I can cook. My husband however has an amazing passion for cooking.  His culinary interests surfaced over the last few years of our marriage and now he does the majority of the cooking and meal planning for our family.  As expats what has made living in England so exciting is easy resource to organic and local produce.  We can order our meat from the nearby butcher, pick up our fruit and veg from local food markets, and even have our vegetable boxes delivered from organic farms. In fact it has been months now since I last stepped inside a grocery store as we can get everything else we need delivered to the home.  This is a huge difference from living on military bases where you bought what you could find and tried hard not to shop on or the days after payday.  I believe being able to have such an amazing access to high quality, variety, and fresh foods have been the foundation of my husband’s journey  in cooking.  

In a month we will have my mum and sister over to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal in the Snowdonia region of Wales.  As we were researching places to stay our biggest concern was about having an adequate kitchen.  My family adores Ryan to pieces and they are so excited to have him cook for them again.  We have been compiling his favourite recipes as we look forward to entertaining with my family and our friends in Wales.  Which makes this a perfect opportunity to participate in an entertaining competition with Taylor Wimpey. I have been asked to put together a menu of a starter, main, dessert, and drinks to serve as I bring my family together this summer.  I am trying my best to keep this mainly paleo as my family all eats a similar diet.  Since we are a multi cultural family who has lived in many places I made sure to reflect different aspects of that in the menu and ingredient choices. 

Welcome Drink – English Garden

Starter – Bacon and Cider Mussels

Main – Courgetti and Meatballs

Dessert – ‘Get Some’ Ice cream

Wine – Sangiovese

Welcome Drink: English Garden

This will be directions to make per individual glass.

Four fresh mint leaves, chopped

1/2 a tsp of grated ginger root

3 slices of cucumber

1 tsp of stevia or fair trade raw cane sugar

Gin

Soda water

Put the mint, ginger, and cucumber at the bottom of the glass. Fill the glass with ice. Add one part gin to three parts soda water. Stir so that the ingredients mix throughout the drink. While you are stirring add the sweetener. 

The Starter: Bacon and Cider Mussels

1Kg of mussels, scrubbed clean and de-bearded. 

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

150ml of cider (an alcoholic cider, for my American readers)

or

1tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar and add water until the mixture equals 150ml 

One bunch of parsley, chopped

150gr of smoked bacon lardons

Grass fed unsalted butter

Coconut oil

In a pot (or pan that has a lid) melt a tbsp of butter and fry the smoked bacon lardons until crispy. Take the lardons out and set aside but keep the fat in the pot.  Melt a tbsp of coconut oil. Add the mussels, the cider, and garlic. Cover and let them steam for about four minutes or until they have all opened. You will want to shake them around in the pan occasionally to prevent them from burning. Take the mussels out and set aside, leaving the cider mixture in the pot. Add the parsley and half of the bacon and cook for two minutes.  Pour over the mussels and then sprinkle the remaining bacon over the muscles. 

The Main: Courgetti and Meatballs

My family grew up in southern Italy and so Italian food has always been a quintessential part when we get back together.  What I love about ‘real’ Italian food in my home of Napoli, is that the dishes keep it simple.  You can taste every one of the ingredients with each bite.  It is probably why I am not a huge fan of ‘American-Italian’ food which can contain a lot of dishes that are covered in heavy sauces, smothered in cream and cheese, and have chicken thrown in for good measure. This recipe is perfect as I feel it meets my needs for Italian food while satisfying the needs of a Paleo diet. 

3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 chopped chille (omit if you do not like spicy)

500 gr of freshly chopped tomatoes

Fresh basil to taste, chopped

6 oz. of  wine, Pinot Grigio 

Sea salt to taste

Coconut Oil (or butter)

1 tbsp of coconut oil melted in a pot and add the garlic. Let the garlic cook on a medium low heat, just until it gets brown but before it gets crunch.  Follow with adding the tomatoes on an increased high heat setting.  Crush the tomatoes as you stir them in the pot until you get a thick liquid texture with chunks of broken down tomatoes.  If you are adding peppers, now is the time to add them and let them cook for two minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Let it stay on high heat until it starts to boil. Then cover and put on low heat to simmer for at least 30 minutes.  You do not want to cook all the water out of it, but if you wanted to simmer it for longer you can. 

For a family of four we use 3 courgettes. For two people I would suggest two. Take the courgettes and chop the ends off and discard. Slice the courgettes in a mandoline into your preferred size.  If you do not have a mandoline you can use a knife or if you wanted really thing noodles could use a vegetable peeler.  If you use the peeler you will then need to cut them into strips afterwards.  Put a colander in a large bowel and add the courgette noodles to the colander   Add enough sea salt to distribute evenly with the noodles to help suck the water out of them to make them pliable.  Set aside.

Time to Start the Oven: Preheat oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5

500 grams of meat

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 egg

This is per preference, but my husband likes to mix 250gr of minced pork with 250gr of minced beef. However if you want all beef or all pork you can use 500gr of your choosing.  

Crack and beat an egg in a bowl and mix with the meat and the onion and mix together evenly with your hands.  The size can vary but golfball size meatballs works well or you can make a bigger meatball per person.  Once your meatballs are formed take a skillet or pan and heat up 1/2 a tbsp of coconut oil.  Add the meatballs and cook them until they are nice and brown on all sides. 

Take a casserole dish and add the meatballs. Take the sauce that has been simmering and pour on top of the meatballs. Put in preheated oven, uncovered, for about forty minutes.  Put the noodles on plates or in bowls, spoon the sauce and meatballs on top. If desired grated parmesan on top. Garnish with two our three basil leaves.