I love Italian food and a pasta dish features at least once a week on my weekly menu planner. If I have time at weekends, I do like to make my own pasta from scratch but weeknights this is not possible after a hard day at work. On these days I do buy ready made pasta and also the pasta sauces. I am really fussy in my choice of shop bought pasta so I only buy products that I can be sure are made using the best ingredients.
My first choice for pasta is Marks and Spencer’s. Did you know that they been working with their pasta supplier in the Dolomites since 1997? The pasta sauce they sell is made by Saor, a third-generation family business in Calabria, Southern Italy. The sauces are classically made with a soffritto base - vegetables slowly cooked in Italian extra virgin olive oil, then combined with Italian tomatoes and fresh herbs which are grown in the fields outside the factory.
Their dried pasta is made by Riccardo Felicetti and his family who use their traditional recipe dating back to 1908. They only use the finest wheat and water from a spring 2,000 meters above sea level, in the Latemar mountain district of the Dolomites. All the pasta is air dried in the Italian Alps.
I can certainly say that I can serve the M&S pasta to my family totally guilt free knowing that it is made and sourced in the best way possible.
Any pasta dish calls for a traditional Italian dessert to finish the meal, what better dessert to serve than the Italian Tiramisu. Again you can buy all the components for this delectable dessert from M&S and it takes less than 10 minutes to put together the most drool worthy dessert.
This Tiramisu is really a cheats one as all the ingredients are readily available in Marks and Spencer's, all you have to do is to assemble the different components to make the most wonderful Italian dessert.
This Tiramisu is really a cheats one as all the ingredients are readily available in Marks and Spencer's, all you have to do is to assemble the different components to make the most wonderful Italian dessert.
A delectable Italian dessert make with sponge fingers dipped in coffee, topped amaretti biscuits with a vanilla custard and creamy mascarpone cream with a generous dusting of Cocoa.
Ingredients:
- 100g Sponge Fingers
- 1/2 cup Coffee
- 150 ml Double cream
- 125g Mascarpone
- 2 tablespoons Icing Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
- 100 ml Custard
- 1 tablespoon Cocoa
- 8 Amaretti Biscuits
Method:
1. Break the sponge fingers so that they fit the base of your single serving bowl (This recipe will make 4 individual servings or 1 large to serve 4 people.)2. Dip the sponge fingers in strong coffee and make a layer in the bottom of your bowl.3. Spoon a layer of custard and crush 1 Amaretti biscuit on top.4. Repeat with another layer of sponge fingers soaked in coffee. and crush 1 Amaretti biscuit on top.5. Whisk together the the cream, icing sugar, mascarpone and vanilla.6. Spoon a thick layer of the cream mixture on top of the sponge fingers.7. Dust generously with Cocoa Powder. Chill for 1 hour before serving.
Details
Prep time: Cook time:0 Total time: Yield: Serves 4
This post is in collaboration with Marks and Spencer's.
To read more about M&S Italian month head over to Heidi's blog Kitchentalk and travels