Showing posts with label The Italian Wine Report - May 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Italian Wine Report - May 2010. Show all posts

Thursday, June 03, 2010

In Praise of Street Food ~ La Milza

Palermo ~ La Vucciria - Then and Now


Palermo - La Vucciria - August 1971

Once upon a time I went to Sicily as a young man. My family lived in the historic center of Palermo, and that was my base. My uncle, Peppino, was a tall man who walked fast. And I would follow him on his daily walks through Palermo, going to the bank, the post office, the market. When we walked though La Vucciria, the open aired market, we would arrive through the small vicolo (think piccolo + via = small streets) where barely a Vespa could make it through. But one day, I ventured out by myself, alone with my camera. I didn’t know it but that day would make me a fan of street food for the rest of my life.

Prior to that day, I had known fast food as maybe McDonald’s, or Taco Bell. In the 1960’s it might not have been as processed as it is today. But no matter, the fast street food of Palermo 40 years ago and today are more similar than not. The famous sandwich, known as the spleen sandwich, has many names. According to Roberta Gangi, “the old Sicilian word was vastedda or vastidda.”This humble panino also goes by the name Pane con la Milza or Pane cà Muesa. Gangi writes "It has been suggested that spleen was first popularised by Palermo's Jewish community, but this is not known with certainty." Could this have been an ancient precursor to the modern-day deli sandwich?


Palermo - Centro Storico - May 2010

Last week, I went down a staircase in my hotel room and found myself in a sealed courtyard. At one end (it was a Sunday) there was a private dining room with some sort of reception. The room was “guarded’ and I wasn’t going to ask them for directions. I headed towards the street, past rusting cars and feral cats. I found a door, but it was locked. After a few minutes I figured out the code to open the door. Finally escaping, I came upon the Antica Focacceria S. Francesco, famous for elevating and restoring the prestige of Palermo’s street foods. Their menu has an homage to the “Cibo del Strada” with items such as Arancine (sfera di riso, ragù di carne, piselli) , Caponata (melanzane, salsa di pomodoro, capperi, sedano, olive, aceto, zucchero, olio e. vd oliva Mandranova, mandorle tostate), Focaccia Maritata (pane, milza, polmone, strutto, ricotta fresca, trucioli di cacio cavallo), Panelle (frittelle di farina di ceci), La Vecchia Palermo (moffoletta, pomodorini, acciughe, caciocavallo, oregano), Crocchè, Quarume, Sarde a Beccafico, Stigghiole and Zucca in Agrodolce- foods that I saw on my grandmothers table, alongside the menu alla Monzù that she also prepared.

I never made to the Antica Focacceria S. Francesco this time (interesting story about the place, here). Our itinerary was complete. But I heard wonderful jazz floating out the windows on a late night back from an evening out, and I saw a wine bar that I’d like to try (word to Anthony: this might be a place to check out when you are there).

Still I have wonderful memories of walking Palermo under the hot August sun, photographing in the streets, writing poetry on a typewriter with only 22 letters and sneaking the occasional Pane cà Muesa, while my aunt and uncle napped and dreamt their Sicilian dreams.


Pane ca' Meusa - the preparation




And yes, this still occasionally being a wine blog, what wine would I have with this sandwich? I would have whatever cold white wine is available nearby, likely made from Catarratto or Inzolia or Grillo. Nothing "important."

If pressed I would gladly reach for a Zibibbo secco, like the Gibelê, from Carlo Pellegrino's Duca di Castelmonte. We had it on Favignana Island and it was beyond lovely.



Two good videos showing the philosophy
and the preparations of Pane ca' Meusa






Tuesday, June 01, 2010

The Italian Wine Report ~ May 2010

For some reason, Blogger decided to implement a process called "Auto Pagination", which limits how much you can have on your front page. Because of that only 5 (or 6) posts load and it is difficult to access the archives. I am presently working on a fix, but in the meantime, I am posting the links for all the posts I did on my recent swing through Italy in May. In case you missed one or two or just wanted one place to find them all. I know I posted a lot, and many people just don’t have the time or interest to keep up with it. But if you were looking to catch up or just have all of them listed in one place, I will post the list after the break.

Thanks for reading and feeding my obsession with the wine trail in Italy. I cannot tell you how much your notes of thanks and encouragement mean to me.

Friday, May 07, 2010
Artusi, Taglierini & Cheese Cake Friday

Saturday, May 08, 2010
Two-fer Sabato ~ Two Suits, Two Shoes & Two Tailor Saturday

Sunday, May 09, 2010
Simone Capecci, please call me!

Monday, May 10, 2010
Pasta Porn & Gamberone

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
An Antonioni Set in a Noir Ortona

Wednesday, May 12, 2010
What Makes Italian Wine "Important?"

Thursday, May 13, 2010
The 1000 Kilometer March

Friday, May 14, 2010
Under the Tuscan Big Tree

Saturday, May 15, 2010
Steve gets his pasta on in Rome

Monday, May 17, 2010
Sicily ~ Everything We Know is Changing

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sicily ~ Under the Windmill

Sunday, May 23, 2010
Rendezvous with Roma

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Duty of Hospitality
Not really part of the wine report from Italy, but it found it's way into the mix.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Eating your heart out

Friday, May 28, 2010
Making a Case for Italian Wine

Saturday, May 29, 2010
Vino Cotto ~ My Elisir d'amore

Sunday, May 30, 2010
Swept Away on a Sunday for a Sicilian Sojourn

Later addition
Thursday, June 03, 2010
In Praise of Street Food ~ La Milza


Sunday, May 30, 2010

Swept Away on a Sunday for a Sicilian Sojourn

From an unusual destiny in the blue sea of May dept...

I’m crazy about islands. In fact, my bucket list has every island off the coast of Italy. I’m about halfway there.

Favignana is close to my beloved Pantelleria, about an hour or so from the port of Marsala. On my recent swing through Sicily I took the opportunity to sail (on a 52'er) to Favignana. It was one of those gorgeous days that make one want to chuck it all, sell everything, buy a boat and sail the Mediterranean for the rest of one’s life.

At the port of Favignana (the picture of the houses on the port were re- imagined by yours truly) the scene was serene. But in a month or so the place will be hopping. Once a vital port for the harvesting of Tuna (the Mattanza is famous here) now Favignana is a sleepy little island. It feels so Greek to me, like Paros. But of course there is great pasta and seafood and the wine, the wine. Tonight with friends we will recreate some of that with the capers and the bottarga and the Ventresca di Tonno Rosso that I lovingly smuggled back home.

So feast your eyes on these little vignettes of a day spent in joy among the wind and the sun and a little speck of earth in the middle of the sea somewhere in a place and time called Sicily.

Our two Sicilian sailors (sailing with their hands, of course)




Favignana Port re-imagined as Burano




Pasta as one can only dream of...






Pack your bags, Marco!


Saturday, May 29, 2010

Vino Cotto ~ My Elisir d'amore

Last night we drove to Ft. Worth to the Bass Hall for a performance of Donizetti’s L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixir of Love). Fitting coincidence, as I have been thinking about dessert wines after my recent swing through Southern Italy. It seems every region has a passito or some kind of vin santo wine. But this time the wine that I zeroed in on I found both in Abruzzo and Basilicata.

I first encountered vino cotto in Ortona at the Ristorante al Vecchio Teatro. I was spying the cooler of Abruzzo wines in the restaurant when I saw a large hand blown bottle of wine. I asked chef Armando Carusi what it was. “It is my grandfather’s vino cotto,” he said. And he proceeded to pour me a glass.

As I sat back down at the table, another winemaker looked over at me and asked what I had. When I told him, he said, “They don’t know how to make vino cotto well. They make it the old way. My vino cotto is better; I need to send you a bottle and you will know what really good vino cotto is,” he blustered.

Indeed the grandfather’s wine was from another time. It was sherried, and acidic and almost bitter. But it felt so real. I imagined this wine would serve as a wonderful digestive for the meal I had just had and I thanked the chef for the pleasure of the glass he shared with a stranger. It was really one of those sweet moments one gets when one strays off the tourist trails.

My second encounter was a week later, in Basilicata. Paolo Montrone, who oversees operations at Terre degli Svevi's Re Manfredi winery, had us at the winery as guests for lunch. His wife and two other women cooked an unforgettable feast of fresh vegetables, pasta and two kinds of meat to go with a gorgeous Muller Thurgau/Traminer white blend, an off-the-charts beautiful Aglianico rosé and a vertical of Aglianico going back to 1998. Wow, I was in heaven, and my reward was Aglianico. Then an amazing display of cookies and pastries were presented to the table.

I left my heart in Re Manfredi

Paolo, who resembles a well-fed Tony Bennett, stepped away from the table and minutes later appeared with a carafe of warm red wine. From Aglianico grapes, he brought his version of Vincotto (as they called it in Basilicata). This time the wine was deeper in color (not a surprise, seeing as Aglianico is a heavily pigmented and polyphenolically rich grape). I had stepped away from the table to take a picture and when I returned I saw that he had served everyone.

When I asked Paolo for a little glass to try as well, he looked at me funny but in a 1/1000th of a second kind of way. As I took the wine up to smell he looked a little nervous. And as I went to taste the wine I could sense even more trepidation, coming not just from him but from the rest of the locals in the room. Thank God I can sometimes sense these 1/1000th moments, and I drew the glass away and set it down. I then picked up one of the cookies and procceded to dip it in the warm, sweet elixir. The room melted in ease, assured that I wasn’t some American yokel who didn’t understand their customs. Dumb luck on my part, but a lesson, once again, to me, not to underestimate the traditions and the customs but to work to always be open and available for an autochthonous experience.

In Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore, the elixir is a bottle of Bordeaux. I couldn’t but help laugh last night at the joke. The traveling salesman, Dr. Dulcamara, pawns a bottle of French wine off on poor love sick Nermorino. Thinking he has gotten the mother of all love potions, Nemorino proceeds to carry the farce of the opera out to its happy conclusion. But I was thinking all the way home, how my Dr. Dulcamaras pressed these ancient wines upon me and how they indeed cast a spell upon this equally love sick traveler. In love with Italian wines and sick that folks back home will rarely get a chance to see and taste and feel and smell such wonderful wines in such a rich and enchanting country.

Maybe we’ll have to do something about that in the future.



Friday, May 28, 2010

Making a Case for Italian Wine

2004 Montepulciano Passito Clematis from Zaccagnini

As promised, images from the last Italian wine trail journey. Twelve wines that crossed our paths, twelve singular experiences. But without the food, the people, the places, they are meaningless. Hence you will find no tasting notes, only captions and images. Breathe deep, you can almost smell them, and if you have an open imagination you are already there, on the wine trail in Italy with us.

Buon weekend y’all!

2009 Montepulciano d''Abruzzo Cerasuolo from Illuminati


2009 Cococciola Aer Terre di Chieti IGT


2008 Pecorino Ciprea Offida DOC from Podere Capecci San Savino


1997 Valentini Montepulciano d' Abruzzo


Rattafia Elisir d'Abruzzo Michele Jannamico & Figli (Montepulciano & Amarena)


2009 Rapitala Casali Sicilia IGT


Duca di Castelmonte Gibelè Zibibbo secco Sicilia IGT


1961 Chianto Classico - Castello di Bossi


Vino Cotto di Nonno - Abruzzo (made by chef's grandfather)


2001 Serpara Aglianico del Vulture from Re Manfredi ~ Terre degli Svevi


Vincotto of Aglianico from Terre degli Svevi winemaker's personal stash




Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Eating your heart out

Stepping onto the scales this week at the doctor (“You’ve gained two pounds, Mr. Cevola”) caused me to pause and look back at some of the great meals I had on this last Italian wine trail work/adventure. From Emilia Romagna to Marche to Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Sicily, Tuscany and Rome, what a trip it was. Here’s a little eye candy, sans traffic cones. Food, beautiful food.

Wines for another time. Sailing pix in the Mediterranean too. I reckon if one's gonna gloat, one's gotta flaunt the yacht shots, eh?





















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