Skip to main content

Letters from Emilia-Romagna I


I am spending a week in beautiful Bertinoro, a village in Emilia-Romagna, a northern region in Italy. This "state" is known for Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and Maserati's but it is equally famous for its hams from Parma, its world renown cheese -parmigiano reggiano- and many other delicacies. And, who can forget the mortadella.

We go out every evening to one of the small local restaurants. A background: Bertinoro is small, really small, but it sits on a high hill, relative to its surrounding. Since it is close to the coast (the adriatic - Rimini- is 40 Km alway), it tends to be a bit stuffy down below, and at night
Bertinoro is busy with sun bathers coming up to cool off over pasta and Sangiovese wine.

The local food can be summarized with: PASTA, PASTA, and PASTA. There is also a local bread, (Piadona I believe) - unleavened flat bread that looks like thick flour tortilla. It is served usually with a soft raw cheese that is slightly similar in consistency to cottage, but creamier and more delicious. The food is simple, simple, simple. But, this is why it is delicious. No pretentious sauces, no fancy ovens, or preparations. Rather, hand made pastas, all kinds, with all kinds of different sauces, some successful (like the Ragu above - amazing) and others not as much (salmon based - perhaps meant for the beach goers).

After long evening meals with the students and our generous Italian host, we end the evening with the sweet Albana wine, made from local grapes - really local- from the hills below. And don't forget to "dip your biscotti in the wine" - tiny ones with hazelnuts, meant for dipping- my Italian host yells from across the table. Ah, certain things just make the whole experience that much better.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Black Bean Soup

It rocks! Comforting and satiating, bold and hot...the deep color represents the taste in every way. Start with a bag of quality black beans, rinsed and then put in a pot with water, and a mixture of garlic, peppers, onion, and green herbs! Simmer for hours and voila! The best fall / winter soup. Learned it from Daisy Martinez, a chef on TV.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

I am not sure how you like yours, but I drink all kinds. The constant is that I never use any sugar and, I would ALWAYS rather have my coffee in a cafe, or a coffee shop. I guess growing up at our house, coffee was always a time to try and get whomever of your neighbors is around, assemble, eat pastries (some would smoke) and TALK. Invitations were yelled orally from balconies, except in the mornings where people take turns hosting the coffee hour (you can always go on Monday to so and so's house for coffee). Anyhow, things have changed a lot, some for the better (I think much better coffee) and some to the worse. Around here, we are blessed with amazing local roasters -like Metropolis and Intelligentsia- that supply the majority of our local coffee shops (See this for a brief description of the coffee scene here). The drink that I order more often than not is a double espresso with foam on top (or machiato - I find the descriptive name easier). Anyhow, on the right, you will find ...

After a long hiatus...

The Happy Foods Blog is back! And to kick it off here is a picture of the best desert I have had so far in 2018. Delicious inverted apple tart at Bibendum Restaurant in London. Superb! And stay tuned for more posts.