Italy Puglia cooking vacations and wine tours

It has been several months now since we started our “What’s special at the market in Puglia” section, where we write about seasonal and special products we find at the market in Puglia.

We have to admit that we were never happier to host our market section than today! This morning we finally found some fresh fava beans at the market and this means that the Spring has finally arrived!

The fava beans are still a bit small and so we have to wait a few days more, before we can make our delicious pasta with fresh fava beans, onions and mint.

However, when the fava beans are so small and tender they are perfect to be eaten raw in a salad, with the fresh pecorino sheep cheese, some Pugliese bread topped with good quality extra virgin olive oil!

It’s a fantastic starter!

What’s your favorite recipe with fresh fava beans?

We can certainly say Puglia is an artichoke lovers’ paradise!

If you come to Puglia at this time of the year you’ll see artichokes everywhere: at the markets and at every street corner the farmers sell their fresh artichokes. All the locals buy to eat them fresh or to preserve in extra virgin olive oil, mint and cloves (delicious!!)…to be eaten in the summer on top of our fantastic bread.

The artichokes have many important nutritional benefits. In addition to being full of fiber and iron, they contribute to lower the blood cholesterol. In fact, by promoting bile secretion in the liver, they help reducing the LDL cholesterol.

In the 1970′s, European scientists discovered that the bitter taste of the artichoke is due to a plant chemical called cynarin, which has the ability to reduce cholesterol.

In Puglia we prepare the artichokes in so many different ways and I and Marika have them at least 6 times per week at this time of the year. One of Marika’s favorite ways to prepare them is with carrots, rice and parmigiano….a sort of risotto but more Mediterranean because we make it with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter.

INGREDIENTS
3 artichokes 
1/2 lb rice
2 carrots
1/2 onion
vegetable broth (as necessary)
1/4 glass white wine
3 1/2 oz very good Parmigiano
2 tbsp very good extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
black pepper

RECIPE
Clean the artichokes and the carrots and chop them in small pieces. Put them in a non-sticking pan at low flame adding a few tbsp of vegetable broth. Stir and add the onion, cut very fine.
Add the rice and stir very gently and not very frequently. Add the wine and after a few minute other broth, little by little when necessary.
Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
When the rice is cooked “al dente“, add the parmigiano. Serve and add the extra virgin olive oil.

The only issue we have with artichokes is pairing them with the right wine. What wine do you like having with artichokes?

This is the Lentil soup! Because they resembled coins, in the past they were thought to bring financial prosperity in the year to come. Nowadays, we associate them to general good luck, in any field. I and Marika had lentils for three days in a raw….just to be sure!

 Usually lentils are prepared with cotechino (pork).

What are your New Year’s culinary traditions?

WE WISH A WONDERFUL 2010 AND NEW DECADE TO ALL OUR READERS!

It’s unbelievable! We are in December and we are still enjoying a fantastic mild weather in Puglia. Even at the market we can still find summer vegetables, which are not imported but produced by the local farmers.

INGREDIENTS:

4 servings

4 bell peppers (a combination of red, yellow and green) seeded and cut into strips

1 tbsp (15 ml) extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp (15 ml) sugar

1 tbsp (15 ml) wine vinegar

1 tbsp (15 ml) capers

1 tbsp (15 ml) black olives, pitted

1 tbsp (15 ml) bread crumbs

parsley

salt, to taste

INGREDIENTS:

4 servings

4 potatoes

10 ½ oz (300 grams) cardoncelli mushrooms

Chopped parsley

3 ½ oz (100 grams) grated Parmigiano cheese

4 cherry tomatoes, in small cubes

1 ¾ oz (50 grams) breadcrumbs

black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

pinch of sea salt

PREPARATION:

Peel and slice the potatoes. Cut the mushrooms in small pieces.
In a little bowl add half of the parsley, the tomatoes, half of the Parmigiano cheese, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, black pepper, sea salt and some water. Stir everything together.
In a baking pan pour a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and place a first layer of potatoes. Add on top the mushrooms. Then add the parsley with the tomatoes and parmigiano cheese.
Cover everything with another layer of potatoes.
Sprinkle on top with the remaining parsley, parmigiano, breadcrumbs, a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper.
Place the potatoes and mushrooms in the preheated oven and bake at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 30 minutes.

Puglia is the perfect place for those who love capers! We produce tons of capers. Apart from sweets, almost all recipes from the traditional cuisine of Puglia, require capers…from fish, to meat, vegetables and pasta. In Puglia, we certainly use more capers than garlic or other herbs.
Yesterday, I went to the market with a specific mission. I wanted to buy a caper plant and try producing capers….once more! I might have tried 20 times already….always with no success!
It’s really difficult to grow capers. They prefer to grow wild only where they decide to grow! They require just the right sun exposure, the right soil or rock, the perfect climate.
I always wondered how they can get to grow so well on top of the most dangerous sea cliffs…and not in my chalky garden with all my care and love!
When you drive along the Adriatic coast from Otranto down to Santa Maria di Leuca you will see lots of people with bags climbing the sea cliffs: they will be picking capers…and of course the best capers are the smallest ones, the most difficult to pick. May be that’s why they are the most expensive ones!
In the next months, I will keep you posted about what happens to this lovely caper plant!
Just to make sure I and Marika had enough capers for the summer, I also bought some freshly picked capers.
Of course, I and Marika like buying the smallest capers: they are so tasty compared to the big ones.


The recipe to prepare the fresh capers is the following:

1kg freshly picked capers (the smallest)
1kg sea salt
White wine vinegar (as necessary)

Wash the capers, put them in a jar and mix them with sea salt. Leave them with sea salt for at least 10 days.
We use salt to remove capers’ bitterness. Please consider that it is very important you use “sea” salt since it helps preserving the capers’ flavor and taste.
As you may already know, salt preserves food: therefore capers with salt can last for many months or years.
After the first 10 days, put them in another jar, add other sea salt and leave them for other 10 days.

Now they are ready to be eaten. Remove the sea salt, put them in a jar, cover them with white wine vinegar and close the jar with the lid.
Leave them with vinegar for about 5 days. After 5 days, remove the vinegar and cover them with other white wine vinegar. After 10 days, repeat this step once more. Leave them with vinegar for other 15 days, at least, before using them.

One thing that I and Marika certainly love about the cuisine of Puglia is the fact that even though our recipes are very simple to prepare, the resulting dishes are extremely delicious. Tomato sauce is the recipe that best represents the simplicity of our cuisine. We use only these ingredients: fresh and ripe tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, basil leaves and onion. Nothing else! We promise the resulting tomato sauce will be unforgettable.

To make a good tomato sauce the quality of the tomatoes you use is very important as well as the extra virgin olive oil you add on top at the end.
Contrary to what people normally think, Italian cuisine does not use as much garlic as other cuisines (i.e. Spanish). Therefore to make the tomato sauce in Puglia we tend to prefer onion to garlic. Also, in Puglia we don’t cover the taste of the main ingredients we are using: if we make a tomato sauce we want to taste the tomatoes and not the onion. Therefore we don’t use too much onion.
As for the extra virgin olive oil, we prefer to add it at the end when the tomato sauce is ready and not in advance. This is because once cooked, the extra virgin olive oil loses all the health properties and flavors. Whereas if you add it raw it still has all its flavors.

To remove the acidity our grandmother always told us to cook the tomato sauce at least for two hours. If you don’t have that much time, you can use a sliced carrot that helps removing the acidity, instead of using sugar.

RECIPE
6 servings

Ingredients:
2 kg of fresh and ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ red onion
1 tsp sea salt
Basil leaves
Red pepper flakes

Preparation:
Soften the onion with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil. Cook the tomatoes for about two hours. Blend them with a food processor and cook them again at very low flame so that the sauce reduces more. Add basil, sea salt, red pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

It’s finally “primavera” Spring in Puglia, Southern Italy!
So we can finally have all the delicious vegetables that we only find in April: the marvellous fresh fava (broad) beans, the sweet little green peas and the tasty asparagus!! For our Easter menu, in addition to the tradional baked lamb with rosmarin and roasted potatoes, we are going to have a fresh Fava (broad) bean cream for appetizer. The recipe includes (for 4 servings): 400 grams fresh fava/broad beans; 100 grams fresh green peas; 50 grams small potatoes; 30 grams leek; half litre clear broth; 1 tea spoon salt; a pinch black pepper; 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 100 grams asparagus; 50 grams fresh fava/broad beans (for decoration).

For the fava cream: slice the leek and soften it in a pan with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, for a few minutes. Add the fresh fava beans, the green peas and the potatoes. Stir and let them cook for a few minutes while adding some clear broth. Add the salt and pepper and keep stirring. Cook for about 30minutes and them mix everything with a blender until you get a very smooth cream. Add 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, (it is better to add it raw at the end of your cooking, so you keep all the olive oil flavors!!).

For the asparagus decoration: in another pan cook the asparagus reduced in cubes, the 50 grams of fava beans and a table spoon of extra virgin olive oil. Serve the fava bean cream warm, in a bowl. Decorate with the asparagus.

And you, what’s going to be your Easter menu? Share with us your recipes and menu.