It’s time for Dr HH’s traditional VeganMoFo guest post.  Regular readers will know that Dr HH is a secretive fellow who has never been named or photographed on this blog.  Today, at last, I have his permission to share some real footage of him in action at this restaurant in Verona:

Now over to the man himself to tell you about all the food he devoured!

When I think about my favourite meals of all time, I think of large slabs of lasagne, an endless bowl of saag with makki di roti, or anything fried.  When I move away from these glorious comfort foods, I like to try as many things as possible.  A mixed starter plate, a thali, or a buffet.  Give me a meal filled with lots of different things and I am a happy man.  When looking back at our recent holiday it made sense for me to write about La Tigella Verona for two reasons; one, I am truly in my element with this thali-style feast; and two, I ate most of it!

The feast consisted of 10 little pots, each filled with some sort of exciting mystery dish:

Something best described as punchy vegetables

Green vegetables

Green olive tapenade

Sundried tomato spread

Nutty cream cheese

Cheddar style cheese squares

Mayonnaise

Asparagus cream

Strawberry jam

Chocolate spread

This was accompanied by a plate each filled with grilled vegetables (aubergine, courgette, peppers), pate and 3 types of cheese (mozzarella, cheddar and something that was kind of in the middle).

And it was all served up with 6 tigelle, little warm round breads that reminded me a little of flat English muffins, and a gnocco frito, a glorious fried dumpling which was lovely and soft on the inside and crispy and flaky outside – a truly magnificent bready feat (pictured here).

How do you go about eating such a feast? There is only one rule…there are no rules! Except save the sweet stuff for last (Ms HH’s doing, not mine).  In I went, combining everything.  Olive and cheese, asparagus cream and courgette, sundried tomatoes and green vegetables, a pizza with tomatoes, cheese and olives, a gluten free pizza where I replaced the tigella base with a slice of aubergine.  You name a combination, I probably tried it!

I ate, and I ate and I ate. Ms HH was left rolling on the floor clutching her belly, other diners were staring at me open-mouthed, people were pouring in from the streets to watch events unfold – and I just kept on eating until everything was gone.  Well, almost everything.  The mayonnaise just wasn’t that exciting.

I believe the ‘correct’ way of eating tigelle is to open them up, fill them and eat them like a sandwich.  To hell with the correct way: I broke, I tore, I scooped, I did it all and I’d do it again.  This was a fine feast! A few things that really stood out were the mozzarella, the punchy vegetable and of course the gnocco frito.  

If you ever get the opportunity to sample this glorious feast, I recommend you take it, and I’d recommend you take along someone who can’t eat their half share.