Grisbi - Pistachio - Cody's Italian Diner, Bearwood [@NLi10]

 Our local Italian Café has a little shop at the back full of authentic Italian treats - and I picked up these 'Pistacchio' biscuits.

"the original crunchy shortcrust pastry filled with velvety crème"

"for those who love sophisticated contrasts at any time of day"

And boy are they luxurious.  At essentially 50p a biscuit you'd hope so!

Still liquid inside, but with a bizarre crunch effect I've never really experienced before - it's like the inner is inside one giant smartie shell and so it crunches ever so slightly like you are eating something forbidden.  And it's wonderful.

Every part tastes authentic and fresh, despite sitting in a box on a shelf for a while.  This is biscuit making as an artform.

I have to try other flavours of these, but with Easter stocks filling the house there is no rush.  Plus there are rumours that Cody's family are taking over the old café a few doors down and opening a small cover Italian restaurant which frankly will be the best thing ever,

Rana - Tuscan Ragu Pappardelle - lunch inabox [@NLi10]

 I decided to stock up on bigger lunches for when two slices of bread isn't quite enough - and the first of these is this Rana Tuscan style Pappardelle

It's essentially a very basic meal kit but as everything is in the box that's fine

You can even queue for the office microwave and make this in 5 mins, and all your co-workers will hate you!

But at home it's easier in the pan. plus this seems messy to make in public in the tray

Only 3 pouches though - what could go wrong?

Oh - ragu goes in first - not pasta - whoops

That's better, it's a lot meatier than it looks here - good thick sauce

Gravy's up nicely and the fresh pasta has a great texture.

You can add all the cheese if you are mad, I added a sprinkle, but I think it's balanced for the salt - so maybe not so mad.

Lovely thick sauce with deep flavours.  I'll be having this one again.

Worth noting the date on this was great - it's been in the fridge waiting for weeks and was still in date.  Win!

Meaty Pizza - Tesco Finest, Franky & Benny + Italian Deli [@NLi10]

 Sometimes I skim through my hard to review photos and notice a theme, or in this case that I've essentially been eating the same thing repeatedly.

This time it's meaty pizza things.

My partner got me this meat plater pizza - and for a Tesco pizza it's amazingly lush

All the right things in all the right proportions and a pleasure to eat.

This was the Frankie & Bennies version - and for a restaurant I think you'd be underwhelmed - but for a chain outside a cinema with the prices and speed factored in this was actually a lot more luxurious than it needed to be - the sausage was a lovely touch.  I'd have it again - although a little oily!

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum this was a little more indulgent and a lot more Italian is the cafe on Bearwood high-street - I even got to watch the meat be sliced off the giant ham.  My only regret was not ordering an espresso macchiato to drink as I waited

Tomato focaccia on top of a lightly toasted base with the smoked ham, parmigiana, potato and goodness knows what else

An amazing sandwich to be absolutely savoured - and definitely an encouragement to walk more to get the 30 mins round trip to the deli and back at lunchtimes.

The best of the bunch then, but at £8 a go (not including the Cannelloni I got to take home and next times inevitable coffee) it'll soon add up.  But wow - so worth it.

Lidl Deluxe - Salami, 'Nduja & Pepper Pizza [@NLi10]

 We had a games night and I bought 8 pizza from Lidl, including a few I'd not seen before.  We didn't get through them all so this hid in the freezer for later.

We don't usually get pizza from the frozen section there as the 'fresh' ones in the fridge are huge and stacked - but I went for variety

So far so ordinary!  I think Blogger needs to allow higher resolution pics to see the ingredients...

And it comes out almost identical to the pictures.  I think the oven needed to be hotter for the golden cheese, but for me this is fine.  And as it turns out the variety and quality of the ingredients is great!

We've had issues with the spicy versions being too hot, but this was just nicely warm - and the sausage mix they used had a lovely deep flavour and really added to the pizza.  Definitely one I want more of - a decent mid-price pizza.

It says these are 'new' so maybe they are trying to compete with the bigger stores.  Iceland's pizza selection was pathetic the last time I went so maybe this should be my first choice (even if getting them home still frozen is a challenge!)

Italiamo - Farfalle al limone - pasta with lemon (Lidl) [@NLi10]

 Occasionally we pick up the expensive Italian pasta from farm shops, and italian delis - and sometimes we pick them up from Lidl!

They have good contacts in Europe so we get good quality random euro products for budget prices - and that's what we have here!

And while it's not quite the peak quality stuff, it's certainly better than your normal pasta - and the lemon flavour is more of a gentle hint than I'd hoped.  This coupled with the other strong Italian flavours of olives and pesto though creates a lovely little lunch and is well worth hoping they still have some left of next time round.

Rana Sicilian Style Caponata [@NLi10]

 It's Rana time! We are definitely part of the Rana family and love picking up the new versions as they come out.

This one is an odd one - aubergines, tomatoes, onions & capers. All quite strong flavours and ones that I like.

It says to add tomatoes too - but we didn't spot that and were just having them as a late snack.

Always cook for the indicated time so that it's neither runny or hard inside - like eggs I guess.

And here we see them, with a little balsamic thrown on top for added pizzaz.

The usual 'chopped not blended' Rana ingredients really benefit here - there is great textures and deep flavours here.  I do think that the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes would have been a bonus and it'd work better in a full meal but I'm sure we will keep buying this one as it's a nice side dish.

Meatless Farm - No-Duja Ravioli [@NLi10]

 Veganuary comes to a close - but the vegan delights continue!

Hopefully the stores don't just cut off my supply of goodness from today.

Here we have meat free ravioli, lovely little saucy parcels of goodness - but what's inside?

Plant based filling of course!  Well - water & peas anyway.  And that's great for me as I do love this stuff.  Naturally they added in all the spices too which make it a lot closer to nduja than I'd expected - and it's pretty spicy!

I had to crack out some Ghost Ship just in case.

The pasta was great quality, and the filling had a satisfyingly meaty texture.  I want more of these please.

Dell Ugo - Fresh Spinach Gnocchi by @NLi10

 I'm a big fan of Italian food - and decent ingredients to eat at home are great.  Even better is pre-made dinner parts in bags ready to go!

Picked up via Waitrose, here we have Dell Ugo's Fresh Spinach Gnocchi.  

Lots of ways to cook, but we have become hooked to the pan fry version so I did that.

Sounds pretty good - lets see how it goes.

So juicy!

Bit much for the small pan, but they did say it was only two portions - so a bit of butter and we are away!

Crisping up nicely.  As always the gnocchi was firm but not tough and now with a lovely spinach taste and a slight crispiness to the outside.  Fantastically deluxe, and so exciting I forgot to take pictures of the plate!

I'm certainly going to have these again - but I have more Italian goodies to review from the little deli that appeared on Bearwood high-street first.