"I'm Michaela...my family's originally from Italy, and although now we live in South Wales we still cook and eat like Italians. Now I'm going to teach you how to cook just like an Italian." Thanks for the intro Michaela. Now get on with the cooking. Here we go with yet another aesthetically pleasing cookery show (where everything always goes right and no one every slops their perfect dish on the floor) with a perfect looking host all smokey-eyed make up and bright white teeth. Some have compared Michaela Chiappa with Nigella, and I must admit there are moments in the show where she does look like she is enjoying her food as much as the original domestic goddess, although albeit the naughty fridge scene that Nigella always manages to do so well in her slinky dressing gown. The little Welsh wonder in the kitchen soon sets about rustling up some yummy pasta which puts Tesco Value pasta to shame. She is so bubbly and smiley that she makes my face hurt, but man she cooks some good pasta!
It's soon clear that SHE EATS A LOT OF CHEESE and also tucks into her food like someone who has watched way too much Nigella Lawson TV. Why she isn't much fatter I don't know. One dish she cooks includes 3 (yup 3 I said) different types of cheese (my cholesterol levels already rising just watching.) She talks often about how much she likes cheese, almost like it is an old friend, she's the sort of person who would nibble at the hard bit of cheese we all have hiding in our fridges. Oh, and she's having a joint fairytale wedding in Italy with her other perfect sister (of course they are, and it definitely won't be anything like Bride wars.) I wonder at what point they decided to have a joint wedding? Maybe when they were 7 and playing with their My Little Pony Gymnasium and eating some chunks of Parmesan?!
Michaela makes an amazing looking yum-tastic Gnocchi tricolore with creamy nutty sauce. "I can't get over people paying money for them" she says in disbelief that people actually buy Gnocchi in the supermarket. Yes normal folk do, we don't all have your skills. But she has this way of making it all seem so easy, that I feel strong enough to get out my potato ricer (oh wait I don't have one) and make some potato-ey pillows with creamy sauce too. Now, where's my smokey eye make up and teeth whitening toothpaste, just need to work on the Welshy accent.
Michaela has a perfect kitchen (what else did you expect) with just the right amount of designer crockery and vintage plates. She gets her band of sisters (I think there are about 15 of them) to help out as well, all playing up to the Italian family stereotype (I think this is the first time since Bella in Fireman Sam that I've seen a mix of Welsh and Italian on our TV screens.) "If your doughs too moist, add a sprinkle of flour" chirps Michaela helpfully, as her sister (lets call her Michaela no 2) empties half a jar of flour onto the table, mmmm sprinkle?! I think she was just trying to out perform her sister by ruining her food with too much flour. Another thing that she does a lot of is pepper (sorry pun intended) her speech with Italian prouniciation every time she talks about food (so often). Sometimes I feel like I'm suddenly transported into one of those Channel5 adverts for learn Italian with Rosetta Stone.
Simply Italian is a great show for salivating over, and is a nice waste of 30 mins, and although I know my fresh pasta attempt would mainly end in tears and dough-filled hair, she has got a great knack of making Italian cooking look easy. Mmmm gnocchi.
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