Una Serata Italiana Lunedi 15 Febbraio

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Last night, Pembroke College played host to an Italian Evening with special guest Dr James M Bradbourne, head of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi.

The mission of the Fondazione is to revitalise the public spaces of Palazzo, one of Florence's finest examples of Renaissance architecture, and to establish it as an exciting, dynamic and international cultural destination for visitors of all ages and interests.

Dr Kenneth Clarke, Pembroke College Keith Sykes Research Fellow in Italian Studies, Savino our Italian Butler and I designed the menu for the dinner. After discussing at some length the strengths and weaknesses of Tiramisu, milk fed veal and other delicacies we decided on the menu below.

Parmigiana di Melanzane

Con Parmesan

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Granité di agrumi con Presecco

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Costolette d’ Agnello

Alla griglia, ragu’ di borlotti

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Zuppa Inglese

Possibly one of Naples' best-known traditional dishes, Parmigiana di Melanzane is made with aubergines, mozzarella and tomatoes. Similar to a lasagne, the aubergines (after being salted and rinsed to remove any bitter liquid), tomato sauce and mozzarella are layered in a pie dish and baked in a hot oven.

We had plenty of Latin waiting staff on hand, adding an air of authenticity to the evenings meal!

Following the Parmigiana, we served granita flavoured with Prosecco. Granita is a semi-frozen dessert originally from Sicily. Unlike sorbet, which is churned in a machine to form a smooth flavoured ice, granita is churned by hand to form a coarser, more crystalline finish.

After the granita we served the main course of grilled lamb with borlotti beans.

To finish the meal we served the well-known, authentic Italian sweet, Zuppa Inglese (or triffle as we know it here in Britain.) Recipes for this sweet first appeared in the towns of Bologna, Forlì, Ferrara and Reggio Emilia, all in the Emilia-Romagna region, in the late 1800s. Its origins are uncertain and one theory states that it originated in the 1500s kitchens of the Dukes of Este, the rulers of Ferrara who had frequent contact with England, when they asked their cooks to try to recreate the sumptuous "English Trifle" they had enjoyed at the Elizabethan court.

Buon appetito!