Torta Caprese all’ Arancia

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Mangiamo!, Recipes

Tags

Cannolo Award, Capri, Dolci, Gluten-free chocolate cake, Italian food, Southern Italy, Torta Caprese, Traditional recipes

In honour of my recent Cannolo Award, I thought this post should be food related. What is a Cannolo Award? Read about it here. Although I love them, I will not be writing about cannoli, but rather about Torta Caprese.

The super cute-issimo cannolo logo

Caprese (cah•PREH•seh) means ‘from Capri’ (CAP•ree) the beautiful island off the coast of Napoli. I suppose caprese could also mean ‘goatlike’ since capra is goat? We’ll stick with ‘from Capri’.

There are a few different stories about how Torta Caprese came to be. The most likely is that it was invented by mistake in the 1920’s or 30’s by a kitchen worker who added ground almonds (mandorle tritate) instead of flour while trying to make something similar to an Austrian Sachertorte for visitors at an Austrian owned pensione on Capri. It was a big hit, and went on to be served at all of the hotels and tea rooms on the island.

The basic recipe involves mixing melted butter and chocolate in a ‘bagno-maria’ with sugar and egg yolks, then adding whipped egg whites and ground almonds. Liqueur, usually Strega, is added. The cake has a hard thin shell and moist interior and the center tends to sink in a bit from the sides.

I recently tasted a yummy orange Torta Caprese, so I decided to try my own version. After a bit of experimentation, and substituting Gran Marnier for Strega, I ended up with a very nice Torta Caprese all’ Arancia. It is a 3 bowl recipe, so be prepared to wash lots of dishes!

Torta Caprese all’ Arancia

Ingredients:

250g dark chocolate 70%
175g (¾ cup) butter at room temperature
110g (½ cup) sugar
110g (½ cup) brown or golden sugar
grated peel of a large orange
3 tablespoons Gran Marnier, Mandarino, or other orange liqueur
6 eggs, separated
150g (1½ cups) ground blanched almonds (also called almond flour or almond meal)
½ a bustina (packet) Lievito Bertolini or Pane degli Angeli (substitute 2½ teaspoons baking powder if you can’t find these)
pinch of salt
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).

2. Butter the sides of a round springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

3. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or ‘bagno-maria’ (a stainless steel bowl in a pan of hot water) and let cool. This can also be done with a glass bowl in the microwave but be careful-only heat in 30 second intervals and stir well.

4. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and brown sugar, then add to the chocolate. Stir in alcohol and grated orange peel.

5. Whip egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add the white sugar.

6. In another bowl, mix almond flour, lievito or baking powder and salt together with a fork. Fold the chocolate mixture in with a rubber spatula, then fold in egg whites.

7. Pour batter into pan and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, until center is firm. The center sink in a bit. Remove the sides of the pan and slide the cake onto a platter.

8. Dust with icing sugar and serve with orange slices and whipped cream or gelato. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days…if it lasts that long!

Buon Appetito! Mille grazie to my amiche Anna and Shannon who were very motivated to help me photograph the finished cake. I wouldn’t let them cut it and have a piece until the photos were done!

Here is me posing on my first visit to Capri when I was 16. Unfortunately I didn’t know about Torta Caprese at the time.

Downloadable recipe and recipe in italiano will be added as soon as I am home from Italia. Buon Appetito!

Melagrana

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Art projects, Italian language, Parole piacevoli

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Drypoint etching, Granada, Italian language, Italian pronunciation guide, Melagrana, Monotipi, Monotypes, Pomegranate, Punta secca

While I was looking for some book cloth in my paper drawers, I discovered that I have an infestation of unfinished melagrane.

Unfinished melagrane in my studio

Melagrana (meh•lah•GRA•nah) is una parola piacevole (pa•ROH•la pyah•cheh•VOH•leh), a really likeable word. It is Italian for pomegranate, the luscious red fruit with tart little seeds full of vitamins and antioxidants. Melagrane is plural and il melograno is the pomegranate tree. The tree is masculine and the fruit is feminine-this causes a lot of confusion. Just remember ‘la melagrana e il frutto del melagrano’. This is consistent with other fruits and their trees, for example- pera/ pero, olive/ulivo.

Melagrani (pomegranate trees) and melagrane (pomegranate fruit) on the roof of Hotel Columbia in Roma

Granata is another word for melagrana. Granata is also the luscious pomegranate red colour, garnet-as in the stone, and grenade-the not so nice kind that blows up. A grenade does kind of look it is covered in ‘semi di melagrana’ (pomegranate seeds). Granatina or grenadine is syrup made with pomegranate juice used to make a Tequila Sunrise.

Melagrana comes from the latin words Malum (mela=apple) and granatum (grainy/full of seeds). The Spanish city of Granada is named for the fruit-Granada is melagrana in Spanish. The official symbol of the city is the melagrana and it appears in its coat of arms and all over Granada. The French word for apple is pomme, so pomme granate resulted in the English word pomegranate (apple of Granada). I love how all of these words are connected!

Melagrane-unfinished drypoint etching monotype with chine colle

Mannaggia la melagrana! I’d better find time to finish all of these monotipi (monotypes) and incisione punta secca (drypoint etchings). I might have to have a melagrana sale.

Ciao, Cristina

I Trulli di Alberobello

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Italia, Photography, Puglia, Travel

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

Alberobello, Architecture, Bandiera Arancione, Italian history, Italy travel tips, Puglia, Rione Aja Piccola, Rione Monti, Southern Italy, Trulli, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Val d'Itria, Vernacular architecture, Zona dei Trulli

As the car nears Alberobello, trulli (TROOL•lee) start to appear in the rural landscape and my imagination goes into overtime. I hear the tune ‘La-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la’ in my head and I expect i Puffi (the Smurfs) to start dancing around the whitewashed trulli! Too much midday Pugliese sun maybe? Trulli are traditional limestone houses unique to the Val d’Itria in Southern Puglia. They were built ‘a secco’, which means dry-without mortar. Trulli have domed cone-shaped roofs built up of overlapping chiancharelle (kyan•ka•REL•leh)-grey limestone slabs. On the capstone at the top is a decorative pinnacolo (pinnacle). The shape of the pinnacolo is said to be a signature of the stonemason who built it. Some roofs also have mythologic or religious symbols painted on them.

‘La Zona dei Trulli’ includes the areas around Locorotondo, Fasano, Cisternino, Martina Franca, Ceglie Massapica and the largest concentration of 1,620 trulli in Alberobello. Alberobello and its trulli are aUNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO believes Alberobello is an exceptional example of the survival of prehistoric building techniques that are still in use. The fact that the buildings are so well-preserved and still occupied make the site unique.

The word trullo comes from tholos (τρούλος) a variation of the Greek word for cupola or dome. There were already scattered trulli settlements in the Val d’Itria around the year 1000. These gradually grew into villages, later called Aja Piccola and Monti-the 2 trulli districts in Alberobello today. The oldest trulli we know of date back to about 1350 when the Counts Acquaviva of Conversano were given land for their service during the Crusades and colonized the area by moving people from their nearby areas.

Tradition has it that building ‘a secco’ was imposed on the settlers so their houses could be dismantled quickly and easily. At first this was so the Count could easily dispossess villagers of their homes. Later it was a way to evade taxation imposed on each new construction by the King of Napoli. Trulli could be dismantled when the tax collector came by for an inspection, and then reconstructed just as quickly when he left. Trulli came to be known as temporary, unstable field shelters that were not worth taxing.

Trullo Siamese. 2 brothers in love with the same woman lived here. They split it in half and the single brother installed a door into the lane.

In reality, trulli are anything but unstable or primitive. They are built directly on the underlying natural rock and their internal structure is very durable. The thick double walls keep the trullo warm in winter and cool in summer. There are systems for collecting rainwater using eaves projecting at the base of the roof diverting water through a channelled slab into a cistern underneath the trullo. Some trullo homes are made up of groups of 2- 5 trulli. Most historians agree that the building technique for trulli came about due to the area’s geographical conditions and abundance of limestone. The quickie evictions and tax evasion scam came later.

In the early 1600’s there was a group of about 40 trulli in Rione Monti (Monti District) then settlement and trullo construction really expanded with the addition of a bakery, mill, tavern and butcher shop. In 1797 the feudal rule of the Acquaviva family ended when Ferdinand IV, King of Napoli proclaimed the community a ‘citta regia’, or royal town. Alberobello took its name from silva arboris belli, the Latin name for the region.

Inner-city trulli?

Today Rione Monti has 1,030 trulli and Rione Aja Piccola has 590 trulli, many of which are still inhabited as homes by some of Alberobello’s 11,000 residents. You can also find the trullo church of Sant’Antonio di Padova, trullo souvenir shops and ristoranti, and a trullo hotel. In the surrounding countryside there are many trullo masserie (farmhouses) that can be rented.

Exterior of a single trullo and interior of a trullo photo and art gallery

In 2010 along with Orsara di Puglia, Alberobello was distinguished with a Bandiera Arancione (orange flag) designation, a seal of quality from the Touring Club Italiano. Alberobello can be accessed by train or bus from Bari. Although Alberobello is quite ‘touristy’, it still retains its charm and is definitely worth a visit. If you can brave the mid-day sun in the summer, the cast shadows against whitewashed walls are an artist’s and photographer’s dream….but if you start dreaming about i Puffi, you had better go find some shade!

Alberobello souvenirs. A linen towel and my very own very cute trullo. I bought it the first time I visited Alberobello. It’s made of real limestone and chiancharelle.

Not all of the buildings in Alberobello are trulli

Ciao, Cristina

The Miracle Players, Roma

15 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Culture, Italia, Roma, Travel tips

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Foro Romano, Italian history, Italy travel tips, Roma, Roma english speaking theater, Roman Forum, The Miracle Players

If Monty Python meets the history of the Roman Empire sounds appealing, you will love the Miracle Players. They are an English speaking theater group in Roma made up of expats from around the world. They perform hysterically historical original comic works at the Foro Romano (Roman Forum) each summer.

Miracle Players performances feature volunteer swordfighters and high tech special effects!

I have been to 3 of their performances; ‘Caesar-More than just a Salad’, ‘The Life of Michelangelo’, and ‘The Seven Kings of Rome’. This year they are performing the rhyming ‘Rome in a Nutshell’.

If you will be in Roma on a Friday between June 26 and July 31, check out the performance at 7:30pm sharp. It is free and no reservation required. Get there early to sit on the stairs of the church facing the action-Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martina. Bring something to sit on if your culetto doesn’t like hard stairs or pavement.

The production crew takes a break

The performance is across from the Carcere Mamertino (Mamertine Prison) at the Roman Forum. This is below the Campidoglio and behind Il Vittoriano. The location is easy to get to. Take the Metro B blue line to Colosseo and walk down Via dei Fori Imperiali. There is a map on The Miracle Players website. The stage backdrop is the Roman Forum itself-how can you top that!

Dante Alighieri

31 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Firenze, Italia, Italian language

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Dante, Dante Alighieri, Firenze, Italian history, Italian language, Italian literature, La Divina Commedia

Statue of Dante in Piazza Santa Croce, Firenze

Auguri Dante! 2015 is the 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante. His actual birth date is unknown, but he does provide clues in ‘Paradiso’ that he was born under the sign of Gemini. In 1265, Gemini was mid May to mid June, a bit earlier than it is now.

Dante is known as the ‘Father of the Italian Language’. His most famous work La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) is considered a masterpiece, the first and also the greatest work of literature in the Italian language. In the late medieval period, Latin was the only language for education, literature and religion. La Divina Commedia was the first major work written in a language of ordinary speech, the way people actually spoke at home. Dante combined Tuscan and other dialects and some Latin, establishing the modern Italian language. Even though La Divina Commedia was written in 1308-20 the language is understandable today.

La Divina Commedia is a long poem in 3 parts, emphasizing the importance of salvation and Divine love. It outlines Dante’s imaginary trip to Paradiso (Heaven), passing through L’Inferno (Hell) and Purgatorio (Purgatory) to get there. It is also a critique of famous figures of his time. The work is filled with historical references and discusses politics, religion, ethics and love. La Divina Commedia has no jokes and is not funny. The reason it is called a commedia is because it is not a tragedia (trajedy) and it has a happy ending.

Dante was born in Firenze (Florence). He studied philosophy, poetry, and was also a pharmacist because nobles in public office had to belong to one of the city’s guilds. This isn’t as strange as it sounds because books were sold by pharmacies at the time. Dante’s family was involved in the Guelfi/Ghibellini (Guelph/Ghibelline) conflicts. The Guelfi supported the Papacy and the Ghibellini supported the Holy Roman Emperor -although there wasn’t actually one at the time. The Guelfi split into 2 groups because the Pope at the time kept interfering with internal matters in Firenze. The Guelfi Bianchi (White Guelphs) did not want the Pope involved in city politics and the Guelfi Neri (Black Guelphs) supported complete Pope authority. Dante’s family were Guelfi Bianchi. In 1302, Firenze was occupied by the Guelfi Neri and the Guelfi Bianchi, including Dante, were exiled. The other Guelfi Bianchi in exile were pardoned a few years later, but not Dante. He was kind of a badass in exile and burnt his bridges by writing many nasty letters, so he stayed in Roma. Dante was offered amnesty in 1315, but there were strings attached and a heavy fine which he couldn’t pay. He wrote La Divina Commedia while in exile and managed to write all of his opponents to eternal damnation, imaginatively making up all sorts of horrible existances for them in l’Inferno. He obviously put a lot of effort into coming up with all of the horrible details! If Dante were alive today I think he would be writing political satire in Paris.

Dante never returned to his beloved Firenze. He moved to Ravenna, where he completed Paradiso and died in exile in 1321. He is buried in the the church of San Francesco. Firenze regretted what had happened and repeatedly asked for Dante’s remains. A tomb was built in 1829 in Santa Croce but the requests were refused. In June 2008, Firenze passed a motion rescinding his sentence and exile. Meglio tardi che mai/Better late than never!

Piazza Santa Croce with statue of Dante on the left.

La Montagna Spaccata

17 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Italia, Orsara di Puglia, Photography, Puglia

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Montagna Spaccata, Montaguto, Orsara di Puglia, Parco Eolico di Montaguto, Puglia, Southern Italy

When I am in Orsara di Puglia, I go for a long passeggiata (walk) up the mountain almost every morning. When you spend weeks eating lots of yummy food, this is necessary. Orsara is already at 650-700 m elevation (2300 ft) and my walk is uphill a lot of the way so there is some good altitude there. I leave Orsara via Via Castagneto and take the Via Nuova, go past the Cimitero (cemetary) and then take the uphill zigzags to ‘La Montagna Spaccata’. At one time this was a steep windy dirt road, but now it is paved. I like to call it ‘la palestra di Madre Natura’ or ‘Mother Nature’s gym’. In the early to mid morning and early evening many Orsaresi of all ages are out walking.

‘Spaccata’ means cracked or split, as in split into 2. The reason for the name is that part of the mountain is in Puglia and part in Campania. In fact, Montaguto, the closest village to Orsara, is in Campania, in the province of Avellino. Arriving at the ‘frontiera’ (border), you can see the difference in the asphalt where one regione has stopped paving and the other has started. Just beyond the border is the Parco Eolico di Montaguto (wind farm) and the road also flattens out a lot. I usually walk to this ‘frontiera’ and then walk back down. Sometimes I go father, and a few times I have even walked all the way to Montaguto which is 6 km away.

Montaguto (AV) seen from a distance

I always thought Montagna Spaccata was just a ‘local’ name and that it had a real name. I tried to find out, but no one seemed to know for sure. I did some heavy duty research, consulting wikipedia….oops, I mean my amico Donato, who asked his amico Leonardo who consulted the official IGMI (Istituto Geografico Militare Italiano) military map …..and what do you know, Montagna Spaccata is the actual name!

View of Orsara di Puglia

I love my morning passeggiata. I can breathe in fresh aria di montagna (mountain air) and get some exercise-aka an excuse to eat more! I also enjoy and photograph some breathtaking scenery and views of Orsara di Puglia and even meet friends along the way. See for yourself…..

Pale eoliche (wind turbines) near Montaguto

Val d’Orcia Daytrip

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Firenze, Italia, Travel tips

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Abbazia Sant'Antimo, Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta, Castelnuovo dell'Abate, Daytrips from Firenze, Daytrips from Siena, Firenze, Fondazione Il Bisonte, Italy travel tips, Monteriggioni, Pienza, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Val d'Orcia

CappellaMadonnadiVitaleta

I wrote an email a while ago about my daytrip from Firenze to the Val d’Orcia with my amica Shannon. I have sent that same email so many times to friends planning a visit to Toscana that I thought it would make a great blog post.

Shannon was studying printmaking at Il Bisonte in Firenze for a year and I went to visit her for a week . We decided to rent a car for a day and go exploring. Our start time was delayed and by the time we drove off it was almost mezzogiorno (noon). No plans were made regarding where to go, we just drove away from Firenze then headed south, towards Siena. We passed a sign for Monteriggioni, which neither of us had been to, so that was our first stop. Monteriggioni is a small 13^th Century medieval walled village. Besides the intact 10m high walls and 14 square towers, Monteriggioni’s claim to fame is a mention from Dante in his Divina Commedia: Inferno, canto xxxi lines 41-42:

‘Come in su la cerchia tonda, Monteriggioni di torri si corona’

‘Like a circling round, Monteriggioni crowns itself with towers.’

Hunger set in, but we did not want to take time from our adventure to sit in a restaurant. At the Generi Alimentari (grocery/deli) we picked up some local goodies…prosciutto, finocchione (Tuscan fennel salame), pecorino di Pienza, fresh bread, and 2 glasses of Chianti—all for 11 €! They put it all in a cestino (basket) for us and we ate outside in the piazza. It was the best lunch ever. See for yourself…..

We got back in the car and headed towards the Val d’Orcia. When you see photos or postcards of the classic Toscana landscape with gentle rolling hills, vineyards and cipressi (cypress trees)…this is it!

The entire Val d’Orcia is a UNESCO World Cultural Landscape. When we stopped in Montalcino, there was a sign for the Abbazia Sant’Antimo. I had recently read about this beautiful Romanesque Abbey, so we drove to Castelnuovo dell’Abate, parked the car and walked down.

Sant’Antimo is a heavenly place, in a valley surrounded by vineyards, olive trees and cypresses. Parallel to the bell tower stands a striking single cypress tree. A powerful monastery in the middle ages, Sant’Antimo was abandoned for a short period of about 500 years! Local contadini (farmers) apparently used the crypt as a wine cellar!

Restoration work was done in the 1980’s and now it is home to a small Canonical order. 7 times a day there are vespers and Mass with Canto Gregoriano (Gregorian chanting). Sant’Antimo is worth going out of the way for. Next time I am there, I want to walk the 10.5 km from Montalcino and take the bus back from Castelnuovo.

Castelnuovo dell’ Abate

Between San Quirico d’Orcia and Pienza the scenery was breathtaking, including one of the most photographed places in Italia, La Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta. It is on private property so we weren’t able to visit, but we did lots of admiring from afar.

Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta-unfinished mixed media painting

There were cipressi (chee•PRES•see) everywhere! I have a fascination with cipressi and love to paint their ‘flame’ shapes and shadows. My nipotine have always called them ‘Zia’s trees’ and they love to paint them too. We came across some random sculpture among the cipressi with signs ‘Si prega di non appogiarsi alle sculture’ (Please don’t lean on the sculptures).

Pienza-formerly called Cortignano was the birth town of Pope Pio (Pius) II. In 1489, he rebuilt it to be an ‘ideal town’ according to Renaissance Humanist design concepts and renamed it after himself. He was a humble man! Because of this early vision of urban planning, the Centro Storico (historic center) of Pienza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I could have spent weeks sketching in Pienza!

After a brief visit to Montepulciano we had to start heading back towards Firenze. Our final stop was Castellina in Chianti to have pappardelle al lepere (thick ribbon pasta with wild rabbit sauce) which was so yummy! The ride to Castellina was spectacular. We somehow ended up on a back road, the sun was setting and everything was sparkly and lavender! Just before mezzanotte (midnight) we arrived back in Firenze and dropped off the car. Our Val d’Orcia adventure lasted exactly 12 wonderfully unplanned hours.

Pienza

Val d’Orcia daytrip

Buon Viaggio! Cristina

Primo ‘Bloghiversario’

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Bilingual posts, Feste, Inspiration

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

Blogging, Writing

Ciao Amici! Oggi facciamo ‘un po’ di festa’ perché è il primo ‘bloghiversario’ di Un po’ di pepe! Today is a bit of a celebration as it’s Un po’ di pepe’s 1 year ‘bloghiversary’! Exactly 1 year ago today I finally hit the blue ‘Publish’ button. The year has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was struggling to find a blog name that was available and also relevant and meaningful for me. I couldn’t believe that ‘Ciao Cristina’ and everything else I could think of was taken. Mannaggia! The frustration was worth it though, because ‘Un po’ di pepe’ is an awesome blog name.

What has this year been filled with? 27 blog posts, 94 subscribers, 2450 views, an average of 7 visitors per day, and lots and lots of ideas and inspiration. One of my blogging highlights was when my cugino Biagio told me that he used my 2^nd post ‘Il Gigante-Michelangelo’s David’ to teach his class on Renaissance history. Isn’t that molto cool?

Thank you all so much for reading and for giving me an excuse to write about stuff I love and share my images. You know….’Devo fare ricerca per il blog'(I need to do research for my blog) is my new reason to do all the things I want to do! It has been a wonderful experience so far! Please leave a comment if you have suggestions for posts, or you just want to say ‘ciao’.

Un abbraccio, Cristina

Ciao Amici! Oggi facciamo un po’ di festa perché è il primo ‘bloghiversario’ di ‘Un po’ di pepe’! Non ci posso credere che sia passato già un anno da quando ho premuto ‘Publish’. Sembra solo ieri che mi preoccupavo di trovare un nome per il blog, perché ‘Ciao Cristina’ non era disponibile. Mannaggia! Trovare un nome alternativo è diventanto un vero grattacapo ma quella travagliata ricerca è valsa la pena perché, dopo tutto, trovo che ‘Un po’ di pepe’ sia un nome stupendo per il mio blog.

Di che cosa è stato fatto quest’anno? 27 post, 94 iscritti, 2450 viste, una media di 7 persone al giorno che guardano il blog, moltissime idee e tanta ispirazione. Uno dei momenti più esiliranti per me è stato quando mio cugino Biagio m’ha detto che aveva usato il mio primo post, ‘Il Gigante-Michelangelo’s David’, nell’insegnamento del suo corso di storia rinascimentale. Che figata!

Grazie a tutti per continuare a leggere e per avermi dato una scusa per usare le foto che ho scattato e per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono. Ormai posso usare la scusa ‘devo fare ricerca per il blog’ per tutto quello che voglio fare. Lasciatemi un messaggio se avete delle idee per un post o se volete semplicemente dire ‘ciao’.

Un abbraccio, Cristina

Grano Arso

12 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Amici e Famiglia, Culture, Mangiamo!, Puglia

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Cucina povera, Farina di grano arso, Foggia, Italian food, Monte Dauni, Pasta nera, Peppe Zullo, Pugliese Traditions, Southern Italy

farinagranoarsoorecchiette Grano arso literally means burnt wheat. Flour made with it is ‘farina di grano arso’ and has a history going back many centuries as part of the gastronomic tradition of ‘cucina povera’ in Northern Puglia. Farina di grano arso was traditionally made from the bits of wheat left in the field after the harvest. The stubble, called stoppie (STOHP•pyeh) or la ristoccia (rees•TOCH•chya) that was left in the fields was burned, then plowed back into the soil. This was done as a quick and cheap way of clearing the fields. It was also thought to aerate and fertilize the soil and kill weeds and pests.

Bruciatura della ristoccia 1990

In the short span of time between the burning and the plowing, poor farm workers (contadini) gathered burnt bits of wheat that were still usable and ground them by hand into farina di grano arso. It was mixed with white flour, making pasta and bread more affordable, or traded to buy other foods. ‘Pane nero’ (PAN•eh NEH•roh) or ‘pasta nera’ were considered the lowest quality of food and became a symbol of poverty-‘la miseria’ (mees•EH•ryah). ‘Pasta Nera’, an award-winning documentary that is not about grano arso, uses the title to accentuate the poverty in Southern Italia during and after the war.

We know that food is more than just nutrition. The traditions and customs around food and its preparation are an integral part of a culture and teach us about the history of people and places at points in time. Cucina povera (coo•CHEE•nah poh•VEH•rah)and cibo dei poveri (CHEE•boh dei poh•VEH•ree) literally translate to poor cooking and food of the poor, but what is meant is ‘peasant cooking’. Farina di grano arso is important in a historical and cultural context as it really symbolizes the resilience and instinct to survive of our contadini ancestors.

Grano arso was nowhere to be found for many years, but today many Pugliese chefs, including mio amico, il ‘cuoco contadino’ Peppe Zullo use farina di grano arso. It is used to make fresh traditional Pugliese pasta- orecchiette, cavatelli, fusilli, and sometimes bread and focacce. Peppe is representing Puglia for the month of May in the Italian Pavilion at Expo2015 Milano. The theme is ‘Nutrire il Pianeta; Energia per la Vita’/ ‘Feeding the Planet; Energy for Life’. Appropriately, his feature dish for this event is cavatelli di grano arso e punti di asparagi verde.

Peppe Zullo’s ‘Cavatelli di grano arso con punti di asparagi verde’ for Expo 2015

Bruciatura della ristoccia (broo∙chya•TOO•rah DEL•la rees•TOCH•chya), the burning of the stubble in the fields is now illegal due to carcinogenic concerns, destruction of soil nutrients, pollution and risk of forest fire. Today farina di grano arso is not completely burnt, it is commercially toasted. The flavor, colour, texture and smell of pasta or bread made with farina di grano arso are really intense and unique. The flour is slightly grainy and the colour is grey like ashes- grigio cenere (gree•GEE•oh cheh•NEH•reh). Pasta can range from grey to brown in colour depending on the percentage of farina grano arso used. The smoked, nutty flavor reminds me a bit of toasted hazelnuts and the smell can be compared to lightly charred brick oven pizza crust. Most of the gluten is burnt off, so farina di grano arso can’t be used alone. It absorbs more water than other flours and will become a sticky mess that doesn’t hold together. Mixing 10% to maximum 25% with other flours that contain gluten produces the best results. Many people find pasta di grano arso easier to digest.

Not everyone is embracing the return of grano arso to the kitchen. It disappeared because it is ‘un ricordo della miseria’-a reminder of poverty and there was vergogna (ver•GOH•nyah) or shame associated with having to eat pasta nera. This is something that most Italians who lived through the war don’t want to be reminded of. When I made the bread to photograph for this post, I brought it to my parents’ house for dinner. Papà made a sour face and said ‘Solo che vedo questo pane mi viene la paura!’ (Just looking at this bread puts fear in me!) He was kidding…sort of…I think? Well he did eat 2 pieces anyways!

Making orecchiette di grano arso with my Mamma

Farina di grano arso is available in Foggia and Andria. Pietro Zito in Andria sells 1 kg bags online for 6 €, as well as pasta di grano arso. Even if it was possible to send to North America though, the cost would be astronomic. Can you imagine Poste Italiane sending a bag of flour in the mail? You could try toasting durum wheat semola yourself on a baking tray in the oven, but it will probably result in a visit from i pompieri (pohm∙•pee•EH•ree) -the fire department- when the smoke detector goes off. I have a better idea- take a trip to Puglia and try pasta di grano arso in its natural environment! Buon Appetito!

Orecchiette di grano arso al sugo, Ristorante Peppe Zullo Orsara di Puglia

Over Lago Maggiore

22 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Amici e Famiglia, Italia, Photography, Travel

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Tags

Angera, Eremo Santa Caterina del Sasso, Isola Bella, Isola Pescatori, Isole Borromee, Italy travel tips, La Rocca d'Angera, Lago Maggiore, Lounge Bar La Noce, Milano daytrips, Palazzo Borromeo

A few years ago I went to Angera on the eastern shore of Lago Maggiore to visit my cugini Rosa and Pasquale and their family. They own Lounge Bar La Noce which is right on the lake. Pasquale took me up for a spin in his ultralight and I ended up with some ‘vista d’uccello’ (bird’s eye view) shots of l’Isole Borromee, 3 small islands in the Italian part of Lago Maggiore.

Isola Bella is named for Contessa Isabella D’Adda, wife of Carlo Borromeo III. It was once a big flat rock in the lake with a tiny fishing village. Over a 40 year period in the 1600’s soil was brought in to build 10 terraces for the gardens and a summer palace. Famous palace guests include Napoleon and Josephine.

Isola Madre is the largest of the 3 islands. The 16th Century Palazzo Borromeo was built by Count Lancillotto Borromeo -what an awesome name! The English style Giardini Botanici dell’Isola Madre (Botanical Gardens) were built in the 18th Century on the site of a citrus grove.

Isola Superiore dei Pescatori -usually just called Isola Pescatori, is named for the fisherman. The village has about 50 permanent residents, and a few of them are actually still fishermen. Isola Pescatori was owned by the Borromeo family until the middle ages but is now part of Stresa. There are several hotels and restaurants on the island and taxi boat service from Stresa.

Eremo Santa Caterina del Sasso, a monastery founded by a man shipwrecked during a storm. He swore that if he survived he would dedicate his life to building a monastery on the site.

La cabina di pilotaggio (cockpit) & i piloti! I don’t remember how we managed to take this blurry selfie in the cockpit?

La Rocca d’Angera on the hill with Lounge Bar La Noce below. Photo Pasquale D’Ambrosio.

Angera (pop 5600) was an important lake point in Roman times, when it was called Angheria. Today it is most famous for La Rocca d’Angera (Castello Borromeo) a fortress on top of a 200m hill overlooking Lago Maggiore. The 1989 RAI miniseries ‘I Promessi Sposi’, based on the 1827 novel by Alessandro Manzoni was filmed here. La Rocca is also home to Il Museo delle Bambole, a doll museum. The Borromeo family still owns La Rocca d’Angera, Isola Bella and Isola Madre but they are accessible to the public. Boats to l’Isole Borromee (www.navigazionelaghi.it) are available from the lakefront towns of Stresa, Laverno, Pallanza and Intra. Some hotels and restaurants also have their own private boat service.

Angera is a nice day trip from Milano. There is no direct train but the closest route is the train to Sesto Calende then bus to Angera or the train to Arona and then a ferry across the lake to Angera. Buon Viaggio!