An Umbrian Lunch

  While sitting at my work desk all day, I think about many things...but mostly I go back to the two things that really take up all my brain space. Italy and food. Thank the "powers that be" that I work for myself. I would have been canned a long time ago for surfing food blogs and Italian real estate sites. Oh, and the hours I spend on Google Earth? Let's just not go there (well, at least not until after I finish this post...).
  There was a time, not that long ago, that I considered myself quite the luddite. Now that I am at a desk, and have given up my previous life as a professional gardener, I see the light. The computer screen is like TV. I like TV. And now, with this blog, I get to interact a bit, and keep the dream of travel fresh in my mind.
  With that in mind, I'd like to share a delightful lunch we had on our last trip. I did mention that we are vegetarians, not vegan, and I have found that most Italian menus are easy going for us. We would never go into an osteria that specializes in offal expecting to have lots of veg options...but chances are they would have a few. What I do look for are menus with interesting starters, pastas, or side dishes that are chock full of seasonal veggies so prevalent in Italian cooking.
   I have found that in most trattorias and osterias, there isn't a problem ordering only anipasti, pasta and "contorni", the vegetable side dishes. Typically, the Italian menu has antipasti, "primi"(the pasta course), "secondi"(the meat course), contorni, and desserts. There may be regional cheese plates or plates featuring typical cured meats of the area..that sort of thing. The menus are often interchangeable in some places. It may be because there are strong ties to the regional cuisine, and an area may specialize in something, so you find it on all the menus. Umbria is no exception. Truffles, lentils, porcini, black celery, cannara red potatoes, goose sauce,...all regional to Umbria.

  On one of our walks to the nearby hilltown of Paciano, we spied "Osteria La Loggetta". It is located right inside the gate at the lower end of town. It was closed, but I checked out the menu, and noted that they were open for lunch on Sundays. Great! When Sunday rolled around, after Johnny painted and I took a long walk, we cleaned up and headed on over to La Loggetta.

  

A wonderful starter of soft cheese covered in corn flakes(!) and fried-
served with a sour cherry/balsamic reduction, greens.  Spread
on bread, it was warm, gooey, crunchy...amazing.

My choice-- tiny potato dumplings served in a saffron cream
sauce with almond slivers and pecorino.
Delightful.

Johnny had "umbricelli", an Umbrian pasta, very dense texture and a good chew to it.
The pasta had a sauce made from
purred broccoli, pecorino and a hint of rosemary. I want to recreate this one...

  
  We also had a half carafe of the house red, something that never seems to disappoint, no matter where you are ordering it. A very fine meal. When we went back to try it again, sadly they had closed for a little down time before the busy season kicked in.
  There's always next year, and I can't wait!