My apologies for a very, very long entry. But, we’ve been busy and this is the first chance I’ve had to do some catching up. Ore, the Friuli trip was nothing short of magical!!
Friuli, Apr 28-29
What an amazing trip we have had. The first word that comes to mind is hospitality, a most genuine, sincere, pleasure in sharing the wine, the food, and just the beautiful countryside.
Thursday morning we were up at 6:00 a.m. ready to pile into the Pullman, which by no stretch of the imagination, is comfortable. I’m only 5”2” and my knees are up around my throat, but I’m getting smarter, I brought my pillow.
At around 11:30, we rolled into our first stop in Friuli: Edi Keber. Now, picture this, after 5 ½ hours in the Pullman, after winding around and around on country roads that rolled over the spring countryside, we untangle ourselves out of the bus and have landed in a gorgeous vineyard. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and that yellow house right over there is the last house in Italy. We are literally a stones throw from the Slovenia border. Signor Kleber was kind enough to give us a brief history of the area, about how borders were laid down that put his brother in Slovenia and him in Italy. Even with my limited understanding of Italian, I’m sure we got the ‘sanitized’ version of what must have been a very difficult time for everyone.
We started with a tour of the vineyard, where we were encouraged to feel the strange soil. It looks like shale until you pick it up and it literally crumbles in your hand. The stony consistency of the soil reminded me of the stones in Chateauneuf du Pape, and I’m sure they serve the same function keeping the grape roots warm. Then we moved on to his impressive cantina, part of which was an old stone potso. We also engaged in a long conversation about the ‘muffa’ (mold) and how he treasured the muffa he had growing and didn’t want to sterilize his cantina to meet international standards. Although I believe he does export and the bottle storage area was immaculate. But he had left much of the rock walls exposed and these dripped with moisture. Who can resist that yeasty smell of a dank cantina? Not I.
Then a wine tasting lunch that was simple and wonderful. We started with the Tokai which is a light, fresh, summery wine. Then onto the more complex Collio which is a blended white wine. And along with this were home baked breads, cheeses, local salumi and a delicious barley based soup. All the traveling had certainly been worth it.
After we finished the soup, and by the way, we cleaned the pot out, Signor Keber brought out a bottle of his personal stash. As he explained to us that he created this wine from the 2002 harvest, he never stopped stroking the bottle, as if it were a dear friend. This was an unfiltered wine, ‘turbido’, that he created only to please himself. If you do not like it, that is fine with him. If you do, then ‘piacere’. I thought it was lovely, you could practically taste summer in the glass. It was a complex blend of fresh peaches, and lemons and sea breezes and we were very honored that he chose to share this with us.
And then it was time to move on. We looped around some roads, crossing right near the Slovenia border crossing, our cell phones picking up the Slovenia network, and headed to La Subida where the cooking part of our day would begin. La Subida calls itself a trattoria, but don’t be fooled, its very fine dining. Nestled down in the bosco, it is the definition of bucolic. As we shuffled ourselves into the front door, there was a large, welcome fire in the fireplace with a huge pot of boiling water. Within moments we were being given instructions on polenta making. The large cast iron pot had a metal paddle in it that was attached to a crank. The polenta was poured into the boiling water as the crank turned the paddle to keep stirring the polenta.
Although this was very welcoming, and the coffee we were instantly served was delicious, we were quickly herded downstairs to begin our Fruiliano cooking lesson.
It had been arranged to have 4 chefs come to demonstrate their cooking. As we settled into our chairs, the chef deftly boned a goose in under 3 minutes. The guy was an amazing goose boner! Think what you will, the guy was good!
Chunks of goose were seared and a sauce begun. In the meantime, we had another polenta lesson.
At some point, the fireplace version of the cooked polenta came downstairs, And as we gathered around a budding tree by an old table, we watched as he plopped this huge vat of polenta on a rickety round board that had seen many a polenta plop, he then ‘cut’ it into portions with a thick string and we tasted polenta that was chewy and fireplace smoky and delicious. A far, far cry from that stuff you get in plastic tubes in the ‘gourmet’ counter.
By now, the goose was done in a luscious red sauce and we had our spoons all ready for him.
The next chef is a streghe. A magician with herbs. And a more convivial, warm, lively guide to herbs and Friuli you could not find. Her restaurant is called “Sale e Pepe. La Cucina de Theresa”. She has an amazing way of balancing flavors. We had yet another polenta, this time a ‘black’ rough cut polenta that was served with butter toasted polenta, grated fresh horseradish and grated apple. It was superb. Then a tasty little herb frittata, savory version and a sweet version.
Most of the dishes were sampled outdoors under the budding tree, overlooking the horse barn and the flowering rosemary, and the sun dappled tennis court. Oh, how we suffer.
Then we were invited to dinner. Can you imagine after all we had tasted and sampled, it was now dinner time? And we were invited to dine in the private residence of the proprietor! So we trundled up the stairs, onto a magnificent outdoor porch overlooking this picture perfect countryside, and into a cocktail party! This was far beyond anyone’s expectations! Delicious ‘frico’, fried cheese treats were being passed, a huge proscuitto was being thinly sliced, large white asparagus with a spiral crust appeared and a delicious Collio wine was being poured. Truly, we had all died and gone to chef heaven.
Then dinner began in earnest and I honestly lost count of the courses. Each course brought a new wine to our glass. It was an amazing, amazing feast. Culminating is some fantastic venison and then a roasted pork. Somewhere in all of this was a honeysuckle sorbetto intermezzo that was the embodiment of that delicate flower. There was a tortelli nut filled desert. And a sort of wanton, herb filled fried ravioli resting on a whipped honeysuckle cream. And 2 kinds of desert wine. We were all just stunned with the generosity of our hosts. And then the parting goody bags filled with grappa, and goose pate, goose prosciutto, cheeses. Just a stunning, stunning evening.
Capped off with complete hilarity when 6 of the guys staying at our agrotourismo realized they were all sleeping in letto matromoniales!
The next morning, by 9:00 we were watching Adriatic scampi and clams being pulverized into fragments the size of the risotto grains they were joining in the pan. We were shown the intricacies of making a particular pepper brodetto with orata that was completely and totally divine. We nearly licked the pot clean.
The next chef made some more polenta, this time with a luscious rich sauce of local cheeses. And on and on it went… until it was time to leave our most generous host at La Subida (34017 Cormons, Gorizia Tel: 0481-60531) and go to taste some wine.
My notes get a little fuzzy here after a few cantinas, and just when we were starting to groan that we were onto yet another cantina…we went to Skok.
Here is a name to watch. The vineyard is run by a young couple who currently have a very small production, only 3,000 bottles. But. The wine is simply outstanding. I can honestly say that, for me, this was the best red wine of the trip, a lovely merlot. Their pinot grigo is also delicous. And again, our hosts were charming, with lovely ‘nibbles’ and sausages, adorable dogs and beautiful gardens.
Then it was time to get back into the dreaded Pullman and head to Proseco land. We had dinner that night at a totally forgettable Slow Food recommended osteria. Oh well, you have to have some yin to balance our awesome yang.
Next morning we went to Proseco mecca; the producer Bisol. After a most generous tour and tasting at the facility, we were invited to taste yet another Proseco, but in the vineyard that it came from. Does it get any better than this??? We were very honored to be invited to taste Cartizze, in the Cartizze vineyard. This is one of the world’s finest sparkling wines, and the grapes live in a most “bello posto”.
And just in case, we were feeling a bit peckish before leave Bisol, we went to the agro-tourismo that they run, and had some salami, cheese and more Proseco before heading home on the Pullman.
This was an amazing trip, from start to finish, and a part of the world worth exploring.
Next up, on Monday morning was Toscana! Andrea Alimenti was the docente, and he brought along his friend, the very talented Marco, who will be opening a new restaurant in Florence in June, and an excellent time was had by all! We made breads, gorgeous tortellini, stunning trout, chicken liver mousse with vin santo gelatin, magnificent deserts etc. etc. And it was all done with a great sense of professionalism and love and fun.
Wes morning…it was time to get back in the Pullman as we headed out for the very long drive to Vercelli, to visit the rice center of Italy. The highlight of Vercelli was going to an old rice mill: Antico Mulino-Riseria “San Giovanni”. If I’m translating correctly, the mill has been in existence since 1617. At that time, the whole rice grains were husked by pulverizing them by hand on a granite stone. Tough work. Again, if I’m reading this right, in 1699 they converted the mill to an ‘automated’ system that is run by a water turbine engine. The mill looks like a large warehouse, with enormous pulleys running thru thick stone walls. You can see how the pulleys would have developed over time, but at first it just looks like a maze of wheels and pulleys and chutes. We went outside to look at the old water engine, and it looked like something out of a Jules Verne novel.
Then they filled it with water…and being polite enthusiasts we were all charmed just watching the water woosh into the engine, but then, there was a moment of pure magic when the entire mill came to life! The whole place still ‘works’! You could still run a rice mill just off the water power…and the sounds the mill made were just, plain, music. A reminder of by-gone times, but also a reminder that we can cleanly harness the energy of this river and be doing just fine. I should post more pictures of it, but somehow, they just don't grasp the scope of the mill.
Then on to a multi-course rice tasting dinner, that was just not quite what it should have been.
The morning was spent at the new Slow Food University for Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenza, which is next to Bra, the home of Slow Food. Yeah, yeah, and Bra is up the road from Panties…. Somebody had to say it..right, Dario??! Anyway, the University is…brand new. They’ve renovated this huge villa, (as in removed every possible bit of character and charm and made it look like Anywhere-Disneyland….secondo me…) The plan is to have a 5 year program, 3 years at the university and then 2 years specializing. Right now, they have the first class of 50 or 60 students studying there. The interesting part, or odd part, depending on your point of view, is that there isn’t a kitchen, or a pot or pan in the place. Its all theoretical knowledge. Alice Waters is on the board, and she was not allowed to put in a garden. Well, it’s the first year, so lets see how it evolves.
After a quick stop in Bra, to say hello to Beppe, and a welcome grappa,
we rode over to Barolo territory and visited a very slick, very commercial wine cooperative…and my notes on this cooperatve are back in Montone, at home, along with some of the wine that I brought home to by bachelored-hungry-lonely husband. They’ve done an impressive job of pooling their marketing and wine make resources. Not to mention impressive architecture…you visit the facility by walking on a flyway a full floor above all of the wine.
Tasted some Barolo and then it was back into the Pullman for a very, very long ride home…we rolled in sometime after midnight
But, by 9:30am, the next morning we were at wine class with our very dear docente, Alessio! I wish we had more classes with him than the curriculum calls for, as he is an excellent and charming and knowledgeable teacher.
This week, we are studying Umbria and the Veneto, but this time Friuli is coming to us. Today we spent the morning analyzing and tasting salume and the afternoon in an intensive olive oil class. After tasting 11, count them, 11 olive oils, I was ready to put Windex on my palate to see if it would clear things out! And remember, you have to taste flawed oils as well as good oils.
And that’s what we’ve been up to for the past few weeks!! Barely time to process it all!
Now, bear in mind, its not all work, every once in awhile, Gordon entertains us.
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) At the same time, I was following Ore's thread, and it seemed like a very good way to learn about regional Italian cooking, meet producers, and do things the Slow Food way. 
. This was also cooked up into a fritatta.
And we made "scilatelle" pasta, which is made by rolling a hunk of pasta around a wheat stalk. 
Normally, I'm not a fan of thick spaghetti, but this was delicious. The chef, Antonio Romeo, also brought along some fantastic picante salumi, everything tastes better with a little bit of this added. You had to be pretty quick to get any of the broccoli with the salumi as it never even made out to the lunch table! 
