Antonelli Vineyards

Thursday dawned and off we set for the Antonelli Vineyards.  The vineyards are located in Montefalco and provide a beautiful look down into the valleys surrounding it.

We were guided around on our tour by Wendy, who was very knowledgeable and friendly, not only about the winery, but the surrounding area.  After seeing where they age the wine and bottle it, we were treated to a lunch with wine tastings.  First up was the Grechetto, which was paired with antipasto.  The Grechetto is made from 100% Grechetto grapes.  It is aged in stainless steel vats and then aged in bottles for 3 months.  It is meant to be drunk as soon as possible.  This isn't a wine you age in your cellar for years.  It has a good fruit smell to it and pairs well with starters, fish and grain dishes.

We ate it with some salami, prosciutto, local cheese, roasted eggplant, toast with olive oil, onion omlette and a local pizza that was made with bread and prosciutto.  Next up was the Montefalco Rosso.  It was paired with a pasta dish made with local spelt flour.  Something interesting that I learned about spelt is that it is not a hybrid grain.  It is the same now as it was 500 years ago.  Because of this, some think that it doesn't cause allergies like some grains can now.  Anyway, back to the wine.  The Montefalco Rosso is made of 65% Sangiovese grapes, 15% Sagrantino grapes, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot.  It is aged first for 9 months in oak casks, cement casks for 3 months and finally in the bottle for 6 months.  Each different part is aged in the oak casks individually before being blended in the cement casks.  The final product again has a fruit nose and is not overpowering.  Our wine was paired with a local pasta mixed with zucchini and cheese.

The pasta has a nice, nutty texture that pairs very well with the wine.  The cheese was somewhat strong, but not overpowering and also worked well with the wine and pasta.  Next up was the Sagrantino di Montefalco, which is made from 100% Sagrantino grapes.  It is aged for 6 months in French oak barrels, then a further 9 months in a different type of Oak cask.  It is then aged for three months in the cement vats and bottle aged for 12 months.  This wine is suitable for further aging.  It is a rich wine that is very complex.  It is a wine that needs to be drunk with food.  It's not one that you sit down to after a hard day at work and some triscuts.  It needs meat paired with it.  If you take a sip of it before you eat a piece of meat, then after, you can really taste the difference.  Up last was the Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito, a dessert wine.  It was paired with wine cookies and a wine cake.  Both were fantastic when paired with the wine.  The Passito is also made with 100% Sagrantino grapes.  It is aged in Oak casks for 15 months, then cement casks for 3 months and then bottle aged for 12 months.  It is a very delicate wine.

After our fantastic tasting, we headed over to Bevagna.  It is a medieval town where they still hold a festival every year where everyone comes out in medieval dress.  There is still a gentleman there that makes paper the old fashioned way.  The very old fashioned way.  It was neat to see how they made it and the time that it took.  You take for granted that all you have to do now is head on down to the store and get a pack of paper.  Then, it took several days to make just half that amount.  We headed back to Preci for dinner since we were all somewhat tired.

Siena/Orvieto

While Jan and Bill were here, we decided on a little overnight trip to Siena.  We all climbed into the the car and set off.  We got checked into our hotel and decided that we wanted to grab some lunch.  We ended up eating in the square there where they run the Palio every year.  Needless to say, it was a tourist trap and overpriced for what it was.  For example, we have been paying around 10-15 Euros for a bottle of wine.  The cheapest on their menu?  30 Euros.  Rip off.  Jan and I split spaghetti carbonara.  I do remember that it was good.  It wasn't great.  I even forget what I had as my main course.  That's how unmemorable it was.  Jan and I then decided to climb the tower.  It seemed like a great idea at the time.  It wasn't a great idea halfway up.

Jan and I, naturally, assumed that we burned off enough calories for a bottle of wine.  That being said, the view from the top was incredible.

After climbing down, we met up with Bill and Lynn and headed off to see the sights of Siena.  One of my favorites was this:

Only kidding.  I didn't get gelato from here.  In fact, I really haven't eat all that much of it.  I know there are some out there that won't want to hear that.  But it's the truth.  My real favorite was the Duomo there.

After sight-seeing, we made our way back to the piazza to have drinks and a light dinner.  It truly was a nice day in Siena.  The next morning, we were up and on our way to Orvieto.  After sight-seeing in Orvieto, we made our way to lunch.  The place we choose was actually not on our list of places, but seeing as every place we tried was closed or couldn't be found, we ended up here.  I am sure glad that we did.

For my starter, I opted for the asparagus lasagna.

It was fantastic!  The pasta was tender, the asparagus was done perfectly and the amount of cheese on it was fantastic.  It was well seasoned and so darn good.  I wish that I had opted to get it as my main course too.  Jan ordered some raviolo stuffed with walnuts and cheese.

I tried a bit of hers, and while I liked it, it could in no way compare to the lasagna.  For my main course, I got chicken in a cream sauce with more asparagus.  It wasn't as good, but then nothing could compare to the lasagna.  It was that good.  With the meal, we ordered a bottle of local wine.  Hey, there were four of us.

We thought that after lunch we would take a quick trip to the winery.  We called ahead and found out that we could get a tour and a tasting, so off we set.  Well, we never did find it.  The directions were poor to begin with and the address we had took us nowhere.  Thankfully, we did find another vineyard, Cantina Altarocca.  There, we tried their 6 wines that they produced.  They made three whites and three reds.  It was nice to sit outside and see the countryside and watch a storm roll in.

After our wine tasting, we headed back to Preci for a light dinner and relaxation.

Cooking class in Norcia

On Monday, we set off for Norcia, where Jan, Bill and I were taking a cooking class.  Our teacher for the day was Flavio.  Flavio is the executive chef at Palazzo Senica, the hotel/restaurant where we took our class.  On the menu for the day: oil poached local trout, gnocchi, tagliatelle and a poached egg appetizer.  The class consisted of myself, Jan, Bill and a lovely couple from Canada.  Flavio had to go back and forth between English and French, and thankfully, he did both very well.

We started out with the trout.  Please be aware that I am going to alternate between Celsius and Fahrenheit since I missed some of the differences in temperature.  The same goes for weights of things for the pasta/gnocchi.  Heat olive oil up to 55 C and add chives, lemon thyme, sage, marjoram and oregano.  All fresh if you please.  Keep the oil at 55 C for an hour with everything in it.  Then remove from the heat.  If you are in somewhat of a hurry, you can then add your fish that you have cut into bite sized pieces.  If you are not in a hurry, let the oil sit overnight to get all the flavors that you can out of the herbs.  Once you are ready to poach the fish, let the oil come back to 55 C and add the fish slowly.  Make sure the fish is on the thin side (in terms of thickness).  Our fish was max 1/4 inch thick.  We also added fresh crayfish tails, still in their shell, to the oil.  Those poached for 8 minutes.  It was served with a balsamic reduction, trout eggs, salt flake and green ground pepper.

Always make sure that you garnish with something edible, and that matches the flavors in the dish.  You can also keep and reuse the oil, but only to poach the same fish.  Make sure you strain it before you store it.  You can always try other flavor combinations- duck with some orange flavored olive oil, smoked salt oil, chocolate flavored oil.  The end result is tender fish that looks raw, but isn't.  It is so tender and so full of flavor.  It worked really well with the salt flakes and the green pepper. There was also the bite from the balsamic.

Next up was an egg appetizer that may have changed the way I look at poached/soft boiled eggs.  The eggs seem poached, but they really are soft boiled.  Cook your eggs in water that is 55 C for one hour.  Make sure they are still in their shells!  You can do this a day or two ahead of time.  Once you are ready to eat them, line an oval shaped silicon mold with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.  Then sprinkle on some breadcrumbs that are flavored with fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil (achieved by mixing in a food processor).  Then carefully crack the eggs (one per mold).  Then top with more breadcrumbs and a bit more extra virgin olive oil.  Bake at 400 F for 5 minutes (or longer if you don't like runny yolks).  While that is baking, grate some fresh Parmesan into little square silicon molds and microwave for 1 minute (no more!!).  This gives you little Parmesan crisps for garnish.  Also, if you are really lucky, you have made some ricotta spuma (blend up until smooth some ricotta salata, olive oil and salt to taste, then transfer into an aerator can- voila!).  Put a squirt of spuma on/in the serving dish, top with the egg that you have carefully removed from the mold and top with the crisp and some basil as garnish.  Drizzle with olive oil if so desired.

I have to admit that before, I had an aversion to eating soft boiled eggs and poached eggs.  Maybe it was because I always got them when they were lukewarm and so the texture was off.  But these eggs...it was so rich, but then lightened by the time that you got a spoonful of the spuma.  You could taste the fresh basil in the breadcrumbs, which added a nice little crunch, along with with crisp.  Just writing about them makes me want them and my mouth water.

Finally, we finished off the day, with what else, pasta and gnocchi!!  Two of my favorite foods, especially when I want carbs.  And there is cheese involved.  Or butter.  Or both.  Preferably both.  To make the pasta that they make here, I can assure you that you need special ingredients.  They are: flour, eggs, salt and olive oil.  Flavio told us that in the north, they use egg yolks only, so you need 2.2 kilos of flour, 35 egg yolks, salt and oil to taste.  In the south/central, they use 2.2 kilos of flour to 10 eggs, salt and oil to taste.    I know this makes a lot, but you can go ahead and make it all or half or whatever.  Then, after it has been cut into the desired shapes, frozen and then cooked from frozen.  We only made a small portion per person, so it was one egg and 100 grams of flour, salt and oil.

Make a well in the center of your flour and add the egg, salt and oil.  Using a fork (or your fingers) break the yolk and slowly start to move around the flour well, incorporating a bit of the the flour at a time.  After the flour has been incorporated, kneed until the dough is firm and smooth.  No flour bits here!  Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.  After ten minutes, roll out using either your hands and a rolling pin, or a pasta machine.  Start at one of the thicker settings and slowly work through the machine until you can read a newspaper through it.  Let rest for a bit while you work out the rest of the dough in a similar manner.  Once done, you can roll it and cut into various shapes for various purposes.  If you do decided to roll it out, do it on a wooden table.  That way, it gets some of the roughness from the wood and holds the sauce better.

For gnocchi, bake potatoes at 400 F for an hour on a bed of rock salt.  This will help absorb the moisture in the potatoes.  Let cool so that you can handle them and then peel them.  You will need 2.2 kilos of mashed potatoes plus 300 grams of flour.  Work softly until it comes together.  Make sure that you use high starch potatoes for this.  You can season with salt and nutmeg if you so desire.  Mix well, divide into sections, then roll out into little logs.  Then, cut the gnocchi into pieces about 1/4 inch wide.  Using a fork and your thumb, place the gnocchi on the fork and roll off gently with your thumb so that you get an indentation.  

Our finished gnocchi.  For the sauce for the pasta, take tomato puree, olive oil, basil and salt.  Heat over low heat until just heated through.  Do not stir!  I know it goes against every instinct.  Put the spoon down!!  Just swirl around in the pot.  Be careful that it doesn't boil.  My eye knows what hot tomato sauce feels like.  Cook the pasta for 2 minutes in boiling, salted water.  Toss with the tomato sauce, top with some homemade ragu that you have had simmering for three hours and top with Parmesan cheese.  For the gnocchi, just melt butter.  Don't let it foam, or really heat up and start to pop.  Add some fresh sage.  Don't fry the sage!  Remember, the butter shouldn't be to hot.  Cook the gnocchi in boiling, salted water until they float.  Then, toss in the sauce.  Serve.  You can always add cheese if you feel like it.

What's that?  You don't have a fresh made ragu that has been simmering for hours on the stove?  What is wrong with you?!?  Ok, fine.  Sweet some minced carrot, celery and onion (one of each, please) in some olive oil.  Then, using some top quality beef with fat in it (80/20), add the ground beef, then some peeled and rough chopped tomatoes (seeds removed of course).  You can add garlic, but keep it whole so that you can remove it.  The same goes for the sage and rosemary that you can toss in as well.  It really comes down to the quality of the ingredients in something like this, so keep that in mind.  Finish off the meal with a great glass of local white wine.

Spello- La Cantina

Two of Lynn's friends (and, now of course, my) came to visit us for a week.  Jan and Bill from Austin are two of the sweetest and most down-to-earth people that you would ever hope to meet.  They arrived on a Saturday and so we kept it simple that night.  I made a home cooked meal of veal, potatoes with caramelized onions and roasted asparagus with Parmesan.

However, on Sunday, they were ready to go and explore.  We decided to head over to Spello.  Spello is about an hours drive to the north west.  Sadly, it was raining, but that did little to dampen our mood.  After much research (ok, it was more like 15 minutes) on Trip Advisor, I decided that lunch at La Cantina would be it for us.  So, we got there and parked.  And walked up hill.  And walked up hill some more.  After all the walking, I decided that I had burned off enough calories so that I could eat a lot.  I am glad I made that decision.

I thought La Cantina would be a large place, but it isn't.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table which has never happened since I have been here.  Straight off I am enamored with the place because of this...  

I was somewhat tempted to try and steal it, but I thought they might have noticed their light fixture missing.

We were finally seated and the owner came over.  We ordered two bottles of wine and some fantastic food.  We asked what he would recommend and he said everything since it all comes from either his family farm or from local sources.  Can't beat that.  Both Bill and I opted for the paparadelle with wild boar ragu to start with.  Lynn and Jan ordered the gnocchi with butter sauce and truffles.

Both were fantastic.  The pasta was homemade and the wild boar...heavenly.  The gnocchi with truffles...rich yet light at the same time (somehow).  For my main course, I opted for the Chicken Cacciatore.

The verdict...drool worthy.  Of course, when I think of chicken cacciatore, I think of something with a thicker sauce.  This was light and flavorful.  You could taste the freshness of the herbs and the tomatoes.  The chicken was fall off the bone tender.  I am making myself even more hungry than I am by thinking about it.

Of course, as I said, we had two bottles of wine.  A red and a white.  If I haven't said it before, when in Italy, get a local wine with your meal.  It won't (usually) cost an arm and a leg.  Plus, it compliments the food better, in my opinion.

In case you can't make it out, the one on the left is a Montefalco Rosso (red) wine.  The one on the right is a Sportoletti white.  Both of these went very well with our meal.  We started out with the white and then moved on the the red.  Neither of them were very heavy or overpowering.  I would recommend either of these wines in a second.  Then again, since I have been here, I would recommend any wine that I have had for the most part.

We did get a dessert- a custard with saffron in it.  Wow.  Just wow.  There was only the slightest bit of saffron in it, but it changed the dessert entirely.  The otherwise sweet dessert was cut through by the slight spice from the saffron.  Mixed with the vanilla in the custard...it was the perfect for dessert for a day that was wet and somewhat cold.

Before we left, the fantastic owner gave us some grappa.  That stuff will put hair on your chest.

The only thing that I can say about La Cantina is that I might just move to Spello so that I can eat there...everyday.

    

  

Brescia/Verona/Padua- Part 2

After breakfast in our hotel, we drove to Vicenza for the day.  Vicenza is a town that has a lot of buildings that were designed by Palladio.  It truly is a beautiful town.

However, when we got there, we found out that most of the places that we wanted to see were closed.  Thankfully, we were able to see the Olympic Theater.  The theater was built in the 1500s in the style of an ancient Greek theater.  The stage (the top picture) was built to resemble an ancient street.  It is still set that way, so that the plays performed there must be classical in origin.  It can be difficult to see "Death of a Salesman" in an ancient Greek street.  After seeing the theater, we headed to lunch.  We ate at a little wine bar called Mi e...lu.  I started with some pasta and then got the veal escallops.  It was a cute little place with a great wine selection (since it was a wine bar after all...).  The menu was hand written on a chalkboard and freshly made (save for the pasta).  After lunch, we got some gelato.  So good!  I got meringue and stracciatella- vanilla with chocolate pieces swirled in.  

Yes, you read that right.  Meringue gelato.  It tasted just like a vanilla meringue.  What I really like about gelato (other than the fantastic texture and flavors) is the fact that the garnish is included in a scoop.  For example, the meringue gelato was topped with little crushed up pieces of merinuges.  That meant that in every bite, I got a little bit of meringue.

After seeing a bit more of Vicenza (and I mean seeing, since a lot of the things we wanted to see were closed).  We headed back to Verona, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the hotel for some packing and relaxation.

The next morning, we ate breakfast and headed out to Padua.  Once we arrived in Padua, we checked in to our hotel and got to sightseeing.  For lunch, we desperately needed salads.  Thankfully, we found a create your own salad place (that, again was also a bar and they had other food on the menu as well).  The salad was fantastic for the fact that it was simple.  And please don't ask me to remember the name of the place.  All I know is that the server was very helpful and the salad was good and made with fresh ingredients. 

Of course we had to go and see the sights so after lunch, off we went.  We wandered all over the place and around 5, decided that we needed a drink and a place to rest our feet.  We ended up at Caffe Pedrocchi quite by accident.  Caffe Pedrocchi was founded in the late 1800s and still remains a great place to have a shot of espresso or a glass of local wine.

The drink on the left is a Spritz- Prosecco, tonic and campari.  I opted for a strawberry and prosecco drink that went down very well.  One of the things that I really do appreciate about bars here in Italy is that when you order a drink, you get snacks.  And not just peanuts that some random people have stuck their hands in time after time.  Usually, you get some potato chips that are freshly refilled after each drink you order.  We also got a snack mix and some little finger sandwiches.  And of course, after we ordered a second drink, we got more.

Just a note, the snacks are always going to be salty.  Of course there is a reason behind the constant snack pushing.  Salt makes you thirsty, so the more of the snacks you eat, the more likely you are to order another drink or two.  Smart business there.

After downing cocktails, we headed on back to our hotel and relaxed.  Sightseeing, eating and drinking is harder than you might think.  

    

Brescia/Verona/Padua- Part 1

We set off on a week long trip before our friends Bill and Jan cam for a visit.  We set off on Monday for Brescia.  Not the best place to actually go and stay the night.  It is better for a stop off visit before heading to Verona.  There are some great things to see, but not to eat.  Think of it as Waco, but much, much older.  If you have never been to Waco, just trust me on this one.  The police force harasses tourists instead of stopping the vandalism that is rampant.  It didn't help that our GPS kept taking us in the same circle over and over.  It took us an hour and a half to get to the hotel, and only then, after they sent someone to come and find us.

So, after an hour and a half of being followed by cops, we finally got checked in.  Since it was pouring, we went to a cafe and had a drink.  Drinks led to an early dinner.  A dinner that I could have gotten at McDonalds.  But which we paid 15 euros for.

However, our day seemed to get a bit better when we went into the "new church."  There, we found a priest saying daily Mass.

I didn't take pictures of the inside, but it was beautiful.  However, after walking around for a bit more and being harassed, we decided to call it a night (at 6pm).  The next morning, we headed out for a bit more sightseeing before getting on the road to Verona.  This was in the interior of the "Old Church."  It was old and beautiful.

After the Church, we wandered around town some more and came upon this...

That maybe the saddest face I have ever seen.  And the cutest.  But I think that Salty Dog might mind.

We headed out of town for Verona and made our way to the hotel, the Colomba d'Oro.  It was a very nice hotel.  However, we were hungry, and didn't want to have to trek all over the city.  Thankfully, Torcolo was there for us to dine at.  

We both opted for the beef wellington.  It was different in that the pastry was wrapped in wonton strips.  Let me just give a word of warning.  If you ask for beef medium, it will really be medium rare.  However, the beef was fantastic.  The wine was also excellent.  That being said, the meal was very expensive.  I don't think the price was justified.  After lunch, we wandered around the city

  

After getting caught in a total downpour, the weather finally cleared up enough so that we could sit in the piazza under an umbrella and have a drink.  And maybe some pizza.

So good!  Pizza and beer.  Two things that go well together and always will go well together.  After pizza and beer, we headed back to our room to relax and get some sleep.

Up next: Vicenza.