Perfect Autumn recipe and Fun Travel this fall
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Eccocci
! Here we are! It has been a couple of months since you've heard from us,
il tempo vola
! (Time flies!). We've returned from our
Fall Italy trips, we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed our guests, making new friends and seeing some of our old friends! We had mostly returning guests for our Puglia trips and it's always
wonderful to see them again!
Puglia was amazing - the delicious
seafood, wines, historical towns and spectacular sunsets.
Tuscany was gorgeous, as usual - our home away from home. We enjoyed
beautiful fall days there with its
wine regions, white
truffles, the
medieval hill towns and delicious foods. Below are some of the pictures from our travels. It's not too early to get your plans in place for your Italy travel next year. We'd love it if you joined us!
We fell in love with a
delicious braised beef while in
Tuscany. Gina is featuring it at her restaurant this month. The recipe is below since most of you aren't in Louisville! This recipe is perfect for the
chilly fall weather. Pair it with a nice
Chianti Classico or enjoy it with your favorite full bodied red!
Buon appetito!
Gina and Mary
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Chianti Classico and Carmignano DOCG
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We just returned home from
Tuscany
a couple of weeks ago where, as usual, we spent time in the
gorgeous wine regions of Chianti Classico, Montalcino
and
Montepulciano
. Since our featured recipe this week is
peposo
, a peppery beef dish from Florence (
Firenze
), let's focus on the
sangiovese-based wines
made around the city.
Florence lies on the northern end of the
Chianti Classico
region, and there are several wine regions that are historic and well-known around
Firenze
, including
Chianti Ruffino DOCG
and
Carmignano DOCG
. While Ruffino is mainly
80% sangiovese with 20% indigenous Tuscan grapes
blended in,
Carmignano DOCG can be 50% sangiovese with 50% cabernet sauvignon or cabernet franc added
. In practice, the wines are a higher percentage of sangiovese, 70-90%, but the addition of cabernet is unusual for a historic DOCG Tuscan wine. You can find both these wines in local wine shops with a good Italian selection.
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Peposo (beef braised w/ red wine & black pepper)
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This dish originated in the middle ages when the terracotta brick and tile makers from
Impruneta
worked in
Florence
making the
Duomo
and its
amazing dome
. At the end of the day, before departing for the night, they would place beef, onions, peppercorns and red wine in a terracotta baking dish with a lid and place it in the ovens, hot from the day’s brick making. As the ovens cooled down, the dish slowly cooked overnight; when the workers arrived back in the morning, they removed the
peposo
and set it aside for their lunch.
Pepe
is the word for
pepper
and
peposo
refers to the large amount of
black pepper
in the dish. Excellent to serve on a cold autumn night alongside mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Chuck roast, 2-3 lbs
2-3 cups dry red wine
1 large onion, sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp black pepper corns
1 teas black pepper ground
2 teas sea salt
Salt the chuck roast, heat a large oven proof pot or Dutch oven and add a generous amount of olive oil. Brown the roast on all sides and then remove from the pot. Add the sliced onions and black pepper and sauté until lightly softened, add back the meat and the red wine and pepper corns. Put the lid on and put the pot in the oven at 350. Cook for 2 hours, remove the lid and cook uncovered for another hour. Check for salt and add some if necessary.
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This Month's Italian saying...
A chi dai il dito si prende anche il braccio.
"Give them a finger and they'll take an arm."
The familiar expression in English is used for a person who has been given something and then they try to get a whole lot more. Our expression is: "Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile". In Italy, this kind of thing is viewed more personally!
We remember our Italian grandmother saying this expression!
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Join us on one of our food and wine adventures
in Italy next year! We'll take care of all the details and you can enjoy a relaxing vacation immersed in all the delights of Italy.
Next
spring
- we have available spots for our
Piedmont tour May 24-31
and just 2 spots left for our
Tuscany tour June 6-13
th
.
For a
limited time
- until
January 1st
we're offering an
early bird discount
for
Piedmont
!
Contact Mary for the details! mary@eccolacucina.com or call her 972-342-8308
Our fall schedule will include a return to
Puglia
in early
October
followed by the
Tuscany weeks
in time for the olive harvest. Contact Mary to get more information and get registered!
Click here for the dates on our website.
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Scenes from our Puglia tours in September:
..........tons of fun, seafood, wine & cheese!
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Scenes from our Tuscany tours in October:
.....lots of wine, pasta making, truffles &
pecorino
!
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This was my second tour with Gina and Mary and every bit as much fun as the first. These trips are well planned, accommodations are top notch, food and wine is sublime, and meeting people with similar tastes in travel experiences is so much fun. I really enjoy learning about the region we are in and the foods/wine grown there. This trip we learned about olive oil since olive trees were everywhere. We even stayed at a Masseria where there was a 3,000 year old olive tree still producing. You learn so much on these tours with Gina and Mary plus the cooking experience is always a delight. Everything is already thought of before you go so unless something unforeseen occurs you’ll have a delightful time. Can’t wait to go again! JK
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Gina Stipo and Mary Stipo Potter | Ecco La Cucina | 1-972-342-8308|
Email
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Website
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