Puglia

I have finally found a region I could see myself interning in-Puglia. (Sometimes this region is written Apuglia, I'm not sure why exactly, but I am going to stick with Puglia). We learned about the history and culture of Puglia this morning before our guest chef demonstration. Puglia is the region that comprises the heel of the boot. Because of its position on the southern coast , this region has seen many invaders throughout its history, and thus has many outside influences on its cuisine. The strongest influences are that of the Arabs and the Spanish. (There are dishes resembling paiea as well as flat breads originating in Arab countries). Also, due to the geography of this region, there is a real balance and variety in the cuisine between meat, seafood, and grains and vegetables. It is comparable to California in climate and geography - there are miles of coast line, hills and mountains, as well as flat ground for growing crops. Infact, many of the same wines are grown in both California and Puglia. It is this great variety in the cuisine that has drawn me to this region.

The guest chef from Puglia was our first female chef, and also the first chef I've been able to understand in Italian. Either she spoke very slow and clear, or I'm getting better at understanding - I hope it's a little of both. I immensely enjoyed watching her cook and learning about her philosophy towards food. She runs the restaurant Al Fornello da Ricci with her husband, and toghether they make most of the products they use. For example, they make all the cured meats, salted fish, jams, jellies, stocks, and pastas in-house.

Today for us she brought some of these homemade products as well as some of the specialities of the region. The most amazing item we tasted today was burrata. Buratta is a kind of fresh mozzarella cheese sutffed with strings of fresh mozzarella and fresh cream. It's like eating the best fresh mozzarella with a very soft, flavorful center that enhances the overall taste of the cheese. It's is good both on its own or in a sauce as she prepared it for us to accompany a millefoglie (a layered dumpling of sorts made of swiss chard, eggplant, mushrooms, and scamorza cheese all wrapped in a blanched cabbage leaf) which is then served with a thin, toasted slice of black bread, which is dyed using a black olive puree - it was a tasty first course.

She also made for us fresh focaccia and taralli which are a kind of Italian pretzel that are crunchy and dry - they go perfectly with a glass of red wine. (These were one of my favorites the last time I was in Italy, and I'm very excited to have a recipe to take home) After all these appetizers we also had a goat ricotta gnocchi (which had no potato in it so you could really taste the goat cheese), a roast leg of lamb stuffed with salami, capunti (a fresh tube shaped pasta) with a tomato and broccoli rabe sauce, and to finish off, she made a hazelnut and chocolate ice cream cake served with a caramel sauce and toasted hazelnuts - it was delicious. Hazelnut and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations, think nutella flavored ice cream - so good!

Unfortunately I am having trouble uploading pictures right now, perhaps I might have better luck tomorrow. For now I'm just happy I've found a region that really appeals to me and that I may get to work in for few months.