Eataly London review - Lunch and a tourist attraction

A cornucopia of Italian food, a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, a good place to meet friends or have lunch with colleagues, somewhere to get a leisurely breakfast before you catch a train, a tourist attraction somewhere you can pick up ingredients for dinner to take home or even take an Italian cookery course - all this under one roof?
 
If you like Italian food then you simply must visit Eataly on Bishopsgate, next to Liverpool Street Station. It opened in May 2021 during the pandemic, and when I returned to my office nearby in September it was the first place I went to check out on my lunchbreak. I was amazed!
 
Walking in I thought I had either entered an Art Deco arcade in Milan or perhaps the Sefridges food hall. A huge effort has been put in to make this a beautiful place with a high end feel (and rest assured the prices match!) with decorative archways and even the way the produce is arranged which is truly Instagram worthy. Check out some of my photos below!

Whether it’s a wall of coffee, a pick and mix selection area with Italian chocolates rather than the usual gummy sweets, watching the bread ovens get fired up or watching mozzarella being made, there is so much to take in. The charcuterie counter had more types of ham and salami than I could imagine; there are also fridges selling pre packaged products. The wine floor has over 2,000 different bottles and the pasta aisles had me dying to take some home and try - I will definitely be back to pick some up once I have decided what to do with it. There were colours and shapes of pasta I’d never even imagined - I particularly loved these striped sombreroni which are little sombrero hats that apparently you stuff like cannelloni and bake in the oven. But at around £7 a bag they are definitely more of a one off treat!

While I was there I decided to get some lunch. There is a chiller cabinet with sandwiches but I wanted to try the freshly cooked food. There’s a counter where you can buy pizza by the (square) slice, a fresh pasta bar, a cafe where you can get pastries and a proper restaurant upstairs though I couldn’t see a menu without going in.

I went for the pasta which had three or four options (I don’t know if these change or always remain the same) and opted for tagliatelle with bolognese sauce. It was served in a cardboard tub with a lid, which I took over to the seating area; free water is provided which I thought was really nice. The pasta was very good - I love fresh pasta - but at £11.50 it was very steep for lunch and I don’t think this is something I would do again unless I was meeting a friend for lunch.

Overall though I loved Eataly; the products are pretty expensive though I do want to come back and buy a few things once I have thought of some things I will actually use - but it’s also a lovely place to have a wander round and simply enjoy seeing so many specialist and unusual (in the U.K. at least) Italian products under one roof!

Tuscan Chianti Chicken Cacciatora

My Tuscan Chianti Chicken Cacciatora

There's something about the idea of spending a week in a villa in Tuscany that really appeals to me. The landscape looks beautiful, from rolling Italian countryside to the sandy beaches, the small medieval towns to the cities of Pisa and Florence, where I'd love to go sightseeing some day.

Having a villa would mean getting away from it all - I imagine a rustic farmhouse overlooking vineyards, sitting at a big wooden table with my husband as we tear into fresh bread and let a bottle of Chianti breathe.

I love the flavours from this region, from zingy lemons (and limoncello) to the earthy taste of truffles when they are grated over dishes. The red wines from this region are smooth yet spicy and Italian olive oil is renowned world wide.

I also like the simplicity of food from Tuscany. Pasta might just be served with a little oil and butter - when freshly made pasta is that good, why disguise it with a sauce? The best Tuscan food is locally produced and enjoyed according to the season; chicken is free range (probably wandering around the rustic farmhouse of my imagination) and mushrooms are foraged for.

There re two other things that stand out to be about Tuscan cooking. Food is about family, and typical dishes are prepared in large quantities to serve a big family around the kitchen table. It is also traditionally peasant cooking - in other words, cheap and not wasteful. Some of the best known Italian dishes are things that use cheaper cuts of meat, are bulked out with cannellini beans, use up stale bread (panzanella), and using local herbs and vegetables to bring out the natural flavours of the dish. These days rather than being something that is done through necessity, due to lack of money, this is something that many cooks aspire to - natural flavours coming through, cooking more economically and feeding a whole family with a robust, filling meal.

I was genuinely thinking of looking into booking a Tuscan villa for our holiday next year when I was invited to enter a competition run by To Tuscany, a website that specialises in villa rentals in that very region. It must be fate!

They asked me to create my own Tuscan-inspired recipe using typical flavours and influences from Italy, so I started to brainstorm a list of ingredients. I also thought about all the things I described above - cheaper cuts of meat, bringing out natural flavours, and a meal that could be cooked in large quantities if needed, and came up with this recipe for chicken cacciatora.

Cacciatora means 'hunter' in Italian and this is a kind of hunter's stew - perhaps something that would be waiting when they returned home from a day's hunt. It traditionally uses chicken, game or rabbit, and is cooked in a tomato-based sauce, sometimes with wine added, featuring onion and garlic, sometimes carrot or red peppers - there are various versions.

I decided to make mine even more Tuscan, if such a thing is possible, by making Chianti wine an important feature of the dish (Chianti is in Tuscany, if you didn't know). Italian olives stood out to me as a good addition, both for the colour that they give the dish and the different flavour and texture. I love balsamic vinegar and how it can bring out the flavour in dishes so decided to add a splash; my sauce was going to based on tinned tomatoes and the wine, with bay leaves and rosemary for flavour (and again they look great in the dish, though remove the bay leaf before serving).

Finally for a more modern, more indulgent twist, I sprinkled a little grated mozzarella on top of each chicken thigh just before serving, allowing it to melt - the cheese has a subtle taste but adds a little creaminess that is otherwise missing from the dish and to me just seemed to be the finishing touch. Serve the cacciatora with a hunk of fresh bread and a green salad - and the rest of the Chianti of course!

 

Tuscan Chianti Chicken Cacciatora - an original recipe by Caroline Makes

To serve four, you need:
4 large chicken thighs
pinch of salt salt
pinch of ground black pepper
1/2 bottle of Chianti
1 tbsp. olive oil
100g diced pancetta
2 bay leaves
sprig of rosemary
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
a large handful of green Italian olives
400g tinned tomatoes
generous dash of balsamic vinegar
pinch of smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
50g grated mozzarella

Season the chicken and marinade in the wine for at least one hour or overnight if possible.

 

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken, in batches if necessary, until browned. Add the pancetta to the pan and fry until starting to brown.

Preheat oven to 180C. Transfer the chicken and pancetta to an ovenproof dish with the wine marinade. Mix in the tomatoes, garlic, olives, bay leaf and rosemary. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of smoked paprika and the oregano and cover the pot with a lid.

 

 

Bake in the oven for 1.5 hours; for the last 10 minutes of cooking time add the grated mozzarella on top of the chicken.

 

Serve with green salad, fresh crusty bread and the chianti and enjoy.

.
I want to win a week in one of your Tuscany villas!

F1 Foods Italy roundup and the next challenge: Singapore

We missed the Italian Grand Prix as we were on holiday but my fiancé was following it online and I made sure I did my post for Formula 1 Foods before I went away! It did mean I didn't have much of a chance to promote the challenge though so there were only a couple of entries; I had hoped there would be more as Italy is a much easier theme than many!

I did an entire Italian buffet for my fiancé's birthday this year and hadn't blogged about it until now so here you can see a selection of ideas and recipes which are really easy if you are feeding a crowd.

Suelle at Mainly Baking made this almond, raspberry and rose polenta cake which is both gluten free and dairy free;  she says it's one of the best cakes of this kind that she has ever made and the fresh fruit gives a lovely seasonal twist.

The other entry this month came from Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe who made angel-hair pasta with feta, sundried tomatoes and spinach. I'm always on the look out for interesting pasta recipes and this looks great; and a good way to get in some more veg.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their Italian-inspired recipes. The next few Grand Prix races are quite close together so there isn't a whole lot of time to allow for the next challenge, which is of course Singapore. So you have until Tuesday 22nd to send in anything inspired by Singapore! The linky is here:

Italian buffet party menu

 

 

It’s the Italian Grand Prix and for Formula 1 Foods this time I’ve got not one Italian recipe, but a whole buffet menu!

 

We had family over for my boyfriend’s birthday earlier this year and I decided to do a buffet with a mixture of hot and cold food. I wanted to make sure there were a few fairly substantial dishes along with things like sausage rolls and hit upon the idea of giving the whole meal an Italian theme. There are so many things that work well for buffets, from pasta dishes to cold antipasti. Here’s a description of what I made and bought (after all who has the time to do an entire buffet from scratch?). As I was also catering for vegetarians I’ve noted which dishes are suitable with (v)

   

Cold food – nibbles and starters:

Bread sticks, aka grissini, with sour cream and chive dip which I bought (v)

 

 

 

Caprese salad of sliced mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves, drizzled with oil (v)

 

 

 

Antipasti: red peppers from a jar (v); stuffed olives (v); sliced salami and prosciutto

 

 

  

Hot food: nibbles and starters

Mozzarella sticks: mozzarella pieces in breadcrumbs which I bought from Iceland and cooked in the oven (v)

 

Sausage rolls – not really Italian but my boyfriend wanted them!

 

Garlic bread (v)

 

Mini margherita pizzas, which I bought and cooked in the oven (v).

 

Main dishes

Italian herb chicken mini fillets (from Tesco)

 

Tomato and mozzarella pasta bake (v)

 

Meatballs with farfalle pasta and tomato sauce

 

Tuna, cannellini bean and red onion salad with a mustard dressing (mix olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and garlic to taste). Can also do a portion without tuna for anyone who doesn’t eat fish.

 

 

 

Stuffed peppers, filled with risotto rice and melted mozzarella

 

 

 

Dessert:

Mini Profiteroles from Iceland – these are sometimes known as a French dessert but were apparently invented in Italy

 

Nigella’s cappuccino pavlova

 

 

 

I also served birthday cake, cupcakes and cookies, which you can read about here.

 

  

 I'm sharing this with Formula 1 Foods, the blog challenge I host, as the theme this month is Italy.

 

 

Italian Stuffed Peppers

 

We had my boyfriend's family over for his birthday in April and he wanted a buffet meal that people could help themselves to and eat while standing up. His mum does great buffets on Boxing Day with the same dishes every year - quiche, cocktail sausages, pate etc - and so I wanted to do something a bit different. I had the idea of an Italian themed buffet which worked really well, as I could buy a lot of things ready made and could prepare some other things in advance. One thing I made was these Italian stuffed peppers.

They are very easy to make and don't take long; you can do them while you've got the oven on for something else and then serve them either hot or cold which makes them ideal for buffets. They are also a good substantial vegetarian option.

To begin, slice some red peppers in half and remove the seeds. Turn the peppers so the cut side is facing down and place on a piece of baking foil. Roast in the oven at about 180C for about 15-20 minutes until the skins are just starting to char.

I used Uncle Ben's microwave risotto rice which is brilliant - you add water to the pouch and microwave it for two minutes and have a lovely risotto. As these were for vegetarians I used the tomato and herb flavour, and added some chopped onion to the rice mixture.

 

Spoon the rice into the pepper halves, and dot with cubes of mozzarella.

Return to the oven or grill to heat through just before serving (though you could also serve these cold later) so that the cheese melts. I thought these were delicious!

I'm sharing these with the Family Foodies challenge, hosted by Vanesther at Bangers & Mash, as the theme this month is Italian food. These are fairly child-friendly to make (you could let your children add the filling to the peppers) and also to eat - it's a good way to introduce them to peppers.

I'm also entering this in the Extra Veg challenge, which is hosted this month by Kate at Veggie Desserts on behalf of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and  Michelle at Utterly Scrummy.

Mango and Passionfruit Tiramisu

Tuscany Now, an Italian villa rental specialist, invited me to take part in a cookery competition to create an Italian-inspired dish, the #TuscanyNowCookOff. I immediately thought of tiramisu but wanted to put my own twist on it, so came up with this mango and passionfruit tiramisu, which was absolutely delicious. It's also really easy and would be the perfect dessert to make while staying in a Tuscany villa... well, I can dream!


To serve 6-8 (depending on portion size) you need:

200g pack sponge fingers
100ml orange juice
80ml passion fruit syrup (I used Funkin Syrup, which I bought online)
250g mascarpone cheese
125ml fat-free plain yogurt
1 egg
50g caster sugar
1 mango, thinly sliced (or use tinned sliced mango)
2 passionfruit

Combine the orange juice and 50ml of the passion fruit syrup in a shallow bowl and dip the sponge fingers one at a time in the liquid, turning to cover both sides.

Layer half the sponge fingers in the bottom of a large serving dish.

In another bowl beat the mascarpone, yogurt, and 30ml of the passionfruit syrup. Then beat in the caster sugar and egg until well combined.

Spoon half the mixture over the sponge fingers.

Lay the mango slices on top to form the next layer.

Scoop out the middle of the two passionfruit and combine with the rest of the mascarpone mixture.

Place another layer of sponge fingers in the bowl then top it off with the mascarpone and passionfruit mixture.

Place in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight. Return to room temperature before serving.

 You can serve it straight from the dish...

... or use a pastry cutter to cut out a circle of the tiramisu as I did here. You can see all the different layers inside!

 I also drizzled a little passion fruit syrup around the tiramisu and served two more slices of mango on the side.

This dessert is absolutely delicious; rich and creamy but the fresh fruit flavours are perfect for summer. The passion fruit seeds give a satisfying crunch on top. Using the fat-free plain yogurt instead of the more traditional double cream makes the dessert a little lighter in calories and would suit glamourous Italians who like to look after their figure! I think this is as good as any traditional tiramisu I've had in a restaurant, but I've never come across one this flavour before.