JamieOliver.com

"Hi,
I've just spent 3 days in Orlando, Florida with a few friends of mine (Eyjolfur and Oddur) from Iceland, 2 completely different climates but one soul mission! The guy's have 2 restaurants as well as a busy home catering set up called SAFFRAN. Awarded restaurant new comer of the year in iceland for 2009 and restaurant of the year in 2010. I did keep promising to go over and check out the iceland venues, but before I could actually make it the boys invited me to their new adventure in Orlando. They know I'm a marathon runner and they know how strict I am with my eating when I'm trianing, I'm a nightmare to dine with as I search for the low carbs with the right amount of protien to suit my training plans.

SAFFRAN is nothing but amazing! What the boys have done is redevelop everybody's favorite foods and tastes with the fat content removed, therefore you could eat 3 meals a day there and never feel guilty, always feel healthily fed and never feel out of pocket as the prices are ridiculously low.
The Orlando restaurant is, as expected a replica of the 2 restaurants in Iceland, inexpensive food that you can eat inside or take away, I could talk you through every dish that I tried (and I did) - just go online and read the menu, it is what it says and you'll never be disappointed. I commute into Liverpool st. station everyday and with me being a chef I rarely eat a proper meal at work because we've no time to stop, so we just 'graze', when I'm walking back to the station and fancy something to eat it's a pain in the butt as I can never find what I really want, if you're like me you walk into a shop, pick up a sandwich and check out the calories and ingredients! I can very rarely get what I need.

SAFFRAN are heading to London and I'm insisting the guys start with a place near Liverpool st. (Selfish I know), fitness fanatics, calorie counters, health conscious folk will love the place.
It's a massive plug for these guys, however, my time over there working with them was so inspiring for me as a chef as well as their mate, I'm so happy that with their main man Jay backing the team, what the boys kept trying to convince me of is without doubt a huge success in the making. Never mind Liverpool st. I reckon they should put one in my home town of Brentwood, it's so much more real than then orange tans and boob jobs

Orlando wasn't bad either, the roller coasters reminded me I'm not that young anymore but the food also reminded me that I can find the healthiest and tastiest food to eat whilst training for my next marathon.
www.saffran.us
 
Cheers

Andrew

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well. Here is the next instalment about my Italian adventure with the great Dario Cecchini.........

Tuesday 7th June.
7.30am and it's time to go down to Macelleria Cecchini and find some work! When I arrive it's Dario who shouts out my name as he's conducting a talk with his 2 main butchers, one of them about 60 the other about 20 years old. Dario calls him Frodo ... I meet 2 other guys, John from Arizona and Drew from Chicago, both applied to do work experience here for month, this means they pay their own transport to get here, they've left their current jobs to do this, they won't earn anything, they work in the restaurant when they aren't butchering and they love it!! You can't blame the boys though, the experience is amazing.

So we jump in a car an head to a unit to work, no-one talks, focus on the operation is vital (so it seems). I have to get changed to butcher, I feel like I'm dressed for a scene in 'Hostel', creepy mesh/chain jackets!

Then we're in! The animals come out on the rails and the pro's start to break the meat down, some of the biggest cows I've seen. Us 3 apprentices have to watch at first and the pro's only give us small joints I.e. Shins, we have to bone them out, always under the watchful eye. It's weird, sometimes I stood for half an hour in this cold room just watching them breakdown half cows, feeling the chill and waiting for something to do! Finally we were all doing something different on the 7ft by 7ft chopping block, boning-cleaning-dicing, I asked if I could take pictures as I felt it was their home and I didn't want to intrude, think I was nervous to ask also ...wimp!

The little butcher was amazing, so bloody strong as he threw the beasts over his shoulder then hung the joints back on the rail (see photo's). The old man just cracked on and TOLD frodo how to do things better .... Over about a 6 hour period I reckon 3 hours was in silence, mad if you ask me, however - 2 Italians, 1 English and 2 Americans all had reasons to focus!

As we packed up, the joy of warmth brought a smile to the old cheeks as we got outside, christ that was cold!

We were rewarded for our efforts with a burger at Mac Darios, above the Macelleria, it's busy and smells delicious, the burger is cooked perfectly, his own Panzano ketchup on the table with water and wine, even though I've just stood in a fridge for 6 hours surrounded by beef and need a hot drink to warm up - the burger and wine does the trick. 3 hours off and I'm on the hunt for a electronics/phone shop to buy a charger for this Blackberry ... In Panzano - no chance!

I bump into Fernando (he picked me up from the airport) and he agrees to drive me to the next town, Grevi. Directly to a Vodafone shop, problem solved! What a very generous old man Fernando is. I arrive for work at 7pm above Macelleria again, now it's been turned into an evenings gastronomic experience of Dario's famous menu for €50 it's Beef, pulses, raw vegetables, bread, olive oil cake, coffee and grappa. I've been lucky to experience this menu on 3 previous visits. Sushi beef - marinated served chilled and grilled like kofta (arabic kebab), then grilled rib eye from the biggest outside barbecue you'll ever see! Then grilled rump and finally grilled T-bone fiorentina, the guests all sit and eat together on long tables, Dario's belief in food bringing people together, so they eat meat and drink wine with each other. I'm just following Angelo around watching him cook the beef then being allowed to slice the beef in the middle of the dining room for it to be passed around to mostly American guests, 1 English couple and a few from Holland, oh yeah! The kitchen is all open, the American apprentices are helping serve the food and we all wash up, theirs even a table for 4 in the kitchen! The guests love it though, its why they've come to Panzano and it's why I'm here also .... To share the experience of Dario Cecchini's amazing love for the beast of a cow!

I'm off to bed, another shift tomorrow .... Ciao.

Hi
Andrew here - Exec Chef from Fifteen London. Recently I had the pleasure of travelling to Italy to visit with my friend Dario Cecchini the world’s most famous butcher and restaurateur. For nearly 10 years now Dario has been hosting apprentices from Fifteen London and Cornwall for their annual trip to Tuscany. He is a great friend of Fifteen and here is the first of a series of blogs about my trip. As you can imagine I had a great time!

Cheers

Andrew

Thought I'd have a sleep on the plane - no chance! Was on the same flight as my old pastry chef Keiran. Picked up at Pisa by a friend of Kim&Dario's (Fernando), dropped of in Panzano at the Lovely Marina's villa and shown to the guest house, usual sort of guest house! Walk in the garden which over looks more vineyards and olive groves than you could imagine.

Take a stroll into the little village and relax with a cold beer whilst Dario sorts the shop out, I wait with nerves and excitment! Thinking. - me,Dario and his wife Kim are going into Florence for Dinner. Not to be - Dario is driving me on an adventure through the 'Old Chianti' winding roads, stopping off randomly to say hello to Giovanni from Fontodi, and we follow him to see the amazing Chianti cows grazing in the valley below, the oldest is 11 years old and is longer than a Range Rover, heavier than 4 of them! These animals are my favorite,I could sit with them all day! Oh! An we've got Mr.B from Cagliari who offers me a trip over to do a charity dinner with friends! We move on and then my brilliant host pulls up to show me the oldest shop in Luscalli! As we meet a beautiful family who are showing off their latest addition, a 6 week old boy, then the 95 year old gran comes and says hello - all in the joy of seeing Dario! By the way, the prosciutto we were given was outstanding let's move on ... Then we stop off roadside and get chatting to a random (but one of them knows Dario) cheese seller, on the sale the old man sings Dario a classic (apparently) song and funnily enough asks Dario's name then throws it into the chorus!! Hilarious
Let's move on, and we do - Dario goes off road through the woods in his Jeep and smiles all the way through, brilliant! Where the feck am I? But I don't care because I'm loving the whole adventure!

Thinking I'm almost there, Dario points up to the hills and indicates that's where we're going! The journey goes on, however, tell me a place where you can get better scenery as the foliage blossoms, them little packs of buds growing under the vine leaves are saying "only 3 months and I'm ready"!

We reach our destination and it's amazing! A 600 year old house, a family Birthday dinner for almost 20 people, they speak amazing Italian - I speak amazing English (some may argue on that), between us we don't have that much bilingual pedigree! Who cares? It's the best, not many chefs get to do this, not many chefs give a toss about this, I do! It's surreal! It's something you see on Jamie and Gennaro TV, it's got 88 year old nanna's looking like they could handle a night down the local karaoke bar!! The younger generation appreciating the early start to great food and the mid rangers (like me) grading the taste of the wine.

The pasta piccolo, vitello tonatto, fagioli verde, melanzane and braised beef was passed around and tasted superb! The candles in the middle of the table fell down a few times as the table was knocked (Bruno has only had the house 5 months, he's an architect and has big plans for this grand old place) hence theirs no lighting in this ground floor room!

We sing along to the old tunes and Tuscanys answer to 'Nanny Pat' is leading the chorus! Then we have to go, as I've got work at 7:30am with Dario! Funnily enough, the journey back took us half the amount of time - no thanks to Dario's friend for showing him the quick route ( Big D's too proud to say he took the long long route!). End of day one and ready for the butchers shop tomorrow!

Sleep time!