Missing These Dishes in Italy

BBC Travel just had an article on Cacio e Pepe: Italy’s Beloved Three Ingredient Pasta, which got me thinking of the dishes in Italy that I am missing most.

Starting in the north In Valtellina, the signature dish of pizzoccheri is made with specific buckwheat pasta, cabbage, a local herb, local cheese and the best-in-the-world butter of Valtellina. It is a hearty dish, particularly comforting in the winter when it is snowy and cold outside, the perfect dish for apres-ski. For me, it is the perfect dish anytime and all the time. And my favourite red wine of the Valtellina, Sassella, pairs with it perfectly.

Three hours away in Milano, who can resist the dishes named for it, such as Risotto Milanese, a simple risotto with saffron, giving its distinctive yellow colour. It is my standard dish the night before flying away from Italy.

In Cinque Terre, I miss my meal of three classic Ligurian dises: acchiuge con limone (local anchovies in lemon), spaghetti with pesto, a glass of local limoncino to finish. After that first meal, I continue to have anchovies daily, whether fritti (fried) or salata (salted) or as part of the Vernazza tegame, a classic baked dish of potato, tomato and anchovy. With all of these, I order the Cinque Terre white wine. Every morning for breakfast, I get a freshly baked piece of focaccia from the bakery and take it to the pier where I sit and watch the sea.

The arrival of porcini season in Tuscany is a big deal.  One October I ate a 3-course lunch at Antica Trattoria Pelliccia, in Pontremoli, Tuscany, preceded by the largest Negroni of my life at the bar by the piazza. To this day, I can still taste those mushrooms! However, if Pontremoli is not on the agenda, Siena surely is, where the simple pasta with either truffle or porcini at Osteria was worthy was two visits. And the deep fried porcini appetizer was pretty mouth-watering, too!

In Umbria, the porchetta at the stand at the entrance to the Assisi farmer’s market drew me every Saturday morning. For 2.50 Euros, they fill a large, fresh roll with thinly sliced porchetta and crackling if you want it. It was large enough to be both breakfast and lunch, and I sat on a bench nearby where I see the street-long market and look out over the valley towards Santa Maria degli Angeli.

In Firenze, the dish that I miss is the ribolitta, the famous twice-cooked bread and vegetable soup. It is a comforting, filling, flavourful soup, essentially a peasant dish, but a classic Florentine dish. And then there is the Florentine steak of Chianese beef, which is so huge at least 2 people are required to share.

And it’s no surprise that in Calabria with its beautiful sea, the dish that I miss most is the seafood antipasto in Tropea, which consists of several different small servings of various seafood.  It was enough to serve as the main course. The olive oil was so good that I asked to purchase some. It turns out it the olive oil, white wine and  some of their vegetables were from their farm, just a few miles away.

In Rome, my most memorable dish was a pizza in Trastevere, sitting outside on a warm evening. For me, it was as a pizza should be, intimidating to look at because of its size but yet the crust so light that I easily ate the whole thing, with charred ridges and simple toppings.

Speaking of pizza, I ate the best pizza of my life in Alberobello, Puglia. I ordered the pizza with tomato sauce, burrata and basil. It came with the ball of burrata sitting in the middle of the pizza, meltingly oozing out over the pizza. After the first bite, I think I swooned, and then I told the owner how amazing it was. He told me that was because everything was local. How local? Every ingredient came from within a mile, and yes, even the wheat was grown within a mile of the town. Even by the last bite, I was still thinking the best bite ever.

In Sicily, the rabbit stew was on special for the day at the small restaurant in Piazza Armerina.  With the sweet and sour sauce, raisins, capers, olives and pine nuts, it combines the Greek and Arab influences and the history of the island.  This is a dish that is a reminder that the bread on the table is there to sop up the sauce!

Here is the link to the BBC Travel article: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200512-cacio-e-pepe-italys-beloved-3-ingredient-pasta-dish.