Seafood = Super-food.

It’s the last day of Seafood month here at Oregano (collective “aww” of disappointment.) But we couldn’t finish the month without reminding you all that not only is seafood tasty, it is also healthy as heck! 

Government and Health organisations currently recommend eating two seafood meals in a week (HOW CONVENIENT, you can get both with us! 2 birds, one stone. Or rather, two meals, one place!)

Fish and its other edible sea-dwelling friends are excellent sources of protein, vitamins, minerals, and – most importantly – omega-3 fatty acids. Eating more fish as part of a balanced diet will help your body out in all sorts of ways, just have a look at this list!

• -          Heart = Seafood is low in saturated fat and high in o-mazing omega-3. Research has suggested that one extra fish portion a week can lower your cholesterol and halve your risk of heart disease. That’s right, HALVE IT!
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• -          Circulation = Fatty acids EPA and DHA are abundant in fish and seafood and can help prevent the production of eicosanoids, a hormone-like substance which helps form blood clots.
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• -          Bones = Arthritis run in the family? Eating more fish can not only ease symptoms but has even been shown to prevent it!
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• -          Lungs = Asthma run in the family? Eating more fish and shellfish can not only ease symptoms but has even been shown to prevent it. SEE – fish is a super-food, I can literally repeat the same sentence with a different body part and it still works!)
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• -          Eyes = Kids won’t eat fish? Tell them it’ll help them see in the dark! You won’t exactly be lying. Like carrots, fish and shellfish are great sources of retinol – a form of Vitamin A which helps your night vision. Omega-3 can also help your eyesight if your eyes are getting worse as you get older.
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• -          Skin = Fish can help protect your skin from UV damage (is there nothing it can’t do?!) as well as helping with psoriasis or eczema. This is because protein is an essential ingredient in collagen, and goodness knows there is plenty of protein in fish!
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• -          Brain = Don't take this personally, but your brain is fat. Like 60% fat. Thankfully, lots of this is (drumroll please) omega-3 fat. Which we can work with. If you eat fish, you are reducing the risk of dementia and memory problems, feeding it to your kids will boost their concentration, behaviour, reading skills and help with ADHD. Research also indicates that there may be links between low omega-3 levels and higher risk of mental illness and mood disorders such as depression and SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

SO, there you have it. Want to live a happier, healthier lifestyle? Eat more seafood! Want to do that as affordably as possible? Head to Pizzeria Oregano! (Many of the dishes on our Seafood Set Menu will still be available on the à la carte menu after April 1^st. Panic not!)

Risotto Ai Frutti di Mare Recipe

Now, you might not know this but... IT'S SEAFOOD MONTH AT OREGANO. Ahem. So, we've decided to furnish you lovely people with a stunning seafood recipe that you can try at home! And it's a corker: Risotto Ai Frutti di Mare. Bursting with tasty seafood but truly simple to make, this refined dish will win you major points at your next dinner party/date night. 

Preparation and Cooking time - 60mins. 

Ingredients:

600ml              vegetable or fish stock

80ml                olive oil

45g                   unsalted butter

1                       small onion, chopped

250g                 Arborio rice

125ml              dry white wine

500g                 mixed seafood (preferably mussels, calamari and prawns)

65g                   chopped plum tomatoes

65g                   fresh parsley

2.5g                  chopped garlic

1 tablespoon  extra-virgin olive oil

70g                   freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)

Method

1. In a small saucepan, warm the fish or vegetable stock.
2. Add the olive oil to a large saucepan, put on a low heat.
3. Add 35g of butter and the chopped onion. Sauté by stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes until onion is tender. There should be no colour or browning).
4. Add the rice and toast lightly for 1 minute without letting the rice or onion take on any colour.
5. Add the wine and cook until almost completely absorbed. 
6. Add enough stock so it's about 1cm above the rice and bring to a simmer. 
7. Cook the risotto for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed some of the liquid.
8. Add the seafood and tomatoes to the pan and stir occasionally, until the seafood is cooked and the rice is al dente (firm to the bite) for a further 6 minutes. As the rice continues to absorb the liquid, add more as needed.
9. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the parsley, garlic, olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano (if you're using it) and the remaining butter. Stir well to release the starches and make the risotto creamy. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

And there you have it folks! A breathtakingly sophisticated dish, which requires nothing more strenuous than stirring! Got to love it... 

Pizza Movie Night #2 - The Seaside

It’s seafood month here at Oregano. Which means that this month’s Pizza Movie Night has a fabulous nautical theme. Yes, this March we are going to suggest to you some of the finest seaside films we could find, and we think there will be a little something for everyone.

Since the very beginning of film, the seaside has been the perfect location for observing humanity. The first successful motion picture shot in natural colour was George Albert Smith’s 1910 film “A Visit to the Seaside at Brighton Beach”, which was a series of shots of the various activities taking place along the seafront. The seaside is holiday destination par excellence, the perfect place to escape as well as the ideal backdrop for stormy action and violence, mirrored in the untameable beast of the sea.

But  enough of that already. Let’s talk about the food. We’ve gone to the liberty of choosing, what we think is, the perfect pizza for our seaside theme: the Puglia. Named after our owner’s coastal home, the Puglia is a riot of seafood delights. Tomato-base topped with fresh clams, mussels, squid, garlic, olives and olive oil. Want to kick it up a notch? Why not add any, or all, of the following: tuna, anchovies, prawns. A fishy feast. Now, on with the films!

• “The Ghost and Mrs Muir” – 1947
• “In 1900, a young widow finds her seaside cottage is haunted...and forms a unique relationship with the ghost.” – This is a lovely film, plain and simple. If you’re looking for a romantic comedy that’s not too soppy, this is the one for you.

• “Et Dieu… créa la femme” (...And God Created Woman), Roger Vadim – 1956
• “In sunny St. Tropez, a young sexpot loves one brother but marries the other.” – This film is sexy as hell. And French. Which is pretty cool. It also has Brigitte Bardot in it, who is amazing. Essentially it was an excuse for director Vadim to show the world how sexy his wife is... Watch this with someone who fancies themselves a bit clever. Or with someone who fancies Brigitte Bardot...

• “Blue Hawaii” – 1961
• “Chad Gates has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. His father wants him to go to work at the Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, but Chad is reluctant. So Chad goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency.” – This film has Elvis Presley in it. Nuff said. Seriously though, this is a family friendly film with gorgeous sets, excellent music, and a lot of very good-looking people. What’s not to like?

•  “Gallipoli”, Peter Weir – 1981
• “Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.” – If war films are your thing, we offer you “Gallipoli”. Perhaps too tragic to be called a ‘seaside’ film, the characters nonetheless spend a lot of time on the beach...

•  “Shipping News” – 2001
• “An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.” – This film gets mixed reception. Some might call it dull, we think it’s beautiful and a slow burner. Worth a watch just for the stunningly talented all-star cast.

•  “Miami Vice” – 2006
• “Based on the 1980s TV action/drama, this update focuses on vice detectives Crockett and Tubbs as their respective personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined.” – High octane, shiny remake of 80s cop show, if action movies are your sort of thing, then this is the beachy film for you. Perhaps not the greatest action film ever made, but Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell as the leads definitely make up for that. 

So, there you have it, 6 films, a couple of Pizza Puglia's and one rocking Friday night. Enjoy!

Seafood Month at Oregano!

This month at Oregano we are offering a fabulous seafood menu, just for you. 

Get any 2 courses and a glass of wine for £17.95

Starters

Bianchetti - Fried whitebait.

Calamari Fritti - Fresh squid, deep-fried

Gamberoni alla Diavola - Butterfly King Prawns grilled with garlic, white wine, tomato and chilli, served with fried parsnips and rocket salad.

Main

Spaghetti alle Vongole - Pasta cooked with clams, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, chilli and white wine.

Linguine al Cartoccio - Pasta cooked and served with a selection of seafood (including clams and mussels) white wine tomato and parsley. Sealed, cooked and served in tin foil.

Risotto Ai Frutti di Mare - Arborio rice with large prawns, mussels and calamari in a light tomato and white wine sauce

Salmone in salsa di Aragosta - Fresh salmon in a light brandy and lobster sauce with prawns and asparagus tips, on a bed of mash. (£2.50 supplement)

Merluzzo alla Marinara - Fillet of cod in a white wine and tomato sauce with calamari, clams, mussels and prawns (£1.50 supplement)

Pizza Puglia - Pizza topped with  tomato, fresh clams, mussels, squid, garlic, olives and olive oil.

And top it off with a glass of house wine. All for just £17.95!
Don't we spoil you.

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**This offer is based on a set menu. Seafood menu available for a limited time only. This cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Wine is the house wine. Customers must be 18 or over to enjoy free glass of wine. Soft drinks will be provided on request. Some dishes may incur a supplement. Includes VAT, excludes service. Please mention offer to your server upon booking or dining.

Puglia Seafood

By now, everyone should know that Stefano Francioso, restauranteur extraordinaire, hails from Puglia (or "Apulia", as we British philistines call it). But you would be forgiven for knowing absolutely nothing about the region itself. It is the Italians' summer escape of choice, and not a hotspot for tourists from further afield.

Puglia is the heel to Italy's boot. The region lies in the South-East and has the longest coastline in the country. It has been invaded by just about every nearby country you can think of - the Spanish, the French, the Turks, the Greeks, etc etc. Luckily for Puglia, although the invaders may have left, many of their culinary traditions decided to stay, enriching regional cuisine indisputably. This cuisine is what makes the region special, pure and simple. And it is incredibly varied - Pugliese cuisine can change from town to town, even if they are only a mile apart.

The Pugliese terrain is not best suited to farming and tends to nurture legumes and vegetables such as peppers, aubergines, artichokes, and courgettes. However, there is something to be said for being surrounded by so much ocean - it sure does provide a lot of seafood.

Because it's seafood month here at Oregano, we're going to take you through a few of Puglia's best-loved fruits of the sea, as well as a couple of other Pugliese specialities.

Big juicy prawns, baked in a sea salt crust then drizzled with olive oil

Most likely to find in: Gallipoli

Tubetti in brodo di pesce - little tubes of pasta in a fishy, tomato broth, often made by fishermen out of their unsold fish

Most likely to find in: Otranto

Ricci, sea urchins, golden orange star-shaped flesh in a spiky black shell. You can scoop the flesh out with bread or go native and just lick it out, being wary of the spikes!

Most likely to find in: the Southern Adriatic Coast

Purpu alla pignata - Octopus in a spicy tomato sauce with potatoes

Most likely to find in: Salento - the southeastern peninsula which makes up the most southern part of Puglia

Orichiette con le cime di rapa - Puglia's famous "ear-shaped" pasta (made from durum wheat and without eggs) with turnip tops

Most likely to find in: Bari

Meat-lovers should try Zampina - a sausage made with pork or veal - or Bombinette - pork meatballs stuffed with salt, pepper, and cheese

Most likely to find in: Locorotondo

OR Capocollo di Martina Franca, a D.O.P-certified salama, a bit like pancetta

Most likely to find in: ...Martina Franca

Cheese-lovers can indulge in Caciocavallo - or "cheese on horseback", (which, incidentally, is made with cow's milk...not horse's...) which gets its name from the fact it is tied up with rope and left to hang over a wooden board to age

Most likely to find in: The Gargagno

Or, even better, get your chops round some Burrata, strips of mozzarella and cream encased in a mozarella shell.

Most likely to find in: Andria.

And to accompany all of this, Pane di Altamura, delicious D.O.P-certified bread from a locale where everyone has their own bakery. Living the dream.

Most likely to find in: Altamura

So that's it for this week friends. Pop in to see us at Oregano to sample our stunning March seafood menu, and stay tuned for more Pugliese joys next week!