Insalata - Salad, Italian Style

Panzanella Salad, Osteria Cantine Bernardini, Lucca

Salads in Italy come in many varieties, including simple insalata verde (green salad, just a big bowl of lettuce), insalata mista (mixed salad of lettuce, carrots, tomato, perhaps some fennel), and meal-size insalatone (big salads filled with cheeses, meats, seafood, fruits, nuts). There are also delicious specialty salads such as caprese (tomato, fresh mozzarella with basil), panzanella (tomato, cucumber, red onion, basil and crumbled bread with olive oil and vinegar), and carciofi (fresh shaved artichokes with Parmesan and olive oil). All are delicious, especially when made with local fresh ingredients and eaten somewhere in Italy!

I enjoy each of these types of salads but, secondo me (in my opinion), the absolute best salad in Italy is an insalata di bresaola. Bresaola is not well known in the U.S. (at least not outside of cities with big Italian communities like Boston, New York, and San Francisco), especially compared to the more familiar Italian salumi (cold cut) products like prosciutto, salami, and mortadella. I first tasted bresaola on a trip to Rome many years ago and it's always one of the first things I want to eat when I return to Italy. And, because it is low-fat and low-carb, it is one Italian food that I never feel guilty about eating. 

Thinly sliced bresaola, with just a hint of marbeling.  

Bresaola is a beef cold cut, made from what we in the U.S. would call the top round cut. It is a specialty of the Valtellina, an alpine valley in northern Italy. Like prosciutto, bresaola is produced through a process of salting and drying. But, unlike prosciutto, the beef is trimmed of all visible fat before being rubbed with a salt and spice mixture. Also, the aging process is shorter, usually two to three months. The final product is deep red in color, soft (never leathery), delicate in texture, and fragrant. It's served very thinly sliced and is so very delicious. 

Bresaola is typically served as an antipasto, often as a salad with peppery arugula (but also good on crisp lettuce). It is topped with shaved Parmesan and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. I can easily make a  meal out of this salad, especially if I have some focaccia on the side. 

Bresaola filled with ricotta and mint ( Lucca Italian School, Speak and Cook Italian class) 

There are other ways to use bresaola as well. In a cooking class (at Lucca Italian School), I learned to fix it as an antipasto in which round slices were topped with a mixture of fresh ricotta mixed with chopped mint, folded over into half moon shapes, and drizzled with thick balsamic glaze. Heavenly!  Bresaola also goes well with a variety of meats and cheeses on an antipasto platter and makes a great panini (sandwich) on salty focaccia with some tomato and a soft cheese. Or just pick up a slice and eat it in your hand as a quick snack. It's hard for me to find at home, so I always eat plenty of it while I'm in Italy.

-post by JMB

Contacts:  

Lucca Italian School     Via dei Bacchettoni 25, 55100 Lucca, Italy.            Lucca Italian School.com

Santa Cristina Enoteca.  Via XX Settembre 10, 55100 Lucca, Italy   Santacristina.enoteca@gmail.com

Osteria Cantine Bernardini Via del Suffragio 7,  55100. Lucca, Italy.  Cantinebernardini.com

Il Bernino Restaurant and Cafe

It seems as though with every stay in Lucca I discover a new restaurant to add to my list of favorites. On my most recent trip my discovery was Il Bernino, a small restaurant and cafe with a wide variety of delicious offerings. I wanted to try it because one of the new owners is a friend and also because I'd heard rave reviews from my Lucca Italian School classmates.

I kept returning to Il Bernino because the food is so good, the service friendly, and the prices reasonable. The setting is also beautiful. It's clear that the chef and owners care about the quality of the food - with an eye to using fresh local products and making seasonal changes to the menu.

The pretty counter is a perfect place to sip your espresso Italian style, standing at the bar.

An after lunch macchiato - these cups made me smile!

I first stopped in late one morning for a quick cappuccino, served Italian style, standing at the bar. It was a good espresso with just the right amount of steamed milk - a perfect mid-morning pick-me-up. An after lunch macchiato was also tasty on another day! 

The panini (sandwiches) in the display case looked so good that I grabbed one "da porta via" (to go) for an impromptu picnic on the city walls. It was simple but oh so tasty - a good prosciutto and a bit of cheese on a fabulous olive-studded filone (a long thin baguette). A great picnic lunch.

My next visit was for pranzo (lunch) with a friend (Judy, whom you know as the co-writer of this blog). We both ordered the same thing - spaghetti con vongole e limone (spaghetti with clams and lemon). This was a unique presentation in that the clams were chopped (as opposed to served in the shells) and the dish was topped with fragrant lemon zest. It was delicate and delicious - a dish I can't wait to have again and will certainly crave when I return home to New Mexico.

Next up (remember, I was in Lucca for almost two months) was another lunch, this time a Caesar salad with a juicy, perfectly grilled chicken breast on top. Grilled chicken is not a common dish here in Lucca, so finding this on the menu was a real treat. It was artfully arranged, with lettuce, radicchio, and small tomatoes  lightly topped with the chicken and a flavorful dressing. Another wonderful meal.

Il Bernino is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (closed Mondays). It's also a great spot for an aperitivo. There is a pretty outdoor seating area. For more formal dining, or on chilly days, head inside and up the stairs to the inviting dining room with it's attractive art and soft music.

Il Bernino is situated at the corner of Via Fillungo and Via Mordini. The outdoor seating is just a bit off busy Via Fillungo - close enough to watch the activity on what is Lucca's "Main Street" but at enough of a distance to feel quiet and relaxed.

Add this wonderful little place to my list of favorites in Lucca!

-post by JMB

The pretty upstairs dining room.

Contact information:  Il Bernino Via Filungo 86, Lucca.   

For Want of the Perfect Risotto

I have been craving a certain dish – risotto alla faraona - for exactly one year, ever since I returned from Italy last spring. Not just any risotto will do; it is the one from Gigi Trattoria in Lucca that I long for. It’s a straightforward dish with captivating flavor; tender short-grain rice cooked in a fragrant stock with little bits of guinea fowl throughout, served piping hot. Unlike so many risottos served in the United States it is not gummed up with cheese or overloaded with added ingredients. Forgive the oxymoron when I say it has a simple complexity of flavor. It is the perfect comfort food and there is nothing better on a cool or rainy spring day.

There are, however, two problems here. The first is distance - I live 5,702 miles from Lucca so I can’t exactly run out for dinner at Gigi Trattoria to indulge my craving. Second, Italian cooking is seasonal, which is only a problem in this case (otherwise it's one of the great strengths of food in Italy). Even though I’ve returned to Lucca twice since last spring, I have not found this dish on the menu. Imagine me, returning to my much-loved Gigi Trattoria in September after months away, all set to order my favorite risotto, only to find that it was simply not considered a fall dish and so not on the menu. Same story when I returned again in December – guinea fowl is an early spring food the trattoria owner told me; in winter one eats dark meats and heavier foods. Come back in spring!

A great pasta dish at Gigi Trattoria - but not my risotto!

The Torre Guinigi, topped with trees, as seen from the patio of Gigi Trattoria,

 

A craving that goes unfulfilled for so long grows and grows and becomes a monster. Is risotto addictive? I need this risotto, I dream about this risotto. I dare not try to recreate it as I know my attempts will simply not satisfy. I want the real deal, ideally eaten while dining fuori (outside) on the patio at Gigi Trattoria with a great view of the Torre Guinigi in Lucca. 

I have just arrived back in Lucca - will my craving finally be fulfilled?  Not yet as it turns out.  But I was told that come the first of April risotto alla faraona will be back on the menu.  Stay tuned.

-post by JB