Food Lover's Odyssey

Easter Food and Traditions in Puglia

 

 

 

Italy does many things well, and one of them is knowing how to stretch out a holiday. For example, Easter, a one-day holiday in the U.S. is at least four days of feasting here. They began Friday evening in Lecce, where I'm staying. Family, friends and visitors met and mingled in the piazze. Groups gathered and flowed out of the city's wine bars, caffes and eateries chatting, laughing and enjoying each other's company until late in the night.Chocolate eggs wrapped in an assortment of pastel colors brightened every shop windows. The partying doesn't end until Tuesday morning. Easter Monday, known as Pasquetta (little Easter) is the final day of feasting before everyone has to go back to work.

 

I've spent most of the four-day holiday with my friend Ylenia eating many of the traditional holiday dishes of the region, and yes, the chocolate eggs, too, and learned a little about some of the other Easter traditions of Salento. I like that many of the Easter holiday food "musts" are sweets. Of course lamb, usually with potatoes, is the usual main dish of the day, but it wouldn't be considered Easter without the special bread speckled with cubes of pancetta; it's made similarly to the Neapolitan Casatiello. In the sweet category, Almond paste lambs are a must. Two types of cookies are also part of the dessert table. One, known only in Pugliese dialect as cudduri, is shaped into various forms (hens, women, baskets or hearts) and then baked with a boiled egg attached to the "pouch." The other are called pittedde (also dialect) and are little baskets filled with jam. Rounding out the sweet table are the chocolate eggs. They were traditionally given to the children and filled with a little surprise, but now they are elaborately designed and wrapped and gifts for those special to you, of any age.

 

Il Pane di Pasqua

 

Easter Lamb made with Almond Paste

 

I Cudduri - Biscotti cooked with a hard-boiled egg

Pittedde - Pugliese dialect for these star or basket shaped cookies filled with jam

 

 

 

Is your mouth watering yet? If not, below I'm giving you a glimpse of the rest of our Saturday feast. Once again I was speechless about the spread of food Luigina and Tommaso greeted us with as they welcomed us to their home for a pre-Easter feast. After we were completely sated with course after course of one scrumptious dish after another, Tommasso pulled out bottles of his home made digestivi. I lost count after the fourth.

 

Our hosts Luigina and Tommaso

 

The Meal included three types of bread cooked in their wood burning oven. Tommaso manned the oven, entertaining the children and letting them help. Inside, Luigina started us with fried pittule and chicory in pastella. Our first course was a traditional dish, La tria with wild broccoli. The pasta, which you could say was like a wide-cut fettuccine, was made two ways, boiled and fried. The fried pasta goes on top of the dish to give a nice contrast of textures. Our second course included meatballs which we sopped up (known as fare la scarpetta in Italian) with the Easter bread.

 

Tommaso's collection of digestivi

 

On Easter Sunday, I spent the morning at the seaside town of Gallipoli. The sun came out in full force, only emphasizing the pastel blue of the sky and the deep turquoise of the Ionian Sea that surrounds Gallipoli's historic center. Most of the people dressed in their best church-going dresses and suits and strolled the streets after mass. Streamers of balloons in primary colors hung above us. People offered us glasses of sparkling wine and tastes of the cuduri, a cookie baked with a hard boiled egg nestled on top.

 

We witnessed a village tradition, "the burning of the witch." I have to say I'm not too comfortable with this tradition. I have red hair, am left handed, have a sixth sense that is always right (if only I'd listen to it more) and know this would have been my fate had I lived during the time of Savonarola. In Gallipoli and small villages in Puglia, starting on Ash Wednesday they hang dolls that look like witches. These witches represent our sins. Via our repentance during the 40 days of Lent (Although St. Joseph's Day and eating zeppole don't sound like much repentance to me), the witch gathers all our sins and they consume her. After mass on Easter, she is burned. The burning symbolizes a washing away of our sins and a rebirth.

 

Gallipoli on the Ionian Coast of Puglia

 

 
The Lenten Witch in Gallipoli

 

Easter Monday, rolls around and it's still a holiday and another day focused around food. Known as Pasquetta (little Easter), friends and family gather for a picnic, either seaside or in the countryside. After a food-focused weekend like this and then a serene picnic under the olive groves, how can you not fall in love with Puglia, minus the witch burning, I guess?!!

 

 

 

Join me in Puglia in 2013!  For a food lover's culinary tour, we'll cook with Italian mammas, with chefs, and with families like Luigina's. We'll also be eating and exploring our way through the region, its traditions - both food & cultural, and making delicioius dishes like those above! 

For tour details, check out this page: Culinary Tours in Puglia 2013!

 

 

Other Posts on Puglia and its Food You Might Like:

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

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

Gorgeous Italian Men of Puglia on the Food Lover's Culinary Tour

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia - Food Lover's Culinary Tour

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

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

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

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

 

 

Related articles

Celebrating Saint Joseph's Day in Italy - Devotion, Hospitality and Always Food

Gorgeous Italian Men of Puglia on the Food Lovers' Culinary Tour

Herb Bread Wreath - Cooking with Maria Grazia in Puglia

Fruttone Leccese with Chef Luca - Food Lovers Tour in Puglia

Cooking with Mamma Agata on the Amalfi Coast and a Cookbook Giveaway

 

The scent of garlic simmering in olive oil beckons you from the doorway of this hidden Amalfi treasure. The aroma, one Chiara calls the "Chanel of the kitchen" leads you directly to the source of one of the most fundamental fragrances in an Italian kitchen. Mamma Agata and Gennaro give a boisterous buon giorno from behind the stove, and Chiara gives you a hug with one arm and a turn with the other putting you face to face with a plate full of eggplant rolls and a glass of red wine.

Prompted to taste before I could even reply to my greeters, I savored one, or two, of Mamma Agata's involtini di melanzane. Fried and meaty melanzane rolled around provolone & arugula, and another, this time rolled around a soft creamy cheese and sun-dried tomotoes.  An appropriate start to a most fabulous day cooking, eating, drinking and lapping up all the flavors that this sensory playground had to offer. I was on the Amalfi Coast and cooking with Mamma Agata at her cooking school in Ravello.

 

 

Our amazing view - looking down from the terrace

From the kitchen Chiara led me to the terrace, a lush garden and dining area where a long table dressed in white linen and Amalfi lemons led out to the garden.  The garden is a thing of beauty in its own right, greenery & flowers crawl up trelisses that line one side and the other side has a mouth-dropping mezmerizing view of the blue Amalfi sea and its coastline. We spent the afternoon there dining on the terrace, perched high atop the hillside with the family's fruit & vegetable gardens and then the deep blue sea below us. And we ate, and ate, and ate, dish after dish of Mamma Agata's specialties.

 

The Amalfi Coastline ~  View from our terrace dining table

Chiara Lima, Mamma Agata's daughter, had invited me as their guest for a day at their cooking school. The cooking school is entirely a family affair. Chiara was our hostess/translator/storyteller. Mamma Agata and Chiara's husband Gennaro, also a sommelier, handled the cooking demonstration part of the class. Chiara translated and added many family stories, anecdotes and Mamma's secret tips for each dish.  All the fruit and vegetables we used came from the family's garden located on the terraces right below the house. The fruit & vegetable garden is managed by Salvatore, Mamma Agata's husband and Chiara's father. Mamma Agata has been cooking for others since she was 8 years old! Many of her specialties are family recipes handed down to her from her mother and her aunts.

 

In the kitchen with Chiara and Gennaro

Class starts at 10:30am when guests are greeted with food, of course, upon arrival, a huge slice of Mamma Agata's treasured lemon cake. (I arrived a little later, thus the reason I had the just-made eggplant roll appetizers.) You cook, with Mamma Agata overseeing it all, and recreate a many-course meal of her famous dishes, some of them served and loved by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Pierce Brosnan, just to name a few. Mamma Agata's knowledge and experience is evident in the way she knows exactly how to coax the most flavor from each ingredient. She has a secret for perfecting every one of her dishes, and throughout the course of the day, she shares each of them with you.

 

  Our meal was one flavorful and perfectly cooked dish after another. Mamma Agata's cooking philosophy is based on simplicity, quality ingredients and love. Each dish used only a few quality ingredients - all the fruits and vegetables came from their garden.

 

Here's our meal, in photos:

***We also had one of the best eggplant parmigiano dishes I've ever eaten. I gobbled it up before remembering to take a photo.

 

Mamma Agata's Coccoli {Herb Fritters}

 

Spaghetti al Contadino {Farmer's Spaghetti} with tomatoes from their garden, olives, capers & arugula leaves

 

Pappardelle with bell peppers and sausage

The extra sausage & bell peppers served as a secondo

 

Mamma Agata's pollo al limone (chicken with lemon) - Lemon juice from the garden's lemons added just before serving

 

Mamma Agata's Lemon Cake adored by Humphrey Bogart

 

Mamma Agata's home-made limoncello ~ How any meal on the Amalfi Coast should end!

 

 

Chiara has created a cookbook of Mamma Agata's recipes - both a great gift for those who can't make it to the cooking class and a special souvenir for those who have enjoyed cooking with her. Each of the dishes we made and more are included in Mamma Agata's cookbook. Along with each recipe, there are step-by-step photo instructions and Mamma Agata's tips. For example, when making her pollo al limone, she advises that you add the lemon juice at the very end of cooking to get the best lemon flavor. Adding it at the beginning causes the lemon juice to have a bitter taste. The instructions and the tips are so clear it's extremely easy to create dishes as delicious as if Mamma Agata had made them for you. 

 

 

Chiara showing us the well-illustrated instructions in the cookbook

 

The cookbook is in English and full of all the recipes above, yes even the limoncello! There are so many others; many of Mamma Agata's take on the traditional dishes of the Campania region and some of her own creation. All look delicious, but some of my favorites include: the risotto al limone, stuffed and fried zucchini flowers, gnocchi alla sorrentina, the veal roast, stuffed squid (totani imbottiti), fried pizza, and Mamma Agata's zeppole (doughnuts)! In addition to the easy-to-follow recipes, there are stories about each family member, family photos and stunning photos of their home, the hidden treasure, and the Amalfi Coast.

I definitely recommend both the class and the cookbook; both would make fabulous Christmas gifts for that food-loving Italophile in your life! The book is 29,50 euros plus shipping. You can order it directly from Mamma Agata online here: Mamma Agata Simple and Genuine Cookbook. You can also book a class directly on Mamma Agata's website.

 

Inside the cookbook - photo instructions for making Mamma's chicken cacciatore

 

The Cookbook Giveaway:  For the holidays, Chiara and Mamma Agata have been so generous as to offer you an autographed copy of Mamma Agata's Simple and Genuine cookbook.  All you need to do to win is leave a comment below telling us what your favorite Italian dish (or dessert) is. The contest will end at Midnight P.S.T. on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. I'll randomnly draw a name from the comments using www.random.org and will announce the winner on Thursday, December 20, 2012. Each person may enter the giveaway only once.

Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

The Amalfi Coastline

 

UPDATE on Dec 20, 2012: We have a winner and she is Janie (comment #29)!!! Congratulations Janie, an autographed Mamma Agata's Simple & Genuine cookbook is on its way to you! 

Thank you all for your commments and letting me know what your favorite Italian dishes are. And yes, I understand how very difficult it was to choose.  Every dish each of you chose, ranks among my tops. I was also so touched to see the comment from Lydia, one of our guests on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, and that now some of the Pugliese foods she had on the tour are her favorites!

 

Related Posts You Might Also Enjoy:

Cook with Me and Italian Mammas in Puglia in 2013

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

A Drive along the Amalfi Coast (in photos)

Pasta alla Genovese and Other Classic Neapolitan Pasta Sauces at Citta del Gusto

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Cake from Capri

Pizza Lover's Odyssey in Naples

Neapolitan Style Mussels - Cozze alla Marinara

Journey Through the Pastries of Naples

Dining Around Naples with Napoli Unplugged

Crostata Marmellata {Jam Crostata} from Mamma Giulia

 

Christmas holiday baking has begun! Maybe it's because I love to bake and some of my first baking memories are of making Christmas cookies with my mom that Christmas is my favorite of all holidays. Besides all the lights, glitter, and shopping (what girl doesn't love those things), it was always a time when dessert for breakfast was ok, even encouraged!  My mom kept us from tearing up the house and terrorizing her over our Christmas vacation by having us "help" with cookie baking. She would start her mornings during the holidays with two biscotti, which she only made around Christmastime, and coffee. Because our kitchen was overflowing with cookies, she let us choose our favorite cookie or two to dip in milk for our breakfasts.

 

 

To kick off the season, I thought it best to share with you another sweet that had double duty as both dessert and breakfast for me, the crostata marmellata. This recipe comes from Mamma Giulia, one of our amazing "mamme in cucina" in Puglia.  Mamma Giulia is like the energizer bunny in the kitchen; she keeps on going and going and going from sun up to far past sundown. Not all she churns out in the masseria's kitchen is sweet, but it's all delicious. This crostata was the first thing she offered me when I first met her. It was also part of our daily breakfast spread during our Food Lover's Tour in Puglia.

 

Mamma Giulia making the crostata dough

 

Jam crostata is to Italy as apple pie is to the U.S. It's definitely a home-cooking kind of dessert, and probably every Italian mamma has her own recipe, but you see crostate in various shapes and sizes throughout Italy's pastry shops and biscotterie. It even ended my amazing meal at the fine dining restaurant Cibreo in Florence. Even though you can find a crostate throughout Italy, they can vary in quality. A crunchy, crumbly, buttery crust is what makes this simple and unpretentious dessert so delicious.

A few notes & tips:  The key to the crust is the butter, the flour and not too much kneading.  As there are basically only two components to the dessert, the pasta frolla and the jam, you want to make sure you also have a good quality jam - one where the fruit (and not only its juices) are used in making it.  Butter will give you the crunchy, crumbly and flavorful crust, but it's important to pay attention to its temperature. It should be cold and stay that way, so i'ts important to work quickly and to keep your hands from being in constant contact with the butter. Mamma Giulia uses the delicate double zero flour also used for pasta making. In the U.S. it's sometimes hard to find and can be expensive, so I tested the recipe using only all-purpose flour, only unbleached all-purpose flour and a mix of cake flour and unbleached all-purpose flour.  The mix of cake flour and unbleached all-purpose flour came closest to Mamma Giulia's.  If you can find it, I would suggest using 300 grams (2 1/2 cups) of double zero flour as it creates the most delicate and buttery crust.

 

Jam Crostate in pastry shops in Italy

 

Ingredients needed for pasta frolla: flour, sugar, salt, butter & egg yolks

 

 

 

 

Crostata Marmellata
(Makes One 9-inch crostata)

1 ½ cups (200 grams) cake flour**
1 cup (100 grams) all-purpose flour**
Zest of 1 lemon
175 grams butter, (ideal temperature is 65-70° F)
½ cup plus 4 tablespoons (125 grams) sugar, plus more for the top of the crostata
3 egg yolks, mixed so the yolks are broken

2 ½ cups fruit preserves or best-quality jam (The fruit should be used to make the jam, not just the fruit’s juice)

**If you have/can find Type “00” flour, use this instead.



To make the pasta frolla:  Stir together the flour, salt and sugar and lemon zest and form the mixture into a well.  With a pastry cutter cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is the consistency of peas.  Make another well with this mixture and add the eggs yolks and knead the mixture only until it is combined into a homogenous dough.  Divide the dough into two balls; with 2/3 of the dough for one ball and the remaining 1/3 for the other. Flatten each into a round disk, and cover each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling out.

To assemble the crostata:  Roll out the bigger disk of dough between two sheets of wax paper until it’s ¼-inch thick. Place into a 9-inch tart mold and refrigerate. Roll out the second disk of dough, also between two sheets of wax paper, until it is ¼-inch thick.  Using a fluted pastry ring, cut the dough into strips that are ½-inch in thickness. Remove the pastry dough-filled tart mold from the refrigerator and spread the fruit preserves/jam out evenly on top of the pastry dough.

Starting in the center, place the longest fluted strip of dough on top of the jam, then another across it, forming an X with the two strips. Working out from this center, add two more strips on each side of one of the center strips, spacing the strips about 1 1/2 inches apart. Then add two more strips on each side of the other center strip, again spacing each strip about 1 1/2 inches apart. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Before placing the tart into the oven, sprinkle to top strips of dough with granulated sugar.

Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown and the jam begins to bubble. Cool and serve. Buon Appetito!

 

 

 

Other Dessert Recipes You Might Like:

Snowball Cookies and Christmas Baking Memories

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Torta Settevelli - Seven Veils Cake from Palermo

Meyer Lemon Tart with Lightened Lemon Cream Topping

Cassata Siciliana

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Cake from Capri

Gianduja - Nutella Cheesecake

Pasticciotto from Lecce

"Magical" Chocolate Kahlua Budino

Cantucci - Italian Biscotti from Tuscany

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake

Flaky Apple Tart from Gascony {Croustade aux Pommes}

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Cook with me and Italian Mammas in Puglia in 2013

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

I know not all Italian food lovers are the same, but I'm pretty sure there is one thing all of us love: PIZZA.  Whether you prefer the soft & chewy crust of a Neapolitan pizza, the thin crunchy crust of a Roman pizza or some of the other styles & forms of Italian pizza, one thing is certain: there's no better place to eat pizza than in Italy. A night at a pizzeria was certainly part of our Puglia culinary tour itinerary, but we had an even better experience than just eating pizza, we were pizzaioli for a night!

 

Yes, we donned our "Cook in Puglia" aprons and pizza maker's caps, got on the pizza maker's side of the floured work table, caressed dough into thin round disks, topped each pizza according to each person's taste, and ever-so-carefully slid pizza onto peel and into oven. We even got a lesson in working the pizza oven and rotating the pizza so it would cook quickly and evenly. It was definitely a bucket-list experience! 

 

Del took on the pizzaiolo persona as soon as he put on his cap

 

The pizza-making part wasn't actually on our official itinerary. Oronzino, the pizzaiolo & owner of La Pagghiara in Lecce, suggested that it might be fun if each guest made his or her own pizza. A big, "SI!" came out of my mouth before he finished asking. This is just one example where one of our hosts in Puglia went above and beyond to make us feel so welcome and part of the community; it was one of the many memorable moments of the tour.

 

 

Pizza in Lecce is a thin and crunchy-crusted pizza, similar to that of Rome.  Oronzino explained how he prepares the dough and then he took each guest on a private pizza-making lesson alongside him at his work bench. Each person worked with him as he guided him/her through the process of coaxing a thick round ball of dough into a flat circular disk. Each person made a pizza, worked the peel and the oven. As pizzas came out of the oven, we tasted the others' in what was to be a taste competition. I don't think we ever determined a winner, though, as we all got lost in enjoying the experience and eating.

 

 

As usual with meals on this tour, there wasn't only pizza. We started with yet another onslaught of assorted antipasti. The fried treats - pittule (fried dough), arancini, vegetables in pastella (fried vegetables in batter - think Italian tempura) -  made by Oronzino's mamma were some of the best I've had in Salento, and Italy. 

 

Our pizzaioli in action & pizza-making steps in photos:

 

Oronzino showing Gloria how to work the dough

 

Topping the pizza

With just one try, Lydia mastered sliding the pizza onto the peel

Working the pizza oven - placing the pizza inside, turning it & removing it when ready

Eva slicing up her double cheese pizza (note: Slicing pizzia is not usually done in Italy - each pizza is for one person - but because we were tasting one another's, we sliced ours up)

 

 

Helen's pizza gets a thumbs up from Oronzino

Gloria and Eva proudly displaying their finished pizzas

 
Looks like Oronzino has declared Helen the pizza-making champ!

 

Everyone had such a great time making pizza, that we've officially added it to the 2013 itinerary. Want to join us and be a pizzaiolo for a night? You can! There are four tour dates throughout 2013 from which you can choose: Food Lovers' Culinary Tour in Puglia 2013

 

 

 

 

La Pagghiara Trattoria Pizzeria
Via Taranto, 64
Lecce
Phone: +39 0832 240659

 

Related Posts:

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

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

An Aperitivo to Whet Your Appetite or Puglia

 

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Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Crostata Marmellata {Jam Crostata} from Mamma Giulia

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.****

 

 

Related Posts:

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

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

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! 

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

 

Related Posts:

An Aperitivo to Whet Your Appetite for Puglia

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Olivotto: The Sweet Side of Olives

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Seafood and More with Chef Lino at Ristorante Donna Lisa

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

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

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

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

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

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

Dining in Rome: Flavio al Velavevodetto with Tavole Romane

 

What could be better than having classic Roman cuisine in Rome? Well, add to that being at Osteria Flavio al Velavevodetto, currently one of the most-loved places by Romans, and then dining with four food-savvy Romans. Just when I thought the night was perfect it got even better! We ended on a most splendidly sweet note, with an out-of-this-world tiramisu.

I met up with the couple behind the site Tavole Romane. Their food posts about good eats in Rome have been a part of many Italy on a Plate round ups (and they also wrote this sweet guest post for FLO about Christmas in Rome). They invited me to join them for a private version of their Roman Cuisine Sit-Down Meal Tour.  Also at dinner with us was Giovanna and Joanne, the ladies who lead these tours. Giovanna publishes the Italian food blog Burro e Alici and has Roman ancestry as far back as she can find. Joanne is an Italian-American by birth and Roman by adoption. She's a sommelier who has lived in Rome for around 30 years.

Their knowledge of Roman cuisine was exceptional, but even more impressive was how passionately they talked about each dish, the process of making it correctly (there are many rules, you know), and the dish's place in the history of Rome and its cuisine.

It became clear I was with a group of purists as heated discussions, although very good-natured, arose over recipes and techniques. For instance, onions do not belong in L'amatriciana - which, by the way, is not really Roman; it comes from Amatrice. And oil in cacio e pepe is cheating. Butter in cacio e pepe is completely out of the question! "WHO would put butter in cacio e pepe!?" They asked. "Uhm, well, uhm I saw them do it at Roma Sparita," was my whispered response while making a mental note to adjust my recipe. Food was at the center of every conversation, even when every now and then the conversation veered off into Roman emperors and to the Italian language and the best word to use to say melt.

 

Monte Testaccio

 

The wall of cocci (olive oil amphorae) at Osteria Flavio al Velavevodetto

The osteria is even on a historical sight. Flavio al Velavevodetto is set into Monte Testaccio. The approximately 115 foot "mountain" is more like a hill, or even a heap, created by discarded olive oil amphorae dating back to at least 200 AD and possibly even the 1st century BC.

This was so much more than a guided tasting. In addition to the great meal, from this dining experience I took away a little Roman history, more knowledge of the Italian language, and insight into Roman culture as it was and is. And just as special, I got to break bread with a great group of passionate, food-savvy people and through these conversations that started and ended with the food we got to know each other better.

 

The Menu:

Antipasti ~ Fried Seasonal Vegetables or "The garden on a plate" (L'orto nel piatto):

 

Fried in pastella (batter), we had perfectly fried and seasoned mushroom, eggplant and zucchini to whet our appetites for the huge meal ahead.

 

 

The pasta dishes (i primi piatti):

 

Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe

The pasta course consisted of two of Rome's classic dishes. Our first plate of pasta, (and it was about the same size as the size of the pasta plate above) was rigatoni alla carbonara. But, as I said earlier, there are rules. When the carbonara sauce is at its perfect consistency - a creamy yellowy emulsion of cheese and egg yolk, there is no time to waste taking pictures. You must eat it while it's hot and quickly! The second plate of pasta was tonnarelli pasta, made in-house (long spaghetti-like pasta but much fatter in diameter) with cacio e pepe (cheese and ground pepper).

Both these dishes seem easy to make, but timing and coordination are everything. Add the cheese and/or the egg yolks at the wrong time and don't mix it quickly enough and instead of a silky sauce you have a lumpy mess. A mistake in timing, temperature and coordination with the carbonara and you get scrambled eggs. At Flavio al Velavevodetto, they executed each dish perfectly.

 

 

The meat course (i secondi piatti) ~ "Il Macellaio in Tavola" (The butcher on the table):

 

Polpette di Bollito

 

Herbs, bread or breadcrumbs, eggs etc. are added to meat that was previously used to make stock and/or broth. These square version of meatballs were then breaded and fried and served with seasonal vegetables, roasted potatoes and escarole sauteed with pinenuts and raisins. This was my favorite dish of the night. Whenver I hear boiled (bollito), I immediately imagine something bland with all the flavor absorbed away by the water. Flavio put all the flavor and then some back into these polpette.

 

Misto Umido - Polpette & Involtini cooked in tomato sauce

A mix of meat cooked in a sauce. This sauce was the flavor of the sweet and intense tomatoes, the likes of which that are so hard to find outside of Italy. We had polpette (meatballs) and involtini (rolled & stuffed meat) stuffed with mortadella. They also brought la coda (oxtail) cooked in the same sauce.

 

The grande finale ~ dessert:

 

Tiramisu con un squaglio di cioccolato

Probably the best tiramisu I'll ever have. It's a variation on the classic dessert and in a cup. Flavio makes a crunchy cookie in house that stays crunchy even while floating in all that cream. There are pieces of choclate in the mascarpone cream. And on top is the squaglio di cioccolato (melted chocolate). In between spoonfuls of an oh-so-decadent mascarpone cream, you get chocolate pieces and melted chocolate along with the crunch of the cookie for a really nice textural contrast. Joanne tried to hide hers under a napkin "tent" so she would stop eating it. I don't think it worked, though I was too busy devouring my cupful. Yes, we were all very full from the meal, but just couldn't stop taking spoonful after spoonful of the tiramisu. Yes, I asked for the recipe, but I'm pretty sure Flavio's not sharing it. Be sure that the first kitchen I'm in during my travels, I'll be trying to replicate this dessert.

 

 

 

Along with the dinner, Tavole Romane gave me their tradition tour gift bag with another sweet that was almost as addictive as the tiramisu. In the bag were Roman cookies, ciambelline al vino, little crunchy cookies with a little wine added and shaped like a ring. In addition to the sit down food tour they offer at Flavio al Velavevodetto, Tavole Romane also offers another sit down food tour at Asino d'Oro focussing on the creative cuisine of the city and offer walking food tours in many districts throughout Rome. If you're going to be in or around Rome on June 23, 2012, Tavole Romane is offering a special food tour where they combine Rafael paintings with a tasting lunch at the Michelin-starred Glass Hostaria for a really great price of 65 euros.

 

Flavio al Velavevodetto
Via Monte Testaccio, 97-98
Rome
Phone: +39 06 574 4194
Open daily for lunch and dinner

 

 

Travel with me to Puglia for a Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Tour - We'll enjoy dinners and food conversations like these in one of the most tranquil parts of Italy

 

Related Posts:

Da Danillo - Delicious Dining in Rome

Food in Rome - The Taste of Testaccio is Offal

Roman Pasta Dishes and Ten Places to Eat Them in Rome

Best Picnic Spots and Picnic Fare in Rome

Rome at Night in Photos

Villa d'Este in Photos - A Day Trip from Rome

Rome with a View - Five Spots for Photo Ops in Rome

Pizza al Taglio at Pizzarium in Rome

Pasta all' Amatriciana - A Roman Treat

Cacio e Pepe in a Parmigiano Bowl Inspired by Roma Sparita

Potato Gnocchi for Gnocchi Giovedi

Fettuccine ai Funghi and Autumn in Rome

Coda alla Vaccinara - Roman Style Oxtail Stew

 

 

Seafood and More with Chef Lino at Ristorante Donna Lisa

 

I've written a lot about the pasta, the many vegetable dishes, and cheese of Puglia, but seafood is as big a part of Pugliese cuisine as those other dishes.  The heel of Italy's boot, the region of Puglia is a smaller peninsula of the larger peninsula that is the bel paese.  Salento is surrounded by water three sides, and the freshest fish and shellfish are only minutes away from any city. I spent an afternoon in the kitchen of, Ristorante Donna Lisa, where seafood dishes are their specialty. We watched the chef, Lino, cook up many of the restaurant's dishes, and sampled them, too.

 

Chef Lino at the stove

It's not all seafood, vegetarian and meat dishes are also on a long menu that consists of 30 primi piatti (pasta and risotto dishes), 20 secondi (main dishes), antipasti galore and a wine list that boasts over 100 wines, coming not only from Puglia but other parts of Italy and a few from France.

The Salento city of Maglie, as my friend Ylenia explained it, is the most chicest in all of Puglia. Both men and women are clad head to high-heeled toe in designer names, Italian designers that is. I watched fashionistas glide over the city's cobblestone and uneven walkways in, men in suits and shiny leather shoes and stiletto-heeled women in shades of black and grey. Not only a city for the stylish, Maglie is a food city, host to one of the most popular food & wine festivals in Salento, the Mercantino del Gusto every August. 

Not far from the piazza where the Mercantino del Gusto is held is the restaurant. The entrance is the 5th century courtyard of Leccese stone, that also doubles as the outdoor dining area.  The interior dining area is adorned in a contemporary palette of black, grey and white. Even the breakfast "caffetteria," a not-so traditional Italian coffee bar, has a crystal chandelier.

 

Courtyard dining at Donna Lisa

The indoor dining area at Donna Lisa

The hostess, Anna Lisa and chef Lino's daughter

 

It's a family-run restaurant that Chef Lino opened 4 years ago, after having worked at another restaurant for 20 years. His son, Vincenzo, is the main waiter and Anna Lisa, his daughter, the hostess. Chef Lino handles all orders for first and second courses and the antipasti plates that are cooked to order.  Besides his son and daughter, he had two ladies in the back that help with prep, plating, and dish washing. A small crew for the 100 cover restaurant, yet I was the only person frantic in the back of the kitchen, as I observed lunch service and scribbled down notes and between samples.

It was a live cooking demonstration of sorts, as we watched him prepare dish after dish, as the orders came in. As he cooked he explained ingredients that made up each dish and peppered in a few of his cooking tips as side notes.  One being that he liked to cook the pasta in water for only about 4 minutes, then added it to the sauce to let it finish cooking there. This allows the pasta to take on the flavor of the sauce. He made a penne pasta with radicchio and gorgonzola, explaining that the two strong flavors - the bitterness of the radicchio and the sharpness of the cheese - balance each other out. (This was the second time I'd seen radicchio paired with a strong cheese.)

 

There was antipasti galore that flew out of the kitchen - shellfish, fried sarde and other small fish, marinated anchovies, succulent salami platters, paper thin slices of grilled vegetables just to name a few. If you can't choose just one, they offer a selection of antipasti, wheeled out to your table on a fancy white cart. We tasted so many that it was impossible to get through three courses.  One of my favorites was the stuffed and fried mussels.  A cheese and herb stuffing surround the quickly fried mussels. The recipe for these will be in another post, coming soon.

 

The antipasti cart

Selection of salumi

Calamaretti Fritti (Fried miniature calamari)

 

A delicious stuffed and fried mussel

 

 

 

The menu at Donna Lisa includes 30 primi piatti, some a basic as a popular paccheri with julienned vegetables, one of the pasta dishes we tasted, and others more exotic like a risotto with saffron and gold leaf or another risotto with rose petals. Chef Lino made for us one of the seafood fish recipes that can only be found in Salento. It's made with gamberoni testa viola (a violet-headed large shrimp) from the fishing village of Gallipoli.   

 

Paccheri with sauteed  Julienne vegetables

Penne with radicchio and gorgonzola cheese

Gamberoni Testa Viola (Violet head shrimp) from Gallipoli used in our pasta dish

Spaghetti con gamberoni testa viola

 

 

We had no room for a secondo (main dish), but Donna Lisa offers 20 different secondi on their menu.  Grilled and fried fish makes up the majority of those 20. One non-fish dish that I found interesting was a fillet of steak cooked in the local Negromaro wine with onions. 

Steak in a Negromaro & onion sauce     ~     and     ~      Grilled Swordfish

 

If you're in Salento and want to taste some of the freshest fish cooked both simply and creatively, I suggest you visit Ristorante Donna Lisa.  You can see more of the restaurant and hear Anna Lisa talk about the restaurant (in Italian) in this video.

 

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! 

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

 

Ristorante Donna Lisa
Via Ospedale
73024 Maglie
Phone: +39 0836 311 865

Open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, except Sunday for dinner.

The menu is a la carte, but a three-course meal averages 40 euros, without wine.

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

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

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

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

Orecchiette with Cauliflower and Sausage - Cooking with Mariantonietta in Salento

 

For many of us, our image of an Italian mother is one of a sweet, petite, slightly rounded woman, apron tied around her waist and flour always under her fingernails. We see her spending most of her day in the kitchen making pasta by hand and cooking up something wonderful for her family and/or guests whom she dotes on endlessly. It is possible that these women exist, but get in mamma's way at the supermarket and you'll see mamma and nonna in a whole new light. The elbow jab to the ribs or rolly-cart to the shins will quickly shake away any misconception you have of a sweet & frail mamma.  I met up with Italian mamma, Mariantonietta, for a day of food shopping and a Pugliese cooking lesson. 

Now Mariantonietta can cook, and it's clear she knows her way around a kitchen. She owns a seaside restaurant in Salento, is part-owner of Masseria Provenzani and is responsible for organizing many food and wine events in the area and throughout Italy. Obviously, this bustling business woman is too busy to be in the kitchen all day, yet she still insists on eating tasty, nutritious Italian meals. Her motto is that an easy and elegant meal should take no longer than an hour to prepare.  After a day "out in the fields" meeting local farmers, olive oil producers and visiting a wine cooperative, we cooked up a delicious four-course dinner full of the flavors of Puglia. And we did it in less than an hour.

 

Quintessential Italian Table - Perfectly set with tablecloth and flowers

Mariantonietta in her kitchen

 

That morning we spent exploring Leverano, an area in Salento rich in agriculture. We visited a tomato grower who grows 150 varieties of tomatoes, tasted olive oil from a olive oil cooperative and saw wine being made at a cooperative where around 1200 small producers combine their resources to make wine and olive oil. Talk about fresh, the produce we purchased had just been harvested that morning. We even met with a flower grower in the area and picked up flowers for the table.

We brought our purchases back to Mariantonietta's kitchen.  Not only is her kitchen spacious and colorful, decorated with all sorts of photos, tiles and ceramics, but it's also modern and well-equipped. At first look it might seem that the pots and kitchen utensils were only for decoration, but they were hung strategically, which allowed for quick and easy retrieval when cooking. It wasn't all work in the kitchen either. In between chatter, photo breaks, and plenty of wine (the wine was a Negroamaro from the Leverano Wine Coopertive), we put together a fabulous meal, where local vegetables and ingredients were the stars.

 

 

Although she never seemed rushed, Mariantonietta was swift in the kitchen. She moved from sink to prep area to stove like a ballerina, each motion seemingly choreographed and practiced many times before. Local and seasonal vegetables were key to making this meal. Mariantonietta pointed out that the fresher the vegetables are, the quicker they cook and the tastier they are. And if you use dried pasta, which we did, most Italian pasta dishes are quite quick and easy to make. With five ingredients or less, you can make a wonderful dish. Our meal was the essence of Italian cooking, simple yet so full of flavor because Mariantonietta let the unadulterated quality and freshness of the ingredients shine.

 

 

 

We started with antipasti of local salumi and cheese. We also had bruschetta made with local tomatoes, the famous bread from Altamura and olive oil from the Leverano Oil Cooperative. 

 

 

 

The primo piatto was a gorgeous plate of orecchiette with cauliflower, sausage and cheese. The mild flavor of the cauliflower blended well with the bold taste of the sausage, and the cheese, not too much, brought a perfect creaminess to the entire dish.

 

 

Using extras from the pasta dish, we made a secondo of grilled sausage links and a contorno (side dish) of cauliflower gratin.  That wasn't all.  Two more contorni rounded out the meal: the classic dish peperonata, bell peppers, tomatoes and garlic slowly cooked in olive oil. We also had the famous Pugliese vegetable cime di rapa (broccoli rabe), again boiled and dressed with olive oil.

 

 

 

Dried figs with an almond inside (a Salento specialty), walnuts and limoncello were dessert.

 

 

Mariantonietta and I taking a cafe break in Porto Cesareo, near Leverano

 

The day was much more than a cooking lesson. I was able to see exactly from where the produce we purchased came, meet those producers - the many that get their hands dirty so we can eat well, and learn a little about agricultural life in Salento. Not only that, I made a new friend in Mariantonietta. Whenever I make this dish (which I have many times because it's so easy to make), I think of her, cooking and eating together, and the people of Leverano. (More on Leverano and its producers coming in another post.)  Below is the recipe for orecchiette with cauliflower,sausage and cheese based on Mariantonietta's recipe.  She used cacioricotta cheese, which is hard for me to find in California, but any semi-soft, not too strong cheese will do.

 

 

 

 

 

Orecchiette with Cauliflower, Sausage and Cheese
(Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a primo piatto)
 

1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
About 1 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
12 ounces of Italian sausage (3-4 links)*
1 pound orecchiette or other small dried pasta (i.e. mezzi rigatoni or conchiglie/small shells)
About 8 ounces cheese, grated or diced (cacioricotta, pecorino)
Freshly grated black pepper, to taste

Place the cauliflower florets in a large pot and add water about half way up the pot and the salt.  Bring the water to boil and cook just until the cauliflower are al dente.  Remove the cauliflower and drain.  Use this water to cook the pasta, adding more water and salt if necessary. 

In a large saute pan, add the olive oil and sausage, and cook the sausauge.

When the sausage is almost done, cook the pasta for only four minutes, then drain.  Save the pasta water.  Add the drained pasta to the sausage and stir through to coat the pasta with the olive oil and "toast" it, for 2-3 minutes.  Add the cauliflower and 2 or 3 ladles of pasta water. Cook a few minutes more until pasta is al dente.  Remove from the heat, add the cheese and stir in until the cheese has melted creating a creamy finish.  Garnish with freshly ground black pepper and serve. Buon Appetito! 

*Note: When I recreate this dish, I use 12 ounces of sausage out of the casing, using 6 ounces of sweet/mild sausage and 6 ounces of spicy sausage.

 

 

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! 

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

 

Mariantonietta and Michael (of YLTours)

 

 

Related Posts:

Making Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

Artisanal Cheese at Masseria CinqueSanti in Puglia

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

Cheese in Puglia - Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

The Pastries of Lecce with Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Wedding in Puglia

Traditional Salentine Dishes at Locanda Rivoli in Lecce

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

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

Shopping and Eating Local in Italy - Farmers' Market in Lecce

Sagne Ncannulate Schiattariciati - Pugliese Pasta with Schiattariciati Tomato Sauce

The Dish from Lecce: Rustico Leccese

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

This Dish from Puglia: Friselle

Christmas Around Italy - Christmas Desserts in Salento

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia

 

Mamma Giulia is in charge of all kitchen goings-on at Masseria Provenzani.  She starts early each morning preparing breakfast for the masseria's guests.  Guests wake to scents of bread, brioche and sometimes a crostata, or two.  The communal breakfast table is full of  Mamma Giulia's baked goods and homemade jams.  And the beverages add to the intoxicating aromas wafting through the air; there's espresso, cappucino or hot chocolate to wash down the delicious breads.

We met up with Mamma Giulia as she was clearing the breakfast table, just in time to taste some of the leftovers - a creamy ricotta crostata and a cherry one.  Small in stature with a soft voice to match, she teaches Pugliese homecooking in the masseria's rustic kitchen.  She gathered us around the marble island in the center of the kitchen.  We were surrounded by pans, utensils and peperoncini hanging from three walls.  The fourth wall consisted of ceiling-to-floor glass windows that looked out onto the masseria's lush gardens.  Breads of Salento and orecchiette pasta were on the menu for our day's cooking lesson.

 

Making Salentine Breads

Mamma Giulia speaks only Italian. Although Ylenia was there to translate, the way Mamma Giulia spoke slowly and carefully demonstrated each step, made her easy to understand, even for the non-Italian speaker.  Missteps on our part were treated with gentle corrections. She would come next to us and correct us by quietly showing the correct way to do it. We combined flour, yeast, water and salt to make bread dough.  She had quantities for flour, yeast and salt, but insisted that there was no exact measurement for the water. "The amount of water needed depends on the temperature, humidity and the flour itself.  You know how much water you need by the feel of the dough." She told us.

From the dough, we made three types of bread.  Focaccia Salentina is Salento's version of a calzone.  Thin layers of focaccia bread sandwich a filling.  While the dough was rising, we sauteed onions and tomatoes for our filling, but Mamma Giulia pointed out that we could fill the focaccia with anything we'd like.  Rollng the dough out fairly thinly, we placed it in a round pan, added the filling and folded over the other half of the dough to cover.

We also made puccie (plural for puccia). Puccie are round bread rolls that come in two sizes; rounds that are about six inches in diameter or small golfball-sized rounds.  Whole unpitted olives are kneaded into the dough, and usually so are tomatoes giving the bread an orange hue.  Lastly, we made a traditional focaccia topped with tomatoes and oregano. 

 

 



Focaccia Salentina stuffed with onions & tomatoes and traditional focaccia with tomatoes & oregano

Le Puccie - Ready for the oven

 

 

Making Orecchiette

Orecchiette (meaning little ears) is the quintessential pasta of Puglia.  I think it's a requirement of all Pugliese mamme to master the art of making orecchiette by hand because every Pugliese mamma who I've seen make these, makes it look easy.  Flipping the curled pasta over your thumb to create the little ears is no easy task.  Mamma Giulia rolled the dough out into a long snake-like strip.  With what seemed like one continuous motion, she cut a piece from the dough, rolled a knife over the dough, and turned the curled piece of dough over her thumb to form the orecchiette.  One after the other, she quickly turned out at least 10 little ears to my one, but we eventually had enough for our lunch.

Mamma Giulia made a simple tomato sauce to dress the orecchiette.  She slowly heated garlic in olive oil, Neapolitan style, then added the tomatoes.  The orecchiette held the tomatoe sauce nicely.

Our "small" afternoon meal included an antipasti of the various cheeses we had picked up earlier at Masseria CinqueSanti, and the food we had made with Mamma Giulia; the orecchiette with a garlic tomato sauce and our three types of bread. For dessert, we had a few more pieces of the crostata left from earlier that morning.  Mamma Giulia's recipe for the orecchiette and the sauce is below.  I'll be back next week with the recipe for Focaccia Salentino.

   

 

 

 

 

Mamma Giulia's Handmade Orecchiette with Garlic Tomato Sauce
 
Serves 4


For the Pasta:

1 pound (450 grams) semolina flour
About ½ cup tepid water*

*Mamma Giulia would not give an exact measurement on the water, but this is a good starting point

For the Sauce:

6 to 8 cloves garlic with skins left on
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Two 28 ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes
Salt, to taste

Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for the garnish

 

To make the pasta:

With the flour, make a well.  Add half of the water to the center of the well, and slowly mix the flour into the center of the well with your hands.  Add more water as necessary until the dough comes together.  It should not be sticky but moist and soft.  Knead for a few minutes until all the flour and water combine to make a smooth dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

To make the orecchiette, roll the dough out into a long snake-like strip about 1/4 inch in diameter.  Cut a strip about 1/2 inches long.  With a butter knife (one that has teeth, but dull teeth), roll the tooth side of the knife down and over the cut strip of pasta.  This will form a rolled piece of dough, also known as cavatelli.  Turn the curved piece of dough over your thumb to form the little ear.  Set aside and repeat until you've used all the dough.

To make the sauce: On low heat, slowly heat the garlic and olive oil in a sauce pot.  Once the garlic is toasted, a golden color, add the tomatoes and salt.  Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  Cook for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is a consistency you want.  Taste and adjust for seasoning. You can remove the garlic cloves, which will have remained whole, from the sauce before serving.

Cook the orecchiette in well salted boiling water until the pasta is al dente.  Dress with the tomato sauce and top with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Buon Appetito!

 

 

 

****Join me in 2013 and cook with Mamma Giulia, Mamma Anna, me and Pugliese chefs on this Food Lovers' Culinary Tour in Puglia - We'll be making orecchiette, other Pugliese pasta and much more!****

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

 

This post is part of Wanderfood Wednesdays  - Travelers and food lovers share their culinary travels from around the world.

 

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