Nonna's Kitchen Review - Edinburgh

Nonna's Kitchen is an Italian restaurant in Morningside, Edinburgh. Until this visit I'd never been but I'd heard good things about it from a few people. It's smaller than I expected inside, but with modern decor and bright flowers on the tables, still with an Italian feel. I'd booked at the last minute and got an early table for a couple of hours, but on arrival the place was packed with a mixture of friends, families and couples. It was cosy and convivial, with a small army of waiters watched over by the matriarch who seemed to be in charge.

The Arancini

In addition to the main menu I was extremely impressed by the waiter who reeled off from memory a long line of specials, exquisitely detailed and with great knowledge of each dish. A lot of these included fresh seafood dishes for both starters and mains. From the specials we chose the Arancini for a starter, one of my absolute favourites. Risotto rice shaped into balls, filled with cheese, breaded and deep fried, they were served with a tomato sauce. This was both rich and fresh in flavour and the Arancini were perfect. The crumb was crispy, the rice hot with a creamy but not claggy texture. Inside the cheese oozed out and everything was set off nicely by the slight fragrance of a touch of basil.

For mains we chose one of the specials and one dish from the a la carte menu. The special Pumpkin Ravioli was served in a cream sauce with hazelnuts, very rich but delicious. The pasta was cooked well and filled with slightly sweet pumpkin flesh. The hazelnuts added a good bit of contrast and texture to the smooth pasta, filling and sauce. We also had the Pizza Quattro Formaggi. The base was a good one, thin and not too much crust. The cheeses were a mix of mozzarella, gorgonzola, taleggio and pecorino. The gorgonzola gave it a strong, gutsy taste but was not too overpowering and you could taste all of the cheeses individually. It was one of the best four cheese pizzas I've had for a while.

Pumpkin Ravioli

We didn't order any extras, desserts or coffee but we did have a decent bottle of the house white, and a complimentary small plate of fresh bread with butter, oil and vinegar was served after ordering. Service was excellent. As well as our waiter with the incredible memory, the wine was brought to us unopened to ensure it was the right one. It's little touches like this which impress and rounded the whole thing off to a most enjoyable evening. The dishes and ingredients were authentic and you can tell that a lot of care, effort and time has gone into making the place a cut above your average Italian. Two courses for two plus one bottle of wine and service came to £55 but we thought it was worth it for the excellent food and service. They also offer a short but decent lunch and pre-theatre menu.

Pizza Quattro Formaggi

 More details Nonna's Kitchen 45 Morningside Rd Edinburgh EH10 4AZ

Ballymaloe Weekend 9 - Pizzas and Party

It was the weekend but I was back in the kitchen like an idiot ‘helping’ out at the Saturday pizzas they sell here at the café in the school. The pizza dough is made up in a huge batch on Friday and left to rise overnight. Then it’s shaped and cooked to order on Saturday with lots of delicious local seasonal toppings such as Gubbeen cheese and bacon, black pudding, fennel, herb mayonnaise, rocket and so on. They make the pizzas out of this Italian 00 flour which comes in this huge cool looking bag, it also makes a really tasty dough more to the point:

Italian Flour

I was shaping the pizzas, they got better after the first few attempts, honest! It wasn’t too busy but I felt like I’d done loads. I also chopped some herbs for gremolata to sprinkle on the pizzas and for mayonnaise. The pizzas get cooked in the Italian wood fired oven so they are really authentic and crispy.

Pizzas shaped by me

 After a bit of a rest this evening we had a party and food in the courtyard cooked up by Ted of Wildside Catering. He made lots of asian style food including deep fried wantons with crab, a spicy duck soup full of fresh coriander and really fresh noodles with chicken and cucumber. There were also lots of cocktails to wash it down and we had a fire and stuff, it was cool.

Me in front of the cottage

Me on the balcony

Ballymaloe Day 30, 17th February - Pizza and Exams

Exam day loomed. But first we had a huge pizza demonstration, again with Rory and Emer. The school has a wood burning pizza oven from Italy but we also learned the best way to cook them in a domestic oven. The basic dough and tomato sauce were first, the dough includes some rye flour which gives it flavour and texture and looks great as well. Then we ate the pizzas as they cooked. Next were different types of pizzas or pizza type dishes using the dough, including Sfinciuni (like a sort of pie), Calzone, Stromboli (a swiss roll shape) Panzerotte and Sgabei (I’m not making these up!) As ever it was a feast but everyone was pretty nervous over lunch with the exams hanging over us...

The pub!

Luckily I was in the second group so I didn’t have to wait too long. We headed over and all the kitchen doors were papered up so we couldn’t see in. It was like being back at school! The herbs were okay but a couple of the salad leaves I wasn’t sure. I had to also assemble a Magimix, lay a table and pour a glass of wine properly (how could I mess that up I hear you cry!). So far so good but then we were all waiting outside Kitchen 2 for ages waiting to be called in. Rachel was in there as one of the teachers marking us! I went in and it was ok, chopping and sweating an onion, making a paper piping bag, then making short crust pastry and lining a tart tin and cooking glazed carrots. Think it went okay, could have got worse things to do. Just glad it was all over! Got on the wine and headed for the pub…