Food Lover's Odyssey: September 2012

September 17, 2012

Food Lovers in Puglia - Day 3: Lecce, Pastry Lessons and Cooking with Italian Mammas

Day three of the food lovers' tour began and ended with much swooning, and it wasn't only for the food but also for the many masters in the kitchen we met - pastry chefs, Italian mammas and chef/restauranteurs. Yes, this is a food & wine lovers' tour, but we also soaked up a little bit of culture during the day. We had a guided walk through the baroque historical center of Lecce and a carta pesta (paper-mache) demonstration.

Pastry Making with Chef Luca Capilungo ~

I think all the ladies, and maybe even Dell, were head-over-hells with our Leccese pastry lesson of pasticiotto and fruttone with the very handsome and charismatic chef Luca Capilungo. He took us into his pastry kitchen where we were again behind the scenes and making the typical pastry of Lecce, pasticciotto. Everyone made a batch, and whenever one of us needed a little help with technique, Luca was quick to take our hands and show us the proper way to work the dough or pipe the lemony pastry cream into the molds.

Chef Luca showing Gloria exactly how to pipe the pastry cream into the pasticciotto

Chef Luca demonstrating how to make fruttone

Luca also gave us a demonstration on making fruttone, another typical pastry of Puglia. It starts out with pasta frolla (short crust pastry) in a mold, just like the pasticcioto. Instead of pastry cream, the pastry is filled with pear marmalata and marzipan, baked and then topped with a chocolate icing. We sampled the finished fruttone and many other of his delicious cookies. He even brought out a sweet wine to dip our quaresimali ("Lenten" biscotti) into. As if the group didn't already adore chef Luca and his pastries, he made many of us happy by posing for a photo with each person in the group. We took the pasticiotti we made with us, and it was dessert after our evening meal.

Gloria and chef Luca

A Tour of Lecce and a Carta Pesta Lesson ~

The girls with our driver Antonio

The group in Piazza del Duomo with Fabiola

Taking a break in between pastries and lunch, we took a giro around Lecce in an antique car - 1935 to be exact. Afterwards we had a guided-walking tour of Lecce where we learned a little about the cities history and its baroque-style facades.

The tour ended with a carta pesta demonstration where the group learned all about how the paper-making technique arrived in Italy, how paper is made, and how the carta pesta figurines of Lecce are crafted. Some of the group also got to make a few sheets of paper themselves.

Nuncia demonstrating how they make carta pesta

Luigi showing the final touches made to the carta pesta before they are painted

Helen making paper

The finished carta pesta figurines

Lunch with Antonella at Locanda Rivoli ~

Lunch was in Lecce at the very delicious Locanda Rivoli where Antonella greeted all of us with a big smile and countless plates of antipasti. Although we were quite satisfied with the never-ending plates of antipasti, we couldn't leave without having a pasta course, or two. We delighted in the traditional dish of ceci & tria (chickpeas and pasta) with a twist. Antonella adds mussels to the dish. Our other pasta was sagne ncannulate (the pasta that I made with Nonna Vata) in a sauce of fresh tomatoes & ricotta forte. The ricotta forte added a nice tang to the sweet tomato sauce. The meal ended with little cookies shaped in the form of wrapped candies and filled with marmalata. And if we weren't already in love with Antonella and her food, she also gave each of us a gift of olive oil and autographed her recipe that we found in the Puglia recipe book each of us had purchased.

Some of the too-many-to-count plates of antipasti included: tiella, friselle, peperonata, ricotta mouse, spinach & ricotta focaccia, focaccia di patate, grilled eggplant, fagioli in tomato sauce, carpaccio of zucchini

Antonella autographing her recipe for sagne ncannulate schiattariciati

Cooking with Mamma Giulia ~

In the kitchen with Mamma Giulia (photo courtesy of Ylenia)

Del and Gloria frying up the eggplant for our involtini

After only a few days, everyone realized that food never really stops coming on this tour. We had a short break to rest or sit poolside at the masseria, and then we were back in the kitchen for our first hands-on cooking lesson with mamma Giulia who is a quite a wizard in the kitchen. Now, the menu was supposed to be three plates: Pomordori Schiattariciati for the antipasto, penne with a cream of bell pepper sauce for the primo, and involtini (rolls) of eggplant for the secondo. Instead we learned a favorite phrase of mamma Giulia's, "Non buttiamo niente." (We don't throw anything away.) With leftover ingredients and those that others might think of as scraps, she made three other dishes. Take a look at our meal:

Pomodori Schiattariciati (tomatoes bursted in olive oil) and fried green bell peppers

With the left over tomatoes and bell peppers, Mamma Giulia added olives, olive oil & a little vinegar for another antipasto

With the eggplant skins (what most people would throw out), she fried them and added olive oil & vinegar for yet another antipasti

Cream of bell pepper sauce with penne pasta was a favorite of all

Involtini di Melanzane - eggplant rolls filled with tuna and capers

Our dessert was the pasticciotti from our lesson with Luca

If you'd like to see more photos from this tour, you can view them on the Food Lover's Odyssey Facebook page.

Join us in Puglia in 2013! We'll be cooking with our beautiful Italian mamme and professional chefs, and we'll also be eating and exploring our way through the region. There are four tour dates available from which to choose! For more information check out this page: Culinary Tours in Puglia 2013!

***Early booking discount: Book and pay by check by January 31, 2013 and receive a $200 discount off the tour price.****

An Aperitivo to Whet Your Appetite for Puglia

Making Pasticiotto in Puglia

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

Tradtional Salentine Dishes at Locanda Rivoli in Lecce

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

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

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Under the Salento Sun - The Masserie of Salento

Wedding in Puglia

Cheese in Puglia - Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Artisanal Cheese at Masseria CinqueSanti in Puglia

Orecchiette with Cauliflower, Sausage & Cheese - Cooking with Mamma Mariantonietta

Olivotto: The Sweet Side of Olives

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Pugliese Pasta Dish: Sagne Ncannulate con Sugo Schiattariciati

Classic Salentino Cuisine Reinvented at Sette di Sette in Lecce

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

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

Sagne Ncannulate Schiattariciati - Pugliese Pasta with Schiattariciati 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

Christmas Desserts in Salento

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September 07, 2012

Food Lovers in Puglia - Day 1 & 2: Gelato, Feasts, Otranto, Olive Groves and More

After much anticipation, the day came and the guests of the Food Lovers' Tour in Puglia have arrived! They enjoyed a relaxing travel day at what will be our home for the next 9 days, Masseria Provenzani. We had a poolside lunch and time to lounge by the pool and/or wander around the grounds of the masseria. Their official welcome came as we kicked off the tour with a private oil and pate tasting from Azienda Taurino and a dinner of typical Salentine dishes.

Dinner included traditional Pugliese dishes: Orecchiette, Fava bean puree with chicory, Fagioli with tuna and onions in agrodolce, focaccia Salentina, potato salad with tomato and basil, and grilled eggplant

The first full day of the tour started off with our group going crazy over a behind-the-scenes gelato-making and tasting demonstration at Gelateria Tentazioni in Lecce. Chef Antonio, who has been making gelato for 35 years, opened up his kitchen to us and gave us a look at how they make gelato and sorbetto in Italy. Antonio also shared his recipe for one of his latest gelato creations: a vincotto sorbetto. We sampled chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut, vincotto, fior di latte and another creation from Antonio called the Fiesta. Inspired by many popular candy bars in Italy, Antonio made the Fiesta and other gelato bars using gelato flavor combinations similar to the candy bars. The Fiesta is a pairing of chocolate and orange. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of grown ups get so excited. There were squeals, ooohs, aaahhs, and moans of satisfaction with every spoonful of gelato we tasted.

Chef Antonio sharing his gelato creations inspired by popular "candy bars"

Gabriele of Gelateria Tentazioni (temptations) making chocolate gelato

Making Chocolate and hazelnut spumoni at the gelateria

Food Lovers' Tour at Porto Badisco

There was a short pause between gelato and lunch with a photo op stop at Porto Badisco. Those who’ve been following Food Lover’s Odyssey, might remember my story of Porto Badisco and tasting sea urchin. Although we didn’t taste any of the sea urchin fresh from the sea, we were able to see the beach at its bluest under the bright summer sun.

Our table at La Fattoria in Otranto

On this tour, you can bet that the next meal is right around the corner. And it was. Lunch was at La Fattoria, a trattoria that embraces the Zero Kilometro philosophy, the term Italy uses for its movement of eating local and seasonal. Almost all ingredients come from the trattoria's farm and garden, and those that don’t come from no farther than 100 kilometers away. We dined on countless plates of traditional Salentine antipasti that included pittole (fried batter), fried zucchini flowers, bruschetta and tomatoes, freshly-made ricotta, peperonata, carpaccio di zucchine and grilled eggplant and zucchini. The primi (pasta dishes) included more traditional flavors of Salento: cavatelli with zucchini and massa (a Salentine pasta) with cabbage and chickpeas. On the tour with us is Eva, a master gardener, and she and her husband Del brilliantly detected a hint of cinnamon in the massa pasta dish.

Pittole - fried bread was one of our many antipasti

Massa pasta with cabbage and chick peas

To walk off lunch we took a leisurely stroll through Otranto, located on the eastern coast of Salento, entering through the ancient castle walls that were built as a protection against invaders from the east. Our visit included one to Otranto’s cathedral, where everyone stood in awe of the Tree of Life mosaic that covered the church’s entire main floor and the crypt that holds the bones of the 800 martyrs of townspeople who refused to denounce their religion after Otranto fell to the Turks in 1480.

Port at Otranto

Tree of Life mosaic in the Otranto Cathedral

Enjoying the view of the sea at Otranto

The day was far from over. Imagine wine tasting and listening to music under hundred-year old olive trees, under the stars, with the scents from candles wafting through the air and illuminating the olive orchard and then listening to music in the same olive grove. Our amazing first day ended with us doing just that at Masseria Terre dei Padri.

Wine tasting in the olive grove at Masseria Terre dei Padri

Before the piano concert, chef Alessandro invited us for yet another behind-the-scenes look into his kitchen where he showed us the steps involved in creating one of his most popular antipasti, a platter of smoked swordfish, shrimp and a marinated salmon roll.

Smoked swordfish, marinated tuna involtini and shrimp from Gallipoli at Masseria Terra dei Padri

Our group in the kitchen with chef Alessandro

Dinner was also at Masseria Terre dei Padri where chef Alessandro’s dishes were loved and devoured by all. Chef Alessandro started with traditional dishes of the area and reinvented and recreated them to fit the very upscale setting of the four-star masseria. We paired our meal with two of our favorite wines from our earlier tasting, a rosato and Salice Salentino, made by the masseria.

Here are just a few of our favorites from this fantastic meal:

Antipasto plate of capocollo from the Itria Valley, burrata and an eggplant flan

Antipasto plate of Acqua Sale with Seafood

I Maritati (orecchiette and maccheroni) with little meatballs (polpettini)

Tiella alla Barase - A casserole (tiella) of potatoes, rice, tomatoes and mussels

And this was just day one. I'll be back soon with highlights from Day 2!

If you'd like to see more photos of all the fun and food we're having here in Puglia, check them out in the tour's album on the Food Lover's Odyssey Facebook Page.

Join me in Puglia in 2013! For this food lover's culinary tour, we'll be cooking with our beautiful Italian mamme and professional chefs. We'll also be eating and exploring our way through the region. There are four tour dates available from which to choose! For tour details, check out this page: Culinary Tours in Puglia 2013!