Dinner: Il Gallo Nel Pozzo...Again!

We don't eat out for a formal dinner as much as we did when we were first coming to Italy. Sure, we'll go for pizza or a quick lunch...but we enjoy cooking at home these days.

That being said, we really wanted to revisit a favorite spot in the village...Il Pozzo Nel Gallo. We've eaten here many times, but not recently, so we made it a priority to dine here as soon as possible on this trip. 

We really adore Simone and Lorena, the owners, and it's always a treat to be in their care. Simone is a perfect "front of the house" fellow, and Lorena does her own magic in the kitchen. We were not disappointed...They know we are vegetarians, and they take time to point out dished suited to us. In fact, they are willing to make changes to help us navigate the wonderful menu.

The first course on this evening was an interesting one...an artichoke that had been cooked fully and stuffed with a perfectly poached egg, served with a cream of Jerusalem artichoke and also super crispy chips of Jerusalem artichoke...This was a flavorful delight, and the mixed textures were just wonderful...The poached egg was done just right and the artichoke itself was cooked to a perfect point. It all came together beautifully...The choke was the edible 'bowl' for the egg! Fun and tasty!

The presentation was amazing!

Simone let us know that the gnocchetti dish of the evening was normally served with duck, but they were fine serving it without. Johnny was all in, as the gnocchetti were served in a 'cacio e pepe' sauce. Basically, a  cheese and black pepper sauce. Creamy and spicy, with little clouds of potato dumplings... I mean, come ON! It was a very good dish.

We kind of fought over bites...

My dish was a typical "umbrichelli", a regional hand rolled pasta made from just flour and water. The menu just said it would be served with a variation of tomato sauce. On this evening, the sauce was sweet and deep with flavor from oven roasted cherry tomatoes and what I would find out was "tomato dust". Dried and pulverized tomato wonderfulness! Honestly, it was one of the best pasta dishes I've ever eaten.

I have never come so close to licking a plate in public. That dust was everything. And the pasta was perfectly al dente.

I'm thinking my date was pretty happy!
A bit jet lagged still, but happy!

We asked about "contorni" or  vegetable side dishes, and Simone told us they had a mixed veg dish we might enjoy, so we each ordered one as our last course. I am so glad we did. 

This dish was a total surprise. We expected the usual grilled mixed veg, or something like that. What we had was so different and so good...

Four elements... Marinated purple cabbage, sauteed chickory, broccoli and porcini mushrooms.

Where do I start? The broccoli (far left)  was cooked to creaminess and melted in our mouths. I believe the chickory (far right) was pan braised, maybe with some garlic and lemon...typical and very good. The purple cabbage was marinated, I'm thinking. It was great...just perfectly crunchy and fresh. 

But those porcini...in the middle...I'm destined to recreate this for Johnny and myself. I must. Thinly sliced...maybe marinated in olive oil with a bit of salt and a bit of garlic...or not? They were almost like jerky...mushroom jerky. Not so chewy, but a texture I loved at first bite. For vegetarians, texture can be everything, and these mushrooms were everything.

I'm not sure if it's just that the products here are so fresh and good, or the kitchen is just so inventive, or it's the Italian vibe...Whatever. This was a perfect meal on a perfect evening.

We had to pop our heads into the kitchen to thank Lorena, and met the two new chefs, Karina and Matteo. It's always a joy to give thanks to those who have prepared your meal. Thanks, Again! You all rocked our world last night!

We also were happy to see a painting again that Johnny had given Simone's parents some time ago, now here in the restaurant. Johnny has always loved this piece, and we actually sat right under it! So fun to see this painting of the village in such a nice spot!

 

Thanks again to the folks here at Il Gallo Nel Pozzo.

If you find yourself in Panicale, Umbria, make a reservation! You won't regret it.

We look forward to another visit soon!

Pasta Con Rapini

  We woke up to half sun, half rain this morning. Luckily, we were able to take a nice long morning walk in between the showers. Headed out early, got the job done.

  Back at The Nut, we decided we would head to Chiusi for the weekly market, despite the intermittent showers.

  I've been looking for another pair of simple black boots. Chiusi market has lots of clothing and shoe vendors...I didn't find the boots of my dreams, alas.

  What I did find was a really great zip up sweater for one euro (!), and rapini.

  We love rapini, which is sort of like a very wild broccolini, only bitter and, well, wild.

  We did more shopping, headed home and later in the day found ourselves at Bar Gallo.

 It was super quiet, with just a couple of regular locals, Aldo, and us. Nice.

  Johnny wanted to work on some drawings, and I dozed as I tried to read my book. Perfection.

  I mentioned to Aldo at one point that I had bought some rapini. Before I knew it, he and his sweet daughter-in-law, Lorena, were giving me the low down on how to make a traditional Sicilian pasta dish with it. Lorena comes from Sicily, so I was all ears.

  Here is what you do, my dear readers, for an amazingly simple and tasty dinner-

Wash your rapini well to get any grit out.

Chop off the hollow/woody ends.

Chop the rapini coarsely.

Boil in well salted water for five minutes. Five minutes was perfect
to soften all the stems, etc.

   At this point, Aldo made it very clear that I should rinse the rapini in very cold water and squeeze the heck out of it. Really squeeze it well, get that water out of it.

Squeeze it, baby!

Squeeze it good!

  I ended up with a small amount, but enough for two people. I only used half a package of penne pasta, so it worked out fine.

  If you were serving four, you would need two bunches of rapini for a whole package of pasta.

  In the meantime, I was toasting some garlic (four good cloves) in olive oil with a touch of hot pepper oil that Lorena made and Aldo gave to us, just for this recipe.

  A little goes a long way! It is hot!

I chopped the rapini into smaller pieces.

Add rapini to the warm oil to heat through.

Give it a good stir...

  In the meantime, cook your pasta. I used penne, because that's what I had in the pantry. Traditionally this dish calls for orecchiette. Also, I used the already hot water from cooking the rapini. It adds extra flavor, and was already well salted.

Have some good parmesan ready.

Add your cooked pasta to the pan with rapini.

Toss well.

Serve it up with a good dose of parmesan and really good olive oil from Umbria.

A little pepper won't hurt...

Serve in front of a warm fire with wine of your choice.
Red for him, white for me. Enjoy!

That was one of the best pasta dishes I ever made.
Thanks Aldo! Thanks, Lorena!

 

Dreaming Of Meals To Come...Soon!

  In just a few days, we'll be packing our bags and heading to Umbria. As usual, Mr. J and I have been  doing our pre-Italy dieting, getting ourselves ready to chow down with gusto after we arrive.

  I'm looking forward to the simple fare I'll fix at home...

Tomatoes with beans and pecorino.
Wonderful in front of the fire.

Typical lunch on the terrace.

Yolanda's market has the best little tomatoes!

Grilled veg for a potluck with our landlord, Carlo.

We eat lots, lots, lots of tomatoes with pecorino.
Here, paired with onion and sage 'pizza' from the town bakery.

Another tasty salad on the terrace.

I'm not kidding...it never gets old!

I can whip out a pretty damn good risotto, too.

Charred shishito peppers were great with parmesan in the summer.
And a surprise to find at the Chiusi weekly market!

  As nice as it is to fix meals at home, we always look for somewhere new to try at lunch time. In July, we heard about this place that we didn't get to until November. It's another of the 'working man' lunch spots that are often only open on weekdays, and are outstanding.
  Again, except for the staff, I was the only woman in the place. That's how these rough and ready places are. See lots of cars and working vehicles parked outside? That's a good sign.
  Fine with me...I can't wait to go back.

  I knew we were in for a treat when I took a peek at a side dining room, and saw tables covered in fresh pasta set out to dry a bit before cutting.

No kidding.

It was beautiful sight to behold, my friends.

Wine and water, of course...

  

The fellow who told us about this place said we had to try the 'pici alla briciole', a speciality of the house. Hand made pasta with breadcrumbs...wow. Not for the light eater, I'll tell you that. 

  But, damn...it was good.

Yes, those breadcrumbs were toasted in lots...LOTS..of olive oil and garlic.
Fantastic.

Really good grilled veg.

Perfectly fine ceci beans, but not for this meal.
We couldn't finish them. They would be great with grilled meat.

  Don't even try to ask me where this place is. It goes in our little black book of places we want to keep hidden away. 

  There are lots of tasty treats I'm dying to get back to....

Piadini at Bar Gallo....

Suppli at Supplizio in Rome....

Fried porcini at Dardano in Cortona....

Tagliatelle with truffles...here at Da Suaro on Isola Maggiore...

More truffles with ravioli... somewhere?
I can't remember, honest.

Pappa al pomodoro...a summer treat at Masolino's.
Tomato and bread soup. Yummy.

My favorite salad of buffalo mozzarella and zucchini.
Bar Gallo.

  Lastly, because you just can't get it like this anywhere else...
  Pizza at Remo, in Rome. We will actually stay over night, at any cost, to delight in this 4.50 euro pizza.

Yep, it's that good.

  Counting the days/hours.....