Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

I knew little about the Salento region of Puglia when I planned my trip last winter. I knew it was at the bottom tip of Italy's heel. I had heard it's known as the "California of Italy" and that the sea, surrounding three sides of Salento, was rumored to be one the most beautiful in Italy.

During my five-day visit, I learned so much more, thanks to the people I met while there. Laura from Ciao Laura's Culinary Vacations put me in contact with the ladies who run culinary tours for her in Lecce and Puglia. They showed me around, filling my head with a wealth of information about the food, culture, history and more. Not only that, but they also welcomed me into their homes and kitchens, so much so, I felt like family. The last day of my visit I looked over my notes and couldn't believe all that I had seen, done, learned, and eaten in such a short time.

Leccese stone, menhir, dolmen, muretti a secco, masseria, frantoio ipogeo, friselle, sagne ncannulate, i maritati, pasticciotto, Albanegra, giuncata, cacioricotta, rustico, The Tables of San Giuseppe, Grecia Salentina, Otranto, Gallipoli. Only a month ago, most of these words meant nothing to me.

These words were only letters strung together on a page. Some having unclear textbook definitions; others not a bit of meaning. Now the words have meanings and images attached to them, of specific places and events and with people I will never forget. The words are as clear in meaning as the first words I ever spoke. They are a part of me, and I am a part of them. I hope to bring these and more Salentino words to life for you as I recount my adventures and introduce you to the people I met during my time with Ylenia and Claudia.

Pina Cooking and Claudia Explaining (photo courtesy of Ylenia)

Pina, personal chef and culinary instructor, cooked for us a Salentino lunch at Cantine Menhir. I had met her two days earlier, and we bonded over food, of course. She told me much about the Salento cuisine, which leans heavily on vegetables, cheese, and seafood. A cuisine born of farmers and peasants, it's light on meat. We exchanged cooking ideas and methods. I shared an American recipe with her, and Claudia, my cheesecake recipe. One evening we popped into Pina's mother's home to warm up with some tea. Mamma sent me back to my B&B with a shopping bag filled with pasta, two bottles of tomato sauce, two types of bread and jam. ALL of it homemade!

The day at the cantina, Pina cooked five dishes. Vegetables were the shining star in each dish. I joined her in the kitchen. I would like to say that I helped, but that wasn't the case. Pina and Claudia cooked. Ylenia took many of the photos. I listened. Hopefully I listened well as Pina explained, in sometimes rapid-fire Italian, how to prepare each dish. Whenever a lost look of panic appeared on my face, Ylenia and Claudia translated.

Here's what Pina cooked:

 

Frittura Salentina - A sort of tempura, Salento style. The batter was flour and sparkling water. Pina tossed vegetables, broccoli rape and fennel to name two, along with apples into the batter. She flavored the frying oil with lemon and orange zest and bay leaves. Crunchy outside and soft inside, these fried treats were devoured almost faster than I could snap a photo.

 

Lampascioni - Pronounced (lam-pah-show-nee) - On the way home from lunch, they laughed because I kept talking about the lampascioni, verifying and reverifying the recipe. This dish is agrodolce (sweet & sour) sauce at its best. Lampascioni are small onions of the region, a littler bigger than pearl onions and pinkish in color. In a little olive oil, lampascioni and scallions are cooked, with garlic and bay leaves, until they are soft. A few cherry tomatoes and vincotto are added and cooked down until it's the right consistency and flavor. Vincotto is cooked grape must. The must is slowly reduced to produce a dense, more sweet but also sour, syrup-like liquid. The dish was To. Die. For. (Dopo l'ho mangiato, potrei morire.)

Verdure al forno - Pina boiled greens, chicory, broccoli rape, sliced artichokes, to start. She said you could use any vegetables you'd like or have in the house. Once they were cooked, she drained them and then sauteed them, the traditional way, in only a little olive oil. Nowadays people will saute a little pancetta with the vegetables. It tastes better, but is not necessary. Then the vegetables get layered into a casserole dish. In between the vegetable layers are a layer of grated grano padano cheese. To the top layer she also added bread crumbs, and baked it until the top was golden brown.

 

Pasta schiattariciati - Pasta with a sauce of squished (schiattariciati) cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are "squished" while exploding in a covered pan of hot olive oil, and then basil leaves are added. After dressing the pasta with the squished tomato sauce, add finely grated cacioricotta (cheese and ricotta combined). The cacioricotta melts and gives each strand of pasta a creamy coating.

 

We finished with a colorful salad of roasted beets, blood oranges, tomatoes, and fennel that was tossed in a lemon and olive oil dressing. Clearly, I was busy eating at this point, as I have no photo of it.

 

Wine-tasting break (photo courtesy of Ylenia)

 

Cantine Menhir provided their dining area, the food and their wines. The cantina, surrounded by an infinite stretch of olive groves, symbolic of the Salento area, has the appearance of a cozy stone cottage. Behind the dining area, is a lounge area open during the evenings with live entertainment.

Gaetano, the owner of Cantine Menhir, is pouring wines in the photo above. (Menhir is the name of the prehistoric structures found in the area, but that's for another post.) All of us worked casually in the kitchen, taking a few wine tasting breaks along the way. Our tasting started with a white wine, Pass-o Fiano Minutolo. Someone made mention of a Chardonnay while we were drinking it, but I think mainly to give a nod to my home region. For me the wine was fruitier than a Chardonnay, I tasted peaches, and was perfect before a meal. From there we moved on to the reds of Puglia, Primitivo and Negroamaro. With lunch we had another red, Albanegra. It was a blend of Aleatico, Primitivo e Malvasia grapes. It was lighter than the Primitivo and went well with our lunch. I adored it almost as much as the lampascioni.

Lingering at the table - sure sign of a much enjoyed meal (photo courtesy of Ylenia)

Claudia, Pina and I still chatting about the meal

An idealic afternoon in the kitchen and a delicious and leisurely meal. Grazie ancora Pina, Gaetano, and of course, Ylenia and Claudia!

 

*Join me in 2012 on a Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Journey Through Puglia!

 

 

The photo at the top of this post and some of the other photos used (they are noted), are from Ylenia at YLTours Congressi and used with her permission. All other photos in the piece are mine, All Rights Reserved.

Related Posts:

Pugliese Pasta and The Art of Making Pasta by Hand: A Lesson with Nonna Vata

A Tour of Lecce - The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Cheese of Puglia: Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Tour of Masseria L'Astore and a Frantoio Ipogeo in Salento

Classic Salentino Cuisine Reinvented at Sette di Sette in Lecce

Sagne Ncannulate con Sugo Schiattariciati ("Squished tomato sauce)

The Dish from Puglia: Ricci di Mare (sea urchins) from Porto Badisco

The Dish from Puglia: Friselle with Tomatoes

The Dish from Lecce: Rustico Leccese

Eggplant Caponata and Sicilian Market Etiquette

Dining Around Naples with Napoli Unplugged

Pasta con le Sarde and Cooking in Palermo

Cozze alla Marinara (Neapolitan-Style Mussels)

The Itaian Teacher, the Friend and a Magical Chocolate Kahlua Budino

Bella Napoli - Neapolitans Warm My Heart Like Their Food Warms My Stomach

Comments

[Paula]

Let's move to Puglia. All I need is a job there ....

[Krista]

I LOVE the Frittura Salentina!! Amazing how such tiny alterations - sparkling water, flavoring the frying oil - can make all the difference in the world. I'm so inspired. :-)

[Corinne @ Gourmantic]

I'm eyeing the Frittura Salentina! Sounds like a dish you can't put down when you start eating :)

[Kathy]

Paula - You read my mind :-)

Krista - You're so right. I liked also how she included apples in with all the vegetables.

Corinne - Looks like the Frittura is the popular dish here, too. They were certainly gobbled up quickly. I'm still dreaming of the lampascioni.

[fabio]

If you want the lampascioni recipe, here it is, on my italian Puglia blog: http://tinyurl.com/yfofv5e ;)

[Frank]

One of my great regrets in life is that we never made it down to Puglia while living in Italy. My father's father was from there and I always wanted to vlsit his town outside Bari. Ah well, I guess it's still not too late...

[Kathy]

Fabio - Thank you very much for the link. Your recipe looks good, too!

Frank - It's definitely not too late...go!