To begin with the sites, the latest important thing on Italian Cuisine is another illustrated recipe -- I got Leonardo Romanelli to show me how he makes pasta e ceci -- pasta with chickpeas, pasta e fagioli's close cousin. On the Italian Wine Review, I'm still adding to the overview of Francacorta, but in the meantime have posted my impressions of the current releases of Carmignano's wines, and of Velours, an unusual, very nice Cabernet-Barbera blend of a sort I'd be happy to see more of.
Returning to Cosa Bolle in Pentola, I've decided to make it shorter and do it more often; as things stood entirely too much time was passing between when I started an issue and when I sent it out. I plan to aim for weekly, though we shall see.
We'll begin this time with Centolio, a new olive oil format the Consorzio Chianti Classico is aiming at the restaurant trade.
If you're in Italy and ask for a salad, it will probably come as a side dish to accompany your main course. And it will (at least in Tuscany) probably come undressed, with the waiter bringing cruets of olive oil and vinegar so you can dress it to taste.
While a cruet may be picturesque, and even charming, as a means of serving olive oil it leaves a lot to be desired. First of all, even if there is a stopper, it's not going to be airtight, and the air coming in and out will oxidize the oil in the bottle, especially if the bottle is only half full. Perhaps not much if it's a busy restaurant where they refill the bottles daily, but if the cruet has been sitting out for a day or two the effect will be noticeable.
Next, what's in the bottle? Cruets are generally sold empty, which means the restaurateur fills them. If they guy is honest and conscientious, with good extravirgin olive oil from a container that doesn't sit half-empty (remember oxidization?) for days out back. But if he's a little less scrupulous, or more worried about his costs, he may be cutting the good oil with something out of a commercially pressed 5-gallon can, or even drawing directly from the can. Unless you go into the back room and look, you don't know.
And this is what's so nice about the Centolio format the Chianti Classico Consorzio is now promoting: When you sit down at your table you find a 100 ml (a little more than 1/3 cup) bottle of olive oil, which is sealed, and labeled, just like any other bottle of oil. Since it's sealed, you know exactly what's in it, and also that it's fresh. A third of a cup might sound like a lot, but if there are four of you, it will be about right for your salads, or for drizzling over hearty winter soups such as the above mentioned pasta e ceci, ribollita, or (in summer) pappa al pomodoro. And if some is left over, the restaurant patron can take it home, and has a label handy if he or she decides she wants to buy more of the same.
Bottom line: I think the customers will appreciate getting fresh oil, and this should make the format interesting to restaurant owners, . Though the initiative was undertaken by the Consorzio Chianti Classico, I see no reason olive oil producers elsewhere, say California, shouldn't also be interested. After all, they have to worry about their product being put into cruets too.
Next, Tanti Auguri per San Valentino!
His day is rapidly approaching, but you may not know much about him. He was, according to legend, a Christian priest who was consigned to a Roman noble by the Emperor Claudius. He cured the noble's daughter's blindness, at which point the family converted and Claudius had them all executed. Valentino first, and on the eve of his execution he wrote the girl a letter, signing it "from your Valentine." After his death a pink almond tree, symbol of abiding love, blossomed near his grave.
It's only fitting that we should celebrate his day now.
You likely have already planned out a menu, but if you haven't here are a couple of risotti that will be perfect for the occasion:
Risotto con Gamberi al Profumo di Arancia: Orange-Scented Shrimp Risotto
To serve 4:
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) Carnaroli or other short-grained rice
- 1/2 pound (200 g) peeled shrimp (thawed will be fine)
- 1 quart (1 liter) simmering vegetable broth (unsalted vegetable bouillon will work)
- 3 oranges
- 2 tablespoons onion in a single piece
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- A splash of dry white wine
- Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oil and sauté the onion piece until it has colored and imparted some flavor to the oil. Add half the butter and the rice and continue sautéing, stirring lest the rice stick, for another 3-5 minutes. Add the peeled shrimp, a splash of white wine, and continue cooking until the wine has evaporated. Fish out and discard the onion.
Next, begin adding vegetable broth, together with the juice of the two oranges. When the rice reaches the al dente stage carefully stir in the julienned strips, the cleaned sections, and the remaining butter. Cover and let the rice rest for a minute, and then serve.
If you have the bad fortune to be allergic to shrimp (like me) this recipe will obviously not work. How about:
Risotto con Agnello e Melanzane: Risotto with Lamb and Eggplant
To serve 4 you'll need:
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) Carnaroli or other short-grained rice
- A rack of lamb (the ribs), weighing 2 pounds (900 g)
- 1/4 pound (100 g) eggplant, diced
- A shallot, minced
- A bay leaf
- 1 1/2 quarts (1.5 liters) simmering broth
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano or Grana Padano
- 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh thyme
- !/3 cup olive oil
Sauté the minced shallot with the bay leaf in half the oil, and then it is golden add the rice. Continue to cook, stirring, until the rice is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes, and then add the diced eggplant. Check seasoning, and after another minute begin adding broth, a ladle at a time.
While the rice is cooking, heat the remaining oil in a skillet large enough for the chops to lie flat, and season the oil with half the thyme. Add the chops and cook them to taste, turning them several times and seasoning them with salt and pepper. An Italian will cook them fairly well done -- my father-in-law recoils from rare lamb -- and I suggest you follow their lead, though you are free to cook less if you want.
When the rice has reached the al dente stage, season it with the remaining thyme, stir in the remaining butter and the cheese check seasoning, and cover the pot for a minute.
Serve the risotto with the chops.
What do drink with these recipes?
Franciacorta is obviously an option, as is Proesecco, though the results will be different, because the average Franciacorta is considerably more substantial than most Prosecchi.
Another option, if you want bubbly, is Ubaldo Rosi, Colonnara's Metodo Classico Brut Riserva. This is a sparkling Verdicchio made by one of the larger cooperative wineries of the Marche, which I had occasion to taste at a presentation of Colonnara's wines held for Tuscan wine lovers and the Trade.
The current vintage is the 1998, which spent 5 years on it lees before being disgorged in fall 2005. It's pale brassy gold with brassy highlights and moderately fine intense perlage. The bouquet has quite a bit to say, most about the lees, with bread crumbs and greenish accents mingled with minerality and some underlying gunflint and bitterness. Nice balance, and tightly controlled. On the palate it's full, with the fullness coming more from the grapes than the sparkle, which is softer than I had expected, with deft mineral accents mingled with pronounced bitterness -- the lees are again quite evident, but in a positive away, and it flows into a clean bitter finish. I liked it, though I found it to be fairly direct -- there's nothing hidden, quite the contrary, but what it puts on display is pleasant and will complement the occasion, though you do have to prefer a fairly bitter, almost oaky style of sparkling wines. I found it growing on me as I sipped.
2 stars
Want to know more? Colonnara's URL is http://www.colonnara.it/en/home.htm
This time's proverb is Tuscan -- Amore non si compra e non si vende, ma in premio d'Amor Amor si rende: Love can neither be bought nor sold, but when Love is given Love is returned.
That's it, and Happy Valentine's Day!
Kyle Phillips
Editor, The Italian Wine Review
http://www.italianwinereview.com
Want to comment? Drop me a line at Kyle at cosabolle dot com
PS -- Please forward this to anyone you think would enjoy it! If you would like to read past issues (nothing in them really gets stale), you'll find them on the IWR site, through http://www.cosabolle.com. Access to the online archives is via subscription -- in other words there's a yearly charge that helps us to offset our costs -- and includes extras of various kinds, including illustrations and links to other resources. IWR subscribers automatically have access to the Cosa Bolle archives.
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