It's almost been a month since I took the steps of taking on Cassie’s Kitchen part time in my stride. The change came after a after a long awaited (and needed) break to Australia to see the family.
With the support of many new faces and the regulars who have appeared on the blog before. I have made some wonderful contacts and I'm steadily learning the ups and down of turning my passion into an exciting outlet for all my energy. We’ve had some special days of recent, with a stall at Boxpark in Shoreditch, being involved at a Wimbledon themed event in Stratford and part of the Good Food in Greenwich and change for life roadshow. Over the weekend we had a stall at the Charlton House Community Day and this weekend coming will see us host a stall at the Progress Estate 100th birthday community day.
More excitingly we have also partnered up with #GreenwichHour to launch the end of Summer Party this September that will showcase all of the businesses and wonderful offerings in the Borough of Greenwich. This event will see Cassie’s Kitchen in its element working alongside the Head Chef of Season etc, serving a mix of traditional and Mediterranean dishes to 100 guests.
So, now you're asking OK, she’s told us all business facts. What are the fun things that have been happening to Cassie’s Kitchen.. Well here is my story!
Today I went down to Bella Vita translated to the Beautiful life Italian Food Expo in Islington at the Design centre and wow! what a fantastic-o day! I sampled the most delicate and delicious cheeses. The most scrumptious relishes and jams some delicious warm focaccia dipped in truly great balsamic and olive oils, and don’t even get me started on the the size of the panatone.
I was even lucky enough to see Massimo Bottura the saviour of Parmiganno Reggiano after the 2012 earthquake that destroyed 400,000 wheels of parmiganno cheese. Strangely enough it was only the other week I was watching an interview of his story of how he was called with urgency by the main producers of the delicious cheese to help them salvage an industry that had been running since the middle ages.
One of the things I noticed today was that Massimo, who freely admitted it, loves to talk. This character trait makes you drawn to him and his unique story. With the damage of the Parmiggano cheese near to his hometown area, he was tasked to invent a dish that not only could be sold to Italians to cook at home, but a dish to inspire the world and Risotto Cacio e Pepe or Risotto with cheese and pepper as some may know it was born.
It is such an interesting story to hear about how 1 simple dish launched a new way of eating and cooking and was able to save an entire economy.
My other highlight for the day was a 3 course lunch from Andrea Zagatti, who completely blew me away with his approach of cooking a dish using the selected ingredients available to him on the day. In my eyes this is a true talent.
To start we had a beautiful parma ham, with artichoke heart and the stem of tomato vine. Follow with melanzane parmiganna cooked with a smokey flavoured type of mozzarella ball
Overall it was such and exciting day of food and flavours and I only wish I was more confident to speak to more suppliers to find out about their wares more.
Anyways later kids.
Recipe for my secret arancini balls to coming this August!
Cass
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