On my 18 birthday, my best friend came to mine the night before to make a play list. Those were the arduous days of illegal downloading and burning onto CDs so it was quite an operation. Well, we got so rip-roaring drunk that night that I nearly didn’t enjoy the big night. It was alright in the end though and it was a typical 18th: tequila sunrises, fights and a few ill-judged snogs. 

This NYE, that friend and I (now 30 and approaching 30) decided to have a staycation. The day before, we went to a spa and I made a four course Italian feast for her (she lives in Rome hence the theme). The meal turned out well but as we sat in the kitchen prepping, we may have drank four bottles of really good wine (it beats the Rosé Cava days though). Old habits die hard.

Needless to say, we were pretty much ruined for actual NYE and just had to have a sober night watching Graham Norton. The other part of our trio had to work in Abu Dhabi and it goes without saying that she would have given us a swift kick up the arse and had us seeing the new year in with a whole pile of choice Europop music. We could have done with that seeing as we’re still RAGING about Brexit.

My friend said that the origins of these dishes were all over the show in terms of where they’re eaten in Italy. However, I chose this menu because I liked how there were lots of duplicate ingredients which made for a more frugal food shop- and we both agreed that that in itself was a very Italian way to cook.
The tapenade, puttanesca and salsa verde were from the Guardian- Felicity Cloake’s ‘How to make the perfect…’ section.

Antipasto: olive tapenade 

The first meal I ever had on my first visit to Italy was olive tapenade. I thought I was super-sophisticated with my new found love of olives and this was delicious.

• 200g of pitted Kalamata olives
• 3 tbsp capers
• 2 anchovies rinsed if salty
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• Juice of half a lemon
• A glug of oil to bind
• Salt and pepper

1. Put all the ingriedients apart from the oil and lemon in a food processor (I only have a blender so I just put them in that and ‘pulsed it’ and I’m sure a hand blender would do to)
2. Add the lemon and pulse a bit more and then add the oil and continue to pulse until you have the consistency you like. I had it really smooth in Italy but I like it a bit coarser so you can still see the nice ingredients.
3. Rub sliced ciabatta with raw garlic and dry fry in a pan or on a griddle on both sides until toasted.

Primo: puttanesca pasta

Known as ‘whore’s pasta’ so the ladies of the night could rustle up a quick meal in between appointments and conserve their energy! A girl’s gotta eat…

• Two handfuls of linguini
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Two garlic cloves
• 4 anchovies 
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 50g black olives
• 1 tbsp capers
• 100ml passata
• 2 tbsp tomato purée 
• Two handfuls of chopped flat leaf parsley 

1. Boil a pot of salted water for the pasta.
2. Finely slice the garlic and heat in the oil until smelling fragrant but not burning. Chop the anchovies and put in the pan until they’re beginning to dissolve. Add the chilli flakes and hear for another minute.
3. Add the olives and capers and ramp up the heat until they begin to sing/sizzle.
4. Put the pasta in the boiling pot of water.
5. Add the tomato purée and passata and heat for another five minutes. Add salt and pepper and check the level of seasoning.
6. When the pasta is done, drain it and put it in the frying pan with the sauce and toss until fully combined. Add the parsley and give it another good toss.
7. It didn’t say anything about Parmesan but I added some.

Secondo: bissteca and salsa verde 

Italians rarely eat steak so when I was having a little gander I did see a nice twist on a lovely steak- served on a rocket salad with salsa verde. I think this is a really nice light way to have steak and it means you can enjoy the meat more and not feel completely stuffed. I just used one between two because it was part of a four course meal!

Put rocket on a plate and grate some Parmesan cheese on top, then squeeze some lemon over it and season with salt and pepper. To cook the perfect steak- buy a good ribeye and allow to get to room temperature, then grind salt and pepper on each side of the steak and press it in. Put a knob of butter and a small glug of oil in the pan (butter browns and the oil prevents the kitchen from going on fire). Put the steaks in the pan on a high heat for two to three minutes on each side and do not touch until you’re flipping. Allow the steak to rest for about three-four minutes before slicing. Put on top of the rocket and drizzle salsa verde on top.

Salsa Verde

• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 4 anchovies, rinsed if packed in salt
• Leaves from about 30g flat-leaf parsley
• Leaves from about 30g basil 
• 2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 120-150ml extra virgin olive oil

1. I feel like a heretic because Felicity Cloake soaked the shallot in vinegar for 45 mins and then crushed the other ingriedients in a pestal and mortar. I just shoved everything in my blender and blitzed until I was happy! Either way is fine I suppose but I probably broke some law (I was three bottles in at this point)

Dolce: cannoli

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 90ml of white wine
• 25g butter
• 2 cups ricotta
• 3/4 cup of icing sugar
• 500ml sunflower oil

1. Mix the salt, sugar and flour and then rub in the butter.
2. Stir in the egg yolk. Add the wine a spoon at a time until the pastry just comes together.
3. Wrap in cling film and chill for half an hour.
4. Mix the ricotta and icing sugar thoroughly and chill for half an hour
5. Divide the pastry into four and roll out each quarter. Using those quarters, cut out three four inch rounds.
6. Heat the oil (I drop a piece of pastry to check that it’s ready)
7. Wrap the pastry around the cannoli tube and make sure they’re overlapped and sealed in the middle. Fan out the edge a bit so you get a nice curl on each end.
8. I use a metal kebab skewer and slide the tube onto it (it’s a really safe way to slide the cannoli in and out of the oil).
9. Fry the cannoli for about 1-2 minutes each and try to turn them in the oil for an even cook.
10. As soon as they’re cool enough, slide them off the tubes and let them cool.
11. Pipe the ricotta mixture into the pastry to order and dust with icing sugar (they go soggy otherwise).