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The White Widow – a Punch Abruzzo cocktail
It seems to me that this coming summer everyone will be in Abruzzo.
Some friends are traveling to visit their ancestral villages and towns. Others, like food writer Domenica Marchetti, are leading culinary tours – taking hungry travelers through this pastoral land, sampling local cuisine and visiting artisanal food makers along the way. Travel to this largely undiscovered region is picking up, and that can only be a good thing. The cuisine, rich and borne of the land, is at once hearty and delicate, nuanced and bold. Cheeses, wines, olive oils and truly divine pastries – Abruzzo has it all. Some of Italy’s finest dried pasta comes from there too. And so does one of my favorite liquors, Punch Abruzzo. Read the remainder of this entry »
Agrumato Tangerine Gelato – Olive Oil Gelato
Warm weather or cold weather, rain or shine, I make frozen desserts all year round, and my gelato machine occupies pride of place on my kitchen counter. I enjoy trying new things, and olive oil gelati are the subject of my latest experimentation. Here a simple egg custard based gelato is made with olive oil, and not just any olive oil. I used Agrumato (ah-gru-MAH-to) Tangerine, a premium extra virgin olive oil made by the Ricci Family of Abruzzo. The olives are Gentile di Chieti, Leccino, and Olivastra cultivars. In some citrus oils the flavoring agents are added to the finished oil, almost as an afterthought, but in the best of class the citrus is pressed together with the olives resulting in an extraordinary harmony and blending of flavors that lesser quality oils can not rival. The Ricci Family presses both olives and citrus together to produce a fine oil with no sense of “added flavor.” Read the remainder of this entry »
One Hundred Years in America
Tagliatelle agli spinaci con polpettine d’agnello
Gaetano Crocetti
One hundred years ago this month my grandfather, Gaetano Crocetti, arrived in America. He left his native Abruzzo and traveled west to Naples where he boarded the steamship Hamburg for the long voyage, trading the region’s towering mountain peaks, verdant hillsides, fields, vineyards for the smokestacks and steel mills of Steubenville, Ohio. America was good to him, but he never forgot his homeland, and my grandmother’s cooking kept those memories alive. Read the remainder of this entry »
Fonte di Foiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Maccheroni alla Chitarra with Roasted Tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil is the new wine. Like fine wine, it is a delicate thing, its quality a function of the olive varietal or cultivar (type of olive) from which it is made, the area and conditions under which the fruit is grown, and harvesting time and technique. Factor in the art and skill of the makers who press and blend the oil, and you will get a sense of what I mean.
Just as wine nerds took over the table conversation with a new vocabulary forty years ago, so olive oil enthusiasts are introducing food lovers to the limitless variety and nuances of extra virgin olive oil. From personal experience I can say that even if you grew up consuming olive oil every day, until you have tasted a fine extra virgin olive oil, you don’t know beans.
I have been tasting and cooking my way through extra virgin olive oils sent to me for review from Olio2go, a retailer of Italian extra virgin olive oils. Most recently I have indulged my every whim with a collection of five oils from Fonte di Foiano, a producer in Tuscany. The Fonte di Foiano oliveta is in Castagneto Carducci where the rich limestone and clay soil and briny air combine to produce particularly flavorful fruit. In the 1970’s the di Gaetano family breathed new life into the ancient groves, keeping some of the older trees and introducing newer, younger ones. Read the remainder of this entry »
Agrumato Lemon & Herbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh Mushroom Herb Salad
Many people, when asked to name olive oil producing regions of Italy, do not immediately think of Abruzzo. This pastoral region set in central Italy east of Rome is well known for its spectacular vistas, majestic mountains, and expanse of Adriatic coastline. Yet olive trees and grape vines cover Abruzzo’s mountain slopes, and for thousands of years olive oil has played a crucial part in the culture and cuisine of the region. The truth is Abruzzo produces excellent oil, and each year more and more is being exported to the United States and other countries.
I recently received a bottle of Agrumato (ah-gru-MAH-to) Lemon and Herbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil for review from Olio2go, an online and brick and mortar retailer of Italian extra virgin olive oils, vinegars, and food products. This mild, yet flavorful oil is made from Gentile di Chieti, Leccino, and Olivastra olive cultivars. It comes from the Ricci Family of Lanciano, an area well known for its citrus oils. There is a long standing tradition in the area of pressing the last of the autumn olives along with lemons. The acidity of the lemons cleans the press and the oil is traditionally shared with family and friends. Because the olives are pressed simultaneously with the ripe lemons the oil exhibits a remarkable harmony of flavor. The sunny lemon oil is infused with garlic and oregano to create a sophisticated marriage of clean citrus flavor and aromatics. Read the remainder of this entry »
Screpelle ‘mbusse – Crepes in broth
Abruzzesi have a predilection for crepes. They appeared in our region around 1798, during the French occupation, and have remained part of our cuisine ever since. Crepes, called screpelle or scripelle, turn up in scrumptious timballi (timbales), as wrappers (instead of pasta) in cannelloni, and folded around dessert mousses and souffles.
Food and Memories of Abruzzo by Anna Teresa Callen
Some things just say Abruzzo, and this is one of them – light crespelle, filled with a combination of Parmigiano and Pecorino cheeses, rolled and set in a bowl of chicken broth. There are a lot of happy accidents in the world of food and beverages. There’s puff pastry where the chef forgot the butter and added it at the last moment, and voila, my favorite pastry was born. Or the Negroni sbagliato born of barman Mirko Stocchetto’s mixing error – the Milanese barman added Prosecco instead of gin while building his patron’s Negroni. Thank the God of Drink for that one. Read the remainder of this entry »