Saturday Night - 'A Pasta in Piazza

Summer = Saturday night in piazza.  And throughout the season, after a day at the beach, the piazzas come alive with music, good food and good wine.  Last Saturday night was no exception.  The sun went down in Gragnano (Na) and said goodnight to 'A Pasta's  day 1 of celebrating this wonder made from wheat. Gragnano pasta.    And to participate in the celebration, all you needed was a round yellow ticket or two...or seven. Seven top chefs set up stands in a circle around the fountain in the middle of Piazza San Leone.

Events like this are always interesting because it gives you a chance to watch the chefs in action, exchange a few words, and try their dishes in a casual, laid back environment.  At the end of the evening such as this, I'm always asked "Which dish did you like the best?"  Well for me, that question doesn't really have an answer. I don't like to judge, per se, but I did have my favorites.

My Favorite Wow What a Refreshing Surprise! Dish goes to Antonio Pisaniello with his three colors for Gragnano..pasta with .tomatoes, ricotta, and mint.

Antonio Pisaniello

Antonio was the first chef ready to serve. The mint gave the sauce a refreshing flavor as cool as the Gragnano breeze.  Buono, Tonino.


My Favorite You Can't Judge a Book by it's Cover Dish goes to ... Agostino Jacobucci and his fried candele pasta stuffed with ricotta from fuscella on a bed of creamed zucchini and zucchina scapece.

Each bite a surprise, with a variety of textures and flavors.

My Favorite I'd Love to Try This in a Restaurant Dish goes to Michele  De Leo with his pasta with sea urchins, buffalo ricotta, rucola pesto and confit tomatoes.

I enjoyed watching De Leo and his team at work. From tossing the pasta with the pasta sauce, to plate presentation.  All that was missing was a  table with a white linen tablecloth and porcelin plates and silverware with a view of the sea.

My Favorite Just Like my Mother - In- Law  Makes Dish goes to Angelina Ceriello and her pasta 'lardiata' with piennolo tomatoes from Vesuvius.

Past cooked al dente, al dente.  Fresh tomato sauce.  A sprig of basil, a grating of cheese.   We all need an in-law like Signorina Angelina.

My Favorite All the Comforts of Home Dish goes to Giuseppe Iannotti and his  pasta with potatoes.

The perfect comfort foods, potatoes, cooked in a vegetable broth, cuddling up with the pasta.

My Favorite Fun and Flavorful Dish goes to Raffaele Vitale's Cotrone bean soup with mixed pasta, tossed with anchovies and aromatic herbs.

Each bite was full of fun, flavor, and fagioli.


Last but not least...My Man I Missed This One ! Dish goes to Giulio Coppola and his candele pasta with a genovese sauce and ricotta.

I heard it was good, and when I went to try, he was momentarily out.  No problem.  I have another reason to go back to Gragnano.  To visit the chef in his restaurant.

Ci vediamo

'A Pasta -Part 2 - Il Ragù Times Three

Il Ragù.  The classic Neapolitan pasta sauce that is served with the traditional family Sunday lunch.  So what was I doing in Gragnano on a late Saturday afternoon trying not one, not two, but three different ragu sauces?. I was attending a discussion on the big red led by Maurizio Cortese of Gazzetta Gastronomica.  Cortese began by quoting a popular film Sabato, Domenica, e Lunedi, starring Sofia Loren.  A classic which I have seen several times.  There is a scene in particular where Sofia is at the butcher shop one Saturday afternoon waiting to purchase the right cuts of meat for her traditional recipe.  A heated, and somewhat comical, debate begins between Sofia and the other housewives shopping for their recipe.  Which cuts to buy, which town has the true recipe, the best recipe etc.
So here I was, the Chiostro di San Leone, with Cortese and three cooks who he had invited to share their stories, their ideas, and their sauces that Saturday late afternoon.

First, Riccardo Scarselli.  Scarselli, owner of Il Bikini in Vico Equense swears he is not a chef.  He considers himself a bagnino, a beach attendant. Ok, but one who back in 1994, out of curiosity, decided to play around with ingredients to make his ragù sauce.

Riccardo Scarselli

After trial and error, he believes that he has found the right combination which includes meats, braciole (rolled thin slices of pork), pork ribs and cheek.  The perfect onions-white ones from Montoro, a town in Avellino. And the right pot-it must be copper. He makes his own tomato concentrate using San Marzano tomatoes. Scarselli uses lard in addition to extra virgin olive oil.

Elisia Menduni (Gazzetta Gastronomica) warms up  Scarselli's  sauce

Then the careful eye, patience, and experience for this slow cooking sauce to reach the right point.  Il ragù secondo Riccardo, Ragu according to Riccardo.  He likes his sauce thick, dark red/almost brown. He likes it when the  meat and sauce have pratically become one.

Riccardo's ragù

After a bowl of Riccardo's sauce, served with a thick slice of bread, it was time for Cortese to introduce Signora Angelina Ceriello of E' Curti  in San Anastasia (Na).  Signora Angelina, who, Cortese informed us, will celebrate 60 years of service in her restaurant's small kitchen on the 12th of Septmenber.  Soft-spoken Signora Angelina, small herself, brought a large pot of ragù cooked just the way she likes it, and her customers as well.

Signora Angelina and Mauriio Cortese

Angelina's sauce

In Angelina's sauce, she also sticks with pork pieces such as the muscle, pancetta, and gallenelle, the part above the thighs.  She uses her hoemade tomato sauce, no onions, and extra virgin olive oil.  During cooler months, she adds more meat such as sausages, and cotiche, stuffed pork skins, The aromas that came from the pot were amazing.  And when served in a bowl with a piece of bread and a tender piece of slow cooked pork?  Hard not to imagine this sauce with a plate of pasta cooked al dente, firm.

Cortese was ready to present his final panelist.  One whose sauce he knows very well, a sauce prepared by his wife Cristina Lontananza.  Cristina learned the basics of her recipe like many other Neapolitans, from her mother.  Then over the years added what she wanted and deleted what she didn't.

Cristina Lontananza

Lontananza's ragù

Lontananza also believes strongly in what meat she chooses for her sauce.  Braciole, stuffed with pine nuts, uvette (dried grapes) parsley, garlic and cheese is a must.  Then cotiche, pork ribs, and sausage if she has some on hand.  In her version she uses canned San Marzano tomatoes, onions, extra virgin olive oil, and experience, patience and care.

By the end of the afternoon, we had tasted three sauces, heard three stories.  The stories, like the sauces, were special, different, and unique.  Just like the three people who presented them; Riccardo Scarselli, Angelina Ceriello, and Cristina Lontananza.


 

Pane and Prosciutto - Irpinia with Chef Francesco Spagnuolo

Rocco Plati and Francesco Spagnuolo

I pulled into Radici Resort late Wednesday morning knowing good and well that Morabianca Ristorante was closed for the day.  But I wasn't concerned. Actually, it was perfect. Perfect because I had an appointment with Chef Francesco Spagnuolo.  I wanted to learn a bit about the prodotti tipici in the area and Francesco invited me to tag along with himself and Morabianca's Maitre D Rocco Plati on a shopping trip Irpinia style.

Off to Venticano, about a 10 minute drive away.  Destination?  Ciarcia....a prosciutto lovers heaven on earth.

 I assumed this was just a large delicatessen, but as the doors opened, and the aroma of aged ham hit my nostrils, I knew I was in for something extraordinary.  3 floors of extraordinary and Nicola Ciarcia who gave us a tour of the facilities starting with the bottom floor.

Spagnuolo and Ciarcia

From where the pork enters, to where it exits, and every point in between.  And though this facility has only been around since 2002 and is stocked with the lastest technology and conviniences.  The family has been producing prosciutto since 1930.  Tradition meets technology...

On the main floor, there is even a tasting room where clients can taste all kinds of specialties.  We tried the culatello irpino, Italian pork thighs.

But prosciutto wasn't the only thing available here.  Irpinia supports its own. Wine, cheeses, pastas from all over Irpinia and Campania are also on sale.

For our prosciutto and cheese, we needed some bread...and Francesco makes his from scratch.  Time for flour shopping.   Off to Bonito, 10 minutes away to La Porta, a flour mill that still grounds grain the old fashioned way.  There we met Sabatino who gave us a quick tour of the facilities...

Sabatino with Plati

What impressed me the most about this particular shopping trip was that I spent the afternoon with Irpinia's youth.  Professionals who love what they do, love their traditions, and love their culture.  In a society who is always looking to move ahead, it is refreshing to find those who are proud of their past.

Good Afternoon Gragnano - 'A Pasta Part 1

'A Pasta was a 2 day event put on by Gazzetta Gastronomica.  I decided to divide this weekend celebrating the pasta from Gragnano (Na)  into three seperate blog posts.


Ciao Giuseppe!  How are you? It was late afternoon when I arrived at the Chiostro di San Leone  in Gragnano, a small town about a half hour from Naples.   Giuseppe Di Martino  had flown in from Germany on his way back from Vancouver and Washington D.C. just a couple of hours earlier, but his face didn't show that he had been up for the last 24 hours.

Giuseppe Di Martino

Di Martino, owner of two pasta factories in Gragnano, is used to travelling the world talking about pasta and Gragnano.  On this particular afternoon, he was programmed to be the guest speaker in a small corner room  accompanied by a bag of  wheat, a bag of grain,  a bag of flour, and a bag of pasta. A small corner room with a soft gentle Gragnano breeze.
He began by discussing the history of pasta making in Italy in general, dating back to the Roman Empire.
He spoke about grano duro, durum wheat. Wheat grown in hot dry areas, some even sporting long black bristles...

 He spoke of harvest periods, how they differed depending on the area where wheat is grown...starting from North Africa, Southern Italy, and then Northern Europe.   How pasta made with this wheat was easier to asciugare, dry. And how it as the wheat used to make the first lasagne oh so many years ago.

He spoke of grano tenero, soft wheat, grown in the areas north of Rome.  Where the climate is a tad bit more humid. So it is understandable that this wheat that produces pasta dough that is more elastic, perfect for making handmade pasta.

And then he spoke of the history Gragnano, his hometown and why it is the perfect place to produce pasta.  They have been doing it industrially since the mid 16th century.  But why here?  There aren't any fields of grain.  No, but there is Gragnano unique location surrounded by mountains three sides, with a passionate breeze, vento maestrale, coming in from the sea.  Gragnano's Via Roma was designed back in the 1800s to take advantage of the sun, the wind, the air.  Back then, nearly 100 different pasta makers would hang their pasta out to dry during the day.  That was then, pasta production is now done inside, in modern facilities.This, along with fresh well water and their wealth of knowledge and experience have made Gragnano one of the most famous places for pasta today.

Di Martino wasn't through.  He wanted to highlight a few things. Like how important which type of die is used tn pasta production.  And on  the table, next to the wheat, grain, flour and pasta he had a bronze die...

Many companies in Gragnano use this particular die because it gives their pasta a rough feel to it.  Perfect for the many varieties of pasta sauces to cling on tight.  Teflon coated dies, on the other hand, prouduce pasta with a smooth surface.  Something to take note of the next time I read a package of pasta.

There were many things to take note of that good afternoon.  How Di Martino feels about spaghetti with clams (linguine s better) and spaghetti bolognese ( a definite NO !!the sauce is just too heavy).  The right cooking time for pasta, the right utensils when eating.  He continued, sharing his passion and love for pasta with the 20 or so who decided to spend an hour of their afternoon with Di Martino that afternoon.
In a small corner room in Chiostro di San Leone...with a bag of wheat, a bag of grain, a bag of flour, a bag of pasta...
and a gentle Gragnano breeze...