MARIANI’S

  September 12, 2004                                                     NEWSLETTER

                                   Paul Newman, challenged to eat 50 hard-boiled eggs, in "Cool Hand Luke" (1967)

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EDITOR'S NOTE:  Readers may now access an Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July, 2003, by simply clicking on   ARCHIVE .

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Cover Story:  ITALIAN COASTLINE CUCINA by John Mariani

New York Corner:  Cru by John Mariani

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ITALIAN COASTLINE CUCINA
by John Mariani
 

San Pietro fish (John Dory)

                  

                Despite the extraordinary range of regional Italian cuisine, the wondrous foods of the Italian coastline have for the most part been neglected in favor of an international-style Italian menu based on vats of spaghetti with tomato sauce, veal chops and tiramisù for decades.  But in the past few years the current awareness of the nutritional benefits of the so-called "Mediterranean Diet" rich in vegetables, grains and seafood has gone from a flirtation to a full-blown love affair with Italy's coastline cucina, especially its glorious array of seafood dishes. 
     Aside from the recognition of the Mediterranean diet's soundness, the reasons for this new-found love of regional Italian cookery are easy enough to understand. Even those deprived carnivores on the Atkins Diet will find this food irresistible.  For one thing, the faddishness of Tuscan cookery (which has never been one of Italy's most exciting cuisines) has faded as the international palate craves something fresh and new. Travelers to Italy return with delectable tales of dishes from Liguria, Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia, and other sea-fronted regions--risotto al nero, made with the black ink of cuttlefish, trenette pasta made with verdant basil-and-pine nut pesto perfumed with garlic, hearty casseroles of fava beans and peppers, and mussels cooked in a fresh tomato sauce bristling with hot chilies.
   Travel to fashionable seaside towns in Italy like Portofino, Viareggio, Rimini, Pescara, Capri, Otranto and Taormina has whetted an appetite for the kinds of unstintingly fresh, marvelously flavorful Mediterranean

           Portofino, Liguria

seafood now finding its way onto tables in New York, London, Berlin, Hong Kong and Osaka. Gourmets now know the difference between red and white mullet, Mediterranean and Atlantic swordfish, and the saline-nutty taste of dried tuna roe called bottarga, as well as the wonderful white cornmeal polenta dishes of  Venice, the sensational pork sausages like soppressata in Calabria, and the stuffed veal breast called cima alla genovese.  And now, with the universal availability of the finest extra virgin olive oils, canned Italian tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and artisanal pastas, those tastes have been developed to the point where  people are demanding the authentic flavors of coastline cucina.
     The irregular, rippling shape of the Italian boot jutting out into the Mediterranean gives the country grand access to seafood, while its lakes and rivers offer up everything from fine trout and eels to sturgeon. Neither Milan, Turin, nor Rome have great seafood traditions, though Venice has given the world a number of marvelous seafood dishes, including risotto made with cuttlefish or squid ink that makes it look like black pearls. But it is in Liguria, Apulia, Campania (Naples' region), and Sicily that Italian seafood truly sparkles with freshness and imagination, all buoyed by centuries' of seafaring tradition. This is most obvious in the great Ligurian city of Genoa on the western Mediterranean, whose native son Christopher Columbus (right) proved his nautical mettle by sailing to the New World in search of spices to add to the European larder. Genoese seafood is remarkable for its diversity and its adaptiveness to the seas, the seasons, and the taste of the Ligurian people. For the most part they prefer their fish cooked in the simplest way. There is an old Genoese proverb that goes, "Chi in scio pescio ghe mette o lemon, o o l'e cuneo, o le un belinon,"  which translates roughly as "Anyone who adds lemon is either blockhead or a fool."
    Yet the Genoese are especially adept at fish stews, the best known being ciuppin, "little bowl of soup," (adapted by Ligurian emigrants to San Francisco as "cioppino"), a savory melange of whiting, Saint Peter's fish (also known as John Dory), flounder, anchovies, tomato, white wine, garlic and seasonal herbs. The fish are de-boned and cooked slowly, then puréed or put through a sieve to produce an elixir of pure, briny and vegetable flavors, topped off with a slice of toasted bread.  Burrida, which is similar to Provence's seafood stew called bourride, is a lustier cousin of ciuppin, for it is made with lowly but delicious seafood like cuttlefish, angler, squid and eel, and the fish is cut up in morsels before cooking, rather than puréed with the tomato stock.
   Ligurians revere baccalà (below), a dried, salted cod, and its unsalted sibling called stoccafisso (which comes from a German term meaning "fish stiff as a stick.") Both are made into heady stew, often with salty olives, while brandacujon (a San Remo dialect word that means, roughly, "shaken until tired") contains stoccafisso and plenty of potatoes. Liguria is also the region where pesto sauce--made from pounded fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino cheese--flourishes, served with thin spaghetti called trenette, julienne potatoes and baby string beans.  Another favorite pasta dish is pansôti ("potbellies"), fat egg-dough ravioli stuffed with a
cheese called prescinseha, herbs and egg; cima alla genovese is an extraordinary, lavish dish of breasts of veal stuffed with innards, cheese, pine nuts and vegetables. The Genoese also love rich cakes; indeed, the French genoise cake derives from the egg-bound sponge cakes of Genoa called pandolce.   
   Apulia, on the heel of Italy, has an extremely long coastline--400 miles--and thereby access to a great variety of seafood. Oddly enough, the Apulians, are known for their carnivorous appetite, despite centuries of poverty, and much of their home cookery is based on vegetables and pasta.  Ironically, poverty calls for ingenuity when it comes to keeping a family fed and happy, and the home cooks of Apulia use every bit of  every meat, fish, vegetable and grain to create a widely diversified cookery that can be stretched to make a meal for several days.
    The Apulians delight in good seafood, and in the dire days of pre-war poverty the best fish would be sold at market, while the seamen's families took the leftovers or the lesser fish, which are best stewed or made into soup.  For this reason there are myriad seafood soup recipes in the region, always bolstered by leftover, toasted bread. For a true celebratory feast, however, an Apulian family may make the extravagant zuppa di pesce alla brindisina, from Brindisi, where a wide variety of many white fish--the most prized--are cooked with onion, garlic and tomatoes.
    The Apulians love seafood pastas, blending extremely thin vermicelli pasta with baccalà or tossing tubettini (tiny tubes) with cannellini beans and the sweet black mussels that come from the region. In the rest of southern Italy ciambotta ("big mixture") usually refers to a vegetable stew, but in Apulia, it is made with small fish called fragaglia ("strawberry," because of its red color), really good only for stewing, and a dose of hot chile pepper, served over spaghetti. When a Pugliese cook makes a casserole, it is likely to contain abundant mussels and, especially around Bari, rice. Another local favorite pasta is  ciceri e tria, made with chickpea flour.             
   Throughout Italy, the best fish like Saint Peter's, bream, red and white mullet, and others,  either whole or as filets, are simply grilled or roasted, perhaps drizzled with a little olive oil, and served straightaway. The fish may be marinated first with white wine and herbs, perhaps garnished with olives or a wedge of lemon. In too many countries outside of Italy, an Italian restaurant will drown its seafood dishes with tomatoes, clams, mussels, capers and seafood broth, but this kind of dish is a rarity in Apulia, Campania, Calabria and Sicily. Occasionally a large fish will be steamed with herbs and a little olive in parchment (in cartoccio), while octopus are always cooked in their own juices. Squid and cuttlefish are usually stewed  or, at their best, fried crisp, served with a squirt of lemon and a dousing of chopped parsley.                                                                Vieste in the Province of Foggia

   One of Naples's best-known dishes is pesce all'acqua pazza--"fish in crazy water"--because small fish are cooked in chile pepper-spiked sea water. 'Mpepata di cozze ("peppered mussels") are similarly cooked, but the chile pepper is replaced with several grinds of black pepper. Eels are the traditional dish of Christmas Eve,
either fried or cooked up in tomato sauce.
    When Apulians turn to meat dishes, they are likely to make gniumerieddi ("little gnomes") of grilled lamb and pork sausages with its offal, pecorino cheese and bay leaves. Apulian bread has great renown, often stamped proudly with the baker's mark, and 'ncapriata is a beloved dish of puréed fava beans, chicory and olive oil that can hold body and soul together for days on end.
    The Neapolitans do love squid stuffed with bread crumbs, capers, a little garlic, and red pepper flakes, and they fry up baccalà and serve it with a tomato sauce. One of the most famous of all Neapolitan pasta dishes is linguine with clams, and one of the stories as to the origin of marinara sauce is that the fishermen's wives would wait on shore with pots of tomato sauce ready to accept the day's catch that their mariner husbands brought back that evening.
   The island of Sicily, surrounded by the blue waters of the Mediterranean, has always been a region with a vibrant seafood culture, its waters teeming with brilliant blue swordfish on the east, and enormous, fat red tuna on the west.  More so than anywhere else in Italy, Sicily's food is touched by the spices of the other countries around the Basin that have invaded and settled on the island over millennia, especially the Greeks and Arabs. Sicilian seafood, therefore, absorbs strong flavors, but remains simple in its preparation.
    The best-known Sicilian seafood dish is spaghetti con sarde, tossed with sardines and olive oil. The people are masters of preserving fish of every kind, from tuna preserved in oil, called surra, to tuna  bottarga, which has a pungent, almost nutty taste and makes it a lovely addition to pasta or seafood salads. The Sicilians love sweet-and-sour flavors and cuscus, which derives from the Arab influence on the island's cuisine, and their use of peppers and eggplants in various dishes like the stew called caponata is one of the defining features of their cookery.  You'll find red mullet  cooked in an orange and lemon sauce, and mint and sesame seeds are condiments often added to fresh seafood. And while Sicilians generally like their fish grilled and unadorned, the legacy of aristocratic courts on the island, which favored extremely lavish seafood dishes, has been handed down to modern-day Sicilians who on occasion will cook up a shad baked in puff pastry or one of the many layered pasticcios, crammed full of tuna or swordfish, olives, raisins, fennel, cauliflower, artichoke hearts and eggs.
    When Sicilians do eat meat it is usually a lavish affair, as with farsumagru, a braised beef or veal roll containing hard-boiled eggs, salami and cheese. Sicilian cooks will also cram their lasagnes with tiny meatballs called polpette.

    That all these dishes were for so long neglected outside the Italian regions famous for them is now being remedied in restaurants that have begun to deviate from the old-fashioned, and much outdated, clichés of Italian cookery.  They may not taste exactly the same as they do overlooking the Mediterranean from a dockside trattoria in Viarreggio or a hillside ristorante in Genoa, but then, memory is always its own best seasoning.

 


NEW YORK CORNER

Cru
24 Fifth Avenue
212-529-1700
www.cru-nyc.com

       Apparently you can't stop an eager restaurateur from taking a big risk in NYC, and for no reason except that silly superstition called a "hex" should anyone be dissuaded from putting a fine restaurant into the address of 24 Fifth Avenue.  Yet over the years this space, which seems about as prime as you could find, set just above Washington Square and Greenwich Village, has had flop after flop, most recently a restaurant with Chef Jonathan Waxman doing the cooking.  True, that last one wasn't all that special, and Cru, which has a double meaning as a restaurant that does have some raw seafood and also connotes its commitment to wine, is a far more substantial piece of work.  Chef Shea Gallante, who is part-owner with Roy Welland and wine director Robert Bohr, was previously chef de cuisine at Bouley, and he brings very fresh ideas to the table, although in some precious cases there seems more of an unformed idea rather than beautifully realized food on the plate.  Young and exuberant, Gallante will most certainly calm down and probably develop into one of New York's finest.
     The two-level dining room hasn't changed much, and it's a sedate spot to dine, with lighting neither bright enough to be lively nor dark enough to be seductive.  The owners have installed a cabinet on the wall (above) in back of a small service bar, which may be efficient but blocks most sightlines of Fifth Avenue from below. Good linens, fine silverware, and thin glassware make this a very sophisticated setting.
       I must address the wine list right away, for it is immediately one of the finest in the world, based on co-owner Welland’s private collection,  emphasizing wines from Burgundy, Piedmont, the Rhone Valley, Germany and Austria, with 3,200 labels, 65,000 bottles, and 50 wines by the glass.  The list is astounding for its breadth, depth, and rarities, like (I'm rattling this off from the press release):  112 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, including '42 La Tâche, '57 R-C, and '55 Richebourg;  34 different wines from Guigal and 14 vintages of Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape; 42 Angelo Gaja Barbarescos, including the "not commercially released 1964 Infernot'; 67 wines from Knoll in Austria; and so on and so on, all printed in two massive volumes that would take hours to peruse and at least ten minutes just to turn the pages of.  This is an ego list, of course, and even well-heeled connoisseurs will probably see no need for dozens of Grüner-Veltliners.  But I suppose it's nice to have it all there, ready to be plucked from the cellar.
       I haven't a clue what one drinks with pignoli-dusted skate wing with saffron, sweet gremolata, and sweet-sour balsamic vinegar, but I assure you it isn't a '42 La Tâche.  In fact, not all the dishes on Gallante's menu are particularly amenable to wine, like Arctic char with smoked pepper, apple, endive, and vanilla oil, but I'm sure there's something on that fabulous list that might work well.
     Otherwise, be adventurous. Gallante will send out a slew of amuses and things to taste anyway, like roasted beets in a crispy cone with beet purée, Gorgonzola dolce, and a pistachio tuile; a Montasio cheese tart with whipped robiola cheese; and fontina panini with Prosciutto, which were pretty damn tasty.  The menu itself is divided into "crudo," "firsts," "pasta" and "mains," and I highly recommend the white tuna with an olive praline, and a caper-espresso and chive dressing: yes, it sounds weird, but it was very good.  "Gently cooked Florida shrimp" with chick pea passatina, baby leeks and guanciale was compromised by the taste of iodine in the shrimp, while something called "rabbit cotechino" with lentils, Speck, and mustard didn't sing as high as it read. "Liver & Onions" was actually caramelized foie gras (too sweetly so) with spring onion ice cream (hmmm) and confit.
     The better of two pastas sampled was gnocchi with a guazzetto of oxtail and barolo wine reduction; pecorino-stuffed ravioli with parsley, walnut, and marjoram) would have been fine had they come to the table more than merely tepid (which is what happens when so many dishes take such time-consuming preparation and plating).
      The main courses included a superb fillet of spiced turbot with a confit of shallots, radicchio, tiny asparagus and "evaporated red wine-natural jus," which, whatever it was, tasted just fine.  A baby chicken baked in buttermilk with herbs, with young carrots braised in orange and paprika, parsley root and chanterelles, had too many flavors for them all to meld around the bird.  Colorado rack of lamb had plenty of flavor on its own, with baby Romaine, favas, white asparagus, and mint.
       You may have a caramel trifle with blackberry, lemon, and Jurançon wine, along with a glass of '75 Yquem at $100, or a "spontaneous dessert" by pastry chef Will Goldfarb.
       Everyone is trying a little too hard to impress at Cru, and, when a restaurant is so devoted to its wines, food sometimes has to be reined back and driven in tandem with the wines.  Simple cooking is always better cooking, especially when wine is such a crucial part of the formula.  I think everyone at Cru will realize this, and that all aspects of the food and service will be mightily improved by it.  Cru could be one of the great ones; it just needs time and re-casting.
       Appetizers range from $6 for the crudo items, and $12-$18 for the appetizers; main courses are $28-$36, and desserts $9, which makes this level of dining a pretty good deal, especially since the chef sends out so much more to your table.

SO THE QUESTION IS, ARE YOU FEELIN' HUNGRY, PUNK? WELL, ARE YOU?

Clint Eastwood's new Desert Hog La Quinta in Old Town La Quinta, CA, offers menu choices including Dirty Harry Bacon Cheeseburger, High Plains Drifter Prime Rib, Brisket with No Name, Any Which Way You Can Chicken, and Coogan's Bluff Sirloin Teriyaki.

SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE OLD TIMES SQUARE, EXCEPT THEY USED PIGEONS

"Ueno is the liveliest part of the low city, its streets given over to X-rated cinemas, massage parlors, peep shows, good cheap restaurants, and shops selling beauty creams made of nightingale droppings."--Ian Buruma, "Tokyo Lost and Found," Travel + Leisure (August 2004).

QUICK BYTES

* On Sept. 19 the 3rd Asian Chefs Association  dinner of 2004 will be held at Tree Seasons in Palo Alto, CA, a 6-course  meal paired with wines. with chefs from Three Seasons, Roy's, Ana Mandara, Osaka
Grill, and Butterfly. $110 pp.  Call 650- 838-0353. www.threeseasonsrestaurant.com.

* On Sept. 20 San Francisco's KQED and Champagne Mumm invite the public to join  Chef Jacques Pépin at Postrio to celebrate his newest KQED TVseries Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way and the publication of the companion cookbook: Preview Champagne Mumm Reception, Book Signing and Sneak Peek of New Series, 3- 5 PM; $30 KQED members, $35 non-members ; call (415) 553-2275; Jacques Pepin Tasting Menu Dinner –$110 pp; call 415-776-7825.

* From Sept 21-30  GW Fins in New Orleans Chef/Co-Owner Tenney Flynn has created a special Tuna Tasting that showcases several varieties caught throughout the U.S.with a 3-course tasting.  $38.50 pp. Call 504- 581-FINS.

* From Sept. 21-Oct. 23 the St. Regis Los Angeles and Encore Restaurant  will feature wines and flavors of South America with a 4-course menu  at $55 pp, with wine is $85.00,  or a wine flight alone at $30. Call 310- 407-8242 to make reservations.

* On Sept. 27 Seasons in the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington DC will hold a Champagne Krug Opera Dinner with a 4-course meal by Chef Douglas Anderson. $200 pp; Call 202-944-2055.

* On Oct. 2  Chef Michelle Bernstein of Miami's Azul shares her cooking tips and skills for an interactive cooking class with 3-course tasting menu matched with flights of premium wines selected by  sommelier Richard Hales.   $150 pp. Call 305-913-8254.

* From Oct 8-10 WaterColor Inn in Florida's Panhandle hosts the 5th annual "Taste of 30-A."  Chef Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham  joins Jason Brumm and Olivier Gaupin of WaterColor’s Fish Out of Water and other Florida chefs, farmers, to pay homage to traditional Southern food, with proceeds to Friends of Eden and S. Walton charities. Oct. 8: Food & wine tastings ($100 pp); On Sat., Farmers’ Market (free), then visits to selected Panhandle restaurants.  Sun. dinner  and a Lowcountry Gospel Brunch with the Voices of El Shaddai at Eden Gardens State Park. $45 pp;  $30  for children. Call  877-245-6997 or visit www.tasteof30a.com   

* The Château de Bagnols in Bagnols, France, is offering the exclusive use of its 13^th-century retreat over a two-day period.  The “King of the Castle” offers continental breakfast, welcome drink, dinner in Salle des Gardes; visit to the wine cellar.  Visit www.roccofortehotels.com or call 011-33-474-714000. 

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This newsletter is also available on the very comprehensive food site www.sautewednesday.com
which has dozens of other links to food articles from around the world, and also at www.Gayot.com. New York Corner reviews are also available at
 www.nycvisit.com/johnmariani

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,  Naomi  Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson,  Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,  Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).   To  purchase from amazon.com, click on the image below.

copyright John Mariani 2004