It's about time . . . .

It's been so long since my last blog I can hardly remember what's happened

Andy has spent much of the past 6 months in the UK working to bring in some much needed cash, he's home now, hopefully for good and ready to get on with farming.  I also spent six weeks with my mum, visiting friends and family, doing jigsaws and generally doing her head in! Ooops! I meant keeping her company! 

It's been a hot summer so far and I think we're finally getting used to it, we start very early and eat our main meal at lunchtime, afternoons are spent indoors and keeping out of the sun, a short siesta (half an hour is ideal, anymore and our bodies assume we're there for the night and it's really hard to wake up) and then we're ready for more work.  It feels like we get two days for the price of one :-)

I can't blog today without mentioning the devastating earthquake to hit central Italy earlier this week, it's been on my mind constantly.  I have totally fallen in love with this Country and the people in it. Italians are the kindest, most open and friendly people I have ever come across, nothing is too much trouble and they consistently offer help and friendship with no expectations of anything in return.  I realise this may not be the case in Milan or Rome but in the tiny mountain villages a genuine community spirit still thrives, I cannot imagine going to our small market town and finding nothing but rubble.  I can though imagine the desperate measures needed to get to some of the remote areas, we are not so remote but still need to park up and walk to the house as do many mountain villagers.

Sending Love & Light to all those affected

♥

Making Cheese, without the science

I have had a busy weekend in the kitchen.  Having read many books on the art of good cheese making I am in awe of their skill and knowledge, however, I wanted to have a go at making some basic cheese without buying starters, rennet and speciality equipment.

So, here is my take on home produced cheese . . . 

I started with approx 8 litres of full fat, raw (not always possible) milk poured into my old jam pan, I didn't measure the milk, just poured to a manageable level, I added a jam thermometer, put the flame on low and started to stir . . . . 

It seemed to take an age but I gradually turned the flame higher until the temperature reached 92ºC and turned off the heat.  I left the milk until it cooled to 88ºC and began adding white wine vinegar, one tablespoon at a time, stirring after each spoonful, until the milk began to separate.

When the whey became clearer and took on a greenish hue (I think it took about 10 tablespoons) I left it to set for half an hour.

I removed the curds from the pan into a colander lined with muslin and let it drain for 20 minutes. I then mixed in 2 tsp of salt to taste.

I then lined my steamer pan (holes needed to drain the remaining whey) with clean muslin and added the curds, pressed them firmly into the space and wrapped with the muslin.

I used a very high tech weight system to put pressure on my lovely cheese, a plate, followed by the mortar from my pestle & mortar set and 2 stones from the garden

After 24 hours, here are the results . . . . . 

I made 3 separate batches and they fit one on top of another snuggly in my steamer pan, the taste is light and creamy and the family can't seem to get enough of it . . 

Much love from Tineggiori xxx

A visit to the doctors, Italian style

Three things happened today that made me feel more 'Italian' than English, it started with a trip to the doctors.

It may be different in larger towns and cities but here in our tiny mountain village a trip to the doctors is a social event.  There are no appointments to be had, no receptionist to get past, providing the doctor has turned up and unlocked the door, you're in.  Everyone waits and chats, there is no queue or system, they all seem to know who is next and if someone 'jumps' the non-existent queue, no-one seems to care.  A lady next to us asked if we were the 'Inglese di Tineggiori', once confirmed she went on to talk about the heat, pigs, chickens and ask if we'd seen the fox yet? Thankfully we haven't.

While sitting waiting for my turn (it took two older ladies opposite to tell me when it was), I tried to work out why it felt so different, then I realised what was amusing me, instead of the copious posters and health related information that I was so used to being fed in the doctors waiting rooms of my past, mainly telling me what I was no longer allowed to eat/drink/consume/do, these two pictures were the only ones to decorate the walls . . . . . 

The second thing happened when I came back to the car after a visit to the supermarket only to realise that, after many years of OCDish parking, this is how I had parked the car, a bit too straight and in the space for a true Italian but not bad for an old English bird! 

Finally I didn't scream or even leave the bathroom when I looked down and realised I was sharing my shower with a scorpion!

The weather seems to have finally broken and we're all a lot more comfortable. 

Best Wishes and Much Love to You from Tineggiori ♥

Heatwave

During all the years I spent dreaming about a move abroad I had one vision firmly planted in my mind, it was a vision of a long wooden table full of wonderful food and wine, surrounded by family and friends.  The setting was equally important, it would be outside, with trees and a climbing wisteria casting shadows forming a dappled pattern across the table in the sunshine. The only sounds I'd hear were laughter and crickets.  Can you see it? 

Well I finally have the setting . . . . . 

The reality is somewhat different, whilst I don't want to sound as though I'm complaining, I'm really not, I just found it amusing to realise that the image I nurtured over the years brought the words rose, glasses and coloured to mind :-D

The truth is it's far too hot to sit outside and if you do manage to ignore the copious amounts of sweat leaving your body, you are likely to be plagued by flies, eaten alive by mosquitoes and perhaps bitten by a spider!

I take comfort from the fact that I'm assured by the locals (and the lack of the sound of chainsaws working in the forrest) that this is not 'normal' summer weather for this area, with temperatures in the mid to late 30's and humidity at over 90% they also keep promising that the heatwave is going to break tomorrow, I'm still waiting . . . .

Meanwhile Andy is working in the UK for a few weeks to bring home some much needed cash, I'm a little envious of his weather reports :-)

We are still up and outside by 7am, the tomatoes which we transplanted far too late are finally producing fruit, I'm not sure if they'll ripen so we may be making green tomato chutney come autumn.  We have a bumper harvest of cucumbers and are collecting upto 18 a day 

We've eaten them for breakfast, fed some to the pigs and chickens and made sweet cucumber relish, I'm working on a recipe for cucumber and mint jelly based on a recipe I use for making sweet chili jam.  I'll post recipes and photos later.

The ducklings and bantam chicks are thriving . . . . 

I hope I don't offend anyone with my complaints, we may be short on money and long on heat but this incredible journey has given me not only the skill to be able to distinguish which bug just bit me, but the ability to take great pleasure from the smallest achievements and the realisation that I don't 'need' nearly as much stuff as I thought I did ♥

Much Love from Tineggiori xx

So much has happened . . . .

Where to start?

It's been so long since my last post and my head is so full of news I can't wait to share.

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in the mountains, the temperature has fluctuated around the mid to late thirties for three weeks and doesn't seem to be going anywhere!  Phew! We're fast learning as hardy Yorkshire folk to get up early and work while the sun is still 'simmering on the back boiler', midday sees a hasty retreat into the casa and cold showers reduce the number of times I wish we could afford air-con.

Lewis, Amelia and Amy have been for a visit, a lot of time was spent by the river in an attempt to keep cool, I think they were all finally a little relieved to get back to the English summer. It was so good to see them, we cried a bit (or in Andy's case, a lot) when they left.

We hatched another batch of chicks at Tineggiori, our first of 7 bantams arrived on day 21, we called him/her monkey, the last came on day 24 and we managed to 'catch the hatch' on video, not a great example of videography but we were surprised by it's late arrival, I've called him/her Charlotte.

We were out and about this morning, transplanting chillies, digging over more planting space and clearing a small paddock ready for our new pigs.

Ruth was on breakfast duty and served us a fantastic plate of homemade bagels with scrambled eggs and prosciutto, they were so much better than the shop bought varieties and reminded me how self sufficiency may mean less money in the bank but is not a compromise on quality of food.  

More news to follow on chicks and pigs.

Much Love from Tineggiori xx

It's Good to be Home

I've been away in the UK for a bit, I spent a lovely 3 weeks with my mum, we cooked together, spent time in the garden and did an inexplicably large number of jigsaws, I'm not sure if what I've come home with is classed as an addiction but it comes pretty close.

I also got to spend some time with my son Mark and his girlfriend Laura, I'm extremely proud of both of them, they have a drive and ambition that will take them both far, it was good to leave the 'ratrace' behind though and head for home.  The journey back with Andy and Tilly took three days due to delays at Calais, there was an equal mix of singing, bickering and slow baking in the heat of a three seater van with no air-con.

Safe to say we were really, really glad to get home.

Ivy did a great job with the tomatoes, cucumber and broccoli, we're a bit late with the toms but are hopeful the longer summer will make up for our short comings.

The weather has been hot and we've enjoyed eating outside every evening, the TV is not up to much so we came back from UK armed with board games (thanks to Ivan and Dom's dad) and had a great game of Pokemon Monopoly last night. I do know how sad this sounds but my advice is give it a go, we all forgot how much fun you can have with some beer, a few folks and Cluedo :-)

Much Love from Tineggiori xxx

Tineggiori Chickens . . . .

Chickens, Ducks and assorted poultry have always been a big part of our family life, in the UK we caused some raised eyebrows with some of our cross breeding experiments, we loved each and every one of them! 

We have a small number of brown hens that we bought at point of lay, they have settled in well and are producing lovely brown eggs which we fight over at breakfast time, we need to build our flock without delay!

Tilly and I built this rickety ladder which Hugh F-W assured us they would get the hang of (River Cottage Cook Book), no matter how many times we 'place' them on the ladder, they always fly/leap/jump into bed without giving our ladder a backward glance.

We managed to hatch just two of our Plymouth Rock eggs, our whole hatch was a bit of a disaster, with only five live chicks from 20 eggs, 18 of which were fertile and viable on day 21!

Not sure what happened but we will improve.

We also hatched three Robusta Maculata which are an Italian breed renowned for their tasty egg production.

These chickens will all be used for breeding our next generation of meat and laying birds, I think we will need to buy in more hatching eggs as so far, I think we may only have one cockerill

We have as usual defied all advice and named our chicks, real farmers say you should never name an animal you may intend to eat, it makes you attached apparently, well we get attached to all our animals, even the ones we eat. We love them all and until the day comes that we decide to go veggie, we would much rather eat an animal we have loved and reared in happy surroundings than blindly eat bought in meat without conscience just because we didn't 'know' it personally.

Our chicks are Bronson, Gino, Magneto, Banana and Alice

Tilly and Bronson watching TV

Much Love from Tineggiori xxx

Tineggiori Focaccia

Fresh Garlic is making it's way into the shops and markets and I grabbed some up yesterday just because I love it so much.

I hadn't planned our meal last night which is very unusual, I like the organisation of knowing in advance what to shop, harvest and cook for, I've planned my weekly menus for the last 25 years and I'm afraid I'm stuck with the habit.

I had a long day in front of the computer yesterday sorting out our facebook page and youtube channel, I try to make bread dough in the evening and leave it to prove overnight so it's ready to bake for breakfast, I doubled the ingredients and made a focaccia for tea, we ate it with some pasta, sausage and tomato sauce.

Recipe:

500g flour (strong bread flour in UK)
7g dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
approx 300ml warm water
1 glug olive oil

Topping:

1 onion, finely sliced
garlic to taste
coarse salt
few sprigs rosemary
sprinkling of parmesan

Method:

Add the dried yeast and sugar to the warm water, let stand for 10-15 minutes, stir.

Add the salt and flour to a big mixing bowl (I use my mixer with the dough hook for the tough bit), add the water slowly and mix to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.  All flours absorb liquid differently so you may have water left over but this is fine.

Knead the dough for 15 minutes.

Place in a bowl covered with a damp cloth or damp parchment paper and leave to rise for about 1 hour, longer if you're busy with something more exciting! 

Turn the dough out onto a board, knead again for 1 minute, now, roll, pull and stretch the dough to fit onto a large baking sheet, don't worry too much about this bit, size really doesn't matter, *sniggers childishly* you will end up with either a smaller, thicker base or a larger, thinner one.

Now poke your fingers and knuckles into the dough to make lovely little crevices that will create little pools of olive oil and herbs.  Add your toppings with as much gay abandon as you can cope with, as much or as little as you like, perhaps go a bit easy on the salt though.  I used a whole garlic bulb and added the cloves whole, fresh is a lot milder and turns very sweet when roasted with salt and olive oil, it also means that the couple of garlic wusses among us can pick it off without offending their taste buds!

Some will say you should leave the dough to prove again at this stage, I do myself sometimes, but last night I was in a hurry and baked it straight away at about 180°C for half an hour or until its golden brown.

Then all there is left to do is convince your family and friends that, yes, you really did make it yourself!

Much love from Tineggiori

xxx