Chris in Tortora, Southern Italy

Click here to subscribe to my blog http://www.chasinglabellavita.com/subscribe/

Ciao da Italia!

I have to count myself extremely lucky because at least every year I get to take the trip of a lifetime. I get to come to Italy.

A few years ago, my husband and I purchased an apartment in a village called Santa Domenica Talao in Calabria in Southern Italy.

Many people have asked us why and the only answer I can come up with is that we wanted to become part of an Italian village. Somehow I knew what that would be like and I wanted it more than anything I have ever wanted.

Yesterday, we spent the day with our great friend Giacomo. Giacomo works as the accountant for the municipality of Tortora which is a town that has an unbelievably beautiful historical center that dates back to before the middle ages.

A couple of years back, we met Giacomo as we wandered through the neighboring village of Aieta. Aieta means “Eagle” in Italian and is perched atop a high mountain in the Pollino National Park. The Pollino Park is one of the most beautiful and scenic areas in the world, with sweeping views from atop jagged stone mountains that jut up from nowhere to form a spine that separates the Eastern seaboard from the West.

Everywhere you turn your eyes is a spectacular view and today, after a huge thundering and violent rainstorm, all is crystal clear, sparkling and cool.

Two years ago, while we were wandering the little alleyways of Aieta in midsummer, we stopped at the communal fountain for a drink of water. Giacomo, from his office in a historic building,  heard us speaking English and came out to talk to us. He invited us in for coffee and we became friends. We keep in touch via Facebook and every time we come over, we get together with Giacomo and his beautiful family.

Yesterday was another one of our epic afternoons spent ducking out of the pouring rain and into the restaurant of Giacomo’s cousin Angelo and his wife, Roseangela Laino. Roseangela does all the cooking at Al Caminetto and she is honestly one of the most gifted chefs ever born.

Giacomo and Roseangela at Al Caminetto

I have eaten a lot of food in my day but her cooking beats everything else by an Italian country mile.

Here is the how-to video where Roseangela shows us how to make pasta:

I know that I am known for my glowing praises (In fact I never slam a restaurant. If I don’t like it, I simply don’t review it. ) but this restaurant is truly spectacular.

To start off, we were quite late. Just before we left Santa Domenica Talao, we had the plumber in to unclog the drain of the apartment where my friends were staying. Apparently the renters before them had flushed a bunch of whatever down the toilet and clogged the entire plumbing system. After having three plumbers out, we finally found success with my friend Nunzia’s cousin Salvatore who is a brilliant genius in everything having to do with building.

 If you ever run into trouble with anything house related in Southern Italy, go up to Santa Domenica Talao, stop in the little store.  Ask for Nunzia. When she comes, ask her for Salvatore. He is your savior and guardian angel. He can fix ANYTHING! Also, don’t flush big objects down centuries old drains. Jus’ sayin’.

Anyway, I digress…

Once Salvatore worked his magic, cheers erupted throughout the village and we got underway to meet Giacomo and his family.

From the main motorway, we went up the hill to Tortora’s Centro Storico or historical center. I love this little village because it is one of the prettiest I have seen and the people who live there are so sweet and helpful. Unfortunately, due to the unseasonable rain (What?! Its JUNE! Rain and thunderstorms are supposed to be reserved for March here!) we ate inside.

As we were getting settled, Giacomo and the waiter started in with grave discussions about what we should eat. Due attention was given to the importance of this deliberation. Our conversations were carried on in whispered undertones until all of the negatives and benefits had been weighed about whether to have antipasti, what types of pasta to have and what meats were available.

Decisions were made and wine was brought out and poured.

While we are on the subject, let me tell you about Italian wine. At least let me tell you about the wine in Southern Italy. The house wine here is fabulous. You order it my the liter or half liter and it is brought out chilled.

There are normally two choices of house wine. The red is light but tasty. Depending on where it was made there will be undercurrents of different flavors. Many times you will have wine that is made right there in the house. From day to day it may taste different.

The white is a sparkling white which is neither too sweet or too dry but, as Goldilocks says, it is just right.

Shortly after the wine arrived, the dishes started appearing as if my magic.

The first dish was little zucchini flowers, deep fried and filled with something delicious (Forgive me. I was not diligent in my travel writing duty and pretty much focused on the food. For this reason I do not know what these were stuffed with or whether they were stuffed at all.) These were light and fluffy, delicately crisp and wonderful.

The second dish was a plate of zucchini cut into strips and sautéed with olive oil, a little bit of lemon and mint leaves. I have never had anything quite like it. My normal thought is that lemon and mint do not mix but this was magnificent. The flavors were so delicate and mingled so perfectly. It turned out to be my favorite dish.

Next up was the Baccala or dried cod that is a staple in the Calabrian diet. When I first heard about Baccala I was a bit hesitant to try it. I could not see why, with all the other wonderful food available, anyone would take the time and effort to rehydrate and leech the salt out of it then start to cook with it. This just goes to show how little I knew. Giacomo  proudly pointed to the Baccala proclaiming it as his personal favorite.

I tried it and it was amazing. It had been rehydrated and cooked in olive oil with just enough salt to bring out the flavor. If you did not know what it was, you never would have suspected that is was anything other than fresh. Little strips of slightly bitter eggplant made the dish irresistable.

I was starting to fill up and looked up. What? Another plate of antipasto? Ok, here are the little balls of eggplant mixture, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried (OMG! How can anything taste so wonderful?) and the little tubular potato croquettes made with sausage and again rolled in breadcrumbs and fried.

Calabrian antipasti

Southern Italy has a number of similar antipasto items that are rolled and fried. Each one is a specialty and each one is delicious! When one is eating out in Southern Italy, it is worthwhile to order a sampling of the antipasti at any given restaurant as they each have different specialties and I have never had one that I did not love.

Next came pecorino cheese locally grown and made and homemade cured meats.

Normally after antipsati, I would be completely full but I have learned from the various meals I have had here, to pace myself. I watched the Italian ladies present and saw how they took a bite, took a sip of wine and leaned back. Then they took another bite and did the same thing. I am so used to falling all over my food and gobbling it down that the art of Italian dining is taking me some time to assimilate.

I am proud to state that even after the meal yesterday, I did not have a stomach ache from eating too much or too fast.

After the antipasti, the pasta arrived. Our hostess brought out homemade fusilli with homemade tomato sauce, homemade ravioli made with fresh ricotta cheese and homemade pappardelle, (The word “Pappardelle” comes from the word “Pappare” which means “to gobble up”.) cooked with Chingiale or wild boar. Each dish was uniquely delicious. We filled our plates and ate some more.

Before our meal, I had asked Giacomo if he could arrange an interview with the chef so that I could bring her closer to you, my dear readers.  She was very gracious and brought out a little cutting board and some ingredients to demonstrate how to make pasta.

My husband videoed as she showed me how to make Fusilli which is done with pasta dough, rolled out in a tube and the rolled over a thin bit of of metal. She told me that an umbrella spine works well but she has a special piece of iron that she uses.

With practiced expertise, she rolled noodle after noodle while I struggled with mine finally turning out a sad looking noodle that fell apart in the middle. I am going to go home and practice but first I have to find an old umbrella that no one will miss.

My friend Geoff, who is also visting Italy with us with his beautiful wife, Lisa, got up and wowed us with his fusilli making skills then whipped up ravioli as an encore!

After a short break for the demonstration, we sat down again and out came another dish. This time it was homemade sausage grilled and served with super thinly sliced fried potatoes with peppers.

After all of that disappeared, little crispy toasts came out with blindingly hot Nduja (pronounce En-noo-ya) spread thinly on top. Nduja is a very spicy spreadable cured meat but in this case it was mostly vegetable based although it was hard to tell because my taste buds were seared in the best possible way, of course. This was for digestion, Giacomo informed me.

Finally, dessert was served, A homemade cake, made with vanilla and marscapone cheese, drizzled with hot Nutella, the Italians precious gift to the world. Nutella is a mixture of chocolate and hazelnut that you use to spread on bread for snacks and to put on just about anything to make it wonderfully delicious. The cakes and pastries here in Southern Italy are made with very little sugar so that you can taste all of the ingredients. In many cases the Nutella is the sweetest part of it and even then it is not overly sweet like some of our desserts here.

In the cookies, cakes and pastries here in Italy, you taste all of the ingredients and they are all fresh. This gives you food items with a rich blend of flavors and not just sickeningly sweet.

After the dessert, those of us with any room leftover, were served Grappa (Tastes like brandy to me) while the rest of us leaned back in our chairs and started the digesting process. Shortly thereafter, it was decided that we really needed a walk to properly burn off a small portion of the calories that we had ingested.

The last time we had visited Tortora, we had found a ceramics studio and had popped in. There we met Giuseppe, the resident artist/potter. We wanted to see him again as he always makes unique and beautiful vases, plates and other pottery. It is always fun to see what he is up to.

It was still raining quite a lot so Giacomo borrowed an umbrella for the ladies (Did I mention that the Italians are chivalrous and really take care of you?)

We popped into Giuseppe’s studio. There he gave us a demonstration of how to make pots by first making a tiny rose out of clay and presenting it to us, then by making a tiny vase and then a larger one and finally,  a beautiful ruffly plate. It is amazing to see the forms take shape while you watch, and how a sponge here or another tool there can completely change the look of a piece as it rotates on the wheel.

Giuseppe explained that although the clay was grey initially, it would turn to a pinkish hue once it was fired. I asked if I could cook the little rose when I got it home and he said yes, as long as you have an oven that could reach 1,000 c. I think I will leave the tedious firing process up to Giuseppe!

Once Giuseppe concluded his demonstration, we asked if we could purchase some pieces. He smiled and said that since we were friends of Giacomo, he would give us the special price and then discounted his wares heavily for us.

We came away with some beautiful pieces.

Giuseppe’s Vase

A trip to Tortora would not be complete without seeing the archeological museum. Many of the pieces date back to long before Christ.  Tortora has been home to several generations of various cultures. The pieces date back to before the Magna Grecia period.

The museum housed some beautiful Greek vases and urns. The young lady there gave us a delightful tour.

Ancient Artifact

After an afternoon filling our stomachs and dodging the raindrops, we all needed some down time. We got back to Santa Domenica at dinner time. We were way too full to eat anything like dinner so we all had gelato in the bar while helping the locals cheer on their fellow countrymen in the World Cup. (The Italians have gotten eliminated but there were some amazing games played and a lot of camaraderie in the pub.

Southern Italy is a land of great food, wonderful people and happy surprises around every corner. We love it here and always wish we could stay longer.

Treat yourself to a trip here. You will not regret it. It will be the trip of a life time. When you go, stop in and see Roseangela, Angelo and Giuseppe. They will be waiting to give you a wonderful experience!

PS! If you want to make pasta, I have this pasta maker and it works really well. It looks a lot like the machinetta that Roseangela had.

The post Al Caminetto! Southern Italian Cooking at its Finest! (Video!) appeared first on Chasing La Bella Vita.