Melanzane To Die For

One of my favourite Italian recipes is Melanzane Parmigiana. A lot of people have difficulty knowing what to do with aubergines, and I know what they mean….they can be tasteless and rubbery. Here, chef Domenico Maggi, explains how to make his delicious version.

Ingredients:

Fresh whole aubergine, medium sized – one per person should be enough.

Virgin Olive Oil for deep frying (Domenico says that if you can’t use that, the second best is ground nut oil).

Virgin Olive Oil for general cooking – a good glug.

Several cloves of garlic (how much you add is down to personal taste).

Several slices of bread.

Handfuls of fresh Basil and Parsley.

A couple of teaspoons of pickled capers, rinsed.

2 beaten eggs to bind.

Ground black pepper.

Canestrato or Pecorino cheese, grated.

Start with the aubergine and slice each fruit in two. Remove most of the the flesh from the centre of each half with a large spoon or knife, but leave a thin layer (about half a cm) lining the skins so they don’t fall apart during baking.

Deep fry the aubergine skins in olive oil for a few minutes, then drain. (Domenico uses virgin olive oil in the fryer no hotter than 180 degrees. Smoking point is 190, after which the oil’s structure can be damaged and becomes unhealthy to consume.) Put aside to cool, ready for filling.

Chop the remaining aubergine flesh into small pieces. Peel, crush and chop several garlic cloves. Heat virgin olive oil in a wok-type pan and fry the garlic until just golden. Add the chopped aubergines. The oil will be quickly absorbed by the spongy flesh, and it might seem dry, but don’t over do it as weirdly, once the flesh is cooked, the oil returns to the pan.

Take a large baking tray and decant the cooked aubergine into it. Leave to cool – shouldn’t take too long.

Take several slices of  bread, remove the crusts, and roughly chop into large cubes. Next, chop up large handfuls of fresh parsley and basil. (If you don’t have these, adding any other fresh herbs will also work.) Rinse a handful of capers to remove the pickling vinegar. Throw this all into the mix. Then add 2 beaten eggs and mix the whole lot with your hands into a lumpy filling. Season well with ground black pepper.

Next, stir in a couple of large handfuls of grated Canestrato (this is milder that Parmesan, similar to Pecorino, made from cow’s and sheep’s milk). I like the hands-on mixing thing – no need for extra washing up!

You shouldn’t need to add any extra salt, as the cheese does the job for you.

Now – back to the aubergine skins waiting in the baking tray….sprinkle a little cheese over them. Then push the mix into each half to the top. Once they’re all filled, you can sprinkle more grated cheese over the top to make a delicious crust. Set aside till needed and bake for around 20-30 minutes at 180 until golden and the aubergine halves are soft and just starting to collapse. A delicious aroma should fill the room.

Try serving with a basic Provençale style sauce on the side. Heaven.

The Monaci’s Chef Shows Us How To Do It!

Outside the Monaci Factory

Focaccia with Olives and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Aubergine Salad

Seafood Salad

Tomato Salad

Sweet Breads with Goats Cheese and Berry Jam

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!

Learning From The Monacis – In Wine Making, Sympathy For Environment Is Key

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.

Inventive With Wine-The Venneri Family Introduce Us To Vincotto.

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.

  

For more info check out: http://stores.ebay.it/Vincotto-PrimitivO

The Delicious Flavours Of Apulian Wines Capture The History Of Life And Death In The Region.

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.

Outside a local school. ©www.trishgant.com

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.

Crem De La Crem

Wouldn’t the Internet be a wonderful place if you could taste things? If I could give you a scratch ‘n sniff card, I would. (Now that’s giving away my age isn’t it?)

We’re on the Grundtvig Project visiting one of Lecce’s fabulous Gelaterias, Crem Bar (viale Marconi angolo viale Lo Re, Lecce, Italy). How privileged to be watching the manufacture of one of the best Hazlenut ice creams I have ever tasted: smooth as silk, every girl’s dream.

The Irinox blast chiller is operating at -18 degrees celcius, critical temperature for creating the texture of this wonderful Gelato. It’s cramped down here in the bakery and curiously hot considering we’re making ice cream. The reason….in the ovens, croissants rising.

Crem Bar is one of Lecce’s favourite lunchtime venues. With  the most delicious range of pastries, including the traditional cream filled Pasticcioto, how could you fail to be in love?

More info on Lecce