There's food that wows technically and for originality, and then there's food that's just glorious to eat. Kouzina is in the latter camp and for me, I'm more than happy eating the this sort of food. Perched in the spruced up Open Market, the offering of this Greek gem is simple; home-style, sunny, filling food served with a smile. Staff are happy for you to peek under the ironware lids at the stews, meats, vegetable casseroles and classics like Moussaka and rich soutzoukakia (greek meatballs). They also have Spanakopita, the famous spinach and feta pie, made with homemade filo, which is nothing short of heroic as it's such a pig to make.

There aren't enough words to describe all of the wonderful things I've eaten in the fortnight I spent back in the family village in Italy. So here are a few pictures that should speak a thousand calories words. This is regional Aruzzese food on the whole, so possibly a few dishes you may not have come across as the area remains relatively off the well worn tourism path.

Although we mostly ate at home, cheek to jowl with no less than ten people at a time, dining out on the few occasions was wonderful too (and quieter!). Despite the decline in economy, there are a number of restaurants that shine in the bordering small villages. One we always go back to is a Slow Food champion in Pacentro (where Madonna's family are from no less) and a new one to us in Pescacosanzo that was even better. There's no point reviewing them as they are so remote but gives you an idea of how well, and reasonably you can eat generally in Italy away from the tourist drag. Plus you can also order a plate of expertly made pasta with a truckload of truffle for like, 6 Euro. I pretty much ate my body weight in truffles, natch.

Taverna De Il Caldora in Pacentro

Taverna De Il Caldora in Pacentro - a few of their Slow Food awards (practically every year)

Tagliolini with truffles at Taverna De Il Caldora. One of the three plates of pasta "tasters"

No olives on Earth are shinier or greener. Word.

The silkiest ravioli on the planet. Michelin quality as standard but without the price, if you hunt out restaurants where locals go.

The local sausages are coarse and packed with flavour. You have them roasted, or even better cooked in the pasta sauce.

Grilled lamb is the thing to eat in Abruzzo. Simple, local and delicious.

Home-style ravioli for a crowd.

Veal is the other most popular meat in the region other than lamb. This enormous fillet was something silly like 12 euros and so tender.

We caught the tail end of the fig season. Not pretty but so sweet and jammy.

The mushroom picking finds of the day. I think the variety is "big".

Abruzzo is not known for pizza making. Clearly. The only disappointing thing I ate in the fortnight and typical, it was a pizza.

SO GOOD. Italian meatloaf cooked in stock. This was so long! Only the lucky ones got a full slice of egg. i scored.

I love this drink so much. Like a bitter, grown up Cola. So hard to find in the UK.

The famous confetti (sugared almonds) made for wedding and celebrations in the nearby town of Sulmona,

These arrosticini (thin lamb skewers) are regional to Abruzzo only. Little Graphic Foodie loved his first taste of them.

Arrosticini and more local meat; pork belly and lamb chops.

Pizza rossa. This is only sold in bakeries, not pizzerias and is like a thin, tomato topped focaccia. Doused in olive oil so the base fries slightly. Will be trying to replicate at home and pop a recipe up for you.

Classic Italian pastries. Includes my favourite sfogliatelle.

Baccala (salted, dried cod)

Baccala (salted, dried cod) - battered.

One of my favourite cheeses - Caciocavallo, typical of the region. The name means "horse cheese" as they were tied and strapped over a horse to carry them to the market for sale.

Formaggio fresca. Meaning fresh cheese. You can eat this mild sheep cheese like this or age it to make Pecorino.

Mamma's minestrone. The best.

My aunt made a million crostatas whilst we were visited. No complaints. One day was apricot, another fig or blackberry. All good.

The beautiful village of Pescocostanzo .

Quaint doorway. Check. Geraniums in pots. Check. Sweet little table set up. Check. Cat. Check. This ain't no photo shoot, this is real Italy.

If you do fancy a change from bustling Rome and manicured Tuscany, then you could start by visiting http://www.visitabruzzo.co.uk/.


You may also want to consider staying in the incredible diffusion hotel town which was a former ghost village in San Stefano di Sessanio. It remains my favourite "hotel" experience and a true taste of Abruzzo living in a bygone era, just with very fancy Philippe Starck baths! I wrote about it here and the place is just magical http://www.thegraphicfoodie.co.uk/2010/08/travel-sextantio-albergo-diffuso.html

(This is not a sponsored post by the way, just bigging up the area I come from in Italy. Please visit it, you'll get a true sense of real Italy and your belly will thank you for it too.)

About as happy as I get.

I had such a great time at Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival this Spring, attending some pretty special dinners as well as the market and main food festival on Hove Lawns. It's one of the best food festivals in the country and I'm sure proud it's here in Brighton. Some of these dinners and events are repeated this time so if you missed them in the Spring then catch them now. Also this Autumn there are quite a few new things, involving some of the hottest new restaurants in Brighton. Remember to book ahead as these will sell out quickly!

For the full line up visit www.brightonfoodfestival.com but as always here are my favourites that I've cherry picked as the unmissable gems.



Food Lab
Sunday 14 September, 3pm, 64 Degrees, Meeting House Lane, Brighton
Tickets: £55 in advance

I don't think there has been so much (worthy) hype about a Brighton restaurant for a very long time, or indeed ever. 64 Degrees has invited attention from the capital and the national papers for good reason.

Brand new for the Festival, Food Lab is challenging the city’s most creative chefs and the county’s best producers to join together to create a fusion dish or product for a one-off tasting event at 64 Degrees. Who works with who will be completely random, but expect a completely unique dining experience.

Producers include Blackdown Sussex Spirits, Ridgeview Wine Estate, La Cave à Fromage, Terre à Terre), 64 Degrees, The Chilli Pickle, Boho Gelato, Jeremy’s Restaurant, Julien Plumart.

Book this ticket NOW.


The Three Chefs: International Chef Exchange supper
Monday 8 September, 7pm, the restaurant at drakes, 43-44 Marine Parade, Brighton
£55 per ticket

I loved this dinner for the Spring festival, the food was fantastic quality and the evening is great fun. As before, the dinner sees three top chefs come together for one amazing meal. Rob Carr of Hotel du Vin, Andrew MacKenzie from the restaurant at Drakes, and Michael Bremner of 64 Degrees, unite to prepare a supper inspired by their International Chef Exchange experiences of cooking with their partner chefs in Holland, for an audience of just 40 people.

Foraged Supper with That Chef Bloke, Ed Heller
Sunday 7 September, 6.30pm, A secret central Brighton & Hove location
£35 in advance from www.tabl.com/events

Chef Ed Heller: “A lot of chefs are often caught up with where they’ve been, what kitchens they have worked in, who they have worked for. All you need to know about me, is that food is my life.
Our relationship with food has become commercial, detached, desensitised, and it’s time to rediscover the raw foods of our surroundings.”
‘Foraged’ is a 5 course dinner, completely wild, foraged and hand picked. It’s your chance to eat like never before with food from a chef who doesn’t just cook food, he farms it too.

Sussex & the World Market
Saturday 6 - Sunday 7 September, 10am - 5pm, 10am - 5pm, Hove Lawns, Brighton seafront
FREE

Over 100 stalls selling fresh produce ranging from organic vegetables and breads to seafood and locally reared meat, alongside local restaurateurs and hot food stalls.

This Autumn welcomes back Wobblegate, Blackdown Sussex Spirits, Harvey’s Brewery and Butler’s Wine Cellar, all offering a great selection of locally produced drinks, whilst Mixology Group will be shaking it up in their Rum Shack. As well as the food there is a full line up of events, masterclasses and tastings. See the Festival website for more details as there is far too much to list here!

Children’s Food Festival
Saturday 6 September 10am - 4pm, Sunday 7 September 11am - 4pm, Festival marquee, Hove Lawns, Brighton seafront
FREE

This is so brilliant for encouraging children into food experiences and cooking. There's an amazing line-up of free activities alongside the Live Food Show marquee on Hove Lawns on Saturday 6 - Sunday 7 September to keep hungry little foodies busy! Choose from a host of workshops and making activities plus crafts with Rockinghorse and face painting with FareShare. Supporting Rockinghorse children’s charity.

Make Your Case wine tasting night
Thursday 11 September, 7pm, Hotel du Vin, Ship Street, Brighton
£30 in advance

The least boring wine event of your life - I promise you! The popular Make Your Case ‘punk’ wine tasting evening returns to the Autumn Harvest festival line-up with another epic line-up of wine experts including sommeliers, restaurateurs, vintners and wine makers, pitching their favourite vino to the audience.

Whilst you sample the wines blind, the presenters have three minutes to ‘pitch’ why their wine is the best – but they can’t mention the grape, price or country of origin. Then you score for presentation and taste – the wine with the highest score at the end of the night is declared our champion. You’ll also enjoy sharing platters of food from the kitchens of Pub du Vin.

You'll be standing on your chair shouting by the end of the evening. Yes you will.

For more information on the other events and tickets visit www.brightonfoodfestival.com 

There are so many brilliant family friendly things about Brighton, hence why people flock here with their new little darlings. However, in those early days, where you emerge, shell-shocked and needing the support of your entire close parent group, it can be a tricky place to find somewhere that will accommodate more than a couple of buggies in the city. I know, and this is my most requested guide!

Below are a few suggestions of where you can go when you are on tour with multiple buggy carrying friends. If you are also looking for great food for kids in the city, check my kid's menu post, although not all of those restaurants will easily accommodate more than a couple of buggies.

Nu Posto
The only time I suggest taking the kids down West Street! Nu Posto offers authentic Neapolitan pizza in a huge venue, ideal for buggies. As you would expect from Italians, they are very accommodating and friendly to children and can make up small pizzas for them too.

The Cyclist Refreshment Rooms 
A cafe/pub/restaurant in Brighton station with a glorious eclectic interior and fantastic, locally sourced food. There is plenty of room for buggies and staff are really friendly.

Brighton Dome Cafe Bar
The cafe at the Dome is probably the best open space if there is a large group of you. Plenty of room and no one bats an eyelid to exploring toddlers. Although it's a shame that Peyton and Bryne have stopped providing the food here, there are still cakes and light bits as well as coffee to pop in for.

The Cow
Aside from plenty of space, being child-friendly and a nice interior is that all of the bread is baked on site. Hooray for us carb addicts! They also have varied menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The cafe upstairs at the Duke's @ Komedia

The biannual Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival goes from strength to strength each year. The next one, this spring, will see some really interesting (and serious) food events over the twelve days.

There are quite a lot of free events, most of which are really family friendly and good fun, but if you want something a little more intimate and refined then you can book one of the special dinner or tasting events. I was particularly impressed with the line up this time, there are some utterly unmissable events for those interested in food and it really sets itself apart from other food festivals I think. What I also like is that there really is something for everyone and showcases the best of city's food industry. And we have a hell of a lot to shout about.

Here is my selection from the events. For the full listings visit: www.brightonfoodfestival.com


Good Friday 18 - Easter Saturday 19 April sees the festival take over seafront Hove Lawns with the huge free entry Sussex & The World Market featuring around 100 stalls, the Children’s Food Festival and the Live Food Show featuring the head chefs of 64 Degrees, Amberley Castle and Ockenden Manor. New this year is the 2014 Mixology Rum Shack with DJ and cocktail masterclasses, and tutored origin wine tastings presented by Discover the Origin.


For more information on the other events and tickets visit www.brightonfoodfestival.com from March 1st. 

Don't you just love the picture? This is a family friend who lives in Italy making the yearly passata for pasta sauce which is bottled and preserved.

Our family back in Italy do the same thing and everyone gets involved. Teenagers are given the tomatoes to wash and chop, adults grind the tomatoes down and cook them, even the children poke the basil in the bottles. I still have a 3cm scar on my finger from my youth when I was cutting the tomatoes and got demoted to basil poker with scornful "she'll never make a cook" looks from my aunts. No sympathy there then!



To make the above you need a whopping 120kg of San Marzano plum tomatoes. It's all about the tomatoes and the variety is key to the quality of the sauce.

METHOD:
Wash and clean the tomatoes, probably using a huge tub for this. Cut the tops of the tomatoes then squeeze the excess water out of them.

Roughly chop the tomatoes.

Place into a HUGE copper kettle over hot coals and cook until simmering. Wait for the sauce to thicken slightly, stirring with a big spoon. (My grandfather made one out of a plank of wood for this job and it looks like the one in the picture is made in the same way.)

Then sieve through a special tomato press to remove the skins and the pips.

The skins and pips can be re-pressed to extract a concentrated sauce, to add to the thinner sauce from the first press.

Bottle (or jar) the sauce into sterilised, clean bottles, inserting a sprig of basil.

Seal the jars tightly or use a bottle capper with metal caps.

Fill another large kettle with water. Add the bottles or jars to the water and heat with coals until boiling, cooking the tomatoes further and preserving them. Leave them in the water until the embers die down.

This is usually the good time for a BBQ and a beer as you will be exhausted (and covered in tomato sauce).

The following morning remove the bottles from the cold water checking them carefully for any cracks or breakages.

They will need to be stored in a cool place until required, like a garage or cellar.

The preserved passata can then be used in the same way as shop bought throughout the year for sauces.

This is a family favorite around here, the aroma of the sauce wafts around the house better than any home fragrance on the market. You can use veal mince or 50% veal and 50% pork (my favourite), or if you can't get hold of any veal at all, then pork will work as well.

The key to this is allowing the sauce to reduce properly which should take around an hour, leaving you with a succulent, almost sticky sauce that hugs onto the pasta.

This sauce is best served with a smooth pasta shape, traditionally farfalle (bows). You could use penne, preferably unlined, but never, ever long pasta like spaghetti.




Serves 4

I've just come back from a glorious two weeks in Abruzzo, Italy being force fed by family. For the first time, I didn't really seek out new foodie experiences, just craving well deserved rest and rejuvenation, visiting family and favourite old restaurants.