We have snow!

Yes, I know. Everybody has snow, it seems....Paris is covered, London has ground to a halt (just for a change) and most of Europe appears to be blanketed. The last time we saw it in Pisa was five years ago, though, so I think I can be forgiven the headline exclamation mark. The dogs were mildly interested... but not enough for them to brave the cold for long in favour of returning to a warm kitchen filled with the aroma of coffee and freshly-baked shortbread.

According to Tempo Italia, the weather is set to remain arctic for the next 24 hours, and then we return to normal - by Tuesday, temperatures are set to be in the mid teens once more, and heading yet further upwards in time for Christmas. For the moment, though, it seems appropriate to close the shutters against winter darkness and hunker down inside, beside the fire, in the company of a glass of prosecco and a plate of paprika-roast almonds...

Tonight's Dinner:

Papardelle, with Burro Rosso.

Pork Chops; Celery & Pancetta, braised in Guinea-fowl stock.

Pear & Chocolate Clafouti.

Recipe: Cheese Scones

An enduring memory from ages past. The cheese scones in the UL - large and light and delicious...and never quite enough butter provided on the side of the plate to last until the final mouthful. The height of indulgence would have been to have had a second one - although I'm not sure that I ever did, undergraduate finances being what they were. Consumed in winter in the noisy, fuggy atmosphere of the tea-room, or in summer, stretched out on the lawn in the south courtyard. Not quite a Proustian madeleine...but not far off.

I've been playing with recipes, and this is the closest I've come. These scones take almost no time from start to finish - five minutes to make and roll out the dough, and fifteen minutes in a pre-heated oven. Best eaten still warm, broken in half and buttered generously. Since the elderly relative has come to live with us, a little-something has become the order of the day, at lunchtime (although I suspect that most of the ER's lunch ends up inside the four-footed, who negotiates shamelessly to that end). Once a week, therefore, I bake bread - one for the bread bin and one for the freezer - and on the occasions when I've forgotten and we've run out of bread, then this scone recipe is my immediate refuge.

For approximately six scones.

Ingredients: 30g parmesan; 1 tbs fresh chives (optional - but recommended); 225g flour; 3 tsp baking powder; half tsp salt; half tsp bicarb. of soda; 30g butter; 150 ml milk. Beaten egg, or cream, to glaze.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Cut the Parmesan into 1 cm (approx) dice, and then process these into fine crumbs in the food processor, along with the (optional) chives

3. Add the Flour, Baking Powder, Bicarb, and Salt to the processor bowl, and process briefly, just to mix everything together.

4. Cut the chilled Butter into dice, add to the contents of the processor bowl, and process for about thirty seconds, until it looks like sand.

5. Add the Milk and process again for twenty seconds or so, until the mixture has gathered itself into one lump.

6. On a floured surface, roll out to a thickness of just over 1 cm, then use a 2" circular cutter to cut out the scones, which should be placed on a greased baking sheet. Gather up the trimmings and roll out and cut again, until all the mixture has been used up. Brush with egg or cream, to glaze the tops, before placing them in the oven.

7. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about fifteen minutes, until the scones have risen and the tops are a deep golden brown.

8. Let rest on a wire tray for a couple of minutes, and then, as soon as they're cool enough to handle, dig in!

Christmas has begun!

Or, at least, it has in Pisa. Tuesday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and this is the point at which the descent into Christmas truly begins. The rush is on, every year, for Christmas trees in the days immediately beforehand - no question of waiting lackadaisically until the 22nd to put the tree up...it has to be up in time for the 8th - and the town is in full festive dress in time for the passagiato which takes place through the main streets on the evening of December 7th. Lights raining gently down from on high for the length of Borgo Stretto and Via San Francesco, and the balustrades of the Ponte de Mezzo heavily swagged with pine garlands, all the way to the enormous (and decidedly lopsided) Christmas Tree which appears every year in the little piazza beside the Loggia dei Banchi. I hadn't particularly planned to join in on Monday evening, but since we needed some light bulbs from the shop in Via Santa Maria and it seemed a good idea to give the dogs an airing, we emerged from the house to find the streets thronged with people, and the outdoor cafés absolutely packed! The atmosphere was festive, and the four-footeds thought it was great...

I love the italian attitude to the religious holidays with which their calendar is peppered. Throughout the year, with no warning whatsoever, the whole country grinds to a halt in celebration of some obscure religious event at some point in the past, and the population opportunistically heads for the beach or stays in bed (depending on the time of year), whilst the same dwindling throng of increasingly elderly ladies actually kneels in church in order to mark the day of religious observance. In practice, Italy is no more nor less devout than the UK (which means in practice, pretty negligibly), but somehow the Italians have retained the structures of an organised belief system, whilst in fact they milk the opportunities of the holiday schedule for all they're worth! And unlike the UK, where public holidays are generally tidied away to a Monday or a Friday, the saints' days stick 'religiously' to specific dates, and if that happens to be Tuesday, or Thursday, then so be it...that is indeed the day that God has decreed for sunbathing!

In London, on the other hand (where we currently are for a few days, while the four-footeds hunker down in Calci, and doubtless watch endless Italian daytime TV in the company of Arianna, and a box of mini Bonio...) you'd be hard pressed to know that Christmas is imminent. Certainly, it would be easy to blink and miss such sparse decorations as there are around the place. I guess this is a result of Broon's deeply iffy handling of the economy, and it all seems a fair - if unfortunate - reflection of the dour and cheerless personality of the man himself.

Tonight's Dinner:

Canapés of Chicken Liver rolled, with Sage & Juniper, inside Bacon and grilled until crisp.

Oeufs Comtoises.

Guinea Fowl with Garlic & Lemon; Celery with Pancetta, braised in Chicken Stock.

Chocolate Tart with Orange-flavoured Crème Anglaise.

Recipe: Mandarin Sorbet

The citrus trees are all coming into fruit right now, and although we don't number a Mandarin in our own agrumi garden, hanging over the wall across the lane just across from the front gates at Santa Caterina is a Mandarin tree of venerable proportions which is currently dripping with fruit. And since the owners of the tree don't have access to the lane, and we seem to be the only people going along it right now.....well....it would be a shame to let all that fruit go to waste...

I like the look of bowls piled high with Mandarins - but the truth is, in this household, they tend not to get eaten. Hence this particular dish (which, in fact, could be used for pretty much any citrus fruit, I think, as long as you respect the proportions of fruit to sugar, water and egg white). I don't really know why, but this particular recipe produces a sorbet of unequalled creaminess, which doesn't become granular even after some time in the freezer. I made a batch of the stuff about two weeks ago, the last remnants of which we finished for dessert last night - and it was as smooth and creamy yesterday as when first made. You just have to remember when serving sorbet which has got rock hard in the freezer to let it sit for about an hour in the fridge beforehand.

For four.

Ingredients: 8 Mandarins; 500 ml Water; 250g Sugar; 1 Egg White.

Method:

1. Combine the Sugar and Water in a pan, and add the grated rind from four of the Mandarins. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time, and then reduce the heat to simmer for five minutes, stirring frequently to ensure the Sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool completely.

2. Add the squeezed juice from all eight Mandarins to the cooled sugar syrup, then sieve it to remove the grated rind.

3. Lightly beat the Egg White until frothy (but not yet stiff) and add this to the sugar syrup as you put the mixture into the ice cream machine. Process until it has reached the desired consistency.

Recipe: Guinea Fowl with Lemon & Garlic

A splendid combination of flavours, this dish is eminently practical for a dinner party, as it can be made almost entirely as much as an hour in advance, and the bird kept warm until the sauce is prepared, just before serving. The recipe is loosely adapted from one by Anna Del Conte, to whom I find I'm returning for ideas ever more frequently these days.

For four.

Ingredients: 1 Guinea Fowl (medium to large in size); 30g Butter, chilled and finely diced; 1 generous tsp Salt; 75 ml Olive Oil; 8 Garlic Cloves, minced; 150 ml Lemon Juice; grated rind of 1 Lemon; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Reach into the bird, and with your fingers separate as much of the skin from the flesh of the thighs and breasts. Into these cavities distribute the diced Butter. Rub the Salt all over the bird, and then package it loosely inside a buttered sheet of aluminium foil.

3. Place the wrapped bird in a roasting pan, and roast for an hour in the pre-heated oven. Once done, open the package carefully - you want to keep all of the cooking juices which have gathered inside the foil - and allow the bird to cool sufficiently to be able to remove the breasts and legs. (Retain the carcase and use it to make stock for use in other recipes). Collect in a bowl all of the cooking juices and the juices which have been released in the course of cutting up the bird.

4. Heat the Oil in a sauté pan, and lightly colour the garlic in the heated Oil. Add the pieces of Guinea Fowl and fry them gently for five minutes on each side, then add the Lemon juice and rind and cook for a further couple of minutes. Remove the pieces of Guinea Fowl to a covered bowl, season to taste and keep warm until about to serve.

5. Just before serving, add all of the retained cooking juices to the frying pan, and heat briskly, stirring vigorously, until the mixture bubbles and has slightly thickened. Serve the pieces of Guinea Fowl on heated plates, and add to each serving a spoonful of sauce.

Hard to believe...

...that we're cruising towards the end of the year. Despite the recent appearance of Christmas lights the length of Borgo Stretto, and across into Corso Italia on the other side of the river, the fact that December starts in only a couple of days doesn't really compute. Not when the days follow sunnily one after another, and it's still shirtsleeve weather in the garden...even warm enough to sit and drink tea on the terrace at the end of yet another day of hard-garden-labour, a couple of days ago, and trying not to dwell on h0w much more yet remains to be done before the garden will have started to take shape. (In truth, there are days of distinctly un-balmy weather...like the autumn storm, last weekend, which blew in part of the east window in the church at Santa Caterina...but for the most part, one mild and sunny day follows another.)

In the garden, new beds have had to be dug to accommodate the influx of plants, and the all-too familiar sight of strips of weed-cloth indicates the future location of paths and pergolas. The dogs love it; freshly-turned earth is their idea of heaven - both snuffling at it, and rolling around in it - and their challenge is clearly to shift as much of the stuff as they can from the garden to the inside of the house by the shortest route they can manage. My ambition is to have as little of the stuff accessible to them as possible (by dint of planting in it, comprehensively) and thus to cut off their supply!

At the moment, we're awaiting Signor Tempestini's quote for supplying trees for the new orchard, and plants for two (maybe three?) new shrubberies...and assuming there are no horrendous surprises in the price, then planting might get underway before Christmas. In the meantime, I've planted 500 crocus bulbs under the Douglas Firs and around the base of the Lemon trees ('Joan of Arc' - one of the larger and pure white crocus varieties, which look spectacular towards the end of February) and 100 double flowering narcissus, under the Nespola trees, and along the side of the raised causeway that runs through the centre of the garden. By the time they flower, my blisters from the bulb planter might perhaps have disappeared...

Tonight's Dinner:

Aubergine & Parmesan Tarts.

Poached Chicken Breasts, with a Tarragon cream sauce; Celery, braised with Pancetta in a broth of Guinea Fowl and Duck.

Layered Meringue Cake (from Harry's Bar - layers of Pan di Spagna and Creme Patissiere, baked inside a coating of Italian Meringue)

Recipe: Potato Gratin

This is a wonderful dish for grey, wintry days. Simplicity itself, but with a glorious smell which pervades the house as the gratin slowly does its thing in the oven over a period of several hours. Although meat-free, the presence of a dash of nutmeg somehow implies the use of a rich beef broth somewhere along the line, which gives to the dish a surprising additional dimension.

This goes excellently with pretty much anything... and is equally fantastic when sneaked cold from the fridge on the following day.

For six.

Ingredients: 1 kg Potatoes (something like Maris Piper is fine); 6 medium Shallots; 2 large Garlic cloves; generous pinch of grated Nutmeg; 1 tsp dried Thyme; 8 fl oz Milk; 8 fl oz Cream; 2 tsp Salt; Pepper, half a dozen grinds of the mill; 2 tablespoons of Butter.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 150 degrees C.

2. Peel the Potatoes and slice them finely, either (carefully) by hand or by using a mandoline. Put the slices immediately to soak in a large bowl of cold water, and leave them soaking while you prep the shallots and garlic.

3. Peel and finely chop both the Shallots and the Garlic; mix them together in a small bowl, along with the Nutmeg, Thyme, Salt & Pepper.

4. Drain the Potato slices into a colander (shake it to remove as much excess water as possible), and arrange a third of them in a layer to cover the bottom of a buttered baking dish. Cover this layer with half of the Sallot-Garlic mixture....then another layer of Potates, then the remainder of the Shallot-Garlic mixture, and finally a last layer of Potato.

5. Combine the Milk & Cream in a jug, and pour it over the top layer of Potato slices. Dice the Butter and scatter it over the top of the gratin. Bake in the pre-heated oven for two hours (and if you don't want to serve it immediately, it can then hold in an oven at 100 degrees C for a further hour, and will come to no harm).