Bones and stones

9th March 2008

Real life seems to be taking over from blogging here at the moment as, finally, the building work seems to be moving on a pace, which is good, as our first painting course starts in September and the apartments and studio need to ready for the summer.
Hard work, however, doesn’t come cheap and this is a point in the project when we seem to haemorrhaging cash.
The house is changing and evolving almost daily and it seems to me that sometimes it ‘talks’. By that I mean it makes it’s spirit felt. When you take a building back to it’s origins and strip away the layers of man made rubbish we like to surround ourselves with; the polyurethane, vinyl, plasterboard and pebbledash to reveal the beautiful bones and stones and brick and wood you set it’s spirit free.

The spirit of this house soared free yesterday morning when marito and Vlad began to chisel off the sombre render on the front of the house and revealed this.

Best thing I ate:

Here, for my friends Maryann, Finding La Dolce Vita and Marie, Proud Italian Cook, is my contribution to Festa Italia

Pasta al forno con pomodoro e mozzarella

This is one of my favourite Italian pasta dishes. I love the way a few humble ingredients like cheese, tomatoes and pasta can be made into something rich and sustaining.
When I take this out of the oven, fragrant and bubbling, it always makes me feel like a sexy Italian ‘mamma’. You will find versions of it in almost every Italian cookery book and it is a regular feature at celebrations all over Italy.
Marito and the girls would gladly eat this everyday of the week given half a chance. It is straightforward to make in large quantities so perfect for a festa. The fact that Italians choose to celebrate with such a simple dish and then to lavish so much care over its preparation is for me what makes Italian food truly great.

It feeds four greedy people;

2 large cloves garlic squashed
1 peperoncino crumbled
Extra virgin olive oil
3x 400g tins of good quality plum tomatoes
2 bay leaves
Sea salt, black pepper
Big bunch of Basil leaves
2 or 3 balls of good quality mozzarella cheese
Lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Nutmeg
400g Penne pasta

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees and put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta.
In a large deep frying pan heat a good glug of olive oil and sauté the garlic and peperoncino for a few minutes but do not colour. Add the tomatoes and chop them roughly, then add the bay leaves and simmer it all for about 20 minutes until it’s thick and reduced. Mash in the garlic, which should now be soft, and remove the bay. Check the flavour and season with as much salt and pepper as you like.

When your water is boiling add some salt and cook the Penne until just ‘al dente’ then drain, reserving a small cup of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with half of the sauce and use the water to thin down the remaining tomato mixture.

In a large baking dish layer the pasta followed by the tomato sauce and 1 torn up mozzarella ball, some basil leaves and a good grating of Parmesan. Repeat these layers until you have used everything up. Ending with a layer of mozzarella and Parmesan and topping the whole glorious thing off with a grating of nutmeg, don’t hold back.

Bake in a hot oven for about 15 mins until crusty and golden.

This is a perfect sop for large quantities of good red wine. Buona Festa!

Comments

[Amy B]

I love hearing about the spirit of your home - so true. Love the recipe! Thanks for sharing.

Tanti baci, Amy

P.S. My husband & I were married in Umbria - Civita di Bagnoregio in la Chiesa di San Donato

[nyc/carribean ragazza]

This looks amazing!!

[amanda]

Respect is due to all of you who run cookery blogs, I found it really tough to write out a recipe for something I cook almost without thinking. I can cook the pasta al forno in my sleep I've made it so often and I usually play around with the ingredients too, depending on what I have to hand (yes aubergine/eggplant is a great addition Joe). So it took ages to come up with definite recipe that someone else could follow. I hope it works out well for anyone who tries it.

Big thanks to Maryann and Marie for hosting the Festa Italia, I can't wait to take my place at the table and get stuck in!

Sally, our website is nearly ready so more about the painting courses soon. Watch this space.

Nell, your daughters course sounds great and we wish her lots of luck with it. Glad you liked the pasta.

[Antonina]

How lovely to discover the centuries beneath the exterior facade, whose hands placed those stones how many did it take, their work and yours and Vlad's will converge together what it will become for now. The Pasta dish was divine my dear.
My daughter will be off to collage next September to study graphic art and computer animation at Sheridan collage of Ontario home of Pixar film graduates.

[Michelle]

Yum yum yum. Did I say yum?

Because yum.

[Marie]

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for this wonderful dish for out Festa, I'll be sure to dig into this!

[Joe]

Yum.... I saw your post and had to make some! It came out great. I added eggplant though. thanks! Joe

[maryann]

I love this dish! Wonderful and delicious! Thanks for joining us. I was hoping you would :)

[Sally]

You love that house, don't you? You must have been very excited to discover what was underneath.

I can't wait to hear more about the painting course.