1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (54 page)

Where:
In Ascoli-Piceno, Italy
, Migliori, tel 39/0-736-25-0042,
miglioriolive.it
.
Further information and recipe:
Enoteca: Simple, Delicious Recipes in the Italian Wine Bar Tradition
by Joyce Goldstein (2001).

Wild mushrooms, no longer shyly tucked away in pasta.

The ravioli we know and love are little square pasta turnovers, tightly pinched closed and usually filled with meat and/or spinach and cheese. But one day in the 1980s, the gifted Milanese chef Gualtiero Marchesi looked down at some failed
ravioli on his plate and had an idea. Not properly pinched, these ravioli had unfolded, leaving their disks of meaty filling sliding around on the plate.

The next thing the culinary world knew, Maestro Marchesi had invented the open raviolo: a large, silky “kerchief” of a pasta sheet that he folded loosely around some lightly steamed scallops, glossing all with melted butter and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan. Not long after, his ultramodern,
nuova cucina
restaurant, Ristorante Gualtiero Marchesi, became the first in Italy to receive three stars from the Michelin Guide.

Now ravioli are opening everywhere—or at least in the most luxurious Italian restaurants in and outside of Italy. The most delicious treasures coyly offered up by these delicate, floppy squares of fresh egg pasta are lightly poached eggs, whose oozy yolks are topped with shavings of earthy white truffle; or bits of shellfish such as lobster or scallops; or exotic wild morel mushrooms under a mantle of black caviar.

Once the raviolo opened, it would never be closed again—at least not in places catering to the wealthy chic.

Where:
In Milan
, Ristorante Gualtiero Marchesi, tel 39/03-0776-0562,
gualtieromarchesi.it
;
in New York
, SD26, tel 212-265-5959,
sd26ny.com
.
Further information and recipe:
bbcgoodfood.com
(search open ravioli with squash and porcini).

The luscious Italian specialty risotto takes its name from
riso
—rice—the grain with which it is traditionally prepared. But in the Veneto region of Friuli–Venezia Giulia, bordering what was Yugoslavia (now Slovenia) and with its own historic Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg influences,
orzo
—the Italian word for barley (as well as for the small rice-shaped pasta)—is a much favored grain. Inspired by barley’s silky viscosity and gentle bite, savvy cooks in this region simmer up
orzotto
, following the risotto method of preparation but substituting this seductively rich and delicately chewy alternative. The result is a dream of succulent creaminess, as the washed and briefly soaked barley is sautéed in butter, perhaps with a bit of pancetta and finely minced shallots or onion. It is then stirred and steamed, risotto-style, with a combination of veal or chicken broth and one of the sprightly white Friulian wines. Other minced vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, or tiny peas, are also stirred in to add a rainbow of color, texture, and flavor. Although most often served as a separate first or
second course, in place of soup or pasta, orzotto is also favored as a side dish with game birds such as quail, pheasant, or guinea hen.

Orzotto may have evolved from an even more popular Friulian specialty, a soup, or
minestre
, known as
orzo con fagioli.
Combining barley with small white beans and an array of colorful, aromatic root vegetables, the substantial, restorative stew is much appreciated in winter. Both dishes require pearled, or polished, barley: The removal of the outer husk helps the shiny white beads of grain absorb more flavor.

Where:
In Andreis, Italy
, Al Vecje For, tel 39/0427-764437;
in Casarsa della Delizia, Italy
, Novecento, tel 39/0434-86203.
Further information and recipes:
Lidia’s Favorite Recipes
by Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (2012);
foodandwine.com
(search mushroom orzotto batali).
See also:
Risotto
;
Bulgur Pilavi
.

Milan’s greatest export may be its osso buco, the memorable dish in which meltingly tender domes of meaty, gelatinous veal glimmer under a deeply bronzed sauce of dry white wine, tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves. These so-called hollow bones are not quite so hollow—the cross-sections of veal shank are filled with unctuously creamy and earthy marrow, the efficient extraction of which is best accomplished via long, slender spoons created specifically for the purpose. As if that weren’t gift enough, a luscious lagniappe arrives in the form of the traditional
gremolata
—a mix of finely grated lemon rind, garlic, anchovies, and parsley minced together and spread over each portion as it is served.

In the true Lombardian spirit, the proper accompaniment to osso buco is risotto Milanese (see
listing
), the slowly stirred and simmered rice dish that here is flavored with saffron—which happens to be this city’s favorite color for food. Softly cooked golden cornmeal polenta also makes a proper bed for the meat and its heady gravy. (Mashed potatoes, somehow, do not do the trick.)

A variation on the theme, also popular throughout Lombardy, is
stinco di vitello.
It begins with the same veal shank, braised whole rather than sliced, with the marrow withdrawn all at once and spread over the rounds of crostini that are served with each portion. Risotto Milanese remains the accompaniment of choice.

When buying osso buco at the butcher’s, be sure to look at both sides of each slice and to avoid pieces with so wide a bone that they leave very little meat. Each sawed (not chopped) slice should be about two and a half inches long, and should be tied up with string to keep the meat and fragrant juices intact during braising.

For the cook, timing is of the essence; if the meat is braised for too long, the precious marrow will melt away. As to the rest, argument abounds. In his seminal book
The Food of Italy
, Waverley Root reported finding seven different recipes in seven authentic cookbooks, some advising that the meat be browned in butter, others calling for lard or olive oil. Some insisted on flouring the meat or adding tomatoes; others eschewed both. Anchovies were called for in a few recipes for the gremolata and were ignored
elsewhere. But all quarrels are but a precursor to the final and most important decision of all: Who gets the last bone?

Where:
In Milan
, Antica Trattoria della Pesa, tel 39/02-655-5741,
anticatrattoriadellapesa.com
;
in New York
, Sandro’s, tel 212-288-7374,
sandrosnyc.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Classic Italian Cook Book
by Marcella Hazan (1976);
cookstr.com
(search veal shanks milan style).

When the Italian writer Ignazio Silone titled his most famous book
Bread and Wine
, he was invoking those two staples of the table as symbols of the earthly and the spiritual in the lives of the downtrodden peasants he portrayed. The connection is not merely symbolic, however, as bread does in fact occupy a central place in rustic Italian cuisine. In more affluent northern Italy, far less bread is eaten than in the poorer Mezzogiorno region south of Rome; and the best-quality breads tend to be found in the south (affluence apparently being the enemy of great bread).

A growing appreciation for good artisanal breads means you can now locate excellent versions of many Italian loaves without making the trip. There are the flat, tender-crusted, slipper-shaped ciabatta that make for much-appreciated, lusty sandwiches; the long
integrale
, or whole wheat loaves; the small, chewy panini, or “little breads,” that make excellent sandwich rolls; and even the crisp little rings called
taralli
that go so well with cheese and wine. We can also find
pane pepato
—coarse-crusted rings dotted with crisped bacon, lard, or prosciutto and crushed black peppercorns. And then there are breadsticks, always best when handmade, be they delicately slim or stout and crunchy, and often deliciously scented with rosemary.

Still other great regional Italian breads are best sampled on native soil. In that category, traveling food lovers would do well to seek out some of the following.

Sicilian breads
are by far the most beautiful in Italy. Rather dry and light, most typically with pale, sand-colored crusts dotted with sesame seeds, Sicilian breads are often formed into fanciful shapes (flowers, starfish, snails, and more) or into rings and long, slim loaves. Designed to stay fresh in a hot, humid climate, they are baked rather dry to retard spoilage, much in the manner of the famed bread of Louisiana, a style established there by bakers who emigrated from Sicily.

Carta da musica
—sheet music—is Sardinia’s claim to bread fame. These most unusual “leaves,” looking somewhat aged and worn, are often described as having a crisp flavor. Though the question of whether texture can double as a flavor is debatable, the bread’s toasty neutrality makes it a superb vehicle for olive oil or soft appetizer spreads.

Pane sciocco,
or “silly” bread, is the signature loaf of Tuscany—considered foolish by some for its lack of salt. But as cooking teacher and cookbook author Giuliano Bugialli insists, that is the point: The hard-crusted, moist, and yeasty bread must remain absolutely neutral in flavor in order to work as a foil for the richly herbaceous
Tuscan cuisine, with its lusty wild mushrooms, game, and incomparable beefsteaks.

Pan de patata,
potato bread, is much loved in Apulia and is especially delectable toasted. As the name suggests, it includes potatoes, which are mashed and worked into the yeast-raised wheat flour dough. The resulting loaves have pale-golden, parchment-crisp crusts and a snowy, tender crumb seasoned only with sea salt.

Schüttelbrot,
“shaken-up” bread, is the dark, moist, and malty specialty of the Austro-Italian towns of Trento and Merano. The long, plump cylinders are baked of dark wheat and barley flours for a mix that is spongy enough to sop up the rich gravies and sauces typical of this Alpine region.

Further information and recipes:
Flavors of Puglia
by Nancy Harmon Jenkins (1997);
The Food of Italy
by Waverley Root (1992);
Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Tuscany
by Giuliano Bugialli (1992);
saveur.com
(search italian breads);
south-tirol.com
(search schuttelbrot).