la panza piena x manu paper sommelier
virtual food & wine trips through italy
trip 10 | abruzzo
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A region which ranges from mountains to a vast, largely untouched coastline dotted with picturesque fishing trabucchi: wooden constructions a few meters above sea level, upheld by stilts, on which fishermen used to station themselves and catch their fresh bounty.
There are many more wonderful sights to see in Abruzzo, and I can’t wait to visit them all for myself as soon as virtual trips can transform into real trips. A few other must-see places are the towns of L’Aquila, Chieti, and the ancient settlements of Civitella and other 22 medieval towns which belong to the prestigious list of Most Beautiful Villages in Italy. Similarly to all other Italian regional cuisines, Abruzzo has a rich and varied cuisine, thanks to its varied landscape. Lamb and Mutton from the region's high pastures on the Apennine mountains form the majority of Abruzzo’s staple dishes, including arrosticini, the delicious and juicy grilled skewers. Fish and seafood are an equally important part of the region’s cuisine, from seafood soups like brodetto di pesce to fish ragu’s as condiments to pasta. Pasta lies at the heart of the regional cuisine, with a few dishes enjoying world fame, such as spaghetti all’Amatriciana, from the small town of Amatrice, and spaghetti alla chitarra, the focus of today’s recipe and food pairing. Pasta dishes which are named something other than the ingredients used to make them (e.g. cacio e pepe) usually derive their names from the area where they were first cooked or became renowned, such as gnocchi alla sorrentina, from Sorrento, casunziei ampezzani, from Cortina d’Ampezzo, and so on. A popular alternative is to name pasta shapes with the name of the instrument used to produce them, the case of today’s recipe: spaghetti alla chitarra. Fresh egg pasta made by mixing durum wheat and plain flour, which is kneaded to form a smooth dough then rolled out and placed over a wooden tool with steel strings which resembles the chords of a guitar. When pressing down on the dough with a rolling pin, the strings cut the pasta into long, rectangular spaghetti, which have an excellent bite, thanks to the thickness, and are perfect for picking up and absorbing the rich tomato sauce they’re traditionally served in due to the porousness of the dough. Rather than giving you the recipe for the traditional widespread mixed meat sauce, I thought of sharing the recipe of a slightly more niche dish: spaghetti alla chitarra con pallottine, teeny tiny veal meatballs from the city of Teramo, in the north of Abruzzo. It is in fact the original sauce meant to accompany spaghetti alla chitarra, which also originates from Teramo, a fact unknown to most people! Pallottine, as most polpette, were not eaten in restaurants but in private homes, as they were ways of recycling leftovers and random meat scraps. A rich, rustic dish which originates in the homes of locals demands to be paired a wine that can match its rustic-ness. But I'll leave that part to Manu, she's the expert after all! Like in most Italian regions also in Abruzzo almost each family used to make its own wine for the house. Winemaking traditions in Abruzzo date back to the sixth century BC thanks to the Etruscans, who played a major role in introducing viniculture to the area. At that time Abruzzo's vineyards were generally focused around the province of L'Aquila. With the revival in viniculture came bulk wine, which dominated the region for a considerable period. However the region has now revamped its image, gradually moving towards producing more quality-driven wines, with an increase in boutique wineries. Masciarelli, Valentini, Emidio Pepe, just to name a few of the most important and well known producers of this region. The geographical makeup of Abruzzo is quite remarkable. A rugged, mountainous region with a lengthy coastline, its lush, green landscape is scattered with national parks and forests. Abruzzo is ideally situated between the Adriatic sea to the east, and the Apennine mountain range and the Maiella massif to the west. The region is home to Gran Sasso, one of Italy's highest peaks at 2912m (9554ft). It is not surprising that Abruzzo provides a perfect haven for grape growing. Vines flourish thanks to the terroir, the abundance of sunshine, the generous rainfall and a variable climate. On the coast it is warm and dry on the coast; inland it is more continental (hot in summer and cold in winter). Click here to read all of Manu's tasting notes and to discover more about the wonderful wine she chose to pair with my dish. spaghetti alla chitarra con pallottine
1. Dice the onion finely and place it in a skillet along with the crushed garlic clove and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sautè gently until the onion has softened, then pour in the passata, season to taste and add a tablespoon of sugar. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, covered.
2. For the meatballs, place the minced veal into a bowl and add the grated cheese. Let the bread soak in a few lugs of milk for ten minutes, then squeeze well to remove the excess milk and place in the bowl with the minced meat. Add salt and pepper to taste, a sprinkle of nutmeg and combine everything with your hands until you have a homogeneous mound of meat. 3. Begin shaping the meatballs, which must not be bigger than an olive, and set to one side. 4. Heat a few lugs of olive oil in a skillet and add a handful of meatballs, moving the pan often so they cook through properly. Once the batch is nice and crispy, place them in a bowl and cook another handful of meatballs. Once you’ve cooked them all, place half the sauce you made previously into the skillet and then dunk in all the meatballs, mixing well. 5. Bring a pot of water to boil, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain, keeping some cooking water on the side, then mix the pasta into the tomato sauce (the one without meatballs). Place in a large serving dish and top with the pallotte and their tomato sauce. Serve and top with as much parmigiano and pepper as you desire. |
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trip 9 | sicilia
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Oh, my dear Sicily, I left a piece of my heart in your rugged islands and your bustling paved streets.
Sicily is one of those places which you visit and suddenly realize you never want to leave, there is something magic about its people, history and food. A region with a history that extends back to 20.000 B.C. that across the years was inhabited by a multitude of peoples, which all left part of their culture and traditions behind, shaping Sicilians in becoming multifaceted people. First the Phoenicians, then the Ancient Greeks until it was eventually absorbed into the Roman Empire until its fall, when it fell in the hands of the Byzantines and subsequently the Arabs, who left a very significant imprint on the island, especially from a gastronomic point of view. Sicily eventually became part of Italy in 1860 and became an autonomous region in 1946. Its vast and mixed-culture history means that many extremely significant and almost intact archeological sites can be found, from the Valley of the Temples to Erice, Selinunte and the Necropolis of Pantalica. Pasta is synonymous with Sicily, you might have heard of pasta alla Norma, pasta con le Sarde and spaghetti with sea urchins, the three most well-known pasta dishes from the island. What you might have not known is that Sicily is the oldest Italian and Western-world location where pasta, worked by hand with the help of tools such as sticks and rods, was part of the local cuisine. This dates back to the 12th century, which means that pasta was already being made years and years before that, in order to have already found its place as a staple local dish. The recipe I want to share with you is - you guessed it - a pasta recipe. Not one of the most popular ones however, but a pasta I discovered during my Sicilian gastronomic deep dive, when I ate in one of the most rustic and most delicious restaurants in Palermo, Trattoria Ferro di Cavallo. Pasta c’anciove e ca muddica, pasta with anchovies and breadcrumbs, is a wonderfully simple yet extremely tasty pasta dish, made with easily-preservable ingredients that can be sourced almost anywhere. Anchovies in olive oil, stale bread and tomato concentrate are the dish’s main ingredients (though I must admit that garlic and Pecorino play a very important role too). Records state that this dish was created as an alternative to pasta con le sarde, by Sicilians who left their island for the North of Italy in search of more opportunities, who would buy the preserved anchovies and tomato concentrate during their trips back home in order to replicate the dish, who’s flavours reminded them of their home, throughout the year. Manu chose a wine from a great producer just outside of Marsala, Marco De Bartoli, which I had the pleasure of visiting during my trip through Sicily, I'll pass the word onto her. Marsala wine is very well known and rinomated all around the world, since centuries people from many places and especially the English people always had a thing for those wines. One of its most important producers, considered one of the fathers of Marsala wines how they are today, Marco de Bartoli was a very controversial personality. This reminds me of many important wine personalities but especially one that I have been talking about in our Piedmont episode, Beppe Rinaldi. Both with an harsh and edgy personality, but a great interpreter of this territory and creator of some of the greatest personality and quality wines from here. He is considered the father of a certain quality Grillo wines from Marsala and I couldn’t find a better way to present you Sicily region through a wine, especially if paired with the dish of this week: Pasta c’ancovia e ca muddica (Pasta with anchovies and crumb). The name Integer in latin means integrity and purity and so you can easily imagine which is the message from this wine. It is a 100% Grillo grape, from 20 years old vines in Marsala, where the soil is sandy and limestone-sands. No fertilisers and no herbicides are used and the wine is accompanied to its journey without any human interfering. The fermentation is spontaneous with wild yeasts and the must is left in contact with the skins for 10 days. The major part of the wine is aged in big oak barrels while a small portion is aged in amphora jars. To read Manu's full pairing notes, click here. pasta c'ancovia e ca muddica
1. Place a few lugs of olive oil in a pan over high heat, add the breadcrumbs and toast them until brown and slightly crispy. Place in a bowl and set to one side.
2. Add a few lugs of olive oil to the same pan you used to toast the breadcrumbs, and the peeled garlic cloves and let them brown slowly. Add the anchovies and let them melt almost entirely, then add a squeeze of tomato paste (about 1 tablespoon), mix well and pour in the can of pelati, mix well, turn the heat to medium-low and let the sauce simmer and reduce slightly. 3. Bring a pot of water to boil, add a handful of rock salt and the bucatini, cook according to packet instructions. Once it is al dente, drain it and keep a mug of pasta water to one side. 4. Place the pasta in a large serving dish, pour the sauce over it and mix together vigorously. Add the grated Pecorino and a handful of toasted breadcrumbs. If the pasta is too dry, add some olive oil and cooking water. 5. Serve each person and top the dish off with some more breadcrumbs. |
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trip 8 | emilia romagna
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Emilia Romagna is one of Italy’s most gastronomically rich regions, with an ancient history in cured meats and fresh pasta preparation. Stretching almost the entire width of the Italian peninsula it has an extremely diverse landscape which spans from mountains surrounding Piacenza, vast plains in Modena and Parma, iconic rolling hills around Bologna to the sea on the Adriatic coast near Rimini.
Part of its peculiarity also derives from the fact that it was formed by merging two regions: Emilia and Romagna. The inhabitants of either end of the region are extremely proud of the distinction, and the same food is often called in two different ways depending on where you find yourself. When Manu proposed we tackled Emilia Romagna as the next region I accepted without any hesitation as I knew I would have an extensive selection of recipes to choose from. Wanting to respect the difference between the two distinct parts of the region I chose a dish from Romagna, the same area where Manu’s wine is produced. I chose to share with you the recipe for Crescione Romagnolo, also nicknamed the “Piadina’s cousin”. A flat bread made with water and olive oil, filled with almost any combination of delicious ingredients you can think of, sealed by pressing the edges with a fork and cooked on a cast iron pan until golden on both sides. It can be considered a street food and enjoyed at basically any time of the day, sitting on the endless stretches of beach along the Romanian coast with a glass of chilled Lambrusco or as you wander through the picturesque squares of Ravenna. Crescione Verde (Garden cress) is the filling traditionally prepared, from which the dish takes its name too, which is cooked with other wild herbs, softened onions, salt and pepper. Other great fillings are prosciutto cotto and stracchino cheese, smashed potatoes and sausage, tomato sauce and mozzarella...etc. Manu, as always, found the perfect wine from a small producer near Rimini, so I'll leave her to introduce her discovery. "Despite its wide portfolio of well-known Italian and international varieties, Emilia-Romagna’s uniqueness comes from its rare local DOC wines, like the one I have chosen to talk about today: Colli di Rimini Rebola. Emilia-Romagna's wine production is divided evenly between whites and reds, the dominant varieties being Malvasia and Lambrusco, Trebbiano, Barbera and Bonarda and of course the famous Sangiovese di Romagna. A large percentage of these grapes are used to produce sparkling wines, either frizzante or spumante, of which the most notable are from the five Lambrusco DOCs (Salamino di Santa Croce, di Sorbara, Grasparossa di Castelvetra, Modena and Reggiano). Some of the most well known and traditional pairings are made with Tortellini in Brodo and Lambrusco wine, as well as Tigelle filled with Mortadella or Prosciutto di Parma, or the Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce paired with Sangiovese di Romagna. For our today’s pairing we decided to go (as always) for a less known hidden gem, presenting you a small organic winery, Valle delle Lepri and their white wine: Pignoletto. They were one of the first organic wineries in Romagna (always remember that Emilia and Romagna are considered as two different regions wine wise) since 1992. Family owned, with a total of 11 hectares (10 of vineyards and 1 of Olive trees) their focus is to produce more and more natural wines, with a huge respect and attention to the health of their consumers. Biodiversity and low intervention in the vineyards (no chemicals but some biodynamic preparations) and in the cellar (only native yeasts selected) are the key figures of their philosophy." Read her tasting notes & introduction here. crescione romagnolo
1. Place the flour in a bowl, add the water and olive oil and begin kneading with your hands for 5 minutes, until you achieve a smooth and compact dough. Set to one side and cover with a tea towel.
2. Place a few lugs of olive oil in a pan with a crushed garlic clove and let it brown slowly. Add the spinach and cook until soft. Add a few tablespoons of grated cheese and mix well. 3. Separate the dough into three equal sized balls and begin rolling them out one at the time. Roll circles, thin as a crêpe. Add half the spinach on one side of the circle, making sure to leave a border of at least 1cm. Fold the other side over the filling (forming a semi-circle) and press the corners well, pressing down with the ribs of a fork to seal the Crescione. Place it on a cast iron pan (or any other pan if you don’t have one) until bubbles form and it looks nice and crisp. Flip over and do the same. 4. Crescione needs to be eaten hot so pop them in the oven at 100 degrees as you prepare the rest so that they don’t cool down. 5. Make another spinach filled crescione then move onto the prosciutto one. Place the three slices of scamorza on half of the circle, top with the slices of prosciutto. Cover, seal and cook. 6. Before eating them, cut them in half with a serrated knife and serve. |
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trip 7 | friuli venezia giulia
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Both Manu and I are slightly obsessed by Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region which produces some of the best Italian natural wines—especially macerated wines, which we’re both big fans of.
Like many of Italy’s northern regions that sit on the border with another country, Friuli has a very unique history, entwined with the culture of its neighbouring countries: Slovenia on the right and Austria above. The mix of history and culture with its neighbours translates into the languages and dialects spoken in Friuli, which besides Italian are: Friulian, Venetian (in the towns close to Veneto’s border) and in the southeastern part of the region a dialect called Bisiaco, which has origins in Venetian dialect, Friulian and Slovenian. German-related dialects are also spoken in a few ancient areas of the region. A wonderful, historic book on Italian regional cuisines, Le Ricette Regionali Italiane by Anna Gosetti della Salda introduces Friuli Venezia Giulia by stating that in order to understand why its regional cuisine is so austere and without frills, one must first paint a picture of the region’s inhabitants. Compared to its neighbour, Veneto, which has a rich cuisine full of delicate elegance and colour, Friuli only absorbed its mountain food culture and recipes, traditions which had to do with living in pastures, among cattle, in solitude. This perfectly explains the presence of so much polenta, paired with high pasture cheese, such as Montasio, one of the key ingredients of this week’s recipe. It is interesting to note that most Friulian dishes are rudimental, robust and very flavoured, elegance and refinement do not interest the keepers of regional culinary traditions, the traditional dishes in fact point to the concept that it is a male cuisine, rather than a female one. I could talk for hours about customs of Italian traditional cuisine and what the plates which survived generations symbolize, but let’s not get too carried away, it’s time I introduce you to today’s dish: Frico, or fricò in Friulian. The dish consists of three main ingredients: high pasture cheese, onion and potatoes, all slowly cooked together to form a thin, crunchy crust on the outside, quite similar to a Swiss/Alpine rösti, if you’re familiar with the dish. A dish which used to be originally prepared as a way of using leftover cheese rinds, it then developed into a slightly richer dish which used the main part of the cheese. All the melted cheese, slow cooked onions and fried potatoes make the dish quite heavy, so it must be paired with a wine which cleans your palate and removes part of the greasiness associated to Frico, and I know Manu found a perfect wine for the job - which happens to be one of my favorite wines from Friuli too! "Today Orange wines are gaining more and more the respect and the high scores they deserve from critics and consumers also if there is still a consistent part of the wine lovers which still has not fallen in love with them.
The Karsus area, an impervious, windy and rocky area, on the border between Italy and Slovenia, is one of the renowned areas for orange wines. Here is where you can find another great personality for orange wines and the producer of the wine I chose for today's region: Sandi Skerk. He is a reference for natural wines since when he started in 2000, he wanted to go back to the old tradition of making wines in a very genuine way. The cellar itself is very impressive, a cave dug into the limestone rock which, by ensuring the right balance between humidity and temperature, allows the wines to mature perfectly in oak barrels. The six hectares of vineyards, located in inaccessible and inaccessible areas, enjoy a mild and temperate climate, due to the proximity of the sea and their red, barren and stony soil is rich in limestone and iron, essential elements for the production of quality grapes. He grows Vitovksa and Malvasia, two native grapes of that area plus Sauvignon blanc and Pinot Gris which are cultivated in the area since ages." Read Manu's full wine and pairing description here. frico |
Polenta being cut with a string in Friuli's mountains
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250g potatoes
250g Montasio cheese 1 red or white onion |
Olive oil
Salt and pepper Parsley (optional topping) |
1. Wash and peel the potatoes, then grate them using the largest holes on a cheese grater.
2. Peel the onion and slice it finely. Remove the cheese’s crust and grate it in the same large holes as the potatoes.
3. Place a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and slowly cook the onions, making sure they don’t brown and remain soft.
4. Once the onions are golden, add the grated cheese and potatoes, mix well and cook for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. In a separate, non-stick pan, add a few lugs of olive oil on high heat, then pour in the mix, level it out with a spatula and cook over a high flame for a couple of minutes on each side, until you achieve a thin, crispy crust.
6. Serve hot!
2. Peel the onion and slice it finely. Remove the cheese’s crust and grate it in the same large holes as the potatoes.
3. Place a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and slowly cook the onions, making sure they don’t brown and remain soft.
4. Once the onions are golden, add the grated cheese and potatoes, mix well and cook for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. In a separate, non-stick pan, add a few lugs of olive oil on high heat, then pour in the mix, level it out with a spatula and cook over a high flame for a couple of minutes on each side, until you achieve a thin, crispy crust.
6. Serve hot!
trip 6 | langhe, piemonte
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I was extremely excited when Manu proposed we tackle Piemonte as the next region not just because it is one of Italy’s most important wine and food regions but because part of my family is from Biella, and I had the fortune of living in the Langhe - the area where this week’s wine and dish are from - in 2018 and 2019. During my time in the area I had the chance to explore all things food and wine, thanks to my internship at the Alba White Truffle Fair and my Master’s Degree at UNISG, during which I drove up and down all the Langhe’s rolling hills in search of the best trattorie and plin.
The dish I chose to combine with Manu’s wine is a collection of the most Piemontese ingredients that exist. The main character of the dish is rice, Arborio rice to be exact, which grows extraordinarily well in the region's vast plains surrounding the cities of Novara and Vercelli, which provide the perfect ecosystem for this crop, which needs great amounts of water, to grow. Rice cultivation in Piemonte dates back to 1400, when a congregation of monks from Burgundy, France moved just outside Vercelli and founded an Abbey, who reclaimed the land and transformed it suitable for agriculture. Rice was however only cultivated for medicinal purposes, it was used to cure indigestion and other digestive system related illnesses. One century later, Leonardo Da Vinci worked on agricultural hydraulic engineering projects which allowed farmers to control the irrigation of their land, and studied and executed the first mechanisms for uplifting water. Half of the rice consumed by the entire European population is consumed in the area known as basso Piemonte, between Vercelli and Novara—that’s a lot of rice! The second most important ingredient of this week’s dish is hazelnuts. Alba is known all over the world for its excellent production of hazelnuts, it doesn’t come by surprise that Ferrero was born at the heart of hazelnut paradise! Driving around the hills surrounding Alba all one sees are vineyards, hazelnut trees and castles atop basically every hill. The variety found in the Langhe is called Tonda Gentile delle Langhe, and is especially unique due to its thin shell, which allows for a very small loss in weight of the product, its wonderful aroma and delicate flavour and reduced quantity of fat content, making the nut prone to maintaining its features in conservation, without risking it becoming rancid. I decided to combine these two gems of Piedmontese cuisine in a cream risotto al bianco, on top of which I drizzled toasted hazelnuts and a handful of diced apples, to give the dish a fresh note and contrasting texture. I then passed the baton onto Manu, who made a wonderful selection: Choosing this week's wine has been one of the hardest decision, compared to all other regions. First of all because Piemonte offers a wide variety of some of the greatest Italian wines (and most of my personal favourites), so I had to choose among the most famous Italian denominations and wines, such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara and co.
Secondly, the risotto that Carlotta would have prepared required a wine that should contribute to enhance the characteristics of the dish. I did not want to seem trivial in my choice, so after dwelling on many wines for days I finally made my choice: an incredibly good quality v.s. price wine, from a well know but artisanal producer - but not his Barolo, a wine that most people never taste when trying some Langhe wines - his Dolcetto instead. So today’s wine is Dolcetto d’Alba 2017 by Giuseppe Rinaldi. Giuseppe Rinaldi represents staunchly traditionalist views on winemaking that have brought the estate into conflict with the Barolo Consortium. Most significantly, the estate has always maintained that the best wines from Barolo have always been blends from several sites, rather than the currently fashionable single-vineyard expression. Rinaldi's most prominent wines were blends from Brunate and Le Coste, and the Cannubi and Ravera vineyards respectively, and were labeled as such. However, Italian law passed in 2009 restricted labels to a single designated vineyard or none at all, requiring at least 85 percent of fruit to come from the named vineyard. Giuseppe Rinaldi vocally opposed the changes. Click here to read the rest of Rinaldi's super interesting story, Manu's wine notes and a novelty: Manu's own recipe for Gin Tonic with White Vermouth! risotto in bianco con nocciole300g arborio
1 litre vegetable or meat stock 1 cup dry white wine 2 handfuls hazelnuts Salt and pepper |
1 apple Parmigiano Butter Soft cheese (like robiola d’alba) |
1. Place a deep, non stick pot over medium heat and add the rice, stir frequently to let it toast. Once it’s too hot to hold in your hand it has toasted enough.
Pour in the wine and let it sfumare.
2. Once the wine has been absorbed begin pouring in the boiling hot broth ladle by ladle, stirring in between so it is absorbed well.
3. Repeat this process until the rice is al dente. In the meantime, dice the apple finely and place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast for a few minutes on high temperature and grill setting in the oven. Once cooled down, break them into smaller bits.
4. Add another ladle of broth, mix well and turn off the flame. Add a few handfuls of parmigiano, butter to your pleasing and a few tablespoons of soft cheese. Mix vigorously, also known as the mantecatura phase in Italian, then add salt and pepper to taste and leave it to sit for a few minutes.
5. Place the risotto on individual plates and top with a sprinkle of hazelnuts and a dozen apple dices.
Pour in the wine and let it sfumare.
2. Once the wine has been absorbed begin pouring in the boiling hot broth ladle by ladle, stirring in between so it is absorbed well.
3. Repeat this process until the rice is al dente. In the meantime, dice the apple finely and place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast for a few minutes on high temperature and grill setting in the oven. Once cooled down, break them into smaller bits.
4. Add another ladle of broth, mix well and turn off the flame. Add a few handfuls of parmigiano, butter to your pleasing and a few tablespoons of soft cheese. Mix vigorously, also known as the mantecatura phase in Italian, then add salt and pepper to taste and leave it to sit for a few minutes.
5. Place the risotto on individual plates and top with a sprinkle of hazelnuts and a dozen apple dices.
trip 5 | venice, veneto
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This week we decided to focus on a specific city and the vineyard within it - if you even can consider it ‘within’ the city…
Are you feeling confused? Let us shed some light. There’s an island in the middle of Venice’s lagoon which has vineyards on it, now known as the ORTO di Venezia. It might come as a surprise to many of you to discover that in the middle of a lagoon lies a wine producer, but viticulture is extraordinarily tied to Venice’s history. Until 1100 there was a vineyard planted smack bang in the middle of Venice, in Piazza San Marco no less, so it is clear that the city historically has a great terroir, where local and international varieties grow and thrive. Unfortunately, in 1966 the tides were greater and more powerful than usual, destroying everything they came upon, including the vast majority of vineyards. The tradition and culture of winemaking fortunately survived within the people, and is what inspired Michel Thoulouze to start producing wine. These vines are even more magical because over the course of the years they’ve adapted perfectly to Venice’s tides rising daily - they’re used to the water’s salinity and are able to survive it, something which is wonderfully reflected in the wine’s palpable minerality. Mr Thoulouze decided to age a selection of his 2011 ORTO vintage at the bottom of Venice’s lagoon - aboard a sunken ship - which he believes to be the best cellar possible: without light, with no temperature variation, allowing the wine to age gracefully. "So he decided to plant some local and Italian varieties with a very precise concept and philosophy: small intervention in the vineyards and in the cellar. That’s how ORTO di Venezia was born. Only manual work in the fields, the vines are all ungrafted due to the particular location of the vineyards, the soil is a mix of clay limestone and dolomite rock. No weeding, no fertilizer, no irrigation, only hard manual work. The wine is made with Malvasia Istriana (inidgenous grapes from north east Italy), Vermentino and Fiano, which are respectively grapes from the Tirreno side of the country. The wine is pretty aromatic in the nose and extremely balanced in the mouth. The most vibrant and present sensation is the minerality and the salinity of this wine. Each sip will take your mind to the beautiful lagoon of Venice." Head over to Manu's blog for her full description of the wine and her top tips on where to eat and drink in Venice! To pay further homage to the city of Venice, I simply had to choose one of the most well known foods and moments of consumption throughout the day. Aperitivo is one of the most important moments of the day in Venice. Locals and tourists gather at the hundreds of bars, small restaurants and bacari to enjoy a glass of wine and an assortment of finger foods, known as cicchetti. These can vary from a tiny sandwich filled with cured meats and cheese to baccalà mantecato on crunchy bread and sarde in saor: anchovies preserved in agrodolce (a mix of vinegar, olive oil and salt). The criteria is bite-size food and local products, and it’s important to note that they are not traditionally prepared at home. Cicchetti are something Venetians eat when they go out and socialize, they represent community and the wonderfully Italian custom of gathering at 6:30pm for a glass of wine and snack. Polpettine di vitello and baccalà mantecato are the two cicchetti I chose to pair with this week’s wine, as a way of demonstrating that both meat and fish work perfectly with macerated wine. What’s great about both recipes is that you can make them in advance and in large quantities with little fuss, making them perfect as appetizers for a dinner party or when hosting your own aperitivo. polpettine di vitello
1. Place the minced meat in a bowl, add a whole egg, the mashed potato, garlic and chopped parsley.
2. Place the slices of mortadella in a blender and turn on high speed, blending until the mortadella is minced, then add it to the bowl. 3. Squeeze the bread, removing the excess milk and place in the bowl. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Add a handful of parmigiano. 4. Mix everything with your hands they divide into sections and place in the blender one by one, until you achieve a compact, slightly stick mix. 5. Take a tablespoon of meat and roll it into a small ball with your hands, then roll it through a plate with breadcrumbs, coating each meatball well. 6. Melt a stick of butter in a non-stick pan, once it begins to bubble add the meatballs (making sure they don’t overlap) and cook them for a few minutes, tossing often so they maintain their round shape. Once they look nice and golden, remove them and place them on a plate. |
picture by @postcardsbyhannah
baccalà mantecato
1. Place the baccalà in a bowl with cold water and leave it to rest for 12 hours, changing the water twice.
2. After the hours have passed, place the fish in a pot and cover it with cold water, then bring to boil. As soon as it boils, remove the layer of foam that has formed, turn off the heat and leave it to rest for 20 minutes. If it is still hard, boil it for a further 10 minutes. 3. Remove the fish’s skin and scales, then place it in a blender along with the parsley, garlic and mashed potato. As you begin to blend, pour in as much olive oil as it absorbs. 4. If it results too salty, place it in a pot and over the low flame add milk gradually, mixing well so that it is all absorbed, until you can no longer taste as much salt. 5. Place a tablespoon of baccalà mantecato on a slice of warm, toasted bread and top everything off with a drizzle of olive oil. |
trip 4 | irpinia, campania
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You’re probably familiar with Naples, and its region, Campania. Mozzarella, Pizza, Capri, Pompeii and so on are what people immediately associate to the sunny region in the south of Italy. A place you might be slightly less familiar with is the area of Irpinia, which sits on the border with Puglia and Basilicata.
An area with mountains that reach over 1000 meters above sea level—it’s also a skiing destination! In the middle of this unexpected and undiscovered territory, especially outside of Italy are picturesque towns dotted all around and vineyards - a lot of vineyards. The area is in fact famous for the production of some very prominent Italian wine denominations: Greco di Tufo DOCG, Taurasi DOCG and Fiano di Avellino DOCG. A beautiful land which unfortunately, exactly 40 years ago today, was hit by a devastating earthquake, 6.9 on the richter scale, which destroyed whole towns and many, many lives. To this day the pain and loss of Irpinia’s inhabitants is still visible. Right on the border with Basilicata sits Calitri, a town that climbs up a hill with brightly coloured houses, bringing joy to everyone that looks upon it. A town with a rich gastronomic and enologic heritage and the reason why Manu and I decided to focus on this little parcel of land. To pay homage to Campania’s historic tradition of pasta, especially machine-made, dried pasta, I decided to share the recipe of one of Calitri’s local dishes, Cannazze di Calitri. The name has origins that date back to the ‘700s, when this long, tube shaped pasta used to be left to dry on canes, and was therefore called cannazza. It is the dish that represents and was cooked for young married couples, so it obviously had to be made with ziti, which in neapolitan dialect means 'bride'. In more recent times it has become the pasta dish that every family makes for a Sunday lunch - you’re not considered a local if you don’t eat it on Sundays, apparently. The ziti are coated in a rich, flavourful tomato sauce and topped with vraciole (braciole in Italian) - thinly sliced veal wrapped up with pine nuts, parsley, garlic and Pecorino - another symbol of nuptials, as the wrapping of the two elements symbolises the union between two people. Manu found a wonderful Fiano from the exact same town, produced just a few hundred meters from where you can taste a delicious dish of cannazze if you’re ever lucky enough to be in the area, you can find her complete wine pairing discovery over here. When talking about Campania, we immediately think about Positano, Capri, the Amalfi Coast and Naples, with its food culture. Naples is indeed the city of street food par excellence, I remember when I went there last time, being overwhelmed with the smell coming from the food trucks and shops all around the historical centre. Tempting me all day long with their frittata di pasta (made with pasta leftovers), pizza fritta (yes, fried!) and cuoppo fritto (a cone shaped paper full of fries goodies, usually squids or meatballs).
I know that most of you were expecting a food and wine pairing from the coast side, but this time, also if both me and Carlotta love those places, we decided to go and explore a lesser known area. That’s mostly because of the purpose of our regional food and wine pairing series, to let you discover lesser known gems out of the most touristy paths, that can really transport you to the true essence of Italy. The wine I chose for this week is a very special treat. A wine that comes from Alta Irpinia, Calitri village, contrada Tufiello, made with 100% Fiano, a very diffuse local white grape variety, but grown in a mountainous area where vines survive at 800 meters a.s.l. in volcanic soils. So, without further ado, here is the recipe to make the wonderful, rich, comforting, Irpinian dish:
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200g ziti pasta ½ a litre of passata 1 onion 2 garlic cloves Handful of pine nuts 4 slices of thinly cut veal Handful of parsley Handful of Parmigiano or Pecorino Olive oil Salt and pepper |
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trip 3 | toscana
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After having covered Manuela’s home, Sardinia, and mine, Lombardia, it was only natural that we moved onto Tuscany, the region where we both live and where we met!
When deciding what wine to introduce you to, from this huge and extremely diverse region we both came to the conclusion that we should set aside the big classics that are Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico and make space for a lesser known wine, which just so happens to belong to our favorite category of wines ever: orange wine. It just so happens that orange wines pair perfectly with foods rich in umami flavour, which usually derives from meat, cheese, broth and - pertinent to the dish I chose - tomato paste. Pappa al Pomodoro is one of Tuscany’s most celebrated dishes, which has rural and waste-free origins. It is in fact supposed to be made with overripe tomatoes and stale bread. Bread is at the basis of Tuscan cuisine, it is eaten with every salume, formaggio, used to do scarpetta on a tasty sauce - although, alas, it is always sciapo, without salt - so it is a natural consequence that most traditional dishes have as a main ingredient stale bread. There is almost a ritual aspect of cooking the pappa, traditions state that you must only mix the soup as it cooks once a thin veil has formed on the top, and then wait for the veil to form again before mixing it - one must repeat this process seven times. Pappa, as it is known by Tuscans, can be found throughout the whole region, although every town and city has its own slightly different variation, some add onions instead of garlic, others add wine to soften the bread, and so on. Siena is the town we're focusing on for this gastronomic trip, and they like to add a few leaves of fresh basil and freshly grated flakes of Parmigiano cheese on top. But I'll let Manu now describe all the reasons why the wine she chose pairs perfectly with my pappa. Pappa al pomodoro looks indeed like a simple food but it is not, especially in terms of pairing. We usually eat it as entree, before the first course, or as a first course, but you can also have it as a main course. The bread and the tomato sauce give the dish structure, while the spices brings a lot of aromatic flavours. The sensations you will find in the palate are mainly the acidity from the tomato sauce and a bit of oiliness. So the wine should have a good structure but too much, as it would cover the dish, and a complex and aromatic nose, but gentle. In the mouth it should have a good acidity but not too high and some smoothness to balance the acidity of the tomato, better if with a savoury and mineral finish and a little tannic to clean up the oily sensation after each bite. Sounds pretty complicated to find a wine with all these characteristics. Well not if you are familiar with orange wines, which luckily I am. I love orange wines because they are very flexible in terms of food pairing. For this recipe I choose one of my most recent discoveries, Santa Tre, an orange wine, from Cantina Santa10. To read about the tasting notes and our tips for Siena visit my blog, here. And for the Pappa al Pomodoro recipe, click here. |
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trip 2 | lombardia
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This week we’re jumping from Sardinia to mainland Italy, Lombardy precisely - my home! As I always like to give myself a culinary challenge, this week was no different. Lombardy is a region well known by a lot of people, especially when it comes to Milan and all the other large cities, or Lake Como. Consequently, I wanted to research and share with you a dish from an area of the region which isn’t as notorious: Valtellina, which begins at the tip of Lake Como and runs parallel to the border with Switzerland.
Buckwheat has been cultivated in Valtellina for more than four centuries, making this ingredient entwined with local flavours and recipes, from pizzoccheri - dark tagliatelle-like pasta which is the valley’s most famous food - to sciatt, the subject of today’s recipe. The area of Valtellina is a mountain area, with meters of snow in winter and beautiful, bright green pastures in summer, so its traditional food is reflected in the low temperatures reached year round. In other words - they eat a lot of highly caloric, rich food, which often can be fried, as is the case for sciatt. Crunchy fried balls with a molten cheese interior, made with a pastella made from buckwheat flour, beer, fizzy water and a drop of grappa - an ingredient you won’t find added to pastella anywhere else - giving the dough an enticing aroma. If you’re not really a fan of cheese then you can try the sweet alternative: with molten chocolate instead of cheese. Why did I mention the eating rituals of the mountain communities in Valtellina? As it happens, until a few hundred years ago, sciatt would be eaten for breakfast, accompanied by a tall glass of milk. Yes - the cheese versions, not the sweet one. The combination of fried cheese and milk was the best way to face the cold day ahead. An additional bonus of buckwheat flour is that it is gluten free, so if sciatt or pizzoccheri are made without the addition of other flours they can be enjoyed by everyone. If you happen to visit Valtellina, you can easily spot the numerous buckwheat cultivations, which surround all the towns, and have flowers all year round. When Carlotta said, “I am going to bring a fried dish from Lombardy for our weekly regional virtual tour”, I immediately thought: “wow that’s perfect”! Why? For two main reasons: one is because Lombardy is very well known for its lovely sparkling wines which are perfectly paired with fried dishes as the bubbles can clean up your palate from the oily sensation fried foods often leave. An amazing marriage, as indeed every bite calls for a sip and every sip prepares your mouth for the next bite. The second main reason is that in Valtellina there is one of my absolute favourite red wines ever. To discover which wines ManuPaper choose to pair with sciatt check her part of the article at the link here: www.thepaperplanejourneyblog.com |
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Sciatt Recipe
Serves 4 (as an appetizer) 100g of buckwheat flour 50g of plain “00” flour Salt 5g of grappa 20ml of beer 125g of cheese: Casera is the traditional one used, but other non-aged, hard cheeses work too. Extra virgin olive oil to fry Fizzy water (roughly 200ml) |
1. Place the flours in a bowl with half a tablespoon of salt and add the grappa and beer. Begin mixing and gradually add the fizzy water, until you have a thick but liquid dough. Cover it and leave to rest for one hour.
2. Cut the cheese into 2 cm squares and fold them into the dough. 3. Pour two fingers of olive oil into a non-stick pot or pan and heat it. When it has reached the right heat it will begin to smoke, at that point, drop in a tablespoon of dough with a piece of cheese and flip a couple of times until golden. 4. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with kitchen paper to remove the excess oil. Eat whilst hot. |
trip 1 | Sardegna
As anticipated on Instagram, Manuela and I will take you on a virtual enogastronomic trip of an Italian region every week. The first region we’re taking you to see is Sardinia, Manu’s home and one of my favorite places in Italy!
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The first thing that comes to everyone's mind when talking about Sardinian wines is Cannonau, with no doubt. This grape has always been considered the king and the emblem of Sardinian red wines and wines in general, while it is often associated with some wine characteristics which do not really match the new trends for wine lovers and sommeliers.
Mamoiada is a very small village in the heart of Barbagia, the Sardinian inland. The history of Mamoiada and its Cannonau is a different story that gets lost back in time, a family history, a tradition which is profoundly radicated in the culture of this land. In this area, famous for the Mamuthones (ancestral masks, linked to a very old carnival tradition, but not only) each family produces its own wine and every inhabitant of the village has its vineyard to make wine, while the proper wineries are less than 20. Here the king is absolutely Cannonau grape, but a very special one. The concept of Cannonau here has always been a very “modern” one, because this is how it was born since the beginning in this highly vocate area. The wine Mamuthone, from Giuseppe Sedilesu winery, expresses this concept and the perfect marriage between the tradition and a more approachable kind of wine. Cannonau wine is generally considered very rich, a wine with a big structure, full bodied and pretty round, but here, in Mamoiada this is not always true. The philosophy of this winery is making a sustainable wine, from the vineyards to the cellar, simplify the winemaking approach in the cellar, using big oak barrels of 40ht and concrete to decant the wine before the bottling. Spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts and non filtered wines. The result is a great base wine, with a more modern concept, more into the taste of contemporary consumers and sommeliers, with a finesse and freshness which sometimes has been lost in the past in these wines, but that in Mamoiada is a key feature. For this reason Mamuthone is a wine that can be paired not only with traditional Sardinian dishes (which is still a great marriage) but also with a more contemporary and lighter cooking. It’s a must have wine in your private cellar as it is very versatile and you don't need to pull out your grill to open a bottle. A wine that will go very well with many pasta dishes, with both meat or seafood sauce (tomato sauce) and also with vegetarian ones. We decided to choose a very traditional pairing in this case, the one with Malloreddus pasta with sausage ragù from which Carlotta will be sharing the history and the recipe. Malloreddus are small durum wheat flour ‘gnocchi’ with external ridges and a concave interior. They hold the first place prize for being the most cooked traditional dish during sagre, festivities and weddings. All around the world, food preparation was historically the role of very specific people, it wasn’t something done by everyone like it is nowadays. In rural Italy it was massaie who traditionally prepared meals, as well as taking care of all other household affairs - they have been carefully shaping malloreddus for centuries. A strong indication of the dishes’ rural origins lies within the name itself: malloreddu is a diminutive of the word malloru, which in sardo campidanese, the local dialect of the area where the pasta originates from, means bull. Although some of Italy’s best fish and seafood is found in Sardinia’s waters, it is historically a land of farmers and mountain communities surrounded by cattle and livestock, and malloreddus pay homage to the region’s agricultural heritage. Their ridged exterior which is nowadays achieved by a rigagnocchi: a wooden paddle scored by vertical lines - used to be achieved by rolling the rectangular bits of pasta dough on a basket made from hay woven together. The lined texture paired with the concave shape are ideal for scooping up sauce, which is traditionally a ragù made with sausages and dry fennel seeds. Orgosolo and Mamoiada are small villages also known for their street art. During your stay, be sure to visit some of the very interesting wineries like Giuseppe Sedilesu and Giovanni Montisci. If you're feeling peckish in Orgosolo go to Il Portico Ristorante for a filling lunch or to the Alimentari Mercurio & C for a loaf of cocones, the town's traditional bread. |
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Sausage ragù recipe:
For 4 people 1 onion, finely diced 1 carrot, finely diced 1 stick of celery, finely diced 2 tablespoons of dry fennel seeds Olive oil 2 cans of pelati or passata 4 pork sausages Pecorino sardo (optional) |
1. Place a few lugs of olive oil in a deep, non-stick pot and turn the heat onto medium high.
2. Once the oil is hot, throw in the diced onion, carrot and celery as well as the fennel seeds, turn heat on medium-low and let the veggies brown nicely and soften. 3. Squeeze the sausage out of its case and place it in the pot once the soffritto has softened, in large chunks. 4. Once the sausage chunks have browned nicely on each side pour in the first can of passata or pelati, then rinse the can with a bit of water and pour that into the pot as well. Add the second can if the meat is not almost entirely submerged in tomatoes. 5. Once the ragù begins to bubble, turn the heat onto low and cover the pot with a lid and leave it to simmer for a few hours.The more you cook it slowly for the softer the meat will become. 6. When you’re satisfied with the taste and consistency of your ragù, add as much as you want onto pasta, and top everything off with a fresh shaving of Pecorino Sardo. |