Graeme Jolly

The Shires

ilchianti

Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire, Herefordshire and Yorkshire of course but there’s also Chiantishire. It’s that little bit of Tuscany which is forever the home-counties of England. It’s an area where the well-healed Englishman and his lady buy summer homes or take their holidays following in the slippery footsteps of the likes of Tony Blair.

Once upon a hot summer’s day I was driving with a friend from Pisa to San Gimignano, a small town famous for its many medieval sky-scraper towers. Lunchtime was upon us and we were in desperate need of finding somewhere to buy a panino, or even that great stand-by while travelling, a McDonalds. We drove round a hair-pin bend and as the road straightened saw a sign indicating an Agriturismo; typically an agricultural establishment offering food and accommodation.

sangimignano1_1.jpg.png — High-rise San Gimignano

In this case the sign encouraginglyinformed us that there was indeed a restaurant called Il Cucule. It was well after 1pm though which is the standard lunchtime in these parts so we were certain we’d arrive to find the kitchen already closed – as in many a British pub.

As luck would have it, not only was it still open but there was one table left free. Fitting the car into a parking space was more challenging.

The owner was keen that we should try his recommendations – no menu. At this stage the pangs of hunger told us either to just go with the flow or go hungry. We followed his lead and were served with one of the simplest, most flavoursome meals ever. It was delicious home-cooking using ingredients of their own production and we enjoyed antipasti of meats and cheeses and a perfect Ribollita (a Tuscan soup made from day old bread and vegetables) drizzled with home-produced olive oil. We drank local wine from their own grapes and paid next to nothing for the privilege. In the value for money stakes this place is 5 star and beyond and for me demonstrates the very best of Italian cooking and hospitality.

Their website says the restaurant is open to guests staying in their apartments and only by appointment to outside visitors. So call ahead if you’re going to be in the area. You won’t be disappointed by the food or the views.

October 7, 2016 0

Down with stuffed crust!

Food in Italy is very regional, by which I mean that each region has its own particular dishes and those dishes which traditionally can be found all over the country have regional variations. But it’s not a free for all! Anyone who has visited different parts of Italy will know that, for example the shape of the pasta changes quite markedly. Also the further South you go the less likely it is that you will find traditional cooking using butter and the further North the more likely it is that creamy (usually unsalted) butter is used in preference to olive oil.

Pizzas can be found all over Italy, indeed all over the world. The breaking news is that they were not invented in Chicago but in the south of Italy (Naples or thereabouts) and the first documented proof of their existence goes back to the 10th century AD where they are mentioned in a Latin document from the Southern town of Gaeta. This simple flat bread dish has a noble heritage and is deserving of respect. Good pizza chefs produce a superbly thin base with traditional toppings. They do not stuff the crusts with plastic cheese or scatter tinned pineapple chunks on top.

There are other well known Italian dishes that are equally badly treated as they are ‘re-interpreted’ in the mass production kitchens and fast food restaurants of the world.

Carbonara is the one that most easily springs to mind. It’s best known as Spaghetti alla Carbonara but as it’s a dish that has its origins in the Lazio region (Rome in fact) it’s often served there with Fettuccine. There are 4 ingredients in the sauce. FOUR! They are: Eggs, bacon (about which more in a moment), black pepper and cheese. That’s it. No mushrooms. No cream. No garlic. No Nutmeg.

Even Nigella Lawson gets it wrong but a receipt uploaded by a Jamie Oliver fan to his website is quite good.

There is some legitimate variation about those ingredients but frankly there’s no room for adding anything else. The eggs can be yolk and white together, just yoke or all of the yolks and some of the white. As for the bacon; its important to note that ‘bacon’ in Italy is different to what we know as bacon in the UK. Try making a bacon sandwich with Pancetta! It’s very nice but it’s simply not right. For Carbonara there are two possibilities when selecting the ‘bacon’. The preferred option, in my opinion, is to use cubes of pancetta, making sure there is some fat for flavour. The alternative is a similar looking ingredient called guanciale. Guanciale is another bacon-like product made the from the cheek of the pig (guancia being the Italian for cheek) and is the meat traditionally used in another pasta sauce, amatriciana. Coarsely ground black pepper, and lots of it, is key to the Carbonara sauce. Whilst the origin of the name of the sauce isn’t certain we can be sure it relates in someway to carbon so it’s important that the pancetta is well fried and has lots of little black bits and the pepper not so finely ground so it too can be seen in all its black beauty. These two together represent the carbonesque nature of the dish. The cheese should properly be Pecorino Romano a sheep’s milk cheese, coming from the same area as the dish itself, with a lovely salty taste .

The sauce in Italy is a coating for the pasta not a sloppy soup for the pasta to sit on or under and this one in particular is quite dry. If it’s too dry you can stir a spoonful or two of the pasta cooking water in to loosen it a bit.

Ingredients (4 people)
300g dried Spaghetti
150g cubed pancetta or guanciale
6 free range egg yolks (or 4 whole eggs)
100g of Pecorino Romano finely grated (or substitute Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana)

Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add a good pinch of salt and cook spaghetti accruing the instructions on the packet. Don’t overcook the pasta and should have a definite ‘bite’ and not be too soft.

Meanwhile fry the pancetta in a large frying pan until its nicely browned. Removed the pan from the heat.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and add 2/3rds of the cheese and lots of coarsely ground fresh black pepper. Mix it all together and set aside until the pasta is cooked.

Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the frying pan (which should off the heat) and pour the egg mixture on top. Quickly combine the pasta, the pancetta and eggs until the pasta is evenly coated. If you delay the eggs may well scramble. In fact it should become lovely and creamy (without adding cream!). If it seems a bit too dry, then add some or all of the reserved pasta water.

Serve immediately with the remaining cheese sprinkled on top and if necessary a few more turns of black pepper.

NB. Eggs differ from one another and spaghetti comes in slightly different
thicknesses so you may have to experiment until you find the right method for your ingredients but never ever add cream or if you do, don’t call it Carbonara!

October 6, 2016 0

Long-legged Italy

As quite a lot of the content of this blog is likely to focus on the regional food of Italy, I thought it might be useful to post a map. I found it here.

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October 5, 2016 0

Mousetrap – Grana Cheese

Grana in Italian means ‘grain’ and when it comes to cheese it refers to the grainy texture of cheeses like Parmesan (not the sweepings from the factory floor and sold in the UK in cardboard tubes, but the real thing!).

Grana is a hard cheese and made in huge ‘wheels’ weighing between 24-40kg each

The Pianura Padana is the great flood plane of the River Po in Northern Italy and is the area where Grana cheese is made. It was originally created by monks almost a millennium ago and by the 15thC was one of the most famous cheese in Italy. Nowadays it is protected by EU law with a PDO (Protected Designation of Origine) classification and in Italy, since 1955 by a DOC (Dominazione di Origine Controllata). Prior to 1955 Grana was known by various different names depending on where it was made. Grana Lodigiano, Grana Emiliano, Grana Lombardo and Grana Veneto were some of the variants. Now though, the generic term Grana Padano is used. Typically the cheese, made from cows milk, is matured for 9 months (Grana Padano), over 16 months (Grana Padano oltre 16 mesi) or over 20 months (Riserva). Each year about €750M worth of Grana Padano is exported around the world.

unknown-2 — Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan)

Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) is matured for longer (up to 36 months) and is protected by its own DPO and DOC and has a more complex flavour structure than Grana Padano. Its not correct, as some have reported that Grana Padano is an inferior product or is the cheese which doesn’t make the grade as Parmigiano Reggiano.
They are similar but distinct products.

Here in Lodi, in Lombardy, locally produced Grana Padano (Grana
Lodigiano, if you like) is used to create a local delicacy, Raspadura. It is made by scraping a long flexible blade across the cut face of a Grana wheel in order to remove gossamer thin
shavings of cheese. This works especially well with the less mature cheeses (9months) and is eaten as a snack or with an aperitivo.

October 5, 2016 0

My favourite places to eat

When people ask me to tell them what is my favourite restaurant I hesitate for two reasons. Firstly I hate the ‘favourite’ type questions such as what is favourite colour, music, TV programme and secondly, how to decide. Always for me the answer has to be ‘it depends’.

There are restaurants that I return to time after time, or would if I could, so I suppose they could in some way be classed as favourites. The first of those is a restaurant in London where I first went 15 years or more ago. Le Caprice is legendary in certain circles and has been around in one form or another for 35 years with a host of celebrity, royal and hip clients. For sure the former husband of the Queen’s late sister could always be certain to get the best table but Le Caprice serves its ‘ordinary’ regulars exceptionally well too. After only my first couple of visits I was always ‘known’ and my Bloody Mary preferences always anticipated. The food is a fusion of modern American, British and European cuisine, the service friendly and relaxed but uber efficient. It’s not cheap but it’s not too expensive either (this is Mayfair!) but it is consistently good and I miss not being able to go as often as I used to do.

Over the years I’ve eaten in one or two of Rome’s ‘best’ restaurants but have always, in some way, left feeling disappointed because they never quite lived up to my high expectations. The higher the price the higher the expectation is my thought. Trattoria da Luigi though has hardly ever disappointed. It has no pretensions whatsoever. It is what it is, a simple family run Roman trattoria frequented mostly by Romans and those visitors to Rome who like me have been eating there for decades. My first visit was probably 30 years ago and every visit to Rome since then has had to include one, two or even three return visits. The staff are always welcoming and whilst the food could never be described as ‘fine dining’ it is undoubtedly fresh local food cooked well and served with enthusiasm. I’ve seen the generations of the family grow up in the business and work hard to ensure that nothing much changes from year to year. Perhaps occasionally the umbrellas or table lines are replaced or the wall re-painted but the abbacchio al forno or the fiori di zucca stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies remain delicious.

A relatively recent addition to my list of places to return to requires a bit more commitment in terms of cash and advance booking. Osteria Francescana in Modena is owned and run by Massimo Bottura in the streets where he grew up as boy. He’s a remarkable chef with a social conscience. During Expo Milan in 2015 he organised Refettorio Ambrosiano to ensure that the chefs working at Expo didn’t forget the poor by using their talents and excess produce to feed the poor. Osteria Francescana is Number 1 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2016 and boasts three Michelin Stars. “Our Cooking is collision of ideas, cultures techniques and gestures” says their website. For me my dinner there was visually challenging – one of the presentation techniques is to throw the food onto the plate – and deeply rewarding in terms of flavour and especially the combination of flavours.

October 4, 2016 0

Innocenti Evasioni – Milan

To the north-east of the centre of Milan is a Michelin 1 star restaurant called Innocenti Evasioni where I recently had dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Sometimes the fact that a restaurant’s front door is difficult to find is a portent of hidden treasures to be discovered. In this case the door was also locked and it was necessary to ring the bell. Was this also a sign of exclusivity and privilege? It had been the same at the best restaurant in the world, Osteria Francescana in Modena and the Red Door in North Hollywood; or was it the case that arriving as we did at exactly 8pm, they weren’t quite ready for service? Time would tell. The door was quickly unlocked by a guy in chefs whites – really? He was very welcoming and showed us to our table. We were the first to arrive and indeed the staff were still putting the final touches to the tables.

Things soon settled down, menus were brought, and nice sharp Franciacorta aperitivo served together with the most delicious grissini. To my mind they were what I would call cheese straws, a sort of long thin version of the best cheese scone it would be possible to imagine. They were loaded with cheese and butter flavours yet still crisp and crumbly. I could easily have a made a meal of them and almost did as more were offered.

The dining room was long room with all round tables, perhaps a little bit too close together, especially as the next able consisted of an Italian couple being bored to death by a very loud English guy giving them the benefit of his business knowledge. This in contrast to the peace and stillness of the Zen garden on the other side of the windows.

A decision was made to order the tasting menu. In this case it was a modest one of 5 courses at a very reasonable price of €68 with optional wine pairings that would have cost a further €25. We opted for a bottle of red from a wine list with a decent range and very reasonably priced and in may case copious amounts of water as I had to drive.

As the first course arrived i remained a little worried that the chef who had let us in half an hour earlier still hadn’t gone to the kitchen. Who then was cooking? Mama? Nonna? Was it a regeneration kitchen with lots of steam ovens to reheat bought-in food? All sorts of things go through the mind when apparently the chef is in the wrong place! Well it turns out, although I didn’t discover this until the next day, that the restaurant is owned by two chefs and one of them (Eros Picco) therefore could well have been at the stoves. Tommaso Arrigoni (a TV chef) is the front of house guy and responsible for buying the wines. All good but I would not have been so anxious if he hadn’t been dressed for the kitchen.

I needn’t have worried about who was cooking. Each course, even if the individual ingredients couldn’t always be identified on the plate, represented a masterful amalgam of flavours. The astice carpaccio consisted of barely cooked lobster with cardamom, mango, wafer thin celery, rocket and gin jelly. Next, the duck foie gras terrine was the only disappointment of the evening and then only because it was a bit pedestrian compared with the other dishes. The toasted brioche with which it was served seemed dry.

Stinco di vitello (veal shin) was stuffed into little ravioli and served with saffron flavoured buffalo cream, broad beans and crystallised sage leaves – heaven! This was followed by loin of Iberian pork with star anise flavoured carrot puree and caramelised red onions. The pork was lovely and pink with a slightly caramelised outside and with the most amazing salty taste. The texture though was bit strange, probably because of the use of the ubiquitous water-bath. I’m coming to dislike sous-vide cooking. A good chef should be able to cook meat by eye.

Dessert, not normally my favourite course at any meal, was simply gorgeous and not too sweet. Listed as Caramelised Millefuille, it was gorgeous puff pastry with chocolate, mango puree and the star ingredient, goats cheese ricotta which added a slightly salty tang to contrast the caramel glaze on the pastry. A perfect combination!

October 4, 2016 0

My Kind of Food

Sharing stories about the kind of food I like to eat

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