Hitachino Nest Red Rice Beer [@NLi10] & Piccolini Pizza - Iceland

It's a big wrestling weekend in the UK - Money in the Bank was in London! I mean - it wasn't in the big arena, that's to come in Aug. But it was big enough.  It's a busy time of the year for me so I decided to let other people have this one - but it didn't mean I couldn't join in.

I picked up three of my favourite beers - the Hitachino Nest ones - recently, but had two new flavours to try.  The first of which is this red rice beer.  It's fruity, and it's certainly got a strangeness to it - but it's very much in line with the original White one that I usually have.

And to accompany it - a nice spicy pizza from Iceland. Part of the 3 for £10 Italian range I've not really had this before - we tend to go for the meals instead. 

And it's certainly lush.  Now they've stopped doing the Lewis Capaldi pizzas this is probably the most deluxe one they have.  All the meats are good, and the variety of cheeses are very Italian and not like a lot of the frozen brands.

Not too filling unlike the Chicago town ones too - this is so much lighter and fluffier.

Perfect for a projector size wrestling show!

Rana Pan Fry Gnocchi - Spinach & Mozzarella & Carbonara varieties by @NLi10

We are already part of the Rana family, it says so on the packets.  The pan fry gnocchi have been another revelation, and now they are doing more exciting flavours.

First up is the veggie friendlier version, spinach & mozzarella.  I know some veggies don't eat certain cheeses so you might need to check the fine print on this one.  Look at the lovely sizzling, crispy balls!

I had one just for review purposes, but this was not my dinner. The balance is good enough that it could have been though. The cheese doesn't overpower here - it's an ingredient not the only flavour.

I chose the carbonara - creamy meaty goodness.

As always it tells you how to cook them - butter and frequent shaking of the pan to roll them in the butter and their own juices to get an even coating.

And they look and smell fabulous once done.

Not quite as distinct as the pics on the box (but they are still 'chopped not blended' ingredients) but they were fantastic.  Needed more carbon/pepper for my tastes but that's easily added - as is cheese for those of you that like that sort of things.

Simple sophistication and they take literally 5 mins to prepare from start to finish.  A personal favourite.

 

Diforti - Pistachio Cannoli (@Nli10)

 

I do like Italian snacks - and cannoli is certainly the king of those.

This deluxe range was picked up for me to munch through.

These are a little bit special too - they are made of crispy sugary almonds and then filled with the pistachio cream - double nuts!

Look at all that goo!  Feels like something that you might find on bake off.

The cream inside is really smooth - not too strong a flavour, and maybe a little too sweet - but overall it's a lovely combination. A half of one of these makes a lovely accompaniment to a cup of tea, and a whole one is a little luxury pudding.

Yum!

Tagliatelle Carbonara for Lunch - but in a microwave?! Rana (@NLi10)

I like the Rana range so while in Sainsbury's I picked this one up to have while my partner was out.  Upon closer inspection it isn't really an evening meal kit - it's a bung in the microwave for lunch kit.

This isn't a problem - I have lunch alone too - and if this works I can take it to the office (if I can find them again).

Packed 1 is 'fresh' pasta.  I stay away from fresh pasta usually, but this seems like a decent reason to use it.

Pack 2 is the salsa fresca (fresh sauce I believe) which is ham & cream essentially.

Pack three is the green white and black dust to add at the end to taste.

Make a nest.

Add the paint (& stir) then nuke in the microwave (back inside the box - clever) for 4 1/2 mins

Add the powders and mix and stand for a minute and eat!

And the verdict?  If you put this in a proper bowl you could just about get away with serving this in a low grade restaurant (think Italian chain) and it's actually better than some Pub carbonaras I've had.

I mean - it's not Italy standard (except for that one place...) but I was pleasantly surprised and with a bit of preparation I could easily have these at work and be very satisfied.

I didn't use all the cheese as I prefer the pepper, but even then it made me very thirsty - next time I'll bring some San Pel!

Richmond Meat-Free -No Beef Mince- is it too realistic for Veggies? (@NLi10)

I'm a big fan of trying out the new options for meat reduction in the veggie section - and today we picked up this - a huge block of mince!

But wait - it's meat free - hurrah! Why did they have to make it so realistic?  Fortunately it doesn't have the horrible meat smell you get when you open a mince box. Does have the disgusting little sheet of paper though.

It has multiple textures, and looks like it contains some seasoning too. 

Is this good for you?  I know beef mince shrinks massively when you cook it (at least the water-filled cheaper stuff).

And while it does contain soya and wheat which excludes a few people, it is indeed vegan.  The red is beetroot which is cool, and it does have some seasoning.  looks like the white bits are coconut oil too.

Looks too real....

Super deluxe pasta & sauce too.

Looks fairly authentic - actually more in-tact than my student days mince - more like butchers mince.

And it's really sucked in the sauce which is something the quorn often fails to do (unless you know the trick of buying it frozen and putting the sauce on while it's still frozen).

And it looks like a fairly authentic Italian meat and long pasta dish!  Granted I could try a bit harder with the sauce and garnishing here, but I wanted to try it 'naked'.

It's pretty good as it turns out - very saucy and rich in flavour.  The resident veggie was happy that the texture wasn't that of meat (the Quorn mince is more meat-like than this) but the flavours and textures worked really well and I'm convinced that we will be having this again.  Maybe the whole box was a bit much for two - but I ate like a king so it was quite nice.

I'm still dreading trying the bacon from the same range...

Jamie Oliver - veggie and meaty Italian Pizzas! (@Nli10)

We love pizza - and Jamie Oliver loves tampering with Italian classics.  Here we have his veggie and meaty pizzas.

This is the veggie pizza (uncooked) in its little bag.  I didn't eat this one but I am assured that it was lovely.

This is my meaty one

Look at all that luxury goodness!  Maybe too much though?  There are so many little hidden flavours going on that it's almost too many.  The sausage is thick and flavoursome and would be awesome by itself, but here with the  aniseed and onions its almost too rich.  I think that they needed to boost one or two of the ingredients only, so that it was more of a pizza and less of a pile of luxury food.

I'd happily eat it again though, but I'm not sure that it's as perfect as they'd like it to be.

 

Basil & Pine Nut Ravioli (Morrisons UK) @NLi10

 Quick dinners are great.  Italian quick dinners are even greater!  Spotted this on my first actual supermarket visit in AGES and couldn't resist.

Box opened and then cardboard put back on so it's less shiny!

This is the classic filled pasta treat.  And as they are gradually getting more luxurious I'm buying even more.

And look - they sold me fresh bread to go alongside it.  Yum!

Boil lightly for 4 mins - done!  Enjoy the pesto and basil scents.

And look at this for a sophisticated (yet light) dinner.  I'd have had a little more chunky pine nuts in the ravioli purely for texture, but this was amazing and good enough to get me to go back to Morrisons.

Rana Pan-Fry Gnocchi - Pumpkin version! (@NLi10)

Is it Halloween?  It feels like it with this Pumpkin variety of our newly-beloved pan-fry gnocchi.

Rana Family have again brought the quality - and it's a generous 2 person portion - really you could stretch this to three with no issues.

Look at their dusty orange magnificence!

Put butter in pan - fry lightly until crispy on all sides.

Bury in leaves and garlic bread and enjoy with a movie!

As ever these have an amazing texture and the crisp/chewy combo only adds to the subtle pumpkin flavour these add.  The butter fry is recommended as it adds a salty tang to the outside and improves the crunch.

I'm going to keep buying all the flavours, but I think I've reviewed all the key ones now!

 

Giovani Rana Filled, Pan-Fried Gnocchi - Tomato & Mozzarella (@NLi10)

 Spoiler pic for the tweets & Instagram stories!

Oh no - so good I forgot to take a picture in the bag!

We've been pan-frying our Gnocchi for a little while now after discovering the Rana plain ones to fry.  And they have all been amazing - I'd eat some right now!

These however - have a filling - which sounds like a pain to make.

Look at them - burnt on the sides, and squishy in the middle. Some with a little tail.  Ragu cooking in the background.

And here the tomato is bursting out as I cooked them for a few seconds too long.

Amazing stuff, lovely fillings and great potato dough stuff.  Either the best starter ever for 4, or add some veggies and sauce for 2.  I'd eat these every day if I could.

Jamie Oliver Carbonara Tortelloni - little pasta parcels (@NLi10)

Jamie made my favourite ever UK Carbonara, then he changed it so it wasn't as good and his restaurants all closed.  I've had better Carbonara at Italian restaurants in Italy (of course) .

Here we have a home version - but how traditional is it?

Looks fairly like recipe one to me - yippee!

Boil water - time - eat!

Serve with bunny ears of Olive bread and actual olives and defend from cats due to enticing aroma.

And...?  Well they are fine.  Giovani Rana does better blends of pasta parcel - chopped not blended of course so they still have texture.  This is quite basic paste in luxury pasta.  Enjoyable light meal - but without all the additions I'd be convinced this was a stores-own brand pasta, not a top chef.

 

RANA - Pan-fried Gnocchi - Spinach (@NLi10)

 We like the Rana brand convenient Italian food.  As authentic as you are likely to find in an English supermarket, and usually very high quality ingredients.  When my partner brought home this (new?) green Gnocci I couldn't wait to try them out.

Look at all this lovely text!

And they want me to fry them? Well - lets trust them on this and try it!

Naked, raw Gnocchi

Part fried Gnocchi - a bit blurred I am afraid.

And here they are - with a lovely pie (Old peculiar I think).  They look a lot like sprouts, but they taste like high quality spinach gnocchi! I did really enjoy these - and I think I might try pan frying some of the generic store gnocchi like this.  Its not something I'd really considered and is almost a lot more 'English' as fried potato cakes and similar are part of the local cuisine.

Really enjoyable, quick and easy and go with pretty much anything.  Result!