I rarely eat meat in the UK. Maybe if I am at a particularly good restaurant I will but usually I don’t bother. At home, as one of us is veggie, I eat vegetarian dishes too - it makes dinner time simple.
When I am in Italy all that changes. I am a rampant carnivore.
Some of the best dishes I had this trip (and I wish I had the recipes) were:
Finely minced rabbit and porcini muchsrooms shaped into a medallion and surrounded by a strip of crispy porchetta and roasted. Eaten with a contorno of shallots braised in balsamic vinegar and a sauce of reduced brunello di Montalcino.
A corntorno of such wonder I think I imagined it - Layers of softly roasted fennel in panna di cucina with a sprinkling of parsley.
A simple valdichiana filetto steak topped with a sprig of rosemary, dripping with blood and juices. Eaten with a contorno of sliced roasted potato and garlic in panna di cucina.
An antipasto of Basil and Tomato sorbetti with fresh pesto dressing.
Large handmade pecorno and spinaci ravioli with a sublime burro e salvia sauce.
Gnocchi in acquacotta.
Joint of duck roasted on a short wooden skewer with a large porcini mushroom on top and below in a reduced Sagrantino di Montefalco sauce.
A wedge of pecorno fresca dipped in handmade thick dark chesnut honey.
A hot dark chocolate soufflé with a liquid white chocolate centre with homemade vanilla ice cream and rich zuppa di Inglese (yes, vanilla custard.) Bubb particularly liked this one.
More photos being uploaded on Flickr.
May 29th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Drooooool…
May 29th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Have you ever considered a career as a professional torturer? I would have told you anything you wanted to know just to stop you from taunting me with those tantalizing dishes.
May 30th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
As a Catholic I think I’d be good in the Vatican’s inquisition department Brother Lawrence.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:17 am
Stopit! You are making my mouth drool all over my keyboard.
It reminds me of that fab meal we had at the restuarant attached to that wine grower’s place in the middle of nowhere, when we were in Tuscany… wild boar stew with delicious fragiolini. MMMMM. Wantsome
June 1st, 2006 at 10:34 am
Sorry RMG! It’s funny M and I drove past that restaurant and I decribed to him in great detail about the meal we had at Taverna dei Barbi and then said “Oh we can’t go, it’s an all meat menu. And you’re vegetarian.”
Damn, next time you’re coming as well!
Next year we’re going to do a drive around the Dolomites and some Summer hiking in the mountains, lovely views. M’s german might come in handy as it is a bi-lingual region. He won’t like the sausage though!
June 21st, 2006 at 9:02 am
Gawd - just seen this entry and I also am now drooling ….