I drink a lot of wine. Am I making sense now? And coincidentally, two recent wines I really liked both featured chickens on the label. One was from Italy, and the other from the state of Washington; two of my favorite places for fantastic wine. And all that chicken labeling made me think about chicken jugs; one of my favorite ceramic pieces from Italy.
I know….it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but thankfully I’m not talking about wine made from chickens. (That would just be gross.) I am talking about chickens on the label and chicken jugs. Okay, maybe I’m not making sense yet. Let me start over. I drink a lot of wine. Am I making sense now? And coincidentally, two recent wines I really liked both featured chickens on the label. One was from Italy, and the other from the state of Washington; two of my favorite places for fantastic wine. And all that chicken labeling made me think about chicken jugs; one of my favorite ceramic pieces from Italy. Let’s start with the wine. The first one was a primitivo from Puglia, Italy. It comes from Primaterra Wines. I consider this a real bargain find; one of those wines I call a “case buy”. No, I haven’t bought a case though I probably should have, as we’ve gone through several bottles already, and I must admit to having a couple more waiting in my wine rack. It was about $10 and for that price, it really delivers. It’s nicely balanced making it an easy sipper. It goes well with food, but doesn’t Need food for it to taste good. I taste the bold and dark berry flavors I love; but it’s not too fruity. It has an alcohol content of 14.5%, so watch out, but really, it’s just delicious and at this price point, it could be my “house” wine. The second wine with a chicken (well, on second glance, it’s actually a rooster) on the label was a syrah from Jones of Washington http://www.jonesofwashington.com. It was one of the wines I poured at The Bite event in Portland last month and was featured by The Pacific Northwest Wine Club http://www.pnwc.com. It’s a nice bold wine with lots of dark berry, oaky, and leathery flavors. It too has a 14.5% alcohol level. (I seem to lean toward these for some reason.) Its winery won the 2012 Winery of the Year award for Washington State. I love this wine for its complex flavor and lingering taste. Now as I said, these “chicken wines” made me think about my Italian chicken jug. Italy, widely known for its ceramics is home to the chicken wine jug. Supposedly the chicken wine jug came about way back in the mid 1400’s when the Medici family was the ruling family of Florence. One of the members of an opposing family wanted to murder one of the members of the Medici family. When the assassins made their approach in the dark of night through a small village where the Medici family member had been attending a festival, the local chickens were awakened. They caused such a ruckus that the assassins were captured and received the fate originally intended for the Medici family member. The end result is that the ruling family member was so pleased with the chickens that he ordered ceramic chicken jugs made to commemorate the event. Since then, chicken jugs have been traditional gifts of good fortune and safekeeping……or so the story goes. Do you enjoy Italian wines? Do you love Italian ceramics? Me too! Join me on a tour of Italy featuring food, wine…….and even chicken jugs if you’d like. Booking now for Spring/Fall 2014. Drop me a line and let’s talk about your trip: irene@bellagiornatatours.com
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I’ve been obsessed with Norcia of late; since I realized I missed “Nero Norcia”. This festival spans two weekends at the end of February and the beginning of March, and celebrates all things having to do with black truffles. Norcia is located in the southeast of Umbria and though it is a little out of the way, it’s well worth a visit. Located near the Sibillini Mountains, Norcia is a hunter’s paradise, especially for hunters seeking the thrill of chasing a wild boar, or for foragers seeking truffles. As such, this little town is overflowing with really delicious earthy food. This is a town for steaks, sausages, and of course the ever prevalent black truffle. In fact, this town is so famous for its sausages and meats that there are shops (all over Italy) called “norcineria”. These shops sell nothing but pork products. These are the shops to look for when shopping for prosciutto, guanciale, coppiette, salumi, etc. There is another product the area of Norcia is famous for as well, and that is lentils or lenticchie. These are grown in the high plains of Castelluccio di Norcia. Grown at this altitude, in the shadow of the mountains, these lentils are very special. They are thin-skinned, but when cooked still maintain their shape and texture. Lentils are an important part of diets in many places around the world. I have eaten lentils in other countries and found them to be somewhat mushy and not to my liking; these however, are quite different. It wasn't until I lived in Italy that I began to appreciate lentils at all. Lentils from this area are so specialized as to have received “IGP” certification. This stands for Indicazione Geografica Protetta which stands for “Protected Geographic Indication” and is your guarantee they come from Castelluccio di Norcia. This recipe is for pork sausages with lentils, a very basic, very homey, very comfort food kind of meal…..one of my favorites! Here’s your list of ingredients: (Serves 4) Olive oil One garlic clove, smashed Pork sausages Onions, diced Carrots, diced Lentils (I used 200 grams which made enough for four people) 2 cups of water, plus a little more as necessary Fresh sage, chopped (or dried) This is a stove top recipe and the beauty of it is that it’s a one-dish meal. You just need one large skillet to get started. Heat your pan, give it a good drizzle of olive oil and toss in your smashed garlic clove. Rub the clove around in the oil a bit, and add the sausages. As the sausages are browning on one side, dice your onions and carrots. Turn the sausages over after the first side is brown. Move the sausages to the side of the pan and add the onions and carrots. (I would have used diced celery as well if I’d had any on hand.) Saute the onions and carrots for a bit before adding in the lentils. Mix the onions, carrots and lentils well, making sure they all get nicely coated with the olive oil and sausage fat that’s in the pan. Then gently pour in two cups of water. Bring the whole mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to keep it simmering. The lentils will need about 30 minutes to cook. Check in on them once in a while, adding a little more water if necessary and turning the sausages over now and then. After about half an hour, taste the lentils to see if they are done, and if they need some salt and pepper. I added some chopped fresh sage at the end. Be sure not to add too much extra water at any given time. The lentils should be absorbing the water; this is not a soup. And there you have it; salsicce con lenticchie. There really is something special about Italian sausages; I simply can’t get enough of them, and if you can’t find lentils from Norcia at your local store, drop me a line. Let’s go shopping together in Norcia! Travel with me and Bella Giornata Tours and you will never go hungry….I promise. mailto:irene@bellagiornatatours.com Yes, I mean Valentine’s Day. Have you thought about it yet? No? Then it’s about time you did. If you don’t know what to get her, lucky for you, I do. What could be more romantic than a trip to Italy for ten days? She will never forget her completely stress-free vacation with Bella Giornata Tours. Oh, the sights, the sounds, the food, the wine…sigh. She will be eternally grateful. A tour with Bella Giornata Tours is the perfect combination of escorted group activities and private down-time. A portion of every day is spent together exploring all the wonders Italy has to offer, while another portion of the day is set aside for you to explore, stroll, relax, and dine on your own. Our small group tours offer our clients very individualized attention and attention to detail. No gigantic buses, no long lines, no having to wear a neon colored scarf. Our privately-chauffeured van takes us directly where we need to go and our small group size along with your tour director (me!) makes sure everything goes smoothly. Bella Giornata offers several options for your trip-of-a-lifetime. 1) We offer trip planning for your private unescorted trip. You let us know when you’d like to go, how long you’d like to stay and we help you plan the perfect trip. We write itineraries for sights to see, routes to take, restaurants to dine at, wineries to visit, etc. so you don’t waste a single precious minute. We can also book your hotels, make restaurant reservations and purchase advance sightseeing tickets. 2) Sign up for one of the current escorted tour offerings. Click on the tabs for Spring and Fall, and see the tours currently booking. These are small group (six person) tours with privately chauffeured vans traveling to fantastic destinations. Read the blog with highlights of last October’s tour! 3) Don’t see dates that work for you for the escorted tours? That’s okay; we have other dates available. Simply let us know what your plans are, and we’ll work to accommodate them. 4) The escorted tours aren’t going where you want to go? Where do you want to go? Just let us know, and we’ll plan an itinerary and escort your small group on the perfect vacation. Contact me now at irene@bellagiornatatours.com. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. I meet the most wonderful people. I met Ersilia just a couple of months ago at my local Farmer’s Market. She was there in a booth, selling olive oil. Olive oil always attracts my attention, so I wandered over to take a peek and upon perusing the bottles, realized that several of them were from Umbria! Well, that started a conversation and as it turns out, Ersilia, an American of Italian descent, went to college in Perugia, speaks fluent Italian and is the owner of her own small business importing olive oil from around the world. It was through Ersilia that my recent tour group to Umbria had the pleasure of visiting frantoio Trampolini and sampling their wonderful olive oil firsthand. It’s also thanks to Ersilia that you are getting this lovely recipe for Olive Oil cake. This is a moist and delicious bundt cake. It keeps well, is a great everyday cake (yes, in Irene’s world, it is okay to eat cake every day), and would work great at a potluck. I baked it not long ago for my husband’s office and they enjoyed it immensely. What I love best about this cake is the amount of citrus zest in it, giving it a bright and lively flavor. Here’s your list of ingredients: 1 c. all purpose flour 1 c. whole wheat flour 1 ¼ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda Pinch of salt 4 eggs 1 ¾ c. light brown sugar, firmly packed 1 c. olive oil (Ersilia uses her Oro Verde Lucano, a light and buttery choice) 1 ½ c. milk Grated zest from one large orange and a lemon Confectioner’s sugar for dusting Grease and flour your bundt pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 and let’s get started: Combine the two types of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat together the eggs and brown sugar until thick and frothy. Slowly add the olive oil. Then add the orange and lemon zests and continue to mix well. Alternating in 2 batches, add ½ of the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Then add ½ of the milk, mixing until just blended with no lumps. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and remaining milk. Do not over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about one hour. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Loosen the sides with a knife and invert onto a serving plate. Dust the cake with confectioner’s sugar. (You’ll notice my pictures don’t show the cake dusted with confectioner’s sugar. That’s because sometimes, I can be a very impatient baker. Forget the decorating; I can barely wait for things to cool before I eat them.) This was today's breakfast along with a lovely cappuccino. Buon appetito and thanks Ersilia! If you too are interested in Ersilia's olive oils, visit her website: www.oliveoiloftheworld.com OR...... Sign up for one of my tours to visit an olive oil mill! GREAT NEWS! I've just published a new tour agenda for May. It's called "Girlfriends on the Go", and promises to be loads of fun. Grab five of your best friends, and Let's GO! You get a $100 discount for being the lead girlfriend and rounding up your best buds. I take over from there, doing all the work and planning for you, ensuring that you all have a Fabulous trip! For full details click on the tab for Spring 2013. Dear Diary, We started in Rome, meeting for the first time, and getting to know not only each other, but also the busy and hectic city. Out here in the country, the pace has been more relaxed, and we’ve had time to talk over leisurely meals, during strolls along medieval streets and during time spent traveling together in our van. As the tour winds down, we spend our final days in Umbria in the towns of Perugia and Spoleto before making our way back to Rome. October 10th has us in Perugia, where the group fans out on their own to sightsee for the morning. We meet up for lunch at a cute little osteria where we have a delicious light meal and a glass of wine together. First came a little appetizer plate followed by a delicious bowtie pasta with zucchini and sausage. Yum! After lunch we head to Frantoio Trampolini, the oldest olive oil mill in the Perugia area run by multi-generations of the Trampolini family. We have a fantastic time here as Alessandro explains to us how the olives are made into olive oil, and shows us a short DVD so we can see the process. Afterwards, we’re in for a real treat as in preparation for our arrival, they have built a fire in the fireplace and inserted the grill grate. Sure enough, they start toasting bread over the open fire, and serve it to us doused in beautiful olive oil and sprinkled with salt. It’s oh-so delicious and we munch away while we talk about the different varieties of oil and make lots of purchases. Bellies full, we return to Spoleto with plenty of time for everyone to relax, or stroll and sightsee before our group dinner. Dinner tonight is very special. Chef Michele at Ristorante Appolinare has prepared a delightful menu for us. He uses local and traditional ingredients, but prepares them with a special gourmet flair. His friendliness has us all charmed and in addition, he presents us with the wine corks from the very bottles we have consumed for dinner, made into key chains! The following day (Oct. 11th), after a morning to further explore Spoleto, we board our van to return to Rome. Some how, the van is much fuller than it was on the way to Umbria! Everyone has made purchases of olive oil, ceramics, cashmere, leather, cookies, grains, and of course….wine. Federico, our driver manages to make it all fit and helps us to unload as well when we reach Rome again. All that’s left now is our farewell dinner. Dinner tonight has been organized at our hotel in order to give everyone time to repack and reorganize for their flights home the following morning. Pipero al Rex, is a tiny, but very elegant restaurant serving intriguing gourmet food. It’s a good thing our waiter explains every course to us, or we might not know what we are eating! It’s all unique and delicious and we have a fun evening reliving the highlights of our time together the past ten days. It’s been an absolute joy getting to know this group. We’ve enjoyed each other’s company and seen and experienced so many fabulous things together. Farewell hugs all around, and they’re off to return home; bags filled with wonderful treats and hearts filled with a new found love of Italy. Arrivederci! Until we meet again.
Dear Diary, We start October 8th by boarding our lovely vehicle and making our way to Deruta; land of ceramics. What fun to stroll from shop to shop perusing all they have to offer. Then, as luck would have it, we are offered a spur of the moment backstage tour of the Gialletti Giulio shop and studio! We watch as the potter makes a vase lickety split, followed by a bowl with scalloped edges….all in about 2 minutes. We’re shown the giant kiln and are then amazed by the ginormous vat of underglaze each item is dipped into. The best part is getting to watch the artists at work. They are amazing…painting all the very delicate and intricate designs with a steady hand. Maybe they don’t drink as much espresso as I do. After hauling our purchases to the van, we make our way back to Todi for lunch and to get ready for cooking class. We have a delicious lunch in a restaurant with a stupendous panoramic view of the valley. It’s such a fabulous day to eat outside and soak in the natural beauty of the area. Everyone opts for something different; pizzas, various salads. We’re trying to eat light in anticipation of cooking class tonight. Our cooking class is held in a beautiful winery called Decugnano dei Barbi between Todi and Orvieto. It’s perfectly perched on a ridge with a view of Orvieto in the distance and row after row of grapevines falling away from every side. We take a tour of the winery and even get to see how sparkling wine is made and stored in the old Etruscan tombs. After the tour, we’re off to the restored chapel for cooking lessons. We’re joined by another small group to make: Focaccia bread, tagliatelle pasta with tomato and mushroom sauce, stuffed zucchini and brutti ma buoni cookies. What a great name for these cookies! It means, “ugly, but good”. Along with each course, we get to taste the wines made here. We had a long night last night. We spent five hours at the winery and made our way back to the hotel rather late. So Oct. 9th is a sleep-in morning. Yay! No alarm clocks. But by 11:00, we are off to Montefalco. For the first time, the weather is not cooperating. Since its raining so much, it’s hard to sightsee. What should we do? I know…let’s eat! We have a fantastic lunch; pasta cooked in Sagrantino wine, lentil soup…everyone chooses something different. But there’s one thing on the menu that we ALL seemed to want: roasted artichokes. Oh my! They melted in your mouth leaving the crispy brown edges to crunch on. Oh. So. Good. After lunch, we’re in for a real treat. We have a wine tasting at a winery that is so passionate about natural wine making. We tour the facility and are amazed to see the freshly picked Sagrantino grapes drying on their racks. Soon they will begin the process to become Sagrantino Passito, the famous sweet wine of the area. I have tasted many passiti from Umbria (I am either proud or ashamed to say), and the passito from Paolo Bea is simply the best. We’ve been busy the past two days and the trip is winding down….only two more days left on the tour, but there is still so much to see and do!
More coming soon, Irene Dear Diary, What a find today! Who knew you could have lunch in a horse stall? Today, on our way to Assisi, we have made reservations at an adorable little restaurant that used to be old animal stables back in the day. Thank goodness we arrived early, because the restaurant filled up quickly with hungry folks looking for great food cooked over an open flame. Most of us had grilled meats; sausages, pigeons, pork and also grilled vegetables. The onions had been grilled until they melted in your mouth, and the potatoes having been cooked in the ashes were soft and fluffy on the inside and crispy and charred on the outside. La Stalla was rustic, loud, and delicious. Now that our hunger has been sated, we move on to Assisi to stroll this beautiful hill top village. While there, we see sweet shops galore. Federico, the driver spies a chocolate concoction he has to try and Bruce goes for yet another gelato as does Luca, the son of our translator Holly who has joined us for the day along with Holly’s husband, Giovanni. (Maybe our hunger wasn’t completely sated afterall?) We work off our lunch and treats by wandering the beautiful streets and admiring the Basilica of St. Francis. The hills of Assisi have done their magic and made us hungry enough to tackle a nice dinner. We’ve moved on to Todi for the next two nights and are dining tonight at Pane e Vino, one of my favorite little spots. Fabio and Loredana have prepared a wonderful meal for us. We start with an assortment of crostini and a beautiful bottle of Sagrantino. We move on to a risotto with saffron and pumpkin and continue with a stew made with Sagrantino wine. Whew! Barely able to move, but still we can’t resist the dessert: A lovely piece of cake smothered in pastry custard and garnished with blackberry sauce. Time for a digestivo! What’s that, you ask? Well, we weren’t sure to be honest, so we asked Fabio to show us just what he had brewing in that giant vat of alcohol. Turns out, it was a massive wad of thyme. Highly unattractive, but when he filters it and refrigerates it, it becomes a “digestive”; a drink consumed in small quantity which is to help you digest your food. “When in Rome!” (Well, actually, we’re in Todi, but still…) And what's with the Christmas decorations, you might ask? Well, we were equally bewildered. Turns out, the previous weekend a film was being shot in town and they needed the town to look like it was Christmas time. All the shopkeepers decorated their windows as if it were Christmas. Christmas trees were hauled in, and lights were strung everywhere. Then, kind of jokingly, the restaurants thought to go ahead and serve Christmas menus. So after our delicious dessert, we got Christmas cookies (in October)! Merry Christmas from Todi!
Dear Diary, We start our Saturday with a dose of culture, but as usual seem to end in a haze of food and wine. (I don’t hear anyone complaining.) Our driver, Federico, takes us to the beautiful church, Santa Maria degli Angeli where we learn a little about St. Francis and admire the unbelievably unique and beautiful interior. I have visited a lot of different churches in my life, and this ranks as one of my favorites. (Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed inside.) Next up, we head to Torgiano where we stroll through a wine museum. There we see a giant old hand press which takes up the entire lower floor of the museum and used to be used to press wine back in the day when slaves were used to turn the cranks. We also view all kinds of ancient ceramic, glass, terra cotta and wooden vessels which were used to hold wine over the centuries. In addition, there is a large amount of beautiful artwork depicting ancient scenes of wine debauchery and viniculture. This is followed by a short walk over to the nearby olive oil museum where among other things, we view photographs of how olives were harvested in the past and see a beautiful collection of old oil lamps and artwork. We have worked hard all morning and deserve a glass of wine for our efforts, and so we raise a glass at the osteria which belongs to the museum. And now that we’ve had just a taste of wine on our lips, we crave a little more. So we head to nearby Bevagna for a visit with Fabrizio Antano, the owner of a delicious little winery. He has agreed to meet us in his shop in town for a wine tasting, and we find his many generous pours oh, so delicious. His “samples” seriously rival some of the actual pours I have paid for in New York City! Who knows whether it’s the flavor of the wine, the generosity of the pours, or the friendliness of Fabrizio (or maybe all three?); we purchase a fair amount between us. As we gather our bags and boxes and head out the door, Fabrizio holds me back and hands me a giant magnum of my favorite Sagrantino. “It’s a gift”, he says (in Italian). “I want everyone to share it together at their next meal.” We are overwhelmed by his generosity and when I tell everyone what he has done, they all go back for hugs and kisses. We end our day together with a lovely lunch back in Spello at La Cantina. We call the restaurant ahead to make sure it’s okay for us to roll in our giant bottle of wine, and they readily assent. We have a delicious lunch featuring rabbit served in a lemon caper sauce, and beautiful, fresh vegetables that have been baked with a breadcrumb topping. And….a wonderfully lush bottle of Sagrantino! Thank you Frabrizio! It’s been a good day. We’ve seen a lot, done a lot, eaten a lot (okay, we drank a lot too), and we still have the bulk of the afternoon ahead of us. Everyone has time to be on their own, choosing to either stroll, relax, explore, or shop. Spello……ahhhhh!
A domani, Irene Let’s talk wine…… I am not a sommelier. I am not a wine connoisseur. But….I know what I like. And I like Italian reds, especially the ones from Umbria. Meet Sagrantino….and Passito. These are the signature wines of Umbria. They are produced from 100% Sagrantino grapes, and carry the DOCG label signifying their authenticity. They are beautiful to look at; deep ruby red, bordering on purple….so dark you can’t possibly see through them; just the way I like it. Swirl your glass and watch those beautiful legs form. Take a whiff of the Sagrantino; such a unique aroma. My husband’s nose is far better than mine. He can tell when he’s sniffing a Sagrantino. He calls it, “seductive” and says, “It implores you to taste it”. Take a sip. Oh my. Sagrantino is a wine that begs to be consumed with food. To me, it is not a sipping wine before dinner. It belongs with hearty foods; foods from Umbria; foods that I love. We’re talking steaks, sausages, wild boar stew, salami, gorgonzola cheese, olives. This is a strong wine, high not only in alcohol content, but also in flavor. It is earthy, intense, full-bodied, robust and oh, so delicious. My favorite combo: crostini covered in melted gorgonzola, drizzled with local honey and washed down with Sagrantino. Swoon. After you’ve had your fill of the fantastic Umbrian food and several glasses of Sagrantino, it’s time to move on to Passito. What is it exactly? It’s the sweet version of Sagrantino. Sweet Passito dessert wine has been in existence far longer than Sagrantino. It was made by monks hundreds of years ago. It’s beautiful to look at and even more wonderful to sip. Have it with little tozzeti for dessert. It also pairs beautifully with chestnuts and strong cheeses. This dark, sweet nectar-of-the-gods is the perfect after dinner wine. And when you order it in an Umbrian restaurant, they are quite generous with the pour.....lucky you. October wine tour travelers are in luck! We will taste both of these wines….a lot. |
Italophile......
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