First Night Design | An Italian Christmas

An Italian Christmas © Sarah Vernon Greeting Cards

One year I was so bored with the usual tat for Christmas and the lack of anything different that I created An Italian Christmas, having discovered that the Italians traditionally eat fish at this time of year, especially on Christmas Eve, The Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Visit Cooking with Nonna for several Italian fish recipes for Christmas, but not until you’ve read my recipe for Kedgeree below!

 

An Italian Christmas © Sarah Vernon Notebooks

This image was created using one of my textures and a photograph I took of some Cretan fish which we barbecued. A friend had brought them over and did give us the Greek name but I’ve long since forgotten what it was! The closest I can give you is whitebait.  They were delicious cooked on our barbecue, an interesting ramshackle affair built by Mr FND with some of the rocks dug up from the garden.

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

I don’t know whether Italians ever have any form of Kedgeree at Christmas but since I currently have a craving for it, I thought I’d give you my adaptation, which uses smoked mackerel and common or garden rice rather than Basmati. Incidentally, it’s not a genuine Indian dish but hails from the time of the British Raj.

Serves 4 with average appetites (2 with greedy appetites like me and Mr FND).

Ingredients

450g pack cooked Smoked Mackerel

50g Butter

200g Long Grain Rice

1 Large Red Onion, sliced

3 Eggs, hard-boiled

1 tbs Curry Powder

2 tbsp  Fresh Parsley

1 pint Fish Stock

2 tsp Nutmeg

2 Lemons

Olive Oil

Method

1. Tear the parsley into pieces.
2. Remove the skin and flake the smoked mackerel fillet.
3. Hard-boil the eggs, shell and cut into quarters.
4. Slice the red onion and use a frying pan to soften in oil.
5. Add the curry powder and nutmeg and stir. Cook for a minute or two.
6. Add the uncooked rice to the mix and stir until the rice is coated with the oil.
7. Add 3/4 of the fish stock and leave on simmer for as long as you would normally cook rice. Test whether the rice is cooked. Add more stock as necessary but don’t have it ’swimming’ in stock. Turn down the heat.
8. Add the butter and stir until it has melted.
9. Add the mackerel flakes and the egg quarters, half the parsley, stir and season to taste. 
10. Turn up the heat a little before serving in your favourite dish and decorate with the rest of the parsley. Serve with slices of fresh lemon.

Like all my recipes, this is only a guide. If you want to add more eggs or less curry powder, for instance, feel free.

Available at the following galleries:
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK

Take care and keep laughing!

The Poster Art of Leonetto Cappiello | The Muscleheaded Blog

If you are as devoted as I am to vintage and retro art and have been fortunate enough to encounter The Muscleheaded Blog, you will know what very heaven it is to explore.  In this post he writes about the “Father of Modern Advertising”, Leonetto Cappiello [1875-1942].

Leonetto Cappiello was the premier poster artist of his generation—

He developed a unique and revolutionary style,

…… and his work is as popular today as it was during the height of the Belle Epoque.

It’s very possible that you are already familiar with Leonetto Cappiello’s beautiful art,

……..and weren’t really aware of it.

His work is so synonymous with the whole advertising poster art revolution of the early 1900s ,

….that he is called the “Father of Modern Advertising”.

And while the majority of his best work was…

Read more at The Poster Art of Leonetto Cappiello | The Muscleheaded Blog.

First Night Design | Venetian Rose Water

Venetian Rose Water © Sarah Vernon [Crated]

Venetian Rose Water, my new ‘watercolour’, has been created using an original photograph by Didier Descouens from Wikimedia, which you can see here. It is, in fact, Palazzo Centauri, the birthplace of the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni. I ‘rubbed out’ the street signs attached to the wall on the right and modified the whole with a marvellous texture from my favourite supplier of such delights, 2 Lil’ Owls.

Take care and keep laughing!