What you can eat in Sorrento, Italy

In just over 2 weeks time, my younger daughter Maria and her boyfriend are going to Sorrento, Italy for summer holiday. It was June 2005 when my husband and I went to Sorrento for holiday and have so many lovely memories - and of course the food!!!

(All photos are from our trip in June 2005 - I have no idea what they are all like if we go back these places now....)

In Sorrento, there are many good restaurants as you can imagine and off the main street, shops are selling lovely fresh fruits.  According to an internet information, hugh lemons growing in Sorrento, a size of American football, are called sfusato sorrentino and is good for making limoncello (lemon liquor).

Lemons are also painted ceramics vase, bottles and tiles ubiquitously and you see then when you are in Amalfi coast.

A shop in Positano, Amalfi coast.

One night, I had Spaghetti with clams - there were so many big clams in my spaghetti and you could taste the sea!  My husband had pizza (see the photo behind my spaghetti). I can't remember what were toppings but he really enjoyed it.

... and his pizza was made by this chef who kindly posed in front of camera for me!

Food was so delicious, we went back to the same restaurant again and I ordered another spaghetti clams and my husband had another big plate of pizza!

Obviously there are many pizzeria in Sorrento.  One evening we went to Pizzeria Aurora ( www.pizzeriaaurora.com) which is in the the main square, Piazza Tasso. 

We also tried other restaurants in Sorrento and also had Capri salad (mozzarella cheese, tomato and basils).  Well the mozzarella was nice and really creamy, tomatoes had so much flavour that they were no comparison to tomatoes you get in supermarket in UK.

During the day, you can also go to a small cafe or some patisserie off the main street for a nice cappuccino (although Italians do not drink this in the afternoon) or biscotti or both!

Being right by the coast, seafood is obviously excellent.  We loved the restaurant called Ristorante Bagni Delfino in Marina Grande (www.ristorantebagnidelfino.com). It is by the sea with sun-deck extending over the water. We had lovely lunch, away from the main town centre of Sorrento but still within walking distance, with wonderful views of the peninsula and mount Vesuvio.

My husband had Fritto Misto di Mare (mixed fried seafood).

and I had grilled king prawns or were they langoustine...? Anyway they were huge and really delicious!  I love to go back there and have these again!!!

During our holiday in Sorrento, we also had day trips to explore Amalfi coast.  We took public bus to get to Amalfi, took a boat back from Amalfi to Sorrento via Positano. 

In Amalfi, we found a lovely restaurant off the main square. We had clams and musseles with hand-made pasta. It was absolutely delicious.

On the way back to the centre of Amalfi from the restaurant, we found a snack bar. They were selling so much variety of cakes and they all looked really delicious.

We had an expresso and eclair with chocolate cream filling for dessert! 

We also went to island of Capri. We went to a restaurant called Ristorante Sollievo - just checking on internet, this is now Ristorante D'Amore. I have no idea if it's still owned by the same people or not...
Anyway I remember they had a photo of Keanu Reeves on the wall so guessed he must have dined there long time ago.

I had spaghetti with clams again!

The restaurant is a bit away from the town centre of Capri where many trendy and probably expensive restaurants are. I remember there was also a very good ice-cream / cake shop nearby.

Back to Sorrento again.  On our last night in Sorrento, we went to a restaurant called Ristorante Caruso (www.ristorantemuseocaruso.com) just off the main square.

It was a very lovely, romantic place, with full of pictures of the great tenor, Enrico Caruso, his friends and family and his life on the wall.  When we went there in 2005, they had tasting menu that came with many courses (can't remember how many) which was what we had then.

Risotto with mussels.

Langoustine ravioli

White fish (can't remember what type?) with bed of fennels

Dessert - sponge cake with liquor and fruits.

I love to go back there but I don't think they are still doing the tasting menu. Well, it was a lovely place to go for a finale of our lovely time spent in Sorrento.

Anyway, if none of these interests you, you can always have Italian ice cream. They are just tasty!
A local tour guide took us to this ice cream parlour on our first day and we kept going back to the same place every day for a treat.  We ate too much but there was always room for ice cream!!!

I hope my daughter and her boyfriend will have a lovely time in Sorrento.

Lazy Cook

When I came home from work, I was so hungry and wanted to make something quick. So I made Spaghetti with tomato and tuna for my husband and me.
I bought this blue plate at local market when we went to Bardolino (Lake Garda) in Italy for family holiday about 6 - 7 years ago. It features langoustine, scallop and prawns around the rim of the plate and every time I make this spaghetti, I use this plate reminiscing of wonderful food we had there.
I only bought 2 plates - I wish I bought more.

This is very easy to make and takes less than 20 minutes, so suitable for a lazy cook like me!

The following receipt for the sauce is for 2 - 3 people.  You need:

200 - 240g spaghetti or penne
1 1/2 tbs flat parsley - chopped
1 small - medium sized red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, chopped
1 ts fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
400 - 500g  passata (or 1 tin of chopped tomato)
1 - 2 ts capers
black olives - optional
1 tin of tuna steak, drained and flaked
rock salt and pepper
olive oil

While you are boiling the water for spaghetti, you chopped all these ingredients, fry parsley, chill, garlic and ginger with olive oil in a pan for a few minutes.  (This has such a lovely smell!!!) Then tip in passata into the pan and cook for 3 - 5 minutes. You then add tuna, capers and olives into the pan and cook further 5 minutes and then simmer for another 5 minutes or until the spaghetti is ready. Add pinch of rock salt and pepper to the sauce to season.
Make sure you stop cooking the spaghetti just before the point of al dante and toss with the sauce. Divide between 2 - 3 plates and serve.  Keep some sauce to spoon over the individual servings and drizzle a little bit of olive oil.

I wonder what others are eating now for dinner....???