Archive for the ‘In the press’ Category
In the press: Fresh pasta
February 15th, 2011 | 
Author: Tried and tested: fresh pasta, by Rose Prince
(The Telegraph, February 12 2011)
Rose Prince wrote such a lovely review of our fresh pastas in this weekend’s Telegraph. Both our oustanding handmade pastas from Vittorio Maschio and the ever-popular Fresh Pasta Co. were included in her “tried and tested” favourites. Read her lovely words below or the full article here.
“When I first met Vittorio Maschio, he was making pasta above a pizzeria in Battersea. Originally from Venice, he had perfected a pasta dough recipe and was doing well selling to chef Giorgio Locatelli and restaurants like The Ivy. He has since linked up with Natoora, the south-London-based Italian and French produce specialist that sells outstanding fruit and vegetables, as well as other specialities online.”
“Maschio mixes different flours to make tender but resilient pasta. Ingredients for both plain and stuffed pastas are natural and the flavours perfectly judged. He makes a large range of plain pasta shapes, both quirky and common; long, plump bigoli (like fat spaghetti), creste di gallo (”coxcombs”), tiny gnocchetti from Sardinia and egg lasagne sheets. All these are available from the Natoora website for home delivery all over Britain; for larger orders of stuffed pasta there’s a bespoke service.” (Call us on 0207 627 1600 for wholesale enquiries).
“Recently we ate a heavenly supper of tiny pouches filled with fresh buffalo ricotta and herbs, served in a rich chicken broth with a few gratings of Parmesan. For winter dinners I have ordered fat rounds of pumpkin ravioli, flavoured with amaretti biscuits, as sumptuous as a pasta dish can be, and bigoli, made with white pepper and the yellowest eggs, crying out to be clothed in a rich carbonara.”
“These pastas contain no preservatives, and their shelf life is consequently short, but this is as close as you can get to having a genuine skilled Mamma in the kitchen.”
“Mark Garcia-Oliver has a practical solution for those who want good-quality pasta that keeps. Based in south Wales, Garcia-Oliver’s Fresh Pasta Company imports fresh pasta made with wholesome ingredients in a small family-run factory near Lake Garda. His filled pasta – venison, simple (delicious) ricotta, spinach, squash, braised beef – is generous, homely and leagues ahead of supermarket equivalents (his products are soon to be trialled in Waitrose). The pasta is made on Thursday in Italy, heat treated to add shelf life (though the flavours are still true) and reaches British shops four days later. His perseverance to bring good, fresh pasta to a wide British audience has paid off – buy from good farmers’ markets countrywide.”
- Natoora; 020 7627 1600 – pasta made by Vittorio Maschio (from £2.50 for 250g, serves two; filled pasta from £25/kg) and other excellent deli foods. (It also stocks the Fresh Pasta Company, below)
- The Fresh Pasta Company; 0845 603 7746 – call for stockists. Plain pasta from £3.99 for 250g; filled from £5.99 for 250g.
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In the press: French Cheeses
“The very best French cheeses…tasted and rated by Bruno Loubet” – Observer Food Monthly, February 2011
We were so pleased to see such lovely reviews of our delicious French cheeses in this weekend’s Observer Food Monthly magazine. You can explore all our wonderful cheeses in our online cheesemonger, or read the reviews below.
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Brie de Meaux
“Wow, this stinks! I love it. Robust, ripe, complex flavour that lasts a long time. This is a knockout cheese.” 5 stars. Best buy. |
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Camembert de Normandie
“Very good, strong smell; it has depth, fills every part of your mouth. This is a great Camembert.” 5 stars. |
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Comté
“Tastes very specifically of hazelnuts, which is very nice. This doesn’t last all that long, though.” 3 stars. |
In the press: Sommariva Olive Oil
Italia! magazine reviewed our Sommariva Extra Virgin Olive Oil in this month’s issue. Hear what their expert tastebuds thought below…
“A thick, rich oil in a muted, delicate shade of gold, this oil was a very popular choice with the tasting panel. It’s fragrant, well balanced and bursting with character, displaying a delightfully fresh, fruity tang. Very highly recommended – and a nice, big bottle too!”
“Best for…
A fabulous salad dressing, or one to enjoy with artisan bread and balsamic vinegar. Perfetto!”
Thanks Italia! Mag
In the press: Fresh Pasta
Our fresh pasta is made daily by Vittorio Maschio and his team. Yesterday the perfect strands of long pasta appeared in Rose Prince’s recipe for “Long pasta with eggs and pork cheek” (The Telegraph). She says:
“For the pasta, choose either high-quality dried egg linguine types or very special, fresh pasta handmade in south London by Vittorio Maschio, available from natoora.co.uk, where you can also buy guanciale.”
This isn’t the first time this amazing handmade pasta has been recognised…
“London’s best fresh pasta” (Evening Standard)
“He makes the pasta I can’t” (Giorgio Locatelli)
It is no surprise then that along with being available to buy from Natoora, Vittorio Maschio’s fresh pasta is supplied to some of London’s very best chefs.
All VIMA’s fresh pastas are made by hand. They use bronze dies to extrude the pasta which gives the pasta a slightly rough, powdery surface and makes it bind really well to the pasta sauce. A myriad of shapes and sizes are available and are made using only the finest basic ingredients.
In the press: Bergamot
A new craze is sweeping the nation and it’s got nothing to do with Justin Bieber. In fact it is something rather more delicious – the fantastic bergamot.
If you haven’t heard of this outstanding fruit yet you don’t need to look far for words of praise for its alluring scent and refreshing flavour. This weekend saw Young Chef of the Year and Natoora customer Stevie Parle create mouthwatering bergamot madeleines in his Telegraph column. You can read the full recipe here. In fact, since we started importing bergamots last year, they have been popping up all over the menus of some of London’s top restaurants.
Heston’s Blumenthal’s new venture “Dinner” at the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge is just one -
“The menu is expected to include scallops served with cucumber ketchup and peas, salad of mackerel cured with fragrant bergamot, as well as classics including slow-cooked short rib of beef.” (The Guardian) – You can read the recipe here.
Rose Prince has also been using bergamot to flavour her beautiful Haddack and Radicchio salad.
Read more about this wonderful fruit here from our Director Franco Fubini.
Bergamot is of course available to buy online at Natoora – make sure you don’t miss out though as the season is expected to end in the next few weeks, starting again late next year. Click here to buy bergamot online today!
In the press: Stevie Parle
This weekend, award-winning Stevie Parle revealed his secret for the perfect pasta (pici) and the perfect sauce to match – including our jars of peeled tomatoes from Puma Conserve. You can read the full recipe online here or read a snippet below….
“I absolutely love making tomato sauce and it is one of my favourite things to eat.”
“This recipe features chilli and dried oregano, but there are lots of other options you can go for. It works better if you make a lot as it keeps for a few days in the fridge.”
“For The Dock Kitchen I buy really lovely jars of peeled Puma Conserve tomatoes from www.natoora.co.uk – do get them if you can. Otherwise buy good whole peeled Italian plum tomatoes in a tin and rinse them of their juice.”
Serves four
Ingredients
1kg fresh pici
3 x 400g tins peeled plum tomatoes rinsed of juice
3 large garlic cloves, peeled, green sprout removed and cut in half
1 dried red chilli
A pinch of dried wild oregano
Olive oil
“Heat a large heavy pan over a medium high heat.”
“Fry the garlic in olive oil until it just starts to change colour, then add the tomatoes, dried chilli, and oregano and turn down the heat.”
“Leave it to cook very gently, breaking the tomatoes with the back of your spoon, for about an hour until the sauce is thick and sweet.”
“Boil the pici in a big pan of salted water for about three minutes, and then add it to your sauce.”
“Mix well, and loosen with a bit of olive oil and a splash of the cooking water.”
You can read Stevie’s new column in the Telegraph every week -we know he’s got some amazing recipes and can’t wait to find out more!
In the Press: Rose Prince
“Recipes for January: Lighten-up time” by Rose Prince (Telegraph Magazine, 1 January 2011)
We were delighted to see some of our produce featured in Rose Prince’s beautiful recipes the Telegraph Magazine. Read the full article here or see a snippet below…
“I keep thinking of pure recipes and what the word ‘pure’ defines. To me it means more than detoxifying January dishes, but lightness of colour. I am certainly eating food with flavours that are sharper, cooler and cleaner; trying not to add the world and its wife to a recipe, so that it is possible to enjoy the few seasonal ingredients that this month offers.”
“There are buried treasures to enjoy: vegetables that never see the light of day as they are grown indoors and so are characteristic of a European winter; the chicory, winter rhubarb and radicchio leaves that add a pinch of the right level of bitterness to suppers; the citrus fruits that have been so much part of our piratical eating habit, and fresh fish from chilly waters – just the thing for rebuilding our strength and keeping those winter illnesses away.”
“At this time of year I cheat a bit, sourcing bitter leaves from France if I can’t get them British-grown. Natoora.co.uk, a resourceful home-delivery business, will bring unusual citrus fruits such as bergamot and Sicilian lemons to your door, as well as pretty leaves. January suppers are fascinating – there is a hint of renewal in these meals. They are the first pale-green shoots of spring.”
Citrus Haddock With Radicchio (featuring Natoora’s bergamot and radicchio)
Fishcakes with Lemongrass (with Radicchio Castelfranco – pictured)
Photographs by Laura Hynd
In the press: Olive Magazine
This month’s Olive magazine has gone all Christmassy and we were so pleased to see that food writer and stylist Alice Hart (author of Alice’s Cookbook) included us in her ‘Modern Christmas Address Book’:
“NATOORA.CO.UK ‘Totally and utterly addictive, Natoora is a top-quality, online deli with an Italian slant. The cheeses and fresh pastas are divine.’ ”
In the press: Pecorino Romano
Our fantastic Pecorino Romano has been featured in the July edition of Italia! magazine. Here’s what they had to say in their taste test…
“The Pecorino Romano is Natoora’s most popular Pecorino. It is the most mature (up to a year ageing) of their Pecorinos, with a hard rind and a yellowish interior.
Most of the panel liked this cheese for its firm, but nicely crumbly texture. It is also one of the grainier cheeses from the taste test, giving it a nice bit of “crunch”.
Flavourwise this cheese offers up definite tones of hazelnut, and a typical sharpness. It is also an extremely salty cheese, which makes it a little overpowering, but great for aficionados of strong cheese.
VERDICT: 3 Stars
A good result for this salty Pecorino. To eat on its own, match with the right wine – maybe a rich Chianti or crisp Chardonnay.”
Want to try it for yourself? Buy our Pecorino Romano online today!
In the press: Wild Strawberries
The Culinary Guide had the pleasure of tasting our Fraises Des Bois – Wild strawberries this week. You can read the full review below and if you want to see what all the fuss is about, order a punnet today!
Fraises Des Bois – Wild strawberries from Natoora’s delivery service
Written by Lydia Manch – Read it at www.theculinaryguide.co.uk
“Natoora – online shop and food delivery service – have opened their strawberry season with Arzagot Fraises Des Bois. Woodland strawberries, picked in Spain, packed into chilled boxes post-haste and shipped to the UK. Apparently the preferred strawberry of pastry chefs across Europe. They are tiny, they are delicate in flavour. …
Punnet already sounds diminutive, so I have made up the word punnetine to describe just how little this 100g punnet actually was. A small handful. Or maybe a large mouthful. The wild strawberries themselves were equally tiny, which made me feel like a giant with an average-size box of average-size strawberries. I quite liked it, but obviously the trend for tininess is not always something that should be indulged. Case in point, the little dogs that sit in handbags looking embarrassed.
Having now tried them, I can inform you that there’s as much flavour per tiny strawberry as you’d find in a supermarket beastie, which is impressive considering they’re about a quarter of the size. Maybe wild strawberries are better the smaller they are. They don’t make diamonds as big as they make bricks, good things in small packages, etc. They cost £5.95 for a punnetine, but if you want to buy something tiny and expensive then these strawberries are a much better investment than one of the handbag dogs.”