Internationally renowned woodworking superstar...

[Steve Maskery]

What's your Italian like? Scroll down a bit.

https://www.legnolab.it/la-redazione/

 

[flh801978]

Steve Maskery lives in the English Midlands. Although he never received formal education, he was born with a passion for wood in his veins. He is a third-generation carpenter, his father was a cabinetmaker, his prototypical grandfather. In addition to building furniture, Steve has been writing on woodwork for more than twenty years and has been published in Australia and the United States as well as in England and Italy. He has published a series of DVDs dedicated to hobby woodworking and more particularly to the self-construction of all those accessories that are called jigs in English. He has recently completed his dream lab and he is shortly to finish the renovation of his house. If it is not in the laboratory you can find it in the kitchen, since this is his second passion, and of course his favorite cuisine is Italian! His website is www.workshopessentials.com

 

[Steve Maskery]

Very good!
"His grandfather was a pattern-maker" but the rest, spot on. Lab is the word they use for Workshop. Hence LegnoLab.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I suspect "laboratory" and "lab" translate better as workshop.

 

[AndyT]

Nice one Steve.

Your post title reminds me of the time I was puzzled to spot "International sex symbol" in the index to the UBM Builders' Merchants catalogue, at a very reasonable price ...











...It turned out to be one of these, to stick on the bog door!

 

[AES]

That's brilliant Steve, well done Sir! How did that happen??

Do we have to call you "Stevio Maskerio" now?

I didn't get it all by a long chalk but my wife helped me, and then I saw flh801978's post so it was all OK.

Happy New Year

AES

 

[Claymore]

Had to double check it said Laboratory and not Lavatory at first glance lol.
Well done Steve.

Brian

 

[Tasky]

Nice one Steve.
So... that second passion - Any tips for a newbie cook trapped in boring pasta bolognese variants, that go beyond dumping a load of tomato and basil at it for an "authentic Italian" flavour?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Nice one Steve.
So... that second passion - Any tips for a newbie cook trapped in boring pasta bolognese variants, that go beyond dumping a load of tomato and basil at it for an "authentic Italian" flavour?

Lots! But that is a whole new forum.
How many are you cooking for? Do you have a proper kitchen or are you living in a bedsit? (If the latter then Katharine Whitehorn's Cooking in a Bedsitter is a must. Written in the swinging 60s it is as relevant to today's student population as it was then - very funny too).

Tonight I'm having smoked cod and spinach risotto. It was a recipe for 4, but scales down well for one.

 

[Tasky]

How many are you cooking for? Do you have a proper kitchen or are you living in a bedsit?

Two, usually. Sometimes three... maybe one and a half, if She's on a diet again... worse if she's doing the low/no Carb diets like that Paleo one, as pasta, potatoes, rice and noodles are all verboten.
However, we at least have a proper kitchen with two prep surfaces and a full 4-hob electric cooker/fan-oven.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well I'm doing Keto-Lite (it's supposed to be Keto but it's too hard, so I just eat less - much less - carbohydrate than I used to). I love bread, so it's not easy. I baked my first loaf in nearly a year on boxing day and I was immediately ill. Bad indigestion for hours. It was horrible.

Edit - But on the upside I'm about 18lb less grotesque than I was this time last year. I had lost about 23 at one point but it's a lot easier to put on than take off. That's a pretty poor record by Keto standards, but even so I do feel a lot better for it. My chronic indigestion disappeared virtually overnight and I sleep a lot better. The Loaf episode only confirmed what I I suspected. I'm better off without bread. Unfortunately

So some days I don't have a portion of carbs at all. But chips once or twice a month, pasta once a week , rice once a week. Yesterday I had a Fast day, not planned, I just wasn't hungry after all the festivities. TBH, I don't need to eat tonight, but I want to cook, so I'm doing a small version of a dish I know I like.

I did start writing a cookery book. The conceit was that you used to have a nice big kitchen with an Aga, cooked for a household and friends daily, then one day you find yourself in a flat above a chip shop in a dodgy part of town with nothing but a kettle and a Baby Belling, but you still want to cook interesting meals for one, that sort of thing. Perhaps I should revive the idea. (BTW I never had an Aga and I didn't end up in a flat above a chip shop, but you see where I'm coming from).

I have a friend who lost his wife 18 months ago. For 40 years he went down the pit, she had dinner on the table when he came home. After she died he survived on beans on toast and whatever his daughter brought round. I offered to get him cooking. He was quite enthusiastic, he just didn't know where to start. So we chose a recipe, he went shopping, brought it round to my place and we cooked it together. We've done it half a dozen times; although he now has a new lady, so I suspect the pressure is off!

It was great fun, we both enjoyed it. Perhaps you could find a mentor?

 

[Tasky]

I did start writing a cookery book. The conceit was that you used to have a nice big kitchen with an Aga, cooked for a household and friends daily, then one day you find yourself in a flat above a chip shop in a dodgy part of town with nothing but a kettle and a Baby Belling, but you still want to cook interesting meals for one, that sort of thing. Perhaps I should revive the idea.

I think you should.
I'm sort of in a vaguely related boat, in that I used to live in a bedsit many many moons ago and only started cooking properly once I met the woman who was later to become my wife... but now find it impossible to cook for less than three, even though there's only two of us - I certainly need to scale it down somehow. Also, she has the annoying habit of using every pot, pan, Le Creuset dish, utensil and oven tray just to cook one meal, so I'm hoping reducing available kit will sort us both out.

It was great fun, we both enjoyed it. Perhaps you could find a mentor?

Most of my current mentors are usually on the TV, doing things like Masterchef and River Cottage. I do actually enjoy Masterchef Australia, because they film the masterclasses. The others run our nearby Michelin starred restaurants, which aren't as expensive as you'd think either.

So we chose a recipe, he went shopping, brought it round to my place and we cooked it together.

Some friends from Poland and South Africa did that to me... Both cultures have some awesome food, but again they're BIG meal cultures with lots of things that are very high on *all* the world's naughty lists!!
Biltong and droewors are delish, but I curse whoever turned me onto rusks!!

To bring things back toward topic - I assume carb-heaviness is where most Brits go wrong in Italian meals?

And to nail it back to the OP - I figured you'd have a tip or two on Italian cooking as I'd guess you spent enough time in Italy to learn the language as well, being an actual editor of LegnoLab?

 

[Steve Maskery]

I wish!
I can book a restaurant, ask for directions, even understand the answers if they are what I am expecting. I write in English, Francesco translates. I'd love to speak better Italian. There was a time when I visited annually, but that was in richer, but not better, times.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Michelin starred in Reading Tasky....are you referring to L'Ortolan? Or do you mean out Bray way, which opens up a whole wealth of other possibilities? (I'm in Eversley myself)

 

[Tasky]

I can book a restaurant, ask for directions, even understand the answers if they are what I am expecting.

Long as you can order a pint, a kebab and a taxi, you're probably sorted, right?

Michelin starred in Reading Tasky....are you referring to L'Ortolan? Or do you mean out Bray way, which opens up a whole wealth of other possibilities? (I'm in Eversley myself)

Actually L'Ortolan is one of them, yes. We go there easily 3-4 times a year, rather than take long and expensive holidays. Indeed, it's notably cheaper than some of the Brasserie places in town.
It was great under Alan Murchison, although Tom Clarke is slowly taking things in new directions and I'm not entirely sold on all of them yet... He's also not the best when it comes to demonstrations.

The Bray area is not unknown to us either, although I wouldn't recommend going the other, North-Westerly side of Maidenhead.
But perhaps 'nearby' was more of a relative term, as we would quite happily venture a good hour or two further afield... unless it's toward London, where prices just get silly. :roll:

I like the ideas from ol' Jamie's Italian background, but generally find more consistent results from Mister Ramsay's instruction.