for the love of italian food, wine and pottery
three passions combined
There’s an old adage that Italian winemakers reincarnate again and again, returning to the same vineyard to perfect what they didn’t manage to in their last lifetime. This might explain why they tend to be philosophical; life brings both storms and seasons of bounty, and they manage, either way, to make the best of the situation. The best way I can describe Italian winemakers is that they are people of great hope despite the odds.
When a summer tornado sheared a sheath of terracotta roof tiles from our 400 year old Italian farmhouse, Franco, our friend and neighbour, consoled us with tough love and a laugh. “It’s just the tiles. The house is still standing.”
Indeed.
He knew we’d be fine, and we knew he’d be the one to help us replace those tiles, because that’s what people who live in the Italian country side do.
The best of Italy always lies in its people, its intense natural beauty, and its food and wine. Its ecology is so fragile. Extreme weather has taken its toll in the form of drought, storms, flooding and landslides. We’ve seen entire seasons of insanely hard vineyard work wiped out by strips of hail, turning summer into a winter landscape in a matter of minutes.
And yet. It’s still standing and keeps coming back. People of great hope despite the odds.
pottery
It’s by the luck of the draw that at this point in life, I’ve combined my passion for Italy with ceramics, creating for exclusive restaurants, wineries and private collectors. I’ve been asked to create plates specifically for certain chef’s creations. It’s so challenging and requires a good deal of mutual respect and understanding. I love the process, and working with people at the top of their creative game makes me bring mine on.
When I started as a ceramic artist, I didn’t have a clear vision as to where the craft would take me. It’s probably good that I didn’t. Things happened in a way I could never have predicted, and wonderful people gave me opportunities open to very few potters.
I work at a speed that doesn’t overtax my wrists or body, and new inquiries seem to come in exactly when they are supposed to. I have never had a pottery order I didn’t absolutely love creating.
…food…
It really doesn’t matter if we talk about la cucina povera, the poor cuisine of Italy, or the highest end restaurant in the middle of Rome, the purpose of Italian food is to make people feel loved, satiated and taken care of. Italian moms have cured their children’s colds with pastina in brodo for generations. There is probably nothing more comforting than a big bowl of polenta crisped up with lots of gorgonzola dolce melted over it.
Even the most basic cuisine of Italy is elevated. There’s no better proof of this than walking into a normal trattoria for lunch and observing what Piemontese manual labourers are ordering and eating. Agnolotti filled with roasted meats served in sage and butter sauce. Veal cooked in wine with vegetables. An aged goat cheese platter. And it’s all washed down with very drinkable house wine and far better espresso than you can ever hope to get anywhere in America.
That beats a Big Mac with fries and a Coke.
I ate well growing up, mostly because we were Italian from perhaps the second most important gastronomical region in Italy after Piemonte. My paternal grandparents hailed from the same Emilia Romagna village as Michelin Star Chef, Restaurateur and TV presenter Angela Hartnett’s grandmother. She was also heavily influenced by her grandmother’s cooking. I’ve listened to Angela talk about the same incredible recipes I was raised on, right down to the ingredient list of her ravioli stuffing. The quality of food I experienced at a very young age in my grandparents’ kitchens was off the charts and had a profound influence on how I cook today.
I love cooking for people, because for me, cooking is a way of life. Whether it’s for clients or our family and friends, my intention is always the same: to share something delicious that spreads love and brings joy.
We regularly host Piemonte wine tastings (degustazioni di vini piemontese) for clients and friends/family here in our Black Forest home. Some events are Piemonte-style apericena, which means appetisers that are actually dinner. This is a casual event, the kind where people graze different platters of specialties specifically chosen for the wines they’ll be enjoying. Others are full-on pairing dinners.
Homemade taralli and Italian sliced meats - prosciutto di San Daniele, Coppa di Parma, Salami di Cremona - are a great place to start. The preparation of taralli is not unlike bagels; the small savoury donut shapes are boiled before they’re baked.
Roasted onions in puff pastry are full of umami through a combination of miso, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and black bean soy sauce brushed on them before baking. There are never any left over. I bring Tropea onions back from my Italian green grocer and store them carefully to make these.
Another appetiser is farinata, a chickpea pancake baked in olive oil. It’s found in southeastern Piemonte and everywhere in Liguria. We discovered it when we first moved to Italy - there’s a restaurant in Acqui Terme that specialises in farinata and we quickly became addicts. I add wilted leeks to mine, which is more common in Liguria. Farinata is delicious and is nothing but gluten-free goodness. It can be a meal all on its own.
Michael served it here with a Langhe Nebbiolo from La Ca’ Nova, which, if you know something thing about Barbaresco, is one of the best lesser known producers. It was a perfect pairing.
I love using local ingredients from here in the Black Forest. As winter moves on to early spring, I forage in the forest to pick baby nettles and ramps, both of which are abundant. These combine to make either the ultimate filling for ravioli (especially when mixed with goat cheese from Piemonte) or gnocchi.
Larger dinners often require a meat course as secondo to pair off with a well aged Barbaresco or Barolo. One of the best spring offerings in Italy this time of year is rabbit, which I prepare in the traditional Piemonte fashion, with olives and pine nuts.
Desserts can vary. One that I make often for sentimental reasons (and because it’s so unbelievably good) is the honey pine nut tart from my dear friend, the late Gina De Palma’s cookbook, Dolce Italiano. I serve it, as she always suggested, with well-aged balsamic vinegar on the side. Gina was a James Beard award winning pastry chef, head pastry chef at Babbo Restaurant in New York and her recipes are sublime. This tart is decadent, sumptuous and simple all at the same time. It never fails to draw an almost emotional reaction at the end of a wonderful evening of wine tasting and food.
It’s very emotional for me to make it, because I know she’s with me in the kitchen.
There always comes a time toward the end of the evening that I take off the apron and join the party. I love cooking for a crowd, especially one that appreciates wonderful food and wine from Italy.
There are seasonal adjustments, of course - we add truffles that we bring up from Alba during the fall and fresh strawberries in moscato in the late spring or early summer. The menus are always evolving and changing, and that’s part of the fun of it. Plus, often people will end up not just buying wine, but ceramics as well!
…and then there’s wine…
Last week I wrote about Barolo, the king of Italian wines. Wine is on our mind right now as the 2021 Barolos and the 2022 Barbarescos will start to arrive.
Barolo must be aged for a minimum of 38 months after harvest before it can be released, with at least 18 months of that aging in oak barrels. For Barolo Riserva, the aging requirement is longer: at least 62 months (just over 5 years), with a minimum of 18 months in oak. Barbaresco must be aged for a minimum of 24 months after harvest before it can be released, with at least 9 months of that aging in oak barrels. For Barbaresco Riserva, the aging requirement is at least 48 months (4 years), with a minimum of 9 months in oak.
A flight of wine refers to a selection of multiple wines presented together for tasting. Our flights are typically one type of wine such as Barbaresco or Barolo from the same vintage but different winemakers.
We also create a varied selection if asked, starting with a Dolcetto or Barbera and changing the wine in an upwards direction with each menu item.
A vertical tasting involves sampling different vintages of the same wine from the same winery. This helps in understanding how factors like aging, vintage variation (weather conditions in a given year), and winemaking techniques influence the wine over time.
A horizontal tasting involves tasting wines from the same vintage, but from different producers, vineyards, or regions. In our case, we highlight producers from Piemonte. This approach highlights the impact of terroir (climate, soil, and geography) and winemaking styles across various producers in the same year.
Next up I’ll be writing about the normal drinking wines of Piemonte, which are Dolcetto, Barbera and of course, Nebbiolo. It’s always a good idea to see what winemakers themselves drink on a regular basis, and follow their lead. They rarely lead us astray.
I wish you fabulous food, wonderful wine, lots of love and good health!
Diana
Delicious food, great wines and your beautiful ceramics - a match made in Italy.
Cheers, Diana!
ps: when are we having that Portuguese vs Italian wines tasting? 😜
I imagine no one ever turns down an invitation to your house for a meal. It all sounds and looks delicious!