Grissini Torinesi – Italian Bread Sticks

by chefbikeski Posted on December 4, 2019
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Bread sticks appear in almost every restaurant bread basket in Italy – wrapped in plastic, and enjoyable to munch on, but just ordinary. But on our visits to Piedmont on our Barolo Walk and Wine tours, fresh crisp bread sticks called grissini demonstrate how extraordinarily delicious such a simple food can be. Crunchy, crisp, flavored with fresh Ligurian olive oil and salt. I have to restrain myself to save room for the pasta course!

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Making grissini as long as possible is a badge of honor for a Pietmontese baker.

Grissini are seen all over Italy, but you are most likely to encounter them in their home region of Piedmont. The story of their origin dates them to the mid 17th century. Legend has it that Marie Jeanne, Duchess of Savoy, was concerned about the health of her son, Vittorio Amadeus II, and consulted with a doctor who then asked a baker in Turin to produce a bread that was more easily digestible than the standard white loaf, called ghersa. The baker used the same local ghersa recipe, taking pieces of dough and stretching them out to thin sticks about an arms length, then baking them to produce a crunchy cane that is all crust, which he called a grissino. They appear to have worked, as Vittorio Amadeus II lived to the age of 66, reigning as the Duke of Savoy as well as the King of Sardinia.

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And he wasn’t the only royal fan – according to Carol Field, in her book The Italian Baker, when Napoleon discovered “les petits bâtons de Turin” he was so enthralled with them that he created a fast postal service to deliver his daily grissini fix to court each day. Once you experience the freshly baked version, you’ll understand. They are addictive.

The following recipe is adapted from Carol Field’s recipe in The Italian Baker. I seasoned mine with crunchy sea salt, but other variations include poppy seeds, sesame seeds, chopped fresh or dried rosemary, or grated cheese like Parmigiano-Reggiano. Use a good quality olive oil.

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Enjoy with one of Piedmont’s amazing wines – a white Arneis from Roero or a red Barbera would wash these down beautifully.

Grissini Torinesi – Italian Breadsticks

Ingredients – Makes 20 grissini

1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/4 cups warm water (or 1/4 cup warm water plus 1 cup cold water if using a food processor)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cornmeal or coarse semolina flour, plus more for dusting the baking stone (optional)

Make the dough by hand: Stir the yeast and honey into the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the oil. Add the all-purpose flour and salt and stir until the dough comes together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, soft, velvety, and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

Make the dough with a stand mixer: Stir the yeast and malt into the warm water in a mixer bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Mix in the oil with the paddle. Add the all-purpose flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Change to the dough hook and knead at low speed about 3 minutes. Finish kneading briefly by hand on a lightly floured surface.

Make the dough with a food processor: Stir the yeast and malt into the 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Place the all-purpose flour and salt in a standard food processor fitted with the dough blade or a large (over 7-cup capacity) processor fitted with the steel blade and process with several pulses to sift. Mix the 1 cup cold water and the oil in a small bowl. With the machine running, pour the water mixed with oil and the dissolved yeast through the feed tube and process until the dough comes together. Process 45 seconds longer to knead. Finish kneading briefly by hand on a lightly floured surface.

Pat the dough with your hand into a 14-by-6-inch rectangle on a well-floured surface. Lightly brush the top with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

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Sprinkle the dough with the cornmeal or semolina flour before cutting and stretching. The traditional method of shaping bread sticks is ingenious, simple, and quick, and doesn’t make you roll out individual grissini. Cut the dough crosswise into 4 equal sections and then cut each section crosswise again into 5 strips, each about the width of a fat finger. The dough is so elastic that you can simply pick up each piece, hold each end with your fingers, and pull and stretch to fit the length of a baking sheet. Place the bread sticks on the baking sheets so they do not touch each other. (We find it easier to use the backs of the baking sheets, unless you have rimless sheets). There is no need to let them rise.

Bake the bread sticks for 20 minutes. Rotate the sheet pans halfway through, and flip the grissini to ensure even browning. If you like crunchy bread sticks, transfer the bread sticks directly to the baking stone for the last 5 minutes of the baking time, but only after sprinkling the stone with cornmeal or coarse semolina. Let the bread sticks cool on racks.

My observations: This recipe makes 20 rather fat grissini, so they were not crunchy all the way through when well-browned on the outside. If you wish thinner bread sticks, set up 4 sheet pans rather than two, cut each of the twenty dough lengths in half, and pull each half to be the size you desire. You will likely have to bake in two batches, but you end up with lots of grissini!

Posted in antipasti, Baking, Piedmont, Travel, Uncategorized, Wine, Wine Pairings | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Zucca Arrosto con Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale – Roasted Squash with Balsamic

by chefbikeski Posted on November 24, 2019
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It is now the week before Thanksgiving, and I as create my holiday menu I am always looking to bring a taste of my Italian adventures to my traditional turkey menu. The newest cookbook in my library provided the inspiration I needed. Rolando Beramendi, author of Autentico, serves Poached Baby Pumpkins with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale to his American friends for Thanksgiving, as either an appetizer or dessert. I don’t find baby pumpkins here, but any hard winter squash will do. The pumpkin is prepared very simply; the dish is made to showcase the extraordinary Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale. Not the runny dark balsamic that you pay $4 for at the grocery store, but a thick, complex, rich syrup that takes years to develop.

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Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale hails from the Emilia-Romagna provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena, with its origins dating almost 1000 years ago. It begins with a single ingredient – grape must – freshly pressed grape juice, usually the local Trebbiano, that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The must is cooked for 24 hours. After cooking, the mosto cotto, cooked grape must, is transferred to the barriques, where it sits for the next 2 years. Seems like a long time, but we are just getting started.

In the farmhouses and estates across Reggio Emilia and Modena where Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale has been produced for centuries, enter their well ventilated attics and you will see one or more series of wooden barrels of increasing size, called a battery. The number of barrels in a battery may vary, but the minimum is 3, and the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP regulations require at least 7 barrels, and a total aging period of at minimum 12 years. The types of wood used for the barrels varies as well, one may be chestnut, one cherry, one mulberry. Storing in the well-ventilated attic is also crucial, the temperature variations throughout the year, the heat of the summer months alternating with the cold and dry winters, contribute to the development of the flavors.

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Each year, about 3 liters of vinegar is removed from the smallest of the barrels in each battery, and placed in an even smaller barrel that will go off to be bottled by the Consortium, or used by the family. The smallest barrel is then topped off from the next smallest barrel of the battery, and so on down the line. The sweet, 2 year aged mosto cotto is then used to top off the largest barrel, beginning its slow progress into the wonderful balsamic vinegar – now one may understand why, in Modena, it is said “One generation makes balsamic for the next.”

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The difference between the “real deal” and the grocery store options is immediately obvious – this is thick, almost syrup like as it is slowly poured into a tasting spoon. It is not sour, as you would expect a vinegar to be, but has a mellow sweet-tartness. The flavor is complex and rich, with notes of dried fruits, fig, molasses, and chocolate, and flavors of wood. The youngest is recommended for serving with grilled and raw vegetables, prosciutto, and other fresh antipasti. A very special dish for your holiday table.

My article on my visit to Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale producer Acetaia Medici Ermete shares more details on the production process, and reviews the products we find here in the US, and how to select the higher quality products.

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Zucca Arrosto con Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale

2 winter squash or 1 small pumpkin
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Slice the stem end and the bottom end off of each squash or pumpkin. Place on a cutting board on one of the two cut ends, and slice the squash in half from top to bottom.

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Scoop out the seeds and pulp. Place each half skin side up and slice crosswise into 1/2” slices. Place slices in a medium bowl. Add olive oil, stir to coat the slices with the oil. Season with salt an pepper, stir again to distribute seasoning. Arrange the slices on a sheet pan.

Place in the preheated oven and roast until fork tender and brown. Arrange on a platter and drizzle with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale. Serve warm.

Posted in Emilia Romagna, Pumpkin, squash, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, Vegetables | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Vitello Tonnato – Veal with Tuna Sauce

by chefbikeski Posted on October 27, 2019

We see this dish all over northern Italy on our Italiaoutdoors Italy tours, but it is very common in Piedmont. The following recipe is from a chef in Northern Italy who claimed the origins of the dish were Sicilian. Big families would share a small piece of meat on Sunday. But as fishermen, they had lots of tuna. They cook both together, the tuna cooks more quickly than the meat, falls apart and becomes a sauce. But to date I have found no other authority to support this version of events.

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Evening in Piedmont

The combination of fish and seafood is a bit uncommon, historically you will find veal, and you will find a sauce with tuna and anchovies, but not often the two together. The idea to combine them emerged in the late 1800s, when canned tuna made it more accessible – especially to landlocked areas like Piedmont. A mid-1950s edition of the classic recipe book The Silver Spoon has two versions, one without mayonnaise, and a second, creamier version with.

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Vitello Tonnato is a very versatile dish, perfect as a meat course for dinner on a hot summer night, or as an elegant antipasto. Served cold, it is most often presented with the tonnato sauce spooned on top of the sliced veal. But according to Marcella Hazan, it is best made in advance and the veal sliced and allowed to sit in the sauce for a few hours or overnight, giving time for the flavors to blend and also making this an easy addition to any buffet. Recently, Tonnato sauce became a ‘thing’ with chefs and food writers, who began to put this on everything – sauteed vegetables, leeks, pork loin, roasted turkey breasts. It is great in so many ways, it seems a shame to limit it to just veal!

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The theme of a recent meeting of my Newburyport Wine Club was “Putting Piedmont in Perspective”. My co-founder Gary Sullivan selected 6 wines from Piedmont to introduce to the group, and we paired each with a Piedmont inspired dish. I prepared a Tonnato sauce and served it on a small crostini with white beans and a garnish of preserved lemon; we paired this with a wonderful white Arneis from Roero. Arneis is a dry white wine that was traditionally used to soften the local Nebbiolo wines, pre-barrel aging. Almost lost, this grape was rediscovered by local Barolo and Barbaresco producers looking for a white wine to enjoy.

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Other ideas for Tonnato:

  • Sauteed, roasted, or grilled vegetables: green beans, broccoli, leeks, peppers, chicories like radicchio
  • Crostini with white beans; or egg; veal tartare…
  • Pork loin
  • Turkey breast
  • Seared swordfish or tuna
  • Use instead of mayo on a burger or sandwich

Vitello Tonnato – Metodo Classico Originale

Veal with Tuna Sauce – Classic Recipe

Serves 4

Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 carrot, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 stalk celery, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1 lb. 4 ounces rump of veal
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup white wine
4 ounces canned tuna, in oil
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
2 anchovy filets
Beef stock
1 tablespoon home made mayonnaise

Saute the carrot, celery and onion in olive oil unti soft, but do not allow to brown. Remove from heat.

Brush the meat on all sides with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan over high heat, then when hot sear the veal on all sides. Transfer the seared veal into a clean oven proof pan and top with the vegetables and white wine.

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Note from our chef:

This technique of brushing the meat with oil, rather than putting the oil in the pan, avoids having the oil sitting alone in a hot pan, potentially burning.

Bake at 175°F until the internal temperature is 125°F. ( Approx 1 hour) . Remove the meat and leave at room temperature.

Place the vegetables and the pan juices into a food processor. Add the tuna and some capers and blend. Add a bit of beef stock if necessary to get the desired consistency. Add the mayonnaise, season with salt and pepper. Cut the veal into slices and serve with the tuna sauce.

Posted in antipasti, Newburyport Wine Club, Piedmont, Travel, Uncategorized, Wine, Wine Pairings | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Home Made Pasta with Sugo di Piselli with Allegrini – Amarone Bike with Italiaoutdoors

by chefbikeski Posted on October 5, 2019
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This past fall we hosted a private group cycling tour through the western Veneto region of Italy. In addition to daily cycling through lovely vineyards, we enjoyed private winery tours and tastings, wine dinners, visits to Verona, Lake Garda, and Mantova, and two very fun cooking classes. The first was with the chefs at Allegrini’s historic Villa alla Torre.

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We made some classic Venetian dishes, including Braised Beef in Amarone, Sbrisolona, and home made fresh pasta with a variety of sauces. We made a fresh tomato sauce, a traditional meat sauce, and a very nice and light sauce with green peas. Here, I share the recipe for the homemade pasta with pea sauce.

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In the Veneto, peas are one the first greens to appear in spring. The most prized are from Lumingnano. Introduced to the area by the Benedictines, the monks reclaimed the land at the foot of the Colli Berici making this area ideal for the cultivation of peas, with the perfect habitat for exceptionally early production – lots of sun exposure, and heat held by the rock formations. Using this prime habitat, however, requires a lot of hard work on the part of the farmers, as they are grown in small terraced gardens cut into the steepest positions on the cliffs, in order to make best use of the sun exposure. Everything needed to build the terrace and cultivate the peas had to be carried up by the farmers. The result, however, is an extremely delicate and tasty product.

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The Doges of Venice demanded that the peas of Lumingnano be the primary ingredient of their risi i bisi that was traditionally served to the Doges for the Feast of Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice. This feast day, April 25, coincidentally occurs just about the time the peas first arrive in the markets of Venice.

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Today, cultivation of these Lumingnano peas is extremely limited, and are produced only by families for the needs of local restaurants and the Peas Festival, which is held every year in May.

Home Made Pasta with Sugo di Piselli with Allegrini

Serves 6 people as a first course

For the pasta

14 ounces all purpose flour
4 whole eggs
salt

Make a little mound of flour in the center of the table with a hole in the center (like a volcano). Put the eggs and salt in the center.

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Beat the eggs and salt well with a fork and slowly incorporate the flour. At this point start to work the mixture with your hands (wash them first, of course!), incorporating all the flour until you form a neat ball.

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Knead the dough as much as possible until it forms a smooth and compact ball. Knead it using the lower part of the palm of your hand to elongate the mass, then push it back on itself to form a ball shape again.

The dough is ready when it starts to form bubbles as you knead it.

At this stage, wrap it in some cling film and put it aside to rest for about 30 minutes.

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The pasta dough can be rolled out using a rolling pin or with the use of a pasta machine: this rolls out even sheets of pasta which can then be cut into appropriate shapes or strips: tagliatelle ‘ribbons’, fine stringy pasta, sheets for layered lasagna or for making tortellini and ravioli. You can choose what thickness you prefer, fine textured or more coarse, robust pasta.

Pea Sauce – Sugo di Piselle

9 ounces fresh peas
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper

In a skillet, melt the butter and saute the minced shallot until it becomes golden brown in color. Add the peas and continue to cook, adding three cups of water (about 10 minutes). Add salt and pepper. Make sure that at the end of cooking the peas remain soft and creamy.

Posted in Pasta, Peas, Travel, Uncategorized, Vegetarian, Veneto | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Schiavenza – Barolo Walk and Wine

by chefbikeski Posted on September 21, 2019
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Exploring the lovely village of Serralunga d’Alba in the heart of the Langhe district in Piedmont, one can not resist stopping to enjoy a meal on the terrace at Trattoria Schiavenza, soaking up the splendid vineyard view. Locals and tourists both dine here, as well as our guests on our Barolo Walk and Wine tour, but I’m not sure how many of the tourists know that one of the best Barolos in Serralunga is being produced just beneath their feet.

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I recently met Walter Anselma, one of the current owners of Schiavenza, to learn more about his unique wines. Founded in 1956 by Vittorio and Ugo Alessandria, the estate was formerly owned by Opera Pia Barolo, a non-profit foundation founded by the Marchesa di Barolo to help the local poor, and the vineyards were typically worked by sharecroppers. Schiavenza is the local dialect for sharecropper. Today, the estate is run by the second-generation Alessandria sisters, Enrica and Maura, and their husbands Luciano Pira and Walter Anselma.

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Walter meets me in the small tasting room, and apologizes that the cellar is not set up for tours. He offers to bring me through, if I am comfortable navigating the narrow metal circular staircase down. I am, and we head down to see their operation. A long, narrow tiled walkway leads us first past wood “botti”, large Slovenian oak barrels used for aging, then a few stainless tanks, then several cement cisterns. Walter describes their production process: all wines are fermented in the cement cisterns, using only naturally occuring yeasts – no yeast is added. Following fermentation, the wines are moved to larger botti for aging. There are no barriques, Walter comments that he want to “taste wine, not wood.”

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The next step is very unique to Schiavenza, and Walter – the frequency with which they “rack” the wines as the age. Racking, called “travaso” on Italian, is a method in wine production of transferring wine from one barrel to another, using gravity rather than a pump. A pump would disrupt the wine by mixing in any particles that may have settled in the barrel. This process is done several times during the aging process, more often at first, but eventually time between racking extends to months. Walter does is much more frequently, every 10 days for some wines like Barbera, less frequently for others. Barolos that age for 60 months are racked every 3 months.

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Each time a botti is emptied during racking, it must be cleaned of any sediment before being refilled with another wine. Cleaning is done by hand, and involves Walter himself squeezing his entire slim frame into the dark interior through the small entry hole at the bottom of the botti. He cleans the entire inside with only water and a brush, no harsh chemicals. If more than three months pass between racking a barrel, the sediment becomes too hard to wash off with water, and they would need to scrape off 2-3 mm of wood from the inside of the barrel to remove it. Walter emphasizes that clean barrels mean good air circulation, clean wines. I commented about the amount of work involved with this dedication to frequent racking, and Walter downplayed it, saying most of the work occurs in the winter months, when there is not a lot of other vineyard work to be done.

I ask Walter to share his thoughts on organic wines. He belongs to an Italian group of producers dedicated to sustainable practices, but he isn’t certified by an official ‘biologic” wine entity, it is too onerous, and he goes on to share several anecdotes about local farms that are supposedly organic but he sees them doing things that are suspect. He gives a very personal reason for his clean production methods – his family drinks his wines daily, so he very much wants them to be healthy. He uses no pesticides, no harsh chemicals. He does occasionally use a tractor, and employs staff from the local cooperative.

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Broglio vineyard

But there are two tasks that are only ever performed by Walter and his brother-in-law Luciano: pruning, and green harvesting. These require expertise, and are too important to outsource. Pruning, done in the winter and early spring, is essential for training grape canes and producing quality fruit yields. Later in the season, it is done to allow light and air to reach the plant’s interior. Green harvesting, done in late summer, is the harvesting of unripe green clusters of grapes from the vine. It is a form of crop thinning to help manage yield and to enable the remaining grape clusters to fully ripen according to the winemaker’s aims. This is especially important for a prolific grape like Nebbiolo.

Walter leads the way back to the small tasting room, where we try a taste of his amazing wines. Schiavenza produces 48,000 bottles of wine annually.

We begin with the 2018 Dolcetto d’Alba. I ask why they still produce a Dolcetto, as many wineries are turning all their vineyards over to the more profitable Nebbiolo. Walter insists that Dolcetto is still an important wine, the “everyday” drinking wine the locals enjoy. They produce 7,000 bottles a year.

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Schiavenza 2018 Dolcetto d’Alba

100% Dolcetto, from different vineyards all located in the village of Serralunga d’Alba. Don’t be misled by the name, Dolcetto is a dry wine. Ruby purple in color, with scents of red fruits and cherry. Strong fruit flavor, austere with a bitter almond finish.

Schiavenza 2017 Barbera d’Alba

100% Barbera, from their vineyard located in Perno in the village of Monforte d’Alba, just south west of Serralunga. Again the same question, why still plant Barbera when you can make more money selling Nebbiolo? The vineyards in Perno are very well-positioned, but brother-in-law Luciano believes these vineyards are absolutely optimum for Barbera. Intense ruby color with purple-violet reflections. Intense ripe cherry taste, lots of spice. Nice acidity.

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Schiavenza 2017 Langhe Nebbiolo

100% Nebbiolo, from the same vineyards in Monforte d’Alba. If they used these grapes in any of their Barolos, they would not be able to use the “Serralunga d’Alba” name on the bottle. Light ruby in color with hints of orange. Delicate scents of cherry and rose, flavors of cherry, licorice. Nice tannins and good acidity.

Schiavenza makes 4 Barolo wines. In bad years and good, they are all made in exactly the same way – same fermentation, same aging. The only difference is the terroir of the 3 vineyards.

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Schiavenza 2014 Broglio

100% Nebbiolo, from the Broglio hamlet of the village of Serralunga d’Alba. Walter describes the earth here contains lots of clay, so the Nebbiolo vines here are particularly prolific. They do extensive green harvesting, removing almost 40% of the grapes. Lighter ruby red color with orange reflections. Aromatic, with intense floral notes of rose and fruit jam. An elegant wine, full bodied, with great structure and tannins and persistent finish.

Schiavenza 2014 Cerretta

100% Nebbiolo, from vineyards located in the Bricco Cerretta Cru found in Serralunga d’Alba. Lighter ruby red color with orange reflections. Aromas of rose, red fruits, tobacco. Flavors of red cherry, raspberries, licorice, with an earthy minerality. Full bodied with nice acidity and pronounced tannins.

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Schiavenza 2014 Prapò

100% Nebbiolo, from Schiavenza’s flagship Prapò vineyard in Serralunga. Great south-east exposure, this vineyard has terroir with lots of limestone, less fertile than Broglio. There is almost no green harvesting done here. Intense ruby red color aromas of berry fruits, violet and rose. The palate is well rounded and intense with elegant tannins.

Schiavenza Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba

100% Nebbiolo, a blend of grapes from the preceding 3 cru areas. Lighter ruby red color with orange reflections. Aromas of rose, cherry jam, tobacco. Flavors of cherry, raspberries, licorice, leather. Elegant structure, full bodied, nice tannins, long finish.

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After my tour and tasting, I had a very nice lunch at Trattoria Schiavenza. The trattoria is overseen by the Alessandria sisters, Enrica and Maura, featuring the traditional dishes of the Langhe area. I enjoyed the carne cruda, ravioli del “plin“, and budino for dessert, accompanied by a glass of the Cerretta Barolo. Wonderful food to enjoy as I gazed over their Broglio vineyards below.

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Posted in Piedmont, Travel, Uncategorized, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment