My Grundtvig colleages with Monaci’s talented Chef
Grundtvig Colleagues
Tucking in
Healthy Meditteranean diet
Squid Salad
Tasting the different dishes
Satisfaction
Adding pasta to tomato based sauce
Steaming away
Making sure the sauce is evenly distributed
Adding Basil
Spectacular
Adding Mozzarella
Getting ready to serve
Double Delicious
Being Served
Fabulous wines
Lavender Field
View from the Top of the Monaci Factory
From the finest wines to the most delicious food, we certainly weren’t expecting this all in one morning. For days we had been treated like royalty and so it continued.
After our fantastic, informative tour of the factory, we had worked up a true hunger. The spread was colourful and a heady aroma emanated. Stomachs growled as our talented chef tossed an enormous pan of pasta up in the air. All the ingredients were locally sourced born from a rich heritage of making do. Surprisingly there was little garlic in this food. With the sea only a few miles away in any direction, seafood featured large.
I was surprised by sweetbreads topped by acidic, tart goat’s cheese, balanced beautifully with a sweet, berry jelly.
It’s very easy to be vegetarian in Southern Italy. Fruit is generously sized and yet the strength of the sun makes flavours sing: no insipid supermarket fare here. A lot is said about the Mediterranean diet contributing to a long and healthy life, but even if it is a load of old twaddle, at least you’re enjoying yourself as your taste buds zing and if it is true , then what a bonus!
When I woke up this morning it was snowing whirling dervish flakes. God! It’s nearly Easter too. Poor Suggs and Co: stirling performance last night at the sad closure of BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane. I thought back to those warm, balmy days on the Grundtvig Project, longing for soothing Negroamaro wine and the succulent dishes we tried.
(Cue: one of those wobbly dream filters they used to use in the movies.)
We are visiting the Monaci family vineyards in Copertino, Salento. Originally from Campania, the family moved to the Puglia region 50 years ago. Our speaker is Angela Venturi, wine and PR expert specialising in wine making and high quality agricultural tours. Spanning 22 hectares, this masseria focuses on red grapes (Negroamaro, Primitivo, Black Malvasia) trained to grow flat on espaliers (trellis) making the fruit easier to harvest. (A plant’s lifespan is 25-30 years.) This plant is hardy. In 2007 temperatures reached 52 degrees – a great year for red grapes, Angela waxed enthusiastically.
The Monacis never buy in grapes for blending and follow a policy of respecting the soil by not forcing growth. Nevertheless, 100,000 bottles is usual for a good year. Young and white grapes need to be protected from the sun, which can be ferocious in these parts, so vines are planted so that the fruit is protected by the shadow of its own leaves. Nowadays, Antonio cares for the plants while Adriano lays down the law in the factory.
Harvesting 80% by hand, usually takes place late August – early October and sugar content of the grape on average 21-22%. This year sugars weighed in at a whopping 27% – and so expectations were high. Timing is critical as each day you leave the grape, the sugar content changes and the flavour is corrupted. Early harvesting hours protects both the grape and the workers and is over by 11am due to the extreme heat in this region.
Angela, Wine Expert, Explains
Patrick samples the grape
Adriano and Antonio
The Spanish Contingent
The Macerator
Grundtvig colleagues listen intently
Then the wine is stored underground well away from light.
Fermentation tanks
Bottling up machines
The fruit is transported to the press, any hard wood and leaves left over are macerated and put back in the soil as compost. After 6-7 days in the fermentation machines (whose design dates back to the 40’s and provide a stable temperature) skins are removed, recycled and sold to be made into Grappa and surgical alcohol. Nothing is wasted here! The wine is then kept in huge vats under ground away from the light, at 16-18 degrees until ready for storing in barrels. 100% French Oak, they provide natural oxygenation without overcoming the wine’s true flavour, which in itself is strong enough. For 18 months it lays in the barrel and left for a further 10 months in the bottle to settle. “Simpotica” stays in French Oak Barrels for only 6 months.
Bottling
Bottles are received sterilised but are cleaned and re-sterilised to be sure. Great pains have been taken to ensure the quality of the natural cork used. Over the years, it was sourced from Salento, then Sardinia but nowadays it’s imported from Portugal. (Plastic doesn’t allow breathing, screw top proved a disaster!)
History
Salento has a long history of wine making. Byzantine monks, then the Normans and Frederick II improved the cultivation in the area. Exporting can be attributed to the Berbers. Unfortunately, all wine production in the region was destroyed by disease and had to be re-established in the 19th Century. Wineries from the North started buying grape from the South and due to mass production methods, quality suffered but nowadays, Puglia is the fourth region after Sicily producing quality wines.
(Cue: the wobbly dream filter again.)
It’s Still Snowing!
The care and attention that goes into making these lovely wines is something I’ll certainly remember! As I gaze out of my window, the snow hasn’t let up and I’m reticent to get out of my pyjamas and go shopping.
We are sitting in the sun, glinting through the panes of what can only be described as an enormous industrial greenhouse. The young lady talking to us is of Venneri stock and her English is easy and fluid. Sporting a short French crop, a scarf casually thrown across her shoulders, she has a facile Italian style, so natural. She is passionate about her family’s environmentally caring heritage, recent modernisation and expansion plan. Her grandfather established the farm pesticide-free and they still farm that way today. Solar panels produce energy for the whole company. The Venneris want people to have confidence in the quality of their products.
We are sipping a thick, viscous touch of bliss, a delicious mix of fresh peach juice and almond milk with a dash of Vincotta Primitivo Balsamico. This is a rich, dark Balsamic style vinegar the family manufactures from reduced local wine Primitivo. Adding Vincotto Balsamico, naturally enhances the flavour of food.
The family have been working with nutritionist Alfredo Balliaro, whose focus is Nutrigenomics, the study of identifying and understanding molecular-level interaction between nutrients and other dietary bioactives with the genome. What I think this means is that it’s possible to tailor nutrition to the individual’s genetic make-up. For instance, we are told, local dish combination Ceceri é Trie (pasta and chickpeas) is supposed to be a very healthy combination.
Ceceri é Trie – Pasta and Chickpeas
Whole steamed Fennel – A digestive
Chicory
Mr Vinneri’s Cacti
Mr Vinneri’s Hobby- Cacti
Mr Vinneri’s hobby
Ms Venneri extols the virtues of their Vincotto products as being high in anti-oxidants. The farm comprises 10 hectares, of which 6 are given over to making vinegar under organic certification. 3 kinds of wines are used to make Vincotto. She elaborated, claiming that consumption of Vincotto Balsamico will prevent health problems and that mass manufactured Balsamic Vinegar contains e150D, a chemical caramel, seen to promote Cancer. Vincotto has no ‘e numbers’, being rich in polyphenols and anti-oxidants. Adding Vincotto to pulses during soaking can help eliminate undesirable flatulance. You will be able to see the gasses escaping from the mix, so keep adding occasionally by spoonful until this stops. It’s an excellent replacement for Balsamic as a salad dressing and is less expensive.
Next up, we sample Vincotto Ingentilito, great on meat and fish, we’re told. It’s a natural flavour enhancer unlike Balsamic Vinegar which can be too strong and shield the true flavours. Ingentilito is aged for only 6 months. It’s an excellent replacement for Balsamic vinegar, made locally from Salentino vinegar. It is combined with Primitivo wines and heated until the alcohol evaporates. Currently it exports to the UK, Spain and shortly to Japan.
Cuetto is an even sweeter version, a traditional recipe dating back to the 1800’s. High in iron, it is also good for coughs and acts like honey to soothe the throat. It is used in desserts such as Panacotta or over fruit.
Lastly we are shown the latest edition to the range, coming in a small bottle, a culinary glaze Glassa Di Vincotto. Ms Venneri explained that over-heating the product can change its molecular structure making it carcinogenic: slightly confusing after driving so hard down the healthy route. In the UK we think of a glaze as something we can put on food before roasting to change it’s appearance, so I challenged her on the product’s health claims which returned a rather frosty response! Hey Ho!
Enter Mrs Venneri….another pasta demo ensued. This time we all get a chance to have a go. The light has a very special quality, simultaneously hard, crystal clear, yet diffuse. We watch Mrs Venneri knead the pasta, fry it. Ms Vinneri gives us a run-down about the history of Saragolla Wheat. Originally brought to the Adriatic Coast by the Bulgarians in 400BC it was a low yielding, inefficient type, tall growing and susceptible to weather damage. The Vinneri family are attempting to grow this wheat again and the Tria Pasta we are making today is made with it.
Mr Vinneri’s passion is Succulents and Cacti. There is one entire greenhouse given over to them. Spiky and ferocious in shape, it’s strange to see so many in one place but I’ve always found them photogenic. Standing to attention in rows, they seem military.
I can only feel gratitude to the Venneri family for taking the time for just one day, to give us a glimpse into their life.
We had started the day meeting the little kids in Carpignano Serrano, Scuela de Infancia – Castriniano. With all their lives ahead of them, they were so sweet, all lined up in a row, waving their National Flag proudly as they sang Nursery Rhymes. I felt very privileged to be thought of as an ambassador.
The day had continued to the Olive Groves, where we had experienced the heritage and manufacturing process of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and were shown around “La Furca” a beautiful Farmhouse B&B in Pozzello. (This was a new venture for the owners and so sadly there are no website listings for it as yet.) And then, to experience the Martyrs of Otranto in its Cathedral, it occured to me that the flavours of the region’s wines reflected extremes of life and death. Gazing up at the piles of bones and skulls presented behind glass either side of the alter was chilling and certainly food for thought. It was 1480 July 28th, when a fleet of ships carrying Ottoman troops, attacked the citizens of Otranto who were seeking shelter in its castle. The castle was sadly lacking weapons and the people were soon over run. 12,000 Catholics were beheaded, refusing to give up their beliefs.
Ottoman troops massacred Catholics for refusing to give up their beliefs.
Ottoman troops massacred Catholics for refusing to give up their beliefs.
Lyn Bertramelli (Second from left) and friends prepare a fabulous meal for us
Toasting Our Hosts’ Health
A diagram of the different taste zones on the tongue on the slide behind us.
Learning Sevillana with our Spanish friend Maria.
Our Spanish friends demonstrate Sevillana.
After touring the lovely city, we found ourselves back where we started, at the school, which had been transformed into a lecture theatre and dining room for us. I made a visit to the kitchens to see Lyn Bertramelli and her friends prepare our meal. Lyn’s English was very good because she is married to an Englishman and she explained how they were prepping the dishes. There was the obligatory pasta, platters of local cheese with walnuts and Pezetti di Cavallo (chunks of horse), a peasant meat stew with various things floating around in it including what appeared to be fatty, jelly stuff. Once again Chicoria, Zorin’s favourite, made an appearance. I stuck to the cheese!
Our hosts, Viaggiando Con Le Pro Loco and some local dignatories from The Association of Serrano and Agenzia Ulisse, greeted us with a welcome speech. Vita, our Guide, asked me to speak on behalf of all of us. I’m not a great public speaker but it was easy to say positive things: we had had such a brilliant time. Glass after glass of wine flowed, whilst we tasted the different flavours. From the freshness of a local sparkling Rosé full of life, to the intensity of the Primitivo and Negroamaro (dark and bitter), our tongues were set to tingle.
You know that really tired feeling, when your head throbs slightly and things seem a little distorted? We had had such an amazing day but it wasn’t all over yet. Vita certainly had packed a lot into our Grundtvig week.
We walked in a chattering group, through the beautiful, noisy and vibrant streets of Lecce, past the Roman amphitheatre near Piazza San Oronzo. It was amazing how easily we made friends. I can understand a little Italian and a speak a good smattering of French, so with a few flowery hand gestures, was able to make myself understood. Bobby and Patrick, two other Embrace volunteers, were really relaxed. Bobby’s thing was film and video, Patrick’s teaching photography and both full of excellent ideas too.
The Amphitheatre, Lecce
Through a grand portico entrance on Via Augusto Imperatore, just west of Piazza San Oronzo, we were treated to a very special evening. The Risorgimento was where Vita had her wedding breakfast a little under a year ago she told us proudly.
Vaulted ceilings and golden Lecce stone, pitted and worn, were all around us. Although we did miss out dining al-fresco at the roof garden, I was relieved as the nights here are a little bit nippy in November. Feeling a little bit underdressed, it was rather sobering to think that here we were….The Risorgimento had partnered up with Wine Experience Cantele, a local family winery business, to give us the taste of Puglia.
With our starter, a beautifully presented vegetable terrine, (accompanied by Pittule local dish of deep fried dough) we tried first a Cantele Chardonnay, then Verdeca. The Negromara Rosé was quaffable and slipped down. The terrine was a little fussy for my taste and unexpected as up until now, we had sampled simply prepared foods. Our glasses were filled and refilled, so that by the time our main course of Crusted Sea Bream arrived we were at ease with the world. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The fish was succulent and soft, done to perfection. I wasn’t sure if the crust was polenta but nevertheless it was delicious, arriving balanced on a potato cake sitting in tomato broth.
Pittule: deep fried dough
Vegetable Terrine
Sea Bream on Potato Cake
Orange Torte
Grundtvig Delegates
Grundtvig Delegates
Grundtvig Delegates
Toasting the chef
In anticipation
Grundtvig delgates with the chef
On to the reds……. now….deep….rounded….Negroamaro……mmmmmmmm……then Primitivo…stronger….more robust……..mmmmmm………nothing wasted here I can tell you! I could get used to this…..very….
Here comes the pudding….dusted fruity orange torte finished off with a sprig of mint. And indeed it did finish me off.
We gathered around the chef for a photo-call….cheering and clapping. Saluté!
I have to say at this point, after a considerable feast at Bakery Caroppo earlier today, I didn’t think I could fit another thing in!
It was exceptionally dark in Donno’s Pastry shop in Cutrofiano, lit with only a couple of very green strip lights, stretching my Canon 5D Mark 2’s high iso capabilities to the full.
The space was set out more like a science lab than a kitchen, immaculately sterile. There was a talk given by a local dignatory who praised Roberto Donno for his unrelenting dedication and hard work promoting traditional foods of the region.
Donno describing making shortcrust pastry with olive oil
Making Pasticcioto lids
Sorin helps Donno
Donno went on to explain that because Salento is in the centre of the Mediterranean, many different cultures have played out through the food. Pasta Frolla (originally from 1700’s), used to make the crust was made with a kind of pork fat and this gave the pastry an original taste. Donno eloquently demonstrated making the pastry with both lard and olive oil. The olive oil version is the modern, healthy way and uses a food processor. He explained that heat from your hands makes the dough more elastic, which isn’t necessarily a good thing when making pastry.
Pasticcioto started life as a pie but back then only aristocratic families could afford desserts and sweet things. People started making a smaller version for consumption at breakfast time. In Italy, food has always been a reason to bring communities together. When people were in mourning, they would not leave the house for two weeks so would spend the time making pastries which would be offered in condolence : expressing sympathy through food and family.
Preheat the oven to 250c˚ to aim for a temperature of 200. Baking time 20mins until golden.
Make a well with the flour and place the suet in the centre. Make another well in the suet and pour the sugar into it. Mix the sugar into the fat avoiding introducing the flour. Sprinkle the bicarb on top of the flour. Mix the 4 eggs in a bowl and pour onto the suet (pork fat), keeping the flour untouched. Using your hands, pull the flour into the centre, mixing with the eggs, fat and sugar. Don’t knead as too much body heat will affect the pastry. Your pastry will change colour depending on the eggs you use.
Once it’s all mixed you can freeze a large amount for use later or buy it ready-made in good supermarkets if you want to avoid the hassle! The pastry will last 10 days in the fridge though.
Cut the pastry into small pieces, dust with flour and use the palm of the hand or a rolling pin to flatten to around 5mm thick, making it as uniform and even as you can. Place the pastry into pasticcioto tins and push gently so that it reaches into the full depth of the tin. Fill the cases with pastry cream. (Donno didn’t show us how to make the cream but here’s a good version) and cover with a pastry lid. Brush with beaten egg to give a beautiful golden colour when baked. I wondered whether we could use English Custard as a replacement.
Place on a baking tray and take care not to let too much heat escape when placing in the oven for around 20 mins until golden.
Almond Dough (1700’s)
Benedictine monks brought this dough to the Salento region which produced and exported a huge amount of almonds at this time. Later, production moved to Bari. Bari almonds (higher in essential oils) are smaller and less attractive to look at but are tastier than their Californian cousins which are more fibrous and woody.
Recipe
1/2 kilo ground almonds.
1/2 kilo caster sugar.
Whole eggs. ( Around 4-6 until mix is sticky.)
Flavourings: lemon or orange rind, vanilla pods – optional.
Preheat the oven to 170˚C – Baking time 25mins.
Method
Put the almonds in the freezer for around 30 minutes before you process.
Place the almonds in a processor and grind.
Add the sugar and any flavourings to taste.
Slowly add the eggs until the mix turns into a paste. It needs to be very sticky.
Using a piping bag, pipe peak-like shapes onto a baking tray. Topping with nuts or dried fruits will release delicious aromas.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes at 170˚C. Allow to cool.
Finally, Roberto showed us his conceived delicious chocolate sauce product called CioccOliAmoci. Drizzled over Pan D’oro, he passed a delight around to us all. This is a chocolate sauce made with olive oil, smooth and flavoursome. Can this be healthy you’re asking? Perhaps…. if it’s made with olive oil….
Here’s a video I shot on the spur of the moment featuring my not so little bro. Just goes to show those advertising guys have got this down pat. We might find these tunes annoying but it’s stuck in the old bonce now for good.
In July, I invested in a Canon 5d Mk 2 and just as well that I did because I a job came in to work at an event in Oxford which turned out to be a real challenge. (Despite the reviews on the newest pro level Nikon being better, I had to stick with Canon because of my lenses.) As soon as I arrived my client expressed: NO FLASH. I walked into the lecture theatre and the first thing that struck me: how pitch black in there it was. The projection screen was dim too and save for a few pools created by halogen spots, the areas where the speakers stood were dark: extremely dark. It was also the kind of place that needed discretion, the use of a long lens was de rigeur to avoid upsetting the high profile academics.
I had to make a compromise between retaining detail on the projection screen and losing detail in the shadow areas of the speaker.
I’ve struggled for a couple of years, feeling that my existing camera, although excellent in the studio and in average daylight conditions, was a bit limiting. I flew by the seat of my pants covering the Funny Women awards at the Hammersmith Palais and were it not for the phenomenal Canon image stabilised lens I hired , would have failed miserably. The Canon 1ds Mk2 was everything I wanted in a camera and more when I got it 5 years ago, but how things have moved on. The kind of work I’m getting has changed too. I’m doing more stage stuff, more events indoors. I remember covering a belly dancing troupe in a local pub and although the pictures were beautiful, they got rejected by my library Alamy for being too noisy despite the noise reduction function in Capture One Pro working over time. There’s a limit to what you can do. Sometimes the most creative shots are not the most technically correct, but a compromise made under certain conditions.
When the speaker was directly under a spot light, the level of detail and lack of noise was amazing.
I had done a camera test the previous week which ascertained that 6400 ISO was the highest I was prepared to go. The 5D Mk2 does go higher but I didn’t like the feel of the files and wasn’t prepared to take a chance on a job. So that’s where I stuck. The exposures had to be bang on, because any pushing at a later stage would increase noise. The drop-off in light level was felt most as the presenters swayed in and out of the hot spots, a difference of several stops. I deliberately had to make a decision to under-light the speakers when they were pointing at the screen so as to be sure to keep the detail in the projection. I pre-determined a minimum shutter speed of 1/160th to eliminate camera shake and had image stabiliser on the whole time.
I hadn’t banked on having to up-grade my version of Capture One Pro either, which gave me funny colours like cross-processing, when I tried to process the RAWS. So luckily I still had Lightroom 2 ( they’re on Version 4 now) on my computer to use and as its noise reduction facility is excellent nevertheless, it helped me to reduce digital noise in the shadows. (Digital noise has many causes, can be down to sensor size or the chip over-heating in Summer.)
Having so much more to play with was a joy. Where I used to struggle at 1600 ISO, it was now a breeze. Using faster shutter speeds meant that hand holding was now possible. I did notice the lens hunting a bit due to lack of contrast in certain situations, but hey! Whaddya want? I was now shooting at 6400 ISO, 1/160sec and f4. Way to go! Can’t wait to try the HD video…..but that’s another story.
Today, when I was out shopping, I did something I rarely do…. pick up an in-house magazine . Why? Because those sultry eyes of Colin Firth’s worked their magic on me. I wondered just how many visitors to the bank had done the very same thing. There’s something about those eyes that linger, that draw you in…..
Jessica St. Clair of Green Families UK.
The portrait glowers back at me. I ask myself, what’s in a portrait? Recently, I’ve been doing quite a few for local business people. I’m really enjoying the experience because I don’t normally get a chance to look into what’s between the ears. Under normal conditions, it’s always a rush. I follow a traditional approach on a shoot; make my subject comfortable, try to allocate some extra time to the session to warm the subject up, show them some attention, try to get to know them, shoot lots. Invariably the shots at the end are always better than the first.
Of course, the worse thing you can do on a portrait shoot is to be in a hurry, it’s not conducive to good results. It’s important to romance the sitter somehow so there is a connection. There’s no way you can really know them in half an hour, but you can get a whiff of what they’re about. Equally, if they’ve got other stuff on their mind it’s no good. They have to want to be there not bullied because they think they ought.
What is it about that Colin Firth portrait that is so engaging? This portrait isn’t just about an actor, a man. It’s about a BRAND. One glance and he’s instantly recognisable. He’s enigmatic, bearing almost the same qualities as the Mona Lisa. (In fact he’s almost in exactly the same position.) With one look, you are reminded of almost every film he’s been in. Can he really just turn on that sultry look on demand or does he just have a natural propensity to do it? I wonder…did the snapper do something to bait his reaction?
So when a customer comes to me and says: “ I just want some nice shots for P.R.” what does that really mean? Just? Infuriatingly glib, I’d say…
The power of the portrait knows no bounds. Get the image wrong and you can damage your brand, get it right and well, maybe people might comment on what a good likeness it is of you and it might just stick in their minds.
It’s a strange thing, what the digital age has done to the creative process. Because results are almost instant, there is the perception that there is no value or skill involved at all, that almost anyone can do it. Not true. When a professional person actually produces the goods, the reaction is well, almost one of surprise…how weird.
It’s only human nature: experiencing a failure is the only way we can recognise a success, but who honestly has the time or budget to shop around and experience this for ourselves? That’s why people increasingly go for personal recommendation over traditional advertising. That’s why this year, I’m not going to spend dosh on paid ads at all, I’m going to concentrate on my on-line efforts and networking. Face to Face is best.
What you want, what you really, really want, is some essence of that person communicated to you through the image. It’s no accident that taking a photo is called a ‘capture”. And it’s no accident that the software I choose to process my Raw files is called “Capture One”. Because that’s exactly what I’m doing.
trish gant 