy. With little morsels already that tasty, just a simple sauce of prosciutto barely fried in olive oil and single cream (plus a dash of pepper) is necessary. To round out the meal, we split a thin beef steak.

The following night was shellfish heaven. After we'd sampled leftover antipasti, we scarfed down big bowls of spaghetti alle vongole (clam sauce pasta) and shared a bowl of steamed muscles (just with a bit of lemon). We'd bought the clams and muscles at the local fishmonger. Spaghetti alle vongole is my favorite pasta ever. All you do is fry a bit of garlic in olive oil, add a cup or so of white wine, let it reduce, and then add the whole clams and cook until they all open up. Remove any that don't. Finally, add chopped parsley, a tiny bit of salt and generous pepper and serve with the spaghetti. Words do not describe the joy this dish brings me.

Monday night we wanted clams again, but because no one fishes on Sundays, there is no fishmonger on Mondays. Tragic. So we ate potato and pumpkin gnocchi with the prosciutto and cream sauce again with steamed romanesco broccoli as a side and another thin beef steak to split. Romanesco broccoli is pretty hard to find, by the way, outside of Italy. It's a cross in taste between cauliflower and broccoli and is chartreuse in color. But the best part about it is it's construction. A beautiful thing.

Verdict = When in Venice, cook your own.