MID-MARCH LUNCH

What a feast I enjoyed yesterday with friends at the home of Roberta and Roberto in Ragusa!

There were antipasti of olives, arancini,  prosciutto,  little mozzarelle and sun-dried tomatoes:

Then there were home-made ravioli with a mushroom sauce:

There were two main courses, of chicken and of pork:

There were mandarins from Roberta and Roberto's garden:

Linda had prepared a very British trifle

and, as I had been longing to try some of the delectable chocolate fancies on display in our local bar, I took some along to share with my friends.  The coloured chocolate cases are filled with a Modican chocolate cream and to the right of the tray you can see chocolate flavoured torrone and cobaita:

I can think of no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

NEW YEAR'S EVE LUNCH WITH IRMA

Irma is another friend who is a wonderful cook and this is what we ate for a long lunch today:

There were home dried tomatoes with a piquant dressing

followed by this elegant pasta dish of ham and chiodini mushrooms, invented by Irma

and served on a basil purée:

Then there was roast pork

prettily served with a fennel and orange salad and apple purée:

Now, I have to say I'm proud of this.  I had invented a semifreddo of white torrone to take along as a dessert.  I got the idea from a magazine but the recipe seemed unnecessarily complicated to me, so I adapted the semifreddo of marrons glacés recipe from Il Cucchiaio d'Argento and it worked very well.  I found the chocolate letters and numbers in the supermarket.  [They are by paneangeli, if you're in Italy.]

After that, there was Irma's cobaita [or giuggiulena in dialect]

plus mustaccioli biscuits filled with nuts and fig paste and nucatoli honey biscuits.

Now I have to find room for a dish of lentils, to bring myself good fortune in the New Year!

Happy 2011, everybody, from Simi and me! xx woof!