August 31, 2010
On September 4th I have a blind date, but not with a guy… with a monument!
Yes, you got that right, let me explain. On September 4th, the city of Ferrara is hosting the first ever “Street Dinner”. This is a unique opportunity to enjoy art and food together; an ensemble of adventure, gastronomy, natural scenery, conviviality and mistery.
Chic but informal at the same time, the event welcomes a large number of gourmands who, armed with a table, a chair and a bag filled with delicacies, will only find out at the very last minute by what historical building or monument they are going to sit and enjoy all the provided local specialties.
All is possible thanks to text messaging: indeed all participants will find out their destinations step by step directly on their phones. The first text will provide the location of the “welcoming” aperitivo where people can mingle and get to know each other while sipping spumante. A second text will inform all of the location where to pick up the table, the chair and table settings plus the food bag (there are two different menus available. The actual dishes are a secret but you can choose between a meat-based or a fish-based menu). Thirty minutes later another text will inform each guest of their diner location. Some of these locations are, for example, the court of Castello Estense (a magnificent castle built in the center of the city), on Corso Ercole I d’Este with a view of Palazzo dei Diamanti (the house of the National Art Gallery, is one of the most famous buildings in Italy: the white marble exterior consisting of 8500 blocks are carved in the shape of diamonds), along the Listone of Ferrara (a beautiful square by the Duomo), in Via delle Volte, among the Ancient Walls and many other wonderful corners (such as one of the city’s beaches or bridges).
As I said, the menus, like everything else, are secret, but I hope that they will feature some of these local specialties:Cappellacci di zucca, pumpkin ravioli, are served with ragù or butter and sage sauce; tagliatelle, noodles with ragù or mushroom sauce, the maltagliati, irregularly shaped egg pasta cooked with beans, classic lasagna, green lasagna, pasticcio alla Ferrarese, a pie stuffed with maccheroni, béchamel, cheese and ragù with porcini mushrooms; riso con zucca e salsiccia, rice with pumpkin and sausages, or with fish Brodetto, a seafood broth. Rice is also prepared with eels, with ragù, cheese and porcini mushroom. Polenta is often served in place of pasta. It can be fried in butter or dressed with a sauce, cheese, meat or fish. Anguilla (eel) and polenta, polenta with ragù, polenta and sausages are common fare in the Ferrarese. As far as desserts are concerned: ciambella ferrarese is made with flour, eggs, butter and a little sugar; torta di mele is a sponge cake mixed with fresh apples sliced very thin; panpepato is a super rich chocolate cake with candied fruits and nuts, ginger, pepper and other spices and mandurlin dal pont are delicate and crispy cookies made with eggs, sugar and almonds.
For more information: www.streetdinner.it
- Natasha Lardera
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Dining, Emilia Romagna, Events, Fresh Pasta, Travelling | Tagged: Emilia Romagna, Events, Italian cuisine, Italian Regions, Travel | 
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Posted by radicchioblog
August 31, 2010
Several Italian news and travel web sites (www.siciliaonline.it and www.myluxury.com to name a couple) are reporting that Sicily has defeated Sardinia as the favorite summer destination of local and, mostly, international stars. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Elton John, Giorgio Armani, Sting and many more prefer the still uncompromising beauty of this island to the pretentiousness of a natural paradise that has been turned into a sort of circus by the wannabes. A round trip ticked to Palermo, this time of the year, starts at $523 on Meridiana (available only until mid September) but if you are like me, meaning you don’t have much time off so going all the way to Italy is practically impossible, you’d be happy to know that Sicily can be “tasted” in the East Village. At Cacio & Vino to be exact.
The menu is a never ending (but in a good way) and features some of the most traditional and flavorful Sicilian dishes (including Sarde a beccafico con cipollata,
baked Mediterranean sardines stuffed with bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins, orange zest, sweet and sour onions; Involtini di melanzane, stuffed rolls of eggplant with pine nuts, raisins, basil, pecorino cheese, tomato sauce; Spaghetti con pesto trapanese, homemade spaghetti, fresh tomato, basil, garlic and almond pesto; Gnocchi di fico e primosale, potato and fig gnocchi in a Sicilian cheese fondue sauce and Pesce spada all’agrodolce,
pan-seared swordfish in sweet and sour sauce with olives and onions and vegetable ratatouille.
Every time I go I am undecided on what to order as everything looks, and tastes so good, but one thing I know for sure is that I will order Caponata (as a cold appetizer). At Cacio e Vino caponata consists of Sicilian style sweet and sour eggplant, celery, olives, onions, served with chick pea fritters and goat cheese. Bursting with color and flavor, it is blend of eggplants and tomatoes, balanced with green olives, capers, celery, sugar and vinegar for its characteristic sweet and sour taste. Caponata can be served cold or at room temperature and it should be prepared a day in advance so the flavors will have time to blend and settle. It can be served with pasta, rice, or omelets but the more traditional way is to serve it as an appetizer with crackers or accompanied by fresh crusty Italian bread or, in the case of Cacio e Vino, with freshly baked pizza dough cut into small slices.
Enjoying it with a glass of wine while waiting for the next dish to arrive is absolute bliss.
- Natasha Lardera
1 Comment | Dining, Restaurants, Sicily, Vegetables | Tagged: Italian cuisine, Italian Regions, Sicily | Permalink
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June 9, 2010
As my personal quest for Italy’s unique destinations continues, I figured that after tasting the best of Tuscan cuisine I need to sip on one of my favorite Italian wines: Prosecco. What a better destination than the “Strada del Prosecco”? (Literally Prosecco wine road).
First known as the “Strada del Vino Bianco” (officially opened in 1966), this stretch of road leads you, for about 47 kilometers (29 miles), among the hills of Conegliano, Feletto, Quartier del Piave and Valdobbiadene all the way to the feet of the Prealpi mountains in the Veneto region. The trip starts in Conegliano exactly in the square where the castle is and it procedes throgh several towns: Costa, Rua, San Pietro di Feletto, Refrontolo, Pieve di Soligo, Solighetto, Farra, Colle San Martino, Guia, Santo Stefano and San Pietro di Borbozza. The road is drizzled with florishing vineyards, lovely communities that welcome old taverns, locandas and trattorias, and striking landscapes. Each participating locanda in town has to feature a plate that reads “Bottega del Vino”. This means that the business has been carefully reviewed by a group of experts in terms of quality of wines available for tastings and on sale, authenticity of the place and oenological knowledge of the staff. The review is done yearly, and who does not pass has to remove the plate. To be considered for qualification, each bottega has sell, no matter the season, the following wines: Bianchi dei Colli, in the dry and amabile varieties, and Prosecco and Cartizze, in dry, amabile, frizzante and spumante varieties. These great wines are paired with fresh baked bread, appetizers, cheeses and cold cuts.
For a place to stay: Villa Giustinian in Portobuffolè (TV) is an amazing villa that offers Prosecco-flavored stays. From June 6th to August 1st, a five-night stay features a tasting in a locanda, a meal in a local trattoria, a bottle of Prosecco and a relaxing vacation at the villa. From August 6th to the 8th fireworks will color your nights, while sipping Prosecco in one of the many locandas.
By Natasha Lardera
Leave a Comment » | Dining, Italian Regions, Sparkling Wines, Travelling, Veneto, Wining | Tagged: Italian Regions, Italian sparkling wines, Italy, Prosecco, Veneto | Permalink
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May 26, 2010
Translating Italian food terminology is not quite as easy as one might think. As a language, Italian has many variations in terms of local words used for the same object or in the case, dish. This is the case for poultry or pollame, in my view. Pollo is the word for chicken and you can find many recipes for Polla alla Cacciatora or other similar everyday dishes. Pollastrina which is also a member of the same family can be translated as a hen or as chicken depending on your source.
Italians also tend to eat more game meats and fowl than the average American so words like fagiano (pheasant) and faraona (guinea fowl) are household names are is piccione (pigeon) and coniglio (rabbit). Some weeks ago the New York Times had a very cute bunny on the cover with an entire section dedicated to rabbit recipes. There was a slight uproar in certain corners because it was the first time people were actually talking about rabbit as a food in a national newspaper. No Italian would have been scandalized. This is the same for eating some internal meats such as kidneys (rognone), trippa (intestines) and fegato (liver). Not to mention brains (cervello) and other delicacies. If none of this strikes your fancy, go back to things like pollo which are easy to say and even easier to prepare. Check out this blog post for a great recipe.
Buon Appetito.
-Susannah Gold
1 Comment | Cooking, Dining, Ingredients, olive oil | Tagged: Coniglio, Fagiano, Faraona, Fegato, Italian food terms, Picione, polla alla cacciatora, Pollastrina, Pollo, Rognone | Permalink
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May 24, 2010
The Spring season brings thoughts of gardening and planting. Many peopke plant herbs to grow and nothing is easier or more fun to have in the garden than Basil. Basil is used quite often in Italian cooking but also in Asia cooking, although it is a different cultivar. Italian basil is usually called sweet basil as opoosed to Thai basil or lemon basil.
Basil is usually added at the last moment because if it is cooked to long, the delicate flavors are destroyed.
Basil is one of the main ingredients in pesto which is usually served on pasta or occasionally with bread. You can also use pesto as a way to garnish soup.
The most traditional pesto recipe is called Pesto alla Genovese. Here’s a fun youtube video of a chef explaining how to make pesto, a very easy recipe.
Pesto has a few main ingredients and then some alternatives. Some pesto recipes call for adding potatoes and green beans, others do not. The mainstays of pesto are olive oil, pine nuts, basil and pecorino cheese.
Pesto is perfect for the spring and summer and is a great way to feed many people at a party. It goes very well with Italian white wines such as Vermentino, Pigato and some Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige.
If you have no desire to make pesto, you can buy it at the Alta Cucina Store.
-Susannah Gold
1 Comment | Cheeses, Dining, Italian Regions, Legumes, Liguria, Uncategorized, Wining | Tagged: Alta Cucina, Genova, green beans, Liguria, Pesto, pesto alla genovese, pigato, pinoli nuts, trenette, vermentino | Permalink
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May 12, 2010
A few steps from Union Square, pizza, one of America’s favorite foods, has improved its nutritional profile by featuring a tasty whole-wheat crust. Where? At Piola.
Piola is a pizzeria that offers really authentic cuisine, hand made specialties and wood oven cooked pizzas in a youthful and modern environment. Simple, healthy, and delicious food, attentive service and a laid back ambiance definitely satisfy even the most demanding customer… (and in New York City the Italians are really demanding when it comes to savoring their traditional dishes). The first time I tried it, it was just out of curiosity, the waiter had asked so I figured why not! But then I found myself looking for it every time I went back. Thinking that I was doing something good for my body made me automatically feel good.
Whole-wheat dough contains vitamins, minerals and fiber, some of which are lost in the refining process when dough is made from refined and processed flour. The main reason that so many people prefer processed pasta, to whole-wheat pasta, is that the processed pasta has a slightly different taste and texture than the whole-wheat variety, and many people have become accustomed to it. Truth is, with pizza, especially thin crust like the one served at Piola, you cannot really taste the difference and as you enjoy it you are also taking better care of yourself. It does cost an extra dollar, but it’s no news, by now I know that eating healthy is a bit more costly, but it’s totally worth it.
One last note: Piola also serves Pizza Bianca (pizza with no tomato sauce reminder of how pizza was before the tomato was introduced to Italy), Pizza Napoletana (smaller and with thicker edges) the Classics and some International variations (like Pizza Copenhagen with smoked salmon, brie cheese, parsley and mozzarella)
Leave a Comment » | pizzerias, whole-wheat | Tagged: Italian cuisine, Pizza, whole-wheat | Permalink
Posted by radicchioblog
May 6, 2010
Trippa or Tripe is often considered a delicacy in Italy despite having very humble origins, much like the craze for Roman peasant cooking that has taken New York by storm. In Florence for example Trippa alla Fiorentina is a very well known dish. Tripe is made from cow’s stomach and sometimes other internal parts. In Florence, tripe is often sold off of carts the way hot dogs are hawked on the streets of New York. A very famous version of Tripe in Florence is called Lampredotto, a well cooked version of the food. Florence isn’t the only place in Italy where tripe is well loved and tripe can be cooked in many ways as these recipes show.
Tripe is often cooked with tomatoes but it can also be flavored with mint, typical in Rome or cooked with an eggplant dish, a staple in Palermo or with parsley in Turin. Tripe is seen in menus throughout Italy and is used by traditional cooks and well as modernists.
In New York City, tripe can be found in many ethnic restaurants but it hasn’t yet created the splash that other parts of the quinto quarto or internal organs have. It will surely have its moment in the sun. It is just a question of time.
-Susannah Gold
Leave a Comment » | Cooking, Dining, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italian Regions, Piedmont, Sicily, Tuscany | Tagged: Florence, Friuli Venezia Giulia, internal meats, Italian humble dishes, lampredotto, Quinto quarto, Rome, tripe, trippa alla fiorentina, trippa alla romana, Turin | Permalink
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April 27, 2010
Food is a topic that is on everyone’s mind and these days what is genuine Italian is a hot topic. This evening, three owners of Italian Specialty shops in New York city will share their secrets and talk about smart shopping. The lecture is part of a series of six educational lectures organized by Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ and the Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani.
The panel includes Lou DiPalo of Dipalo’s Fine Foods whose family originally hails from Basilicata. DiPalo’s family opened its first shop in 1910. Today’s store is much larger than any of its previous incarnations and Lou’s son has opened his own wine shop next door.
The second guest at the lecture will be Louis Coluccio Jr of DColuccio & Sons in Brooklyn. Louis Jr. is very entertaining and passionate about food, especially those that his family has been importing for decades.
The third speak is Antonio Magliulo of Buonitalia in the Chelsea Market. Buonitalia is very well known in New York restaurant circles and many order directly from his wholesale business. There is also a lovely cafe’ within the premises and many consider it to have some of the best espresso in New York. All told, the evening should be exciting with tidbits and new information. I’m looking forward to going.
-Susannah Gold
8 Comments | Cheeses, Coffee Bars, Cooking, Cured Meats, Dining, Events, Fresh Pasta, Fruits, Grains, Ingredients, Restaurants, Uncategorized | Tagged: Anthony Magliulo, Buonitalia, Coluccio & Sons, Dipalo's, Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani, lectures on food, Lou DiPaolo, Louis Coluccio Jr., NYU Casa Italiana, Zerilli Marimo' | Permalink
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April 26, 2010
Whenever the munchies overcome my weak will power and I feel like something tasty but not too heavy that is authentic Italian and reasonably priced, one of my favorite destinations in NYC is Bocca. An elegant eatery in Gramercy, a neighborhood packed with culinary heavyweights, Bocca is a Roman restaurant that offers culinary specialties for every palate. Executive chef David Buico has designed lunch and dinner menus that feature the most savory old time Roman classics, like Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe, home made pasta served with precorino romano and coarse black pepper, Maccheroni alla Gricia, bronze casted and slowly dried pasta served with guanciale, coarse black pepper and pecorino di fossa, Maialino al forno e carciofi alla romana, slow roasted suckling pig with roasted fingerling potatoes and artichokes, and many other favorites.
But that’s not all – something else is worth mentioning, something that many restaurants don’t really pay too much attention to: the bar menu. At the bar it is possible to satisfy any craving and the crowd’s favorite is Supplì al telefono (Fried rice balls “on the phone”).
Filling yet smooth, Supplì al telefono is a dish that is very popular in Rome and it’s not unusual, when making risotto, to make some extra on purpose in order to make these delicious rice balls using the leftovers (common belief is that when the rice is older it holds together firmly so that the balls do not break during the frying process). The name comes from the dish’s visual effect, meaning that when you bite into the supplì the melted mozzarella that is hiding in the flavorful rice flows out in long strips, somehow resembling the cord connecting a telephone handset to the hook. Arborio and/or Carnaroli rice is perfect for making supplì.
Supplì can be seen as a variant of Sicily’s arancini or Naples’ palline di riso or as a kind of croquette.
By Natasha Lardera
2 Comments | Dining, Grains, Ingredients, Lazio, Rice | Tagged: Bocca NYC, Dining, Italian Regions, Lazio, rice | Permalink
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April 22, 2010
While visitors to New York might stop at Zabar’s or Dean and Deluca looking for local delicacies and foreign foods, no visit to the Northern Italian city of Milan would be complete without a stop at Peck. Peck is a Milanese institution and has been around since 1883.
Peck is renowed for both food and wine. It offers products for sale as well as prepared foods to take out and has a restaurant and a tea shop. It also has a very well stocked wine shop where you can find many foreigner as well as Italian wines, somewhat of a rarity.
Peck has also begun to sell some of its wares under a private label at airports in Italy so if you can’t make it to Milan but are flying through Italy, be sure to pick something up. They sell all sorts of sauces, pastas and olive oils made specifically for the store. The best way to sample Peck’s foods though is to come to Milan, a city which is much overlooked but which is always ready to welcome weary travelers.
Peck is located in the center of the city right near the Duomo of Milan in via Spadari. Try not to miss it on your next trip to the Lombard capital.
1 Comment | Cooking, Dining, Italian Regions, Lombardy, olive oil | Tagged: dean and deluca, duomo of milan, famous italian food store, italian delicacies, italian foods, Lombardy, Milan, peck, wines, zabars | Permalink
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