The Sunny Kitchen - An Italian cook in Amsterdam

Handy tool for wine lovers

Seen yesterday at a wine tasting organized by Dutch importer Vinites: "My Wine Record", a cute and handy little wanna-have for everybody who wants to keep a journal of the good wines tasted during parties, meals at restaurants, drinks at wine bars et cetera.

It's a little black book with a cool and beautiful design (Dutch design!) and it contains special so-called Record Labels that allow you to remove bottle labels without having to soak them or steam them off.

You stick a transparent Record Label to the bottle label and after a short while both can be taken off the bottle together without tearing the wine label.
Then you can stick everything onto your "My Wine Record" booklet and have your "wine souvenir" for ever and ever!

With your "My Wine Record" you can record all details about your favourite wines: red, white or rosé, where and when, with whom, the dish you enjoyed it with, types of grape, year, price and so forth.
Like this you'll always be able to remember those easy-to-forget details and keep a good record of your tastings.

It sounds like pure genius! It would be, if it always worked fine... I've tried it once with a bottle of Pinot Noir from Framingham's and it tore off only part of the label.
I guess it has to do with the different types of glue used for the labels. Hopefully the makers - Rogier van Camp en Mark van Elk - will find a good solution for that shortly.

In any case, I find this little gadget quite nice. If you don't have the whole label you can at least write down your own personal tasting notes on a stylish little notebook.

Visit the "My Wine Record" site here.

Great Italian habits: l'aperitivo (with recipe of Aurora sauce)

One of the great Italian habits I really miss when not in my country is the aperitivo: drinking something together with friends, colleagues or loved ones before lunch while nibbling on some good stuff .
In some places the aperitivo is almost elevated to a form of art: together with your drink, usually a glass of wine or Prosecco, you get different little bite-sized delicacies - gli stuzzichini in Italian - and you end up being full before even having lunch.

Bari in Puglia is one of those places and a few days ago I was enjoying an aperitivo with nobody less than my dad, whom I see just from time to time - living more than 2000 km far from each other does not improve regular enjoying the aperitivo together. ;)
The place was La Champagnerie (a bit of a pompous name but the place is quite nice). The address is via Roberto da Bari 99, in the city center and the prices are in the highest range (an espresso costs 2,50 euros while in normal bars it's about 0,70-0,80 cents).

A glass of Prosecco for my dad and a Pugliese white for me with lots of wonderful things to eat, from big Bella di Cerignola olives to focaccia with tomato and oregano, raw carrot sticks with Aurora sauce - terribly Eighties and yet still very nice in combination with the wonderful raw vegetables that Puglia produces, little canapés with tuna, salmon and fish eggs, salted peanuts and grana padano cheese blocks. All of the nice aperitivo bars in Bari serve a whole variety of finger-food, from tarallini to fried panzerottini and focaccia with potatoes.
Definitely a great habit, one that I really miss in Amsterdam where I live and that I merrily take on again when in Bari.
The only risk of such a habit is that you'll probably arrive home late, half-drunk and full-bellied while la mamma is waiting for you with lots of food that is getting cold. ;)

To enjoy a classic salsa Aurora at its best prepare some fresh, raw vegetables (celery, carrots, fennel) cut in chunks, wedges and big sticks and mix some mayonnaise (2/3), ketchup (1/3), a dash of cream, a splash of cognac - but I prefer it with good grappa - and a few drops of Tabasco. Dip generously and enjoy!

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge

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Calamaretti ripieni - stuffed baby squid

Calamari (squid) is not something I make regularly. The whole "creatures-of-the-sea" thing doesn't seem to be MY thing since in general I prefer to prepare meat or vegetarian dishes.
That's also why I included a whole "fishy chapter" to my cooking courses, so that I would finally have the chance to eat what I almost never cook at home. ;)

I found some beautiful fresh baby squid and thought it would be great to prepare it, also to show my cooking students how to clean it should they find themselves in need of doing that instead of buying it clean and frozen in a supermarket. You never know, you might end up on a desert island with lots of fresh shellfish and starve to death because you don't know how to prepare it! (or don't dare to, it can look quite intimidating...)

So here's a very simple and tasty recipe for baby squid. You can also buy bigger squid or even cuttlefish if you like, only the cooking time will be longer since their thicker meat needs a bit longer to get tender.
Instructions for cleaning the squid are also included in the recipe. The whole procedure sounds a bit messy but it's very rewarding. The pleasure of saying: "I cleaned these little monsters myself!" is absolutely priceless.

Calamaretti ripieni (stuffed baby squid)

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:                     

1-2 little calamari (squid) p.p.
6 spoons capers
800 gr. canned peeled tomatoes with their juice
fresh or dried oregano
e.v. olive oil
12 spoons breadcrumbs
100 gr black olives
fresh flat-leaf parsley
5 cloves of garlic
salt
black pepper and a few dried red hot chili peppers

Carefully remove the tentacles and the innards (guts) of the squids (everything should come out at once when you remove the guts inserting one or more fingers inside the body of the squid and pulling gently). If the translucent “quill” remains inside, pull it out to remove it. Wash the squids and remove their skin rubbing them with your fingers while washing them.

Cut off the eyes and the “beak”, discard and keep the tentacles.

Finely chop the tentacles and fry them in a bit of olive oil with a pinch of salt. Add the breadcrumbs, the chopped olives, the capers and 3 finely chopped garlic cloves. Mix well from time to time until everything is nicely cooked. Season with oregano, salt and pepper.

Stuff the squid with this mixture and seal with a toothpick.

Add some olive oil in a frying pan plus 2 peeled and crushed garlic cloves and the chopped peeled tomatoes and leave to simmer for a while.

Lay the squid in the sauce, add a few chili peppers if you like, cover with a lid and leave to gently simmer until the squid is ready and yet still moist and tender.

Garnish with finely chopped parsley and serve immediately.

The wine pairing I've chosen for this strongly flavoured dish is a Greco di Tufo 2008 from Vesevo drunk not too cold - around 12°C - so that all the aromas of this intense white wine can express themselves at their very best.
I love wines from the Campania region because they're so mineral and full of character thanks to the volcanic nature of the territorio, the soil the grapes grow on. This Greco di tufo is made with 100% Greco grapes (for this DOCG wine the quantity of Greco grapes has to be at least 85% , with 15% max of typically local coda di volpe).  









 

Bubbles to fall in love with, NO Valentine involved

Last night I fell in love.

Not with a guy - the one who's gonna steal my hart still hasn't shown up yet, at least not that I know - but with a lovely and lively Blanc de Blancs, a 2004 made by Californian wine house Gloria Ferrer in the Carneros region (Sonoma).
What a palette of flavors for the palate! What a fantastic progression of sensations on my tongue and taste buds! Just like French kissing with a VERY good kisser, but then the California way. And with a hint of Spain, since the "Gloria Ferrer" house belongs to the Freixenet family, world renowned cavas producers from Catalonia.
It's been love at first kiss... uh, sip, no doubt about it.
Too bad it's going to stay a one-night stand, at least for the time being, since this wonderful wine doesn't seem to be available in the Netherlands yet. It was a lucky shot, one of those that happen just from time to time, like when you meet a guy whom you think is TOO young and TOO handsome to want to date YOU and yet he DOES date you. ;)  

Lucky shot or not, I guess we could all learn from the French, as far as dealing with bubbles on a regular basis is concerned. That means that bubbles should ALWAYS be in our fridges, just like they usually are in lots of French homes, and not only when there's something to celebrate. What the heck, if I feel like drinking bubbles I always find something to celebrate! (as if I needed an excuse to pop a cork...) Having that special bottle in my fridge, for example. Ain't THAT a great reason already?
This particular bottle, though, was not laying in the wine rack of my own beautiful vintage  looking red Smeg but in my friend Pascal's little silver coolthing. He is French - bien sûr - and always serves champagne or other sparkling wines to his friends as apéritif before dinner as he did last night. This time he opened for us a very special bottle he personally brought from the States not so long ago. And how much am I thanking him now for doing that? A LOT, since I hadn't had fantastic bubbles with such a great personality as these in quite some time. 

This 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs (the French definition indicates a méthode traditionelle made with this variety of grape only) with its appealing straw yellow hue is zesty, slightly and extremely pleasantly tart with a fantastic citrusy explosion after the first taste. The bubbles also bring up the sweet smell and flavor of bread crust that makes me think of DAMN GOOD bread, mouth-watering, crunchy and golden brown outside with a moist, soft "heart". And the end notes... wow. I close my eyes and taste tarragon and star anise, first just subtle hints and then fuller and warmer, with a lovely sweet and fruity aftertaste that calls for more. What a marvelous combination of aromas! And that paired to the "round" taste of the Chard without the - sometimes too - obvious characteristics of this very eclectic grape.  
The somehow bigger bubbles typical of some Spanish cavas - bigger compared to those of lots of other sparkling wines made with the traditional method - are the only thing that makes me link this wine with its Catalonian Freixenet brothers. For the rest, this wonderful liquid gold has its very unique "signature" that makes me wish I could lay my hands on more bottles VERY soon...

Now, to compensate for not having another bottle of this gorgeous B de B to accompany tonight's dinner, I want a date.
Be warned: I won't go for anything less than an outrageously handsome younger guy.

Sommelier, at last! :)

Last Wednesday I passed my Sommelier exam with AIS, the Italian Sommelier Association (Associazione Italiana Sommelier) in the Hilton hotel in Amsterdam, together with 7 colleagues.
Congratulations Jacqueline, Iris, Beppe, Gabrielle, Emanuele, Davide, Mariette and myself! :)

And my huge THANK YOU to all the wonderful AIS teachers who guided us from February to December through this very intensive phase in our lives!

Last day of the sommelier course

Today last day of a wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL course held by the Italian Sommelier Association at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam.

We started last February (time really flies when you're having fun!) and ended today with a didactic lunch at Roberto's, Hilton's Italian restaurant, during which we tasted different courses with different wines and exercised a bit with analyzing, deconstructing, describing and most of all enjoying all the combinations. What a great way to end the course. :)

A big "thank you!" to all of my teachers including the great Eddy Furlan (here in the pictures with us) and to all of my co-students for the laughs, the friendship, the innumerable coffees together, the many wonderful dinners and lunches and the great inspiration!

And thanks to Beppe Quiroli for the Roero Arneis pic. :)

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The beauty of the Tuscan wine season

Back to Tuscany for another culinary holiday at my friends' Cristina and Michael beautiful agriturismo "Il Cantastorie".

With one of the best excursions for a wine lover like me: a wine maker in the Montalbano area, the Azienda Agricola Betti in Quarrata.
I felt like a very happy bunny there, totally in my element among the trucks full of grapes, the busy people and the beautiful, intense and pleasantly intoxicating smell of freshly crushed grapes. :)
And I saw my very first crusher-stemmer (a genial machine that removes the stems from the grapes and crushes them practically at the same time) in action! (see movies here and here)

The wine tasting with lunch that followed was another great experience that made the beautiful day even more glorious!

After that took with me a bottle of Prunideo, Betti's best wine made with 90% rigorously hand-harvested Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet, and drunk it for dinner tonight with Michael and Cristina. A great, robust  wine with 12 months in oak to give it even more character.
If you happen to find a bottle somewhere, don't leave it on the shelf, oh no... ;)

Bounty of grapes!

A verrrry happy bunny :)

The beauty of agricultural Tuscany...

From here to infinity...

The crushed grapes are pumped into the steel containers to undergo the fermentation

Men at work (manually mixing the grapes to ensure full color and aroma's)

The cellar

Ready for the wine tasting

Organic wine not better? I chirp to differ

For those who can read the Italian language and love beautiful natural images here is a very moving photo series shot in an Italian vineyard (Cascina Corte of Alessandro Barosi in Dogliani, Piemonte) where blackbirds have returned to make their nests after years that they were not appearing anymore. It seems like in the old times this was a very common thing to see, sigh...

Nowadays this is very rare due to the modern cultivation and harvesting methodes that disturb these beautiful birds in their daily routines.

So long live natural and organic wine making!

Summer lunch on the balcony - courgette flowers stuffed with lemon tagliolini

My mum is the BEST cook in the world, no doubt about it.
Don't ALL Italians say that? Well, I can assure you, in my case it's true. :)

Yesterday we had lunch on her balcony overlooking the lungomare (the beautiful promenade along the coast) of Bari to enjoy the little bit of available cool air and make the hot day more bearable.

She prepared a great primo piatto, delicate and yet very savoury: lovely zucchini flowers stuffed with lemon-flavoured tagliolini (the thinner version of the classic tagliatelle). An absolutely fantastic dish, perfect for that one-day-to-summer day.

After eating something like that we didn't need much more and had just a fresh caprese with oregano accompanied by some great porcini mushrooms in oil.

The wannabe sommelier chose a bottle of citrusy and bubbly Verduzzo-Prosecco frizzante delle Venezie IGT 2008 from Giordano that went perfectly well with the lemony taste of the tagliolini.
Ahem, "chose" is a big word. To tell the truth, nothing but the truth, it was the only bottle of wine my mum had in the fridge so it HAD to go perfectly well with the lemon pasta. ;)
The thing is... it actually did!

Here's the recipe, to be enjoyed as long as courgette flowers are available (which hopefully is going to be all summer long!).

Fiori di zucchina ripieni di tagliolini al limone

Serves 4

300 gr thin tagliolini
4-5 courgette flowers per person
40 gr. butter
2 big organic lemons
160 gr cream cheese or cooking cream
salt and black pepper

Wash the zucchini flowers briefly under the tap, open them delicately on one side so that they become strip-like, remove the fleshy pistils and lay the flowers on a clean kitchen cloth.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on a low fire but don't let it fry and get all golden brown.
Grate the lemon rind and mix it gently with the warm butter and the cream cheese in the saucepan. Set aside.

Cook the tagliolini in salted boiling water till only half cooked and drain.
Transfer the pasta in the saucepan and toss with the sauce. If you like, season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Take a forkful of tagliolini and roll it well on the fork. Use this little "nest" to stuff a courgette flower and proceed in the same way until all the flowers have been filled.
Enclose the little tagliolini rolls within each flower wrapping the flowers around the pasta. Lay the stuffed flowers in an oven dish and scatter a few pieces of butter all over them.

Cook for about 5 minutes in the pre-heated oven at 250°C and for 2 extra minutes under the grill.
Serve immediately.

 

 

Before going into the oven

 

  

Beautiful flowers

 

  

Miami or Bari? ;)

 

 

Me in my favourite type of mirror ;)

 

Food, wine and the city: sommelier course and eating at Segugio

As I already said, I'm very glad to be back in Amsterdam and at the same time I would have loved to stay a few more days in Tuscany. They're both two of my favourite places on earth so most of the times it's very difficult to make a choice of where to be and for how long but, hey, I see it more as a privilege than a burden. :)
 
In a sense I HAD to come back immediately after my cooking holiday at Tuscan agriturismo Il cantastorie because last Monday we started the second level of the sommelier course organized by AIS (the Italian Sommelier Association) at the Amsterdam Hilton and if there's one thing I definitely want to avoid is missing some of the lessons. I just LOVE this course.

Our teacher during these first two days was Andrea Gori, a young sommelier from Florence who's already reached great levels of fame and professionality in the relatively short period that he's been working in the wine business. Andrea is an enthousiastic teacher and has a very interesting wine blog called Vino da Burde plus a restaurant in Florence called Trattoria da Burde that I hope to be visiting soon.

When he told me that he blogs what he's been doing, seeing and tasting mostly on the very night he's been to an event or has visited a new restaurant I felt a bit ashamed of my extremely slow "blogging pattern" and at the same time very inspired to - at least try and - do the same. So thank you Andrea for getting me here in front of my laptop so late at night sorting pictures and writing stuff I'll need to re-read in the morning 'cause I'm too sleepy to make some sense. ;)

After the first day of the course, dinner at Segugio with some of my fellow students followed.
Segugio is one of the best (and best known) Italian restaurants in Amsterdam, situated in the Utrechsestraat, one of my favourite Amsterdam streets for its many restaurants and original shops. The menu had been chosen for us by Emanuele Birtolo, studying to become AIS sommelier and working at Segugio.

The great kitchen staff guided by chef Fabio Ardu spoiled us with a crostino of self-made focaccia with buffalo mozzarella and a quite interesting bell pepper sauce, red mullet fillet on a bed of sea aster with baby fennel a butter-lemon sauce, a great - and very, very, VERY al dente - risotto with saffron and testùn (the lovely cheese from the Piedmont region), some temptingly sweet ravioli filled with home made sausage and served with a fresh tomato sauce, a wonderfully tender and juicy veal fillet with steamed vegetables in Parmigiano sauce and, dulcis in fundo, a GREAT dessert with a creamy, surprising and nicely spiced homemade clove ice-cream served with a very sexy and luscious little chocolate fondant. Even the raspberry that came with it was absolutely perfect: plump, moist and sweeter than sweet. A fantastic combination with the rich chocolate of the fondant...

Everything was accompanied by the wines chosen in "joint-venture" by Andrea and Emanuele. We've had some very good stuff like a Vernaccia di San Gimignano Montenidoli Carato 2005, a Teroldego Rotaliano Foradori 2005, a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo S. Martino Rosso Marina Cvetic (don't remember the year) and a nice and smooth Recioto della Valpolicella classico Venturini 2005 that came with the dessert.

It's been a great evening made of good food, good wines, nice conversation and a very cheerful, intelligent and inspiring company. Thanks to Andrea for explaining us so many things about the wines without making it feel like a "serious" lesson but ore like a breathtaking adventure - something he manages to do every time he's teaching.

An evening to be repeated soon, I hope. Seeing the enthousiasm and the eagerness to learn, to share and to be together of my fellow students and myself I have no doubt we'll have many more evenings like this one. Can't wait for the next occasion!

 

Segugio also means private eye in Italian...