Arancino

Yesterday Reed and I bought a bottle of Arancino, as neither of us had ever had it (WARNING: make sure it is chilled (note the freezer burns on the bottle), it is very strong for those who typically do not drink liquors!). It is a liquor or digestivo that is made from orange rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. This particular digestivo is made from Tuscany. Much like limoncello (a liquor that is produced in Southern Italy near Naples), this liquor can be store bought or home-made (the home-made versions often being a lot stronger than the store bought versions). The only real requirement for making this liquor is that in order to produce a quality product, the rinds of either the lemon or orange must be soaked for at least 30 to 40 days (this contributes to the vibrant color of the liquor as no fruit juice is added).

Enzo

Just a few pics Reed took last night

Vini di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino and the other Brunello: Rosso di Montalcino

On Sunday we took a day trip to Montalcino (37 km south of Siena). You can read about the day here. One of the great attractions of Montalcino is it's wine, namely Brunello.

When we first got to Montalcino, we stopped and had some lunch. With lunch we had a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino, the other main DOC from Montalcino, and often called "the other Brunello." This wine is required to be 100 percent Brunello but has far fewer aging restrictions, except that it cannot be released prior to September 1st of the year following the vintage.


After lunch we headed over to the Rocca (the giant castle-esque structure in Montalcino) where they have a very large enoteca filled with wine, mostly Brunello. Here is a shot of one of the walls of wine.


After visiting the enoteca and choosing to not to buy any wine there, we went on to another more reasonably priced enoteca to buy a bottle of Brunello. Here is Reed picking out the wine:

And the winner is.......

It was very good and we brought the bottle home so that Reed can soak it and take off the label: this will be the first label in his wine book that I bought him for Christmas!

Interestingly, Montalcino has one of the warmest climates in all of Tuscany meaning that the grapes here ripen before those of Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Even within the Montalcino area, there are different micro-climates on the Northern and Southern slopes of the hill Montalcino is on: the northern slopes receive fewer hours of sunlight and are generally cooler than the southern slopes. As a result, vineyards planted on the northern slopes tend to produce wines that are racier and more aromatic, while the southern slopes tend to produce wines with more power and complexity. The top producers in the area have vineyards on both slopes, and make use of a blend of both styles (per Wikipedia).

On Saturday we are heading north to the Chianti region. It should be interesting to learn more about the wine in this area!

Ecco Mexico!!!

Obviously we have been eating a lot of Italian food: pasta, cheese, pizza, gelato.....We decided that on Friday we would make or try to make Mexican food. Since we were in Lucca, (we went into a grocery store that had a decent selection of ethnic food including taco shells-can't remember if they had taco sauce!), we'd been planning on making some type of Mexican food. Armed with our jar of cumin from the U.S. we decided we would give it a shot!

On Thursday while Reed went to work, I went to the grocery store here to pick up some ingredients. Conad City (our supermarket) does not have half the selection of ethnic ingredients that were at the store in Lucca (we plan on stocking up in Lucca!). It did not look too good at first, when the closest thing I could find to tortillas was flat bread. I ended up buying that, but then at a smaller grocery store near the apartment I found.....................

These!!! "Poco Loco" tortillas!

They were still not the same as the tortillas back home. They were thicker and if you tried one on its own it kind of had a sweet taste to it. Still, better than nothing.

We had been told that sour cream did not exist here. Reed told me to look for buttermilk at the store because he thought he could make sour cream. In the end, I found this......

Yup, that's real sour cream. The picture is a little dark but it is from Germany. The whole back of the container was in German. The picture of the salad made me think it "might" be sour cream at the store. It was definitely thick!

This was our final creation:


We improvised a little considering we had no taco sauce or taco seasoning. The cumin definitely went a long way to make this taste like Mexican food (we also used half a can of diced tomatoes).

Parma at last!

So we have finally arrived (my first post from Italy)!! We arrived yesterday in Parma and are here until tomorrow when we are off to Lucca to stay with Doris. We wanted to make a point of eating some of this region's specialties including Proscuitto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Lambrusco wine-un vino frizzante rojo (a sparkling red wine).

Wednesday: On Wednesday night, after a long day of traveling, we ate at La Duchessa which is in the middle of Piazza Garibaldi (this piazza was the center of the Etruscan city of Parma). To start we had Prosciutto di Parma, and then we each had a pizza: I had Pizza di Poppi (bufala, pomodoro, basilico, salami piccante, prosciutto cotto, grana, e ementhal/mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, spicy sausage, cooked prosciutto, and 2 other kinds of cheese). Reed had Pizza Euro: mozzarella, pomodorini, crudo, basilico salame piccante, ruggola, e funghi porcini/mozzarella, small tomatoes, proscuitto crudo, basil, spicy salame, arugula, and porcini mushrooms). We were both far to hungry to take a picture of any of this food!

Thursday: Thursday we ate at Trattoria da Filipps (on Borgo Paggeria): I had some gnocchi patate and Reed had linguine alla carbonera. Again, we were both too hungry to take any pictures. There was one customer (who Reed thought looked a lot like Ben Franklin) who was cutting people's hair at the back of the restaurant- glad we saw this after lunch! (he was also doing this after what appeared to be 4 bottles of wine).

For dinner we chose to go to the Salumeri Verdi (Via Verdi, 6), which sells only products from Parma, including a great selection of meats and cheeses. For our picnic dinner in Hotel Torino's garden we bought: Lambrusco (un vino frizzante rojo-sparkling red wine), Parmiggiano Reggiano, Strolghini (il salame di culatello), culatello DOP (Ducale Colorno), e Salame di Felino Naturale. The Felino Naturale was our favorite: made only from the meat and fat and seasoned with salt and pepper. The Culatello DOP is DOC- only 6 villages along the Po River are allowed to produce it (it is said that the closer to the Po, the better the meat). One of things that makes this meat unique is that instead of being cured in a dry environment, it is cured in a humid one, and only the meat from the exterior of the leg is used.. It is also unique in that only 18,000 pieces of culatello is produced each year (in contrast to 90,000+ of other types of "ham" from this region). The Strolghino is a salame made of the meat used to make the culatello. The Parmigiano Montagna was cured for 2.5 years (all parmigiano must be cured for a minimum of 2 years). We got a 2 pound piece for 5 Euro! Interestingly enough, the final product cannot contain more than 33 percent fat, so to begin with, a very high milk fat milk is used. Our bottle of Lambrusco was actually the 76th bottle from the 2005 years production! We got it for a bargain 4,30 Euro!

Salumeria Verdi

Ollie outside Salumeria Verdi

Lambrusco

Our Dinner

Pizza!

What's not to love about Pizza! The Smithsonian magazine (August edition) had an interesting article about Neapolitan Pizza: "The Art of Pizza." You can read the article here.


Back in 2002 while visiting Naples, the food was one of the only things I really liked about the city, the traditional home of pizza. Interestingly enough, a law was passed three years ago specifying exactly what real Neapolitan pizza is. For example, the dough must be made from a specific kind of flour and yeast, must be round and no more than 14 inches in diameter, and cooked in a wood fired oven at a temperature above 905 degrees F. The pizzas have top quality ingredients, two of the most famous being San Marzano tomatoes and mozarella di bufala campana.

Currently there is a law being considered by the European Union giving the three offical pizzas Marinara (tomato, garlic, and oregano), Margherita, and Extra Margherita (both with tomato, basil, and Mozzarella) the same name protection as fine wine.

Pizza is taken very seriously in Naples which has a long history with pizza. Pizza was a staple in Naples by the 18th century and was frequently served on ships sailing from the Port of Naples (that is reportedly how Pizza Marinara got its name!). The Margherita pizza was said to be invented in 1889 in Naples when a local pizzaiolo added mozzarella to the tomato and basil to make the pizza the color of the Italian flag: red, white, and green.

The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), considered an authority of the true Neapolitan pizza, has started training chefs and certifying restaurants around the world, specifically in Japan and the U.S. about Neapolitan pizza. As of now, 16 restaurants in the U.S. have veen certified by the VPN.

The article features the Ristorante Umberto pictured below, which has been serving pizza in Naples since 1916. Some place to definitely check out!

Ristorante Umberto
Via Alabardieri, 30/31
Piazza dei martiri
Napoli 80121, Campania
+39081418555

To make you even more hungry, check out Ristorante Umberto's pizza menu here. I wonder if they deliver to Charlottesville?!?!?

Related Posts:

Napoli Sotterranea "Naples Basement"

Panforte: A Siena Specialty

Panforte, a specialty of Siena, is a traditional Italian dessert containing dried fruits, spices, and nuts. It is very dense and rich. The word "panforte" literally means "strong bread" which refers to the spicy flavor.

Panforte has been made since at least 1205. According to historic documents, in the early 1200s, residents of the monestary of Montecellesi (today Montecelso) were required to bring the nuns the panaforte as a form of taxes. Panaforte's success soon crossed the boundaries of Siena and it became a staple at feasts of rich noble men throughout Italy.

Epicurious has a recipe for Panforte here.

Prosecco and Basil

Every once and awhile Reed and I get a bottle of Prosecco. I recently found a post on the blog Figs Olives Wine, about adding a sprig of basil to a glass of Prosecco (I actually chopped mine up). You can read the original post here. We tried it the other night and it really is great! Next time though, I think we'll try it in the larger open mouth glasses like suggested in the post instead of the flute-like glasses we used. ****update: we tried it again and Reed bruised the basil instead of chopping it and it came out much better*****

Prosecco is a variety of white grape grown in the Veneto region of Italy.


The grape is grown in the Conegliano and Valdobbiadene wine-growing regions north of Venice. Its late ripening has led to its use in dry-sparkling (spumante) and semi-sparkling (frizzante) wines.


Prosecco was the original main ingredient in the Bellini Cocktail (made with sparkling wine and peach puree) which was created at Harry's Bar in Venice.

The name "Prosecco" is now protected under European law and can be used only for wine made from the Prosecco grape in the Conegliano/Valdobbiadene region.

Check out the Prosecco Consortium Web site here for loads more information.

Mangia Italy!

I decided that it would be nice to have a blog that could supplement our original blog, Il Giorno Italiano Sogna, which is all about our move to Siena. I thought that Reed and I could use this blog to write about the food we eat, the restaurants we go to throughout our travels, and maybe even some recipes Reed learns while working in an Italian restaurant kitchen (if he shares!!!!). I'll try to link posts from one blog to another if they go together and reference the other blog. I've also created links for other recipes I have made on the side bar.

Some of our first posts from Italy should be about Parma!! Stay tuned!