Food Lover's Odyssey

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake from Puglia ~ And a Giveaway

 

 

Although I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with our Italian mammas, many of whom we'll meet on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, I was lucky enough to also spend some time in the kitchen with a few handsome Italian men, one of whom is Donato of the olive oil company Agricola Taurino. 

During the course of the food lover's tour, Taurino's olive grove will be the site of our picnic and their extra virgin olive oil and pates will garnish salads, grilled vegetables and slices of bread for our picnic feast. We'll join Donato and Valentino for a guided olive oil tasting and fun & informative tour of the "farm" and olive oil mill.  After our visit to Taurino, you'll know how to taste and slurp olive oil like the experts and understand the qualities they look for in distinguishing a good extra virgin olive oil. You'll also get great tips on storing and cooking with olive oil and taste lots of dishes prepared with Taurino's olive oil as it is the official olive oil on our tour.

 

Picnic under the Olive Trees at Agricola Taurino

 
Donato and his Parents, Maria & Pino of Agricola Taurino

 

Agricola Taurino is a family-run business. Founded by Donato's parents, Pino and Maria, Donato and his sister now run the "farm," as they call it. Pino and Maria are still an active and visible part of the business and pop in to meet guests daily. Donato takes great care in his guests' happiness, making sure we're full and happy when we leave. Donato and his sister take the same care in every detail of olive oil production, from the manner in which they water the olive trees down to the packaging and shipping of the oil and other products. The care they take in its production ends with an extra virgin olive oil of the finest quality.

 

Along with two types of extra virgin olive oil, the mildly flavored silver-labeled Polaris and the robustly flavored gold-labeled Sirius, Taurino makes pâtes with their olives and other of the many flavorful vegetables of Puglia; artichokes from Brindisi, local bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes. During my recent visit to Puglia, I have to admit I've went through jars and jars of the artichoke and bell pepper pâtes, slathering copious amounts on slices on Pugliese bread.

 

 

 

DISCOUNT ON OLIVE OIL FOR FOOD LOVER'S ODYSSEY READERS:

You can buy Taurino extra virgin olive oil and have it shipped directly to you! Via Taurino's website, purchase Taurino's extra virgin olive oil and olive oil products directly from them AND Donato is extending a discount to you, readers of Food Lover's Odyssey. Order any of their products from their online shop, here, use the code "FOOD LOVERS OLIVE OIL"and receive a 5% discount on all of Taurino's products, including their adopt an olive tree program.

 

THE OLIVE OIL GIVEAWAY:

Taurino is giving away two bottles of their extra virgin olive oil to one lucky reader of this blog.

To win the two bottles of Azienda Agricola Extra Virgin Olive Oil, one bottle of the delicate Polaris and one bottle of the more robust Sirius, all you have to do is leave a comment below telling me how you like to use olive oil when cooking and what you'd like to see Donato cook the next time I visit him in the kitchen.

Second chance to enter: "Like" the Food Lover's Odyssey Facebook page; come back here and leave a comment telling me you've done so for a second entry in this giveaway. (If you've already "liked" my Facebook page prior to this giveaway, you can leave a second comment here letting me know as your other entry.)

A third chance to enter: "Like Azienda Agricola Taurino on Facebook and come back here and leave a comment telling me you've done so.

Leave your comments by Friday, April 26 at Midnight Pacific Time, when the giveaway closes. I'll pick a winner randomly using www.random.org and announce the winner in a post the next day.

NOTE: The contest is open to anyone worldwide!

 

UPDATE: Congratulations to Dee S. Her comment #27 was randomly chosen and she is the winner of the 2 bottles of Taurino Olive Oil. Donato will be shipping you your prize shortly!

 

 

 

Lemon & Taurino Olive Oil Cake:

We cooked and ate many savory dishes using Taurino's olive oil. On my last visit, I made a sweet dish with their mild (Polaris) extra virgin olive oil, this lemon & olive oil cake. Many people use melted butter when making cakes, but I believe that olive oil gives you a moister cake. This lemon cake I made with Donato is light but decadently dense and moist with a vibrant lemon flavor and the olive oil is a subtle secondary flavor. The cake is just sweet enough and so tasty it is that it doesn't need an elaborate garnish. I've simply dusted it with some powder sugar.

 

 

Lemon and Olive Oil Cake
(makes one 9 ½-inch cake)

For the cake:
1 3/4 cups (225 g) “00” flour  or cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
Zest of 4 organic lemons
3 eggs
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice (from 1-2 lemons)
Scant 1 cup (250 g) whole-milk plain yogurt
2/3 cup (150 ml) Agricola Taurino Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Polaris brand)

About ¼ cup powdered sugar to sprinkle on top of the cake
Strawberries or raspberries to garnish (optional)



Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a 9 1/2 cake pan with olive oil, then dust it with flour.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Add the zest to the granulated sugar and rub together to infuse the sugar with the zest’s lemon flavor. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat on medium-high speed the sugar and eggs until the mixture has lightened in color and doubled in size, 2-3 minutes. On low speed, whisk in the lemon juice and yogurt. Add the olive oil, pouring slowly so that flows in a stream. Mix in until it is combined. On the lowest speed, stir in the flour mixture only until combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. (A toothpick inserted in the middle will come out with a few moist crumbs.)

Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes. Remove from the cake pan and cool completely.  Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries and/or raspberries. Buon Appetito!

 

 

Join me in Puglia in 2013!  Along with all the great cooking and eating we'll do on this Food Lover's Tour, we'll also meet Donato, Valentino and Pino, learn how to professionally taste olive oil, sample Taurino's delicious products and picnic in their olive grove!  

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

 

Food Lover's Culinary Tour Picnic at Agricola Taurino

 

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Herb Bread Wreath - Cooking with Maria Grazia in Puglia

 

 

"When making bread, the dough needs to be cared for just as you'd care for your baby in your womb. It needs love and care in order to come out well. You need to listen to the dough. It will tell you when it's ready and has risen enough. The scent, the little "bollincini" wholes, the size and the dough's softness are the ways in which the bread tells you it has risen enough." This and other cooking philosophies I learned, along with recipes for a perfect Salentine lunch, I learned during my afternoon with Maria Grazia in Puglia.

I met Maria Grazia at her family's home, an exclusive masseria. She and her husband, Pugliese natives, had originally purchased it solely to entertain their friends from Milan and Northern Italy, where they live for much of the year. Their original plans were to have five guest rooms, but they ended up adding a few more and welcome a select group of guests along with friends. Maria personally greets every guest, friend or first-time visitor, and creates mouth-watering breads, marmalades, desserts and savory dishes for all those that visit. More than a restored ancient country house, their home seems like a movie set, where the story of a dream vacation in Southern Italy takes place.

 

The stark white of the masseria's walls, beams, pergolas, tables and curtains create such a contrast against the sage green of the olive trees and the big blue Salento sky that every color seems that much more intense. Maria Grazia added her personal touch to every room. Just as she has given a little of herself in each room, she adds much of herself into every dish that flows from her kitchen.

 

Although her "real job" was the law, she worked as a lawyer and law professor, she has always spent many hours daily in the kitchen. When we first met, food was the first topic of conversation as she immediately showed me her hands, stained from fruits and olives. Proof of the numbers of hours she spends working with the ingredients her native land Salento offers. In her kitchen, surrounded the a mix of the aromatic herbs she has on a wood block, and an almost rainbow array of seasonal vegetables just purchased at the market, we spent the afternoon cooking some of Maria Grazia's favorite dishes.

 

 

"Amore, passione e generosita' (love, passion and generosity), all are necessary when cooking and you can never be tired in the kitchen." This philosophy and her love for the herbs, vegetables and grano duro flour are at the base of all the dishes Maria Grazia creates. Breads are her specialty, but she adds herbs to everything she cooks, even desserts. She presents them in the most creative and elegant ways, like the mounds of ricotta she topped with her homemade peperoncino jam and then wrapped in raffia. 

 

 

Bread was the first food on the day's menu. With the durham wheat flour, Maria made the bread wreath for which I've given you the recipe below, an herb focaccia, and also pasta: orecchiette which she used to make one of the quintessential dishes of Puglia, orecchiette con le cima di rape.

Along with those dishes, she shared her recipe for a beautiful and tasty vegetable cake, she called tortino di verdure, and also a most delicious stuffed calimari dish. The grand finale was a decadent dessert, a ricotta torte with a layer of orange marmellata in the center of the creamy ricotta. Like almost everything else that comes from the masseria's kitchen, Maria Grazia made the orange marmellata herself.

 

 

Maria Grazia knows her way around bread dough solely by feel, she explained to me her bread-making process and philosophy. She made to swift slits at the top of the bread dough before leaving it to rise. "Here in Italy, the cross I make on the top of the dough serves two purposes. The first is to bless the bread and the second helps let me know when the dough is ready." The dough is ready when the cross has spread and opened up.

 

With the well-cared for dough, we made the wreath bread that had a nice crunchy and herb-flavored crust and a pillow-soft center that was light as air. With her permission, I've given you Maria Grazia's recipe bread recipe below.

 

 

 

Herb Wreath Bread
(makes one 11-inch wreath)


8 ounces (250 ml) warm water (90°F - 100°F), plus more if needed
½ ounce fresh yeast
3 cups (380 g) “00” flour
1 cup (130 g) Durham wheat or semolina flour
1 tablespoon salt, plus more for garnish
About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed and for forming the wreath

2-3 tablespoons poppy seeds
2-3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2-3 tablespoons chopped rosemary
4 bay leaves, optional

 

Break the yeast into smaller pieces and dissolve in the warm water. Mix together both types of flour and the salt. Make a well with the flour mixture. In the center of the well, pour about 1/3 of the yeast/water mixture and combine some of the flour into the center of the well to mix with the liquid. Continue adding the water mixture into the well and mixing with flour from the sides of the well (the water should not run out of the sides) until the mixture is the right consistency. The consistency should be a very soft and slightly wet dough, but one that does not stick to your hands. (You may need to add more water depending on the flour and the amount of humidity.)

Once the dough is the right consistency, begin kneading by holding one end with one hand and stretching the other end out with the palm of your other hand. Once you’ve stretched the dough out, roll it back in towards you and the hand anchoring the other end of the dough. Turn the dough 95 degrees and repeat this motion. Continue kneading the dough until it is smooth and more elastic, about 7 minutes. Form the dough into a ball. With a sharp knife, score the top of the ball of dough with a cross. Cover with a towel, and as Maria Grazia does, a warm blanket and let rise until it is at least 2 times the size and has small balls of air inside, about 2 hours.

When the dough has risen enough, place it back on the working board and knead out the air. Separate the dough into 3 pieces and roll each piece out into a rope about 1 ½-inches in diameter and equal sizes in length. Spread the poppy seeds out the length of the rope of dough. Wet your hands with a little olive oil and roll one rope in the poppy seeds turning it until  the rope of dough is well covered with poppy seeds. Repeat this with the second and third ropes of dough, using sesame seeds to cover one rope and the chopped rosemary for the other.

Take the three ropes of dough, line up and attach them at one end. Form the three ropes of dough into one braid and bring around to form a wreath. Attach both ends. If you're using the bay leaves, place each in the space where the braids come together. Place the wreath on the baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. Let rise again for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until it has doubled in size again.  Bake the wreath at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, until the wreath has a nice hard crust and when you tap it, it sounds hollow. Buon Appetito!

 

Join me in Puglia where we'll dine with bellisimme views like these!

 

Join me in Puglia in 2013! For this food lover's culinary tour, we'll be making bread like this and cooking with both Italian mamme and professional chefs. We'll also be eating and exploring our way through the region 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

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

 

 At first glance this post appears to have absolutely nothing to do with food & wine. I realize about half of you are asking yourselves why you should read this post at all (be patient though). The other half of you are saying, "It's about time the girl has finally come to her senses and realized the real reason one goes to Italy!" 

If you take a closer look, you will see that EVERY one of these very gorgeous men of Puglia have something to do with food & wine and the region's culture. Yes, they are physical beauties, but even more beautiful than what's on the outside is their love, passion & generosity for what they do, Puglia & sharing their lives and culture with visitors. If you join us on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, you'll meet them and get to know them as I have, and some even give baci e abbracci, kisses & hugs!

Let me introduce to you just some of the gorgeous men of this year's Food Lover's Tour in Puglia:

 

 

Michael ~ Our local guide and driver for the entire tour

From the very beginning of your trip, you can look forward to seeing Michael (he'll greet you in Brindisi) until the very end. He's part of our two-person team of local guides that will be with us for the entire tour, and he is also our driver. Originally from Naples, Michael's been living in Lecce for the last 20 years and knows the area, the food and the quickest way to get there very well. He speaks English, too. I'd say George Clooney has nothing on him; what do you think?

 

 

Gabriel ~ Gelateria Tentazioni

One of the first food images that comes to mind when one says Italy is gelato. We'll not only have a behind-the-scenes gelato-making demonstrationn AND tasting, but at Gelateria Tentazioni (that's temptations in English) Gabriel will hand you taste after taste of the cold creamy sweet. Gelato is not the only temptation in this place.

 

 

Antonio ~ Owner and Chef of Gelateria Tentazioni

Antonio will take us on a tour of his kitchen, share some of his favorite recipes and creations with us, and dole out copious tastings. Handsome and generous, he was one of the ladies' favorites.

 

 

Lorenzo ~ Schola Sarmenti Winery

We'll take a guided tour of Lorenzo's winery and end in one of the comfy chairs at the wine bar. We'll sit, relax and drink glass after glass of Sarmenti's wines as Lorenzo pours and shares stories of the winery and his family. Lorenzo made us feel so at home that no one wanted to leave. He even gifted each of us with a bottle of Sarmenti's wine, our choice of Negroamaro or Primitivo. 

 

 

From left to right: Valentino, Nonno Pino and Donato

The men of Azienda Agricola Taurino ~ Our olive oil guides and hosts of our picnic in their olive grove

You can not find more charming men then all of the men of Taurino. We'll meet Valentino on our first night at the masseria where he'll join us right before our welcome dinner and guide us through a tasting of Taurino's quality olive oil. We'll also get a lesson on discerning the quality of olive oil and sample some of Taurino's amazing pates. Valentino will leave samples for our dinner and olive oil gifts for us. Then, we'll meet Valentino again later in the week for a picnic in Taurino's never-ending olive grove. We'll break bread and visit with Valentino, Donato & his father Pino, owners of this family-run olive oil farm. I have several photos of Donato opening bottles of wine as he loves to share wine with the group. You'll find cuddly Nonno Pino in front and behind the camera taking photos of and with all of us. These are gorgeous guys whose passion for their work and Puglia are as big and endless as their olive orchard. I'm still receiving emails from last year's guests about these guys and the picnic being one of the highlights of the tour.

 

 

 

Lucio ~ barista & bartender extrodanaire

During your free time in Lecce or for a break during our walk, we can pop in for a drink with Lucio. Whether he's at Bar 7 di 7 or his own bar making espresso or cocktails, who wouldn't want Lucio as their barista or bartender!

 

 

 

Ronzino ~ Owner & pizzaiolo at Pizzeria La Pagghiara

This is a chance to check two things off your Italy bucket list. First, you'll get to be pizza-makers for a night! Secondly, the handsome Ronzino will be your instructor. And, if you have a hard time massaging the pizza dough into the necessary thin round disk, Ronzino will place his hands on yours and coax you through the lesson. Hint: you might want to feign incompetence here.

 

 

 

Pastry Chef Luca Capilungo

"Luca, Luca, LUCA, was what we heard on the way home from our lesson at Chef Capilungo's pastry shop. The ladies of last year's tour LOVED Luca. It's obvious that Luca loves making pastries as much as we love him. His passion and patience radiates from his eyes and smile. He'll guide us through a hands-on pasticciotto-making lesson and might add another pastry to the lesson, too. After our afternoon with him, expect be filled up on Luca's creations and craving more. He gives baci & abbracci (hugs & kisses) as you leave!

 

 

Chef Alessandro ~ Masseria Terra dei Padri

I don't know what I loved more about Chef Alessandro, his modern twist on classic Pugliese cuisine and the meticulous way in which he prepared each dish or his classic Southern Italian good looks. In either case, we'll get to sample a little of both, getting another behind-the-scenes invitation into his kitchen to watch him prepare one of his specialties. 

 

Juet ~ Leccese carta pesta

It's not always about food, as there is plenty of culture on this culinary tour. During our guided walking tour of Lecce we'll see a carta pesta demonstration. Juet, son of the shop's owners, will place his hands on yours as he shows you how to make paper!

 

 

Antonio ~ Baker & Owner of Panificio La Panetteira

Antonio's love for his city is obvious. He shares all the hidden treasures of his city, Martano, and its surrounding area. We'll get a guided tour of a local monastery and have a liqueur tasting before we visit Antonio's panificio and sample some of his breads. If there's time, we might even get a peek into the city's ancient underground olive mill (frantoio ipogeo).

 

Andrea ~ Mamma Elvira Enoteca & Gourmet Food Shop

During our tour, we'll have several days of free time in Lecce. If you choose to do some food shopping or want to taste more wine, Mamma Elvira is the place to go. Andrea, the shop's owner who is fluent in English, can easily guide you through the high-quality products he has and his wine list. His smile is just as enchanting as the wine list.

 

 

Paolo Cantele ~ Cantele Wines

Another family-run business, where the family's love for Salento and wine is as beautiful as our guide Paolo. Paolo will guide us through the family's winery, and we'll finish with a tasting of his favorite wines and hear him tell us the stories behind each wine.

 

Along with our adorable Italian Mamme, these are just some of the beautiful locals we'll meet during the Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Tour. Amore, passione & generosita' is what it's all about with them. Don't you want to come along? Who would you most like to meet?

Space is still available for the May and October tours, but after word gets out about these gorgeous men, I don't know how long those spots will remain available!

 

 

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

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Crostata Marmellata {Jam Crostata} of Mamma Giulia

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

 

 

 

 

Mamma Agata's Herb Fritters {Coccoli} and the Winner is....

 

Thank you to all who participated in the Mamma Agata cookbook giveaway. Out of all the great comments about your favorite Italian dishes, I randomly chose #29, Janie's comment (her favorite dish is homemade ricotta ravioli with a simple tomato sauce to remind her of lunch with her grandparents). Janie will be receiving an autographed copy of Mamma Agata's Simple and Genuine Cookbook. And today, for everyone that would like a glimpse at the recipes in the cookbook, I'm sharing one of them, Mamma Agata's Coccoli.

These herb fritters were just one of the amazing antipasti that I tasted during my day cooking on the Amalfi Coast, a simple yet oh-so delicious fried treat. Versions of fritters are a classic starter to Italian meals, especially pizza, and as usual, their names change depending on the region. I've heard them called in pastella in Rome, pasta crescuita in Naples, and pittule in Puglia. Who doesn't love fried batter, golden, crunchy and salty outside with the softest pillow-like savory dough inside?

Mamma Agata takes them to another level adding fresh herbs, parmigiano and pancetta to the batter.  The herbs give them a pop of freshness, the parmigiano adds extra cheesiness and the pancetta is a subtle addition of the sweet pork fat flavor. They are perfect little starters to any special meal, even your holiday Christmas dinner, for example. The batter (pastella) can also be used as a dipping batter. Dip a mix of seasonal vegetables or shrimp in the batter; fry them and you will look like a god or goddess in the kitchen with this assortment of antipasti.

 

Mamma Agata adding the pancetta, parmigiano and herbs to the coccoli batter

The recipe and exactly how to make the batter and fry it is beautifully illustrated in Mamma Agata's cookbook. In the book you'll find all her secrets to making the coccoli flavorful and how she gets the pillow-like pefection inside while keeping things crunchy outside. She has also dedicated a full page in her book to share her frying secrets. Below is the recipe and then highlights from her frying instructions.

 

 

Frying the coccoli during my day cooking with Mamma Agata

If you'd like to order the book, you can order it directly from Mamma Agata's website.  Chiara and Mamma Agata share some fabulous family recipes and classics of Neapolitan cuisine. With those recipes, along with the stories and photos in the book, they will transport you to the family's Ravello terrace and views of the Amalfi coastline. It would make a beautiful gift for yourself or that special Italian food lover in your life.

 

Mamma Agata's Simple and Genuine Cookbook

 

The terrace at Mamma Agata's Cooking School 

 

 

Coccoli di Mamma Agata (Herb Fritters)
(from Mamma Agata’s Simple & Genuine Cookbook, recipe published here with her permission)

Mamma Agata’s Pastella:
2 cups (250 g) “00” flour, or white pastry flour
1 teaspoon (25 g) sugar
3/4 cup (100g) Parmigiano cheese, grated
1 egg
1 cup (200 ml) lukewarm water
1 3/4 tablespoons (25 g) yeast (dry or fresh cake yeast)
2 pinches sea salt
2 teaspoon vinegar

For the Coccoli:
1/2 cup (100g) Parmigiano Regiano cheese, grated
1/2 onion, grated
1 3/4 oz (50 g) pancetta or salami, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme
1 teaspoon finely chopped sage

1 quart (1 liter) peanut or grape seed oil for frying (or another oil with a high smoke point)

 

To make the pastella: In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and cheese. Add the egg to the bowl and mix together thoroughly. In a separate bowl, dissolve the yeast into the water. Once the yeast is dissolved into the water, slowly add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Combine together with your hands until the mixture is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. (NOTE: If the batter is too thick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water; if the batter is too thin, add a little more flour to thicken it.) There will be lumps in the batter, do not try to whisk them out; or you will overwork the dough and get tough fritters. Cover the bowl and set it aside in a warm, draft-free location for one hour.

After one hour, the batter will have risen. Add the vinegar and salt to the batter and stir. (The batter will deflate when stirred; this is normal.)

To make the Coccoli: In a bowl, mix togehter the cheese, onion, pancetta, and herbs.  Add this mixture to the pastella batter and mix together just until the ingredients are combined. (Do not overwork the dough.)

Follow Mamma Agata’s frying instructions: In a frying pan, heat the oil to 375°F (190°C). Using a tablespoon, gather a tablespoon of batter and place it in the oil, letting the batter slide off of the spoon into the oil. Continue this process until you have around 10 coccoli in the pan (Do not overcrowd the pan or it will reduce the ideal temperature of the oil and the coccoli will absorb too much of the oil and be greasy.) Fry the coccoli on each side for 1-2 minutes, until both sides are golden brown. Remove them from the oil and place on paper towels. These are best served hot. Continue frying the remaining batter in batches in the same manner until you fried all the batter. These are best served hot. Buon appettito!

 

 

"I Segreti della Frittura" (Secrets of the Fry)

 

Mamma Agata's secrets and tips for making Coccoli and for frying:

For the pastella batter and coccoli:

The batter will be lumpy - Don't try to dissolve the lumps or you will overwork the dough and get tough fritters.

The water for the yeast must be lukewarm to the touch. If it's too cold or too hot, it will kill the yeast. The batter will not rise and you will not have pillow-like fritters.
Whenever you make batter or dough with yeast, you must add sugar to activate the yeast.
Mamma Agata uses type "00" flour for all of her recipes. She suggests substituting it with white pastry flour if you can't find "00" flour.
Adding vinegar to the batter helps to inhibit the oil from penetrating during the frying process and preventing the coccoli from being greasy.

Mamma Agata's frying tips:

The best frying pans are ugly! She uses a pan that's about 3 to 4 inches deep and 10 inches across. And, she uses this pan and only this pan for frying, letting it get seasoned with each fry, and also uglier with each fry. Her ugly pan lasts at least 3 to 4 years.

Mamma Agata is generous with the quantity of oil and recommends at least 1 liter or quart for her type of pan. She keeps a space of about 1 inch from the oil leve and the top of the pan and never overcrowds the pan when frying. This can cause the oil temperature to drop and the fritters to take too long to cook and to absorb too much oil.

The temperature of the oil is very important. It should be 375 F or 190 C.

Quality of the oil is also important. Seed oils are best for frying because they have a high smoke point and have a neutral flavor that will not change the flavor of what you are frying. Mamma Agata uses peanut oil. She never uses olive oil for frying.

She always uses "clean" oil and never reuses oil from a previous day's or meal's frying.

 

 

Related Posts You Might Also Like:

Cook with Me and Italian Mammas in Puglia in 2013

Torta Caprese - Flourless Chocolate Cake from Capri

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Nutella Filled Venetian Frittelle

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

Neapolitan-Style Mussels (Cozze alla Marinara)

 A Drive Along the Amalfi Coast

 

 

 

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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!

 

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A Drive along the Amalfi Coast (in photos)

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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

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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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

 

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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.

 

 

 

 

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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

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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

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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

Olivotto - The Sweet Side of Olives

 

Olives, and especially olive oil, play a huge part in Italian cuisine.  That's on the savory side.  I have to admit that except for making cakes with olive oil, olives and pastries were a combination I had never thought of before.  That was until my friends from Salento introduced me to Massimo and Andrea who have invented a sweet product using the ubiquitous Pugliese olives. The product is Olivotto, made with the black cellina olives that grow in the Salento region.

Like most great culinary inventions or recipes, Olivotto came about by accident.  Massimo's young son had stained his hands from the olive's juice. His son mistook the purple stain as one from amarena (dark sour cherries, usually preserved in a sugar syrup).  That's when a light went on in Massimo.  Surrounded in Salento by almost endless groves of olive trees (Puglia produces over 40% of Italy's olive oil), yet no one had ever thought of using this fruit for pastry making.  Massimo and his friend Andrea, who was then the chef for the restaurant at the swanky Patria Palace Hotel in Lecce, put there heads together to create Olivotto.   

 

Andrea Serravezza and Massimo Gaetani - The creators of Olivotto

Olivotto comes in three variations. The crema dolce, meaning sweet cream, can be used as a base flavor in pastry making.  Similarly to how one uses other fruits, nuts and chocolate, one would use it to flavor creams (pastry, Bavarian, Anglese, Chantilly, etc), doughs, cakes, sauces, candies and gelato, just to name a few.  The dressing could be a finishing touch to dress desserts, used like a marmelade in a crostata or cookie, in chocolate making, and even paired with cheese.  Finally there is the Perle Noire (black pearl). The black pearls are whole, pitted olives in a sweet syrup.  They could dress the top of any Olivotto dessert beautifully, or stud the inside of breads, brioche and cakes. 

Make no mistake, all three variations are sweet, not overly, but they are sweet and produced with natural ingredients.  The dressing is the sweetest of the three. The dark purple color is also natural and brings an interesting color to all pastries Olivotto touches.  In fact, the Cellina olive is the only olive that is black naturally; the others turn black due to chemical oxidation.  Each of the desserts we tried had light olive notes throughout. You taste the savory side of the olive at the finish; something that balances things nicely.

 

We met Massimo and Andrea at Bar Castello in the Grecia Salentina (a part of Salento where a Greek dialect is still spoken and street and store signs are in both Greek and Italian).  Angelo, the chef and owner of Bar Castello was the first person in Salento to offer Olivotto products and use the products in his pastries.  In the bar's kitchen the talented pastry cooks, Vladimiro & Carmin, wowed us by making one delicious dessert after another with Olivotto.

 

 

Angelo Anchora of Bar Castello

 

They made the region's famous pasticciotto pastry with pastry cream flavored with Olivotto - giving it a bright purple color.  Instead of chocolate covered cherries, we tasted chocolate covered olives; the dressing and a black pearl were covered in chocolate.  There was purple pandolivotto - panettone made with the crema dolce and studded with the black pearl olives.  I don't normally like panettone.  I find it too dry, but the Olivotto cream gave the cake a moister texture that changed my mind about the Italian Christmas bread.  They flavored marzipan and cream chantilly with Olivotto. And of course, there was gelato flavored with Olivotto. 

 

Pastries and chocolates with Olivotto

 

Pasticciotti filled with Olivotto flavored pastry cream

 

Olivotto gelato

 

Fruit Crostata - one of the fruit toppings is the Olivotto Perle Noire

 

Crostata filled with Olivotto dressing and topped with the Perle Noire

 

Marzipan biscotti (known as quaresimali) filled with Olivotto dressing and Perle Noire

 

Pastry cooks at Bar Castello - Vladimiro and Carmin - working with Olivotto, pastries & chocolate

 

 

In Salento, Olivotto is already a popular name, and you can find it in many pastry shops, food shops, and at Lecce's Farmers' Market.  Chef Heinz Beck is using Olivotto at the three-Michelin starred Restaurant La Pergola in Rome.  You can find Olivotto in London, at Harrod's, and at some stores in France.  Rumor has it that Pierre Herme in Paris might be baking up something with Olivotto - maybe a macaron/Olivotto combination. Massimo and Andrea are still looking for distribution in the U.S., where I think the Pandolivotto would be a huge hit, especially around Christmas.  One thing is certain, Olivotto makes my must-buy list for foodie souvenirs from Salento.

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.****

 

Pandiolivotto - Olivotto flavored panettone (photo courtesy Olivotto)

 

 

Olivotto
Email: info@olivottocreme.it
Phone:  +39 0836 572304

Bar Castello
4 V. Ferrovia
73222 Corigliano d’Otranto
Phone: +39 0836 471098

 

 

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In the Salento countryside, a few kilometers from the city of Lecce and along a stretch of road filled with olive trees (common landscape for this region) my friend Ylenia brought me to the sprawling farmhouse of Masseria CinqueSanti. We were greeted with hugs and cheek kisses from Lina; she's the third generation of female cheesemakers on this farm.  We were there for a special ricotta making demonstration.  It was special not only because we got to taste samples of the freshly made ricotta minutes after it was made - a must for every cheese lover before they die - but the ricotta from the demonstration was ours to take with us!

Using some of the whey that remained from the morning's cheesemaking, they added salt, a small cupful more of milk, and reheated the whey. (This is how ricotta gets its name; ricotta means recooked in Italian).  With the heat and gentle stirring motion of the cheesemaker, the whey curdled ever so slightly to make the oh so creamy ricotta.  As the ricotta drained in baskets, we could hardly wait for it to cool down enough to taste it. It was worth the wait, the four of us dipped our little spoons in again and again in the little tasting bowls Lina gave us. 

 

 

 

 

After the ricotta tasting, I met Nonna Anna, Lina's mother. She had stayed quiet and in the background while Lina explained the stages of ricotta making, and we hadn't even noticed her petite frame watching over the demonstration. After the demo, she gently ushered us to her case of special cheeses.  This is where Nonna's craft of cheesemaking borders on art.  What had originally started as the same white rounds of cheese, now varied in colors, textures and flavor based on her imangination and whimsy. To some she added nuts, to others peppercorns, to others herbs, to others fruit, to others a combination of these, and to one, with a most notable burgandy color, the grape skins from the famous Negramaro grape - THE wine of the region.

 

 

Some of the variations are always available, like the cheese covered in Negramaro grape skins, or those covered in ashes of olive leaves, but many of the rest change daily based on the flavor combinations Nonna Anna wants to experiment with that day.  The combinations that are big hits make it into the regular rotation while the others make guest appearances every now and then. (I'm hoping the lemon-thyme combination that I tried makes it into the regular rotation for my next visit.) 

 

Masseria CinqueSanti makes many of the traditional cheeses of Puglia and an assortment of aged cheeses. The aged cheeses can be just a few hours old "di filiera corta," 20 days old and even older.  Some of the stagionato (aged) cheeses were over 6 months old.  They combine sheep's, goat's and cow's milk from the animals on the farm to make the aged cheeses.   

 

Masseria CinqueSanti's Cheeses - The very young cheese at the bottom and more aged at the top

 

Formaggio Stagionato - Aged cheeses

 

Lina holding a round of Cenerino - Cheese covered in olive leaf ashes

 

 

A bit of information on the Masserie in Puglia.  They are ancient fortified farmhouses. Most of them were built between the 14^th and 18^th centuries.  Many had high stone walls to protect against invasions by pirates and the Turks.  They were living communities that housed families of the peasant farmers who worked for the masseria. Of the masserie that were abandoned in the early 20^th century, many have been restored into luxurious hotels, boutique bed and breakfasts, or grand spaces for special events and weddings.  Others have been restored to working order.  In those, you’ll find working vineyards, animals whose milk make creamy Salento cheese like at Masseria CinqueSanti, fields full of vegetables and fruit, and of course, olive groves. 

 

Masseria CinqueSanti is part of the Campagna Amica group of farmers working together to keep the food chain in Italy as local as possible.  We not only took the freshly-made ricotta with us, but also some freshly-made mozzarella and a few selections from Nonna Anna's special case. All were exceptional and made up our antipasti for our lunch with Mamma Giulia (more about cooking with Mamma Giulia next week).

 

You can see cheesemaking demonstrations and taste fresh cheeses like these and more - Join me on this Food & Wine Lover's Culinary Tour in Puglia!

 

Cenerino - cheese covered in olive leaf ashes

 

Formaggio Negamaro - cheese covered in Negramaro grape skins

 

Antipasti plate of mozzarella and ricotta

 

Nonna Anna's cheeses - covered with lemon-thyme, Negramaro, and pulp from Pugliese olives

 

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.****

 

Masseria CinqueSanti
Via Prov.le per Lecce
73029 Vernole
Phone: +39 0832 89 11 78
Email: info@sicacarni.it
The cheese store is open 7 days a week: 8am-2pm and 4pm-8pm

 

 

Related Posts:

Cheese in Puglia - Making and Eating Fresh Cheese in Salento

Wedding in Puglia

Traditional Salentine Dishes at Locanda Rivoli in Lecce

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

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

The Dish from Puglia: Friselle with Tomatoes

The Dish from Lecce: Rustico Leccese

Christmas Around Italy - Christmas Desserts in Salento