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 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 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!

 

 

 

Food Lover's Culinary Tour Picnic at Agricola Taurino

 

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

Easter Food and Traditions in Puglia

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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

 

 

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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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An Aperitivo to Whet Your Appetite for Puglia

 

 

“Benvenuti in Italia!” That’s what Ylenia said to me, not when she picked me up at the airport. No, she said this as I smirked down at my so-called small plate of “nibbles” and gave her a look that we both recognized as “so much for the diet!“ Sfizirie are what the snacks are called here in Lecce. Also known as sfizzi and stuzzichini these nibbles/finger food/snacks/appetizers are meant to wash down your aperitivo. Even they come in abundance here. Yes, I’m back in Italy, Puglia to be more specific, to kick off the first of what I hope to be many food and wine lovers’ culinary tours in Italy. In just 2 days, we’ll be COOKING IN PUGLIA! 

We’ll be cooking with Italian mammas and chefs, exploring the food and culture of the Salento area, doing a lot of dining al fresco, amidst fig & olive groves, vineyards, and even poolside. Of course, Ylenia & I have left a little time for everyone to dip our toes into the cobalt blue sea, too. Want to join us? You can! Join us virtually as I’ll be back daily during the tour with highlights from each day’s food and other adventures. You might think of these posts as an aperitivo of sorts, as I'm certain each will whet your desire to actually join us next year. We’re already talking about more Cook in Puglia tours for 2013. 

A great welcome to Italy and way to kick any party off is with aperitivi. This "happy hour" is one of my favorite things to enjoy during an Italian vacation, especially a summer one.  Every city in Italy does it a little differently, but basically you buy a drink and along with the price of the drink, you get a nice plateful of food (see above) or have access to a buffet of finger foods. During the hot and humid days of an Italian summer, when a full meal of primi, secondo, contorno & dolce are just too much, one can make a meal off a few cocktails/aperitivi.  (And for those traveling on a very tight, let’s say backpackers’ budget, might I suggest this instead of going to the supermarket for dinner.)

 

What could be better than aperitivo hour? How about two a day?  Yes, ours started right after Noon. After church bells chime throughout the city, an aria plays from the main piazza, Sant' Oronzo serving notice to all that it's time for an aperitivo...and then lunch, if you still have room. Right before dinner, aperitivo hour begins again. Our Cocktail San Pellegrino, which very much resembles a Venetian Spritz, is a mix of the bitter Aperol and frizzante San Pellegrino water.

 

The beach at San Cataldo

 

After lunch aperitivi, we set up office at the beach in San Cataldo to finalize tour details and reconfirm all our reservations. Next we met with Mamma Anna, one of our Italian mammas in the kitchen, for a gelato and review of each day's menu. One thing is certain; the menu alone is enough to have you on the next plane to this delicious part of Italy! 

See you tomorrow with more from Puglia....

 

Gelato with Ylenia and Mamma Anna - one of our Italian Mamme in Cucina

 

 

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! 

 

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

Lecce: The Baroque Beauty of Puglia

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

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

 

 

 

All over Italy today, Italians are celebrating St. Joseph's Day. They honor both Joseph, the "earthly" father of Jesus, and also all fathers. In Southern Italy, and especially some villages in Puglia, parades and grand events are being held to honor San Giuseppe. As with all celebrations in Italy, food plays a huge part, and with food in Italy, there are always food rules that must be followed.

 

 

 

First, it is not a festa di San Giuseppe without the very decadent zeppole. Everywhere I looked this morning it seemed that someone was ordering a zeppola or eating one. Pastry shops and even the gelaterie flooded their pastry cases with the ring-shaped doughnut. In Lecce, where I am now, these fried treats are topped off with generous amounts of two kinds of pastry cream - a lemon-infused one and then a "dollop" of chocolate. In Naples, amarena cherries replace the chocolate pastry cream, and in Sicily, they slather their famous ricotta cream over the top of the zeppole.

 

 
Find the recipe here: Le Zeppole di San Giuseppe

 

 

Another food-focused feast happens in the villages near Otranto in Puglia where hundread of homes still practice the tradition of preparing a feast to show hospitality to others in St. Joseph's honor; this feast is known as Le Tavole di San Giuseppe.  There are several renditions of how this feast started. Some say it was transformed from a pagan celebration to celebrate the end of Winter and beginning of Spring. Others say that it started when noble families chose one day to offer banquets to feed the poor. Whatever the origins, families in these villages prepare elaborately decorated tables filled with 13 different dishes (13 symbolizing the number that attended the last supper). At the main table is an "altar" to St. Joseph. There you'll find a statue of St. Joseph, his flower-covered staff, and the large rounds of bread, each having an orange in the center. The other tables are filled with meticulously plated dishes, all of which are typical farmers' or peasant's dishes of Puglia.

 

 
The tables set for the Feast of St. Joseph and his staff

On March 18th, the night before St. Joseph's day, these families open their doors to all who want to make this pilgrimage; friends, strangers, foreigners, tourists, and even enemies. At each house, those who enter say a prayer at the altar created for St. Joseph.  Families start preparing for this feast weeks in advance, and many homes expect more than 400 visitors during the night. During this eve of St. Joseph, no one eats the 13 dishes. Instead the families usually prepare a pasta dish, called massa for the visitors. One house we visited had used hundreds of kilograms of flour to make the massa for their expected visitors. 

 

 

 

On St. Joseph's day, in the afternoon after mass, the priest goes around to each of the houses in his village and blesses the tables. Then the banquet starts and the guests, some of dressed to represent St. Joseph, the holy family, the apostles and other saints, eat the 13 dishes of the feast. They consist of the following:

The bread - shaped in the form of a circle (or taralli as they say in Puglia) with decorations on top that symbolize the holy family (Mary, Joseph & Jesus) and with an orange placed in the middle. There are also the fried fish, stoccafisso (a salted cod stew), boiled lampasconi (wild hyacinth bulbs), chickpeas - which are sometimes served with the massa (pasta), pasta with breadcrumbs, pittule (fried dough), cauliflower fried in pastella, le cime di rape (broccoli rabe), puccedruzzi (Puglia's version of the more popularly known struffoli), carteddate (another sweet fried dough with honey drizzled over the top), and wine.

 

Some of the dishes from the Feast of St. Joseph: The bread, stoccafisso, fried fish & boiled lampasconi

What a lot of food and what a feast!! And then to add one or two zeppole to the day's eats! One of the families we visited in addition to the pasta, even prepared extra gifts of sweets, little cups of various types of cookies, to give to the pilgrims who would come on the eve of March 18th. Whatever your religious beliefs are, or are not, this is quite a thing to witness. The amount of work and love these families put into every detail and how truly generous and hospitable they are to everyone who comes to their doors is astounding and would bring a tear to the eyes of even the most cynical of people.

 

 

 

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 and making zepppole like those above, and many other traditional Pugliese dishes,too!

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

Read more about the food and beauty of Puglia - Puglia section here on the blog.

 

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

Orecchiette and Salentine Breads - Cooking with Mamma Giulia in Salento

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

Under the Salento Sun - The Masserie of Salento

Crostata di Marmellata from Mamma Giulia

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

Seafood and More with Chef Lino at Ristorante Donna Lisa

Lunch Salento Style at Cantine Menhir

 

 

 

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Fruttone Leccese with Chef Luca - Food Lovers Tour in Puglia

 

 

Bienvenuti in Puglia! My dear and faithful readers, I'm back. Not only am I back here on Food Lover's Odyssey (sorry for the absence which I'll explain soon), but I'm also back in Puglia! I'll be in Puflia for the rest of March and part of April sharing delicious dishes from our escapades on the Food Lover's Tour and my cooking adventures with the many awesome Italian mammas and chefs.

Let's start the posts from Puglia with this pastry recipe you've been requesting the most: Fruttone Leccese. This pastry, along with pasticciotto are the two quintessential pastries of the area. You're sure to find them in every pasticceria in Salento. At it's base is a crunchy shortbread crust, which is commonly made using lard. In this recipe, I've substituted the lard for butter, which will make the crust extra crunchy.  (Feel free to use lard if the purist in you wants to be very "authentic.") The sweet filling is a combination of pear marmalade and almond paste. And if that wasn't enough to entice you, the final touch is a topping of a sweet and shiny chocolate glaze. 

 

During our cooking class with Chef Luca, we made both pasticciotto and fruttone. Along with the recipe are step-by-step photos, from the class, for assembling the fruttone.  The fruttone are quite easy to make or maybe it was Chef Luca's flirtations and his filling us with all his sweets & wine that made them seem so easy. The hardest thing for you will probably be finding the oval molds. I purchased my tin molds here in Puglia, but you can find similar silicone molds here. Join us on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia, and you'll get a set of molds in your gift bag!

 

Rolling out the pasta frolla with Chef Luca

 

 

 ********************

Fruttone Leccese
(Makes about 15)


For the Pasta Frolla:
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
3 grams baking powder
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
5 egg yolks

For the filling:
About 1 ½ pounds almond paste (see recipe below)
About 16 ounces pear marmalade

For the almond paste:
8 ounces blanched almonds
8 ounces (1 ¾ cups) powdered sugar

For the chocolate glaze:
½ cup butter
¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
5 ounces good quality dark chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups powdered sugar



To make the pasta frolla:  In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix together on low speed the flour, baking powder, lard (or butter) and sugar until the mixture is the consistency of peas.  Add the eggs yolks and stir together just until the mixture is combined.  Divide into two equal mounds and cover each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours before rolling out.

To make the almond paste:   Place the almonds and half of the powdered sugar into a food processor. Process until the almonds are finely ground. Add the rest of the sugar and process until combined and the mixture is homogenous. Set aside for assembly of the fruttone.


To assemble the fruttone:  (Step-by-step photos on assembling the fruttone are below)
Roll the pasta frolla out into a rope about 2 inches in diameter. (You can do this in 2 or 3 parts if you’d like.) Cut the rope into 2-inch rolls. With the palm of your hand, flatten the dough into a round disk about 1/8-inch thick. Press each disk of dough into a mold of its own. The dough should just reach the top of the mold. If there is excess, you can remove it by running a knife along the edges.  Place about 1ounce of pear marmalade at the bottom of the mold. (The quickest and cleanest way to do this is by using a pastry bag and piping the pear marmalade into the molds.) On top of the pear marmalade, add the almond paste just to the top of the mold. Run a knife along the top of the mold to ensure that the almond paste is even and level with the top of the mold. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and place each fruttone upside down on a flat surface until they are cool. (This will flatten out the tops of the fruttone for glazing.)

To make the chocolate glaze:  Make the glaze right before you want to use it. In a saucepan, heat the butter, milk and corn syrup until the butter melts. Add the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts. Take off the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Whisk in the powdered sugar and pour into a bowl wide enough to dip the fruttone in. Use immediately to glaze the fruttone. The glaze will set in 20-30 minutes.

To glaze the fruttone:  Once the fruttone are cool, dip the tops of them into the chocolate glaze and place right side up. Let the glaze set for approximately 20 minutes. Buon Appetito!

 

Step-by-step photos for assembling the fruttone:

 
Roll dough into logs & cut   ~   Flatten into disks & press into molds  ~  fill with pear marmalade

Molds filled with pear marmalade ~ fill with almond paste & bake ~ when cooled top with chocolate glaze

 

 ********************

Pastries in Puglia ~ Along with Fruttone we'll be making these on the Food Lover's Tour in Puglia

 

Join me in Puglia for the Food Lover's Culinary Tour!  We'll cook with Chef Luca, other chefs and our fabulous Mammas in the kitchen on the Food Lover's Culinary Tour of Puglia - Plenty of spaces are still available for tours in May and October.

 

Related Posts:

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

Pasticciotto Leccese

Zeppole di San Giuseppe

Crostata di Marmellata ~ Jam Crostata from Mamma Giulia

The Pastries of Lecce with Chef Luca Capilungo

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

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}

Related articles

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

 

Related articles

Pizza Makers for a Night in Puglia

Crostata Marmellata {Jam Crostata} from Mamma Giulia

Cook with me and Italian Mammas in Puglia in 2013

 

The 2012 Food & Wine Lovers' Culinary Tour in Puglia was a huge success and a ton of fun. After just a few of my posts from this year's tour, so many of you sent requests for information about next year. And I can't wait any longer to tell you about it. Yes, we will be cooking and eating our way through Puglia again in 2013!

We've specially designed a delicious 9-day/8-night food and wine lover's journey in Puglia for 2013. You'll not only taste the many delicacies of the region, you'll cook them, too! We've organized events that give you exclusive access "behind-the-scenes," inside professional kitchens and visits to other spots that you won't find anywhere else. More than a food tour, it's an immersion into the culture, lifestyle and traditions of the people of Puglia. We'll meet and work with many Salentine people and, like those on this year's tour, you'll fall in love with how warm and welcoming they are.

 

Dining with a view of the sea in Gallipoli

Making Pasticciotti with pastry chef Luca Capilungo

 

We'll cook together during FIVE hands-on cooking classes, learning to make traditional Salentine dishes, pasta, bread and pastries with local cooks, chefs and mammas as special guests and to guide us. Watch an artisan cheese maker at work and then dig into the still-warm freshly-made, creamy ricotta. Sample seafood right out of its shell minutes after it's been caught. Go into the kitchen of a famous Lecce pastry shop and learn about the sweet side of Salento, with samples, of course. There will be guided walking tours of Baroque Lecce, the fisherman's village of Gallipoli, the seaside resort town of Otranto, the Trulli of the Itria Valley and the "white city" of Ostuni.  These are just a few of the highlights of this trip; there's so much more...

 

The tour and what's included:

  

• 9 days/8 nights stay at four-star resort villa
  
• Experience Puglia like a local - We will have a local guide with us the entire trip
• All breakfasts, lunches and dinners
• Local wines included with all lunches and dinners
• Private shuttle to and from the Brindisi Airport or train station and to all destinations during the trip
• Welcome private wine tasting and several others during your vacation
  
• Guided walking tours of Lecce, Otranto, Gallipoli and the Itria Valley
• SIX cooking classes (five hands-on and one demonstration)
• Cheese making demonstration with tastings
• Gelato visits & tastings
• Guided visit to a Lecce pastry shop with a pasticciotto-making lesson and tastings
• You'll be a pizza-maker for a night – making your own pizza at a Lecce pizzeria
• Three winery visits and tastings
• Beach time to enjoy the gorgeous Puglia coastline and lapis-lazuli sea
• Food Lover's in Puglia recipe book – including some recipes from the chefs we’ll visit
• Food Lover's Odyssey in Puglia apron and welcome gift bag
• Assistance with making your travel arrangements to the Brindisi airport and any pre- and post-tour travel arrangements

 

Typical dinner at the masseria

Become a pizzaiolo (Italian for pizza maker) for a night

Eggplant Involtini  made with our Italian mammas

 

With our local guide by our side the entire way it will be so much more than a culinary journey. It will be a truly local and memorable experience. We'll be a small group, 12 guests are the maximum number for each tour, so you'll have more personal attention and a more authentic experience.

 

The Trulli of Alberobello

Baroque church of Santa Croce in Lecce

Where is Puglia?  Puglia is the region at the "heel" of Italy's "boot."  We'll be staying in Puglia's southernmost province, Salento.  It's "kissed" (as the Salentines say) on both sides by the deep blue sea - the Ionian to the west & the Adriatic to the east. Often called the "California of Italy" and referred to as "Tuscany without the crowds," Salento boasts a cuisine based on cucina povera (poor kitchen), vegetables, local olive oil & seafood. The countryside is an endless stretch of olive trees and blue skies.  Salento's capital is the baroque beauty of Lecce, and we'll stay in a gorgeous and spacious masseria located just minutes from the sea.

 

 

 

Ready to join us and to cook, eat, drink, discover and enjoy Puglia? There are four tour dates available for 2013:

Tour Dates:

• April 27 to May 5, 2013  
  
• May 25 to June 2, 2013
• October 5 to 13, 2013 - Spaces still available but filling up fast

Price: $3,500 per person based on double occupancy
             Single room supplement: $800

Deposit: A nonrefundable deposit of $1,000 per person is required to confirm enrollment.

 

Final Payment: The  final payment is due no later than 90 days prior to the start of your tour.

 

For more information: you can read and see many of the tasty things we cooked and the exciting excursions we took on the 2012 tour here: Food Lovers' Tour in Puglia

For even more: to see more photos from the 2012 tour, visit the Facebook page for Food Lover's Odyssey and my section here on Puglia to read more about this food lover's dream region in Italy.

 

To book your tour ~

Choose your tour date, email me at: chefkathyayer [at] yahoo.com, and I'll send you the booking form that corresponds to your tour. You will need to fill out the booking form and send it back to me via fax or email along with the deposit payment via check or via PayPal.

 

 

 

What guests from the 2012 culinary tour in Puglia said about their trip:

"I felt like a queen for nine days!"

"There is no way we could have had this experience traveling on our own or have found all the lovely people of this region."

"Mamma Giulia and Mamma Anna are stars in the kitchen, loved their old-time cooking style."

"You just want to eat more & more & more; and you do."

"Luca, Luca, Luca! We loved pastry Chef Luca Capilungo!"

"I can't wait to get home and cook a Salentine meal for my friends."

"Every single person we visited welcomed us into their place like we were honored guests."

 

 

Picnic in the olive grove

 

Food Lovers’ Culinary Tour in Puglia
~  2013 Tour Itinerary  ~

Day 1:

• Arrival at Brindisi Airport with a private transfer to the villa
• Welcome drink and light lunch upon arrival at the villa
• Afternoon to relax by the pool
• Pre-dinner private tasting of local wines
• Welcome dinner with me and your fellow travelers - Discuss details of the fabulous week ahead

Day 2:

• Breakfast at the villa
• Guided visit to a local farmer’s market with tastings
• Walking tour of Otranto and visit to the Otranto Cathedral – with free time in the city to stroll, shop or dip your toes in sea
• Lunch at a trattoria in Otranto
• Pre-dinner wine tasting with typical local food products
• Market-to-table hands-on cooking class based on ingredients purchased at the market

Day 3:

• Breakfast at the villa
• A day in Lecce with a guided walking tour, carta pesta demonstration and free time to shop or discover more of this baroque beauty on your own.
• Lunch at a trattoria in Lecce
• Guided visit to a pastry shop in Lecce with tastings
• Hands-on cooking class – Classic Salentine dishes
• Four-course Dinner based on our creations

Day 4:

• Breakfast at the villa
• Full day visiting the Itria Valley and the famous Trulli - with walking tours of Alberobello, Ostuni & Locorotondo
• Lunch in the Itria Valley of traditional foods from the Itria Valley
• Dinner at the Villa

 

Day 5:

• Early breakfast at the villa
• Morning Dolci di Italia & Puglia (Italian and Pugliese Desserts) cooking class
• Winery visit and tasting
• Lunch at the winery
• Afternoon drive along the Costa del Sud – from Santa Maria Leuca to Otranto with stops for photo ops
• Dinner along the Adriatic Coast

Day 6:

• Breakfast at the villa
• Pugliese Breads and Pasta – Hands-on cooking class
• Lunch will include some of the pasta and bread you made
• Afternoon to relax at the pool, the beach or free time in Lecce
• Pre-dinner wine tasting
• Hands-on cooking class
• Four-course dinner based on your creations

 Day 7

• Breakfast at the villa
• Winery visit with tasting
• Lunch with an ocean view on the terrace in Gallipoli
• Walking tour of the historical town of Gallipoli
• Afternoon free in Gallipoli
• Pizza dinner in Lecce

Day 8

• Breakfast at the villa
• Morning cheese making demonstration and tasting
• Winery visit and tasting
• Picnic lunch will include cheeses from the cheese-making demo and other local delicacies
• Afternoon to relax by the pool
• Evening stroll in Lecce
• Farewell dinner in Lecce

Day 9

• Breakfast at the villa
• Private transfer to the Brindisi Airport

(Sequence of classes and excursions may vary. Whenever there are local festivals or events happening during a tour, we will try to include them to the itinerary to enhance your travel experience.)

 

 It's going to be a blast!

Join me and let's cook, eat, drink, discover and enjoy Puglia!!

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