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From the sea: Polignano a Mare, May 5 - May 8
From the plateau: Martina Franca, May 9 - May 12
From a farm kitchen: Il Frantoio, May 13 - May 16
The heel of the boot that is Italy, Puglia, is known for its ancient olive groves, warm summers, endless coastline, and its humble, yet delicious cuisine - what many consider the very best of Italy.
Our past Puglia Dinners were well received, but we thought we could take a fresh approach by bringing this very special place alive through its hyper-local cuisine, and by making a more fine-grain investigation instead of serving a massive, wholly new menu for a brief four nights.
What we enjoy most about our special dinners is when we take the time to find the richness within the bigger idea. So, we've decided to try something new. For twelve evenings in May, within our regular a la carte menu, will be a focused, prix fixe menu from one of three distinct places within Puglia: the sea, the plateau, the home. We know Puglia very well, and Chef Jonah and Maggie have just returned from a trip to Italy including Puglia, so this is a perfect time for Chef Jonah to take this on.
These three locales are within a few short miles of one another and yet their cuisines manage to be quite different due to immediately available ingredients. When you are on the water in Puglia, you eat fish. Three miles from the coast? Maybe some salt cod but other wise no. Once "inland", you eat vegetables, legumes, grains, and maybe a bit of meat. It's a kind of hyper-local sensibility.
And from that sensibility comes an almost devotional quality to the cuisine. We won't be able to serve the food from our own backyard, but we will try to get as close as we can. Rick and Kristy Knoll will be providing us with several varieties of wild chicories they've been growing for many years originally from seeds they brought back when they traveled to Puglia years ago. We have also just received some olive oil and fava beans from our friends at Il Frantoio, near Ostuni, as well as some of their amazing Rosolio. All these Puglian particulars will help to define each of these very special menus.
FROM THE SEASIDE TOWN OF POLIGNANO A MARE
May 5 through 8, 2011
Polignano a Mare - photo by Jonah Rhodehamel
Along its coasts, Puglia's residents have daily access to an amazing array of frutti di mare that inhabit the Mediterranean. With POLIGNANO A MARE fresh in his mind from a recent trip there, Chef Jonah Rhodehamel has planned the following menu for us. Of special interest is the prized Red Mullet (called triglie in Italy). Pastry Chef Jenny Raven will prepare an unusual sorbetto of the desert-climate prickly pear, and a favorite dish widely served in Puglia adopted from other Italian regions, the tiramisu.
MENU
Three small plates:
Squid polpettine
Marinated young Fava beans
Oyster with green coriander berries
Salad of Puglian chicories with toasted almond and fig balsamic vinaigrette
Crudo of triglia (red mullet) with preserved lemon
Pasta: Orecchiette neri with sea urchin, mussels, and Ceci beans
Main course: grilled sardine with farro and mint salsa
Dolci: Prickly pear sorbetto
Tiramisu
$75 prix fixe
(some of these dishes will also be available
on the regular à la carte menu)
FROM THE INLAND TOWN OF MARTINA FRANCA
May 9 through 12, 2011
Within an hour's drive of Polignano a Mare is the beautiful old town of MARTINA FRANCA, from which we'll sample the cooking of a macelleria and osteria, another example of Puglia's hyper-local sensibility. (That super-locality is being augmented somewhat in restaurants as the world gets smaller.)
MENU
Three small plates:
Fried baby artichokes with lemon aïoli
Sformatino of ricotta
Potato and Fava bean crocchette
Pasta: Toasted Durum wheat penne with pork sausage, rapini, and garlic
Salad: Warm lamb's tongue and potato salad with salsa verde
Main course: Wild "boarchetta" with braised fruit and chicories
Dolci (from small-town sweet shops in Puglia):
Coviglie al caffé: semi-frozen coffee mousse in little cups
Torrone semifreddo: a layered nougat and wafer cake
$65 prix fixe
(some of these dishes will also be available
on the regular à la carte menu)
FROM THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN OF IL FRANTOIO
May 13 through 16, 2011
Only a few miles from the Adriatic is the masseria IL FRANTOIO, where, to quote its owner, Armando Balestrazzi, "we NEVER serve fresh fish." The expanded home kitchen, run by Armando's wife Rosalba, that feeds guests of the lovely agriturismo uses olive oil grown and pressed on the premises, myriad wild vegetables, herbs, and flowers including no fewer that ten chicories gathered from among the 600-year-old olive trees, Fava beans also grown on the farm, local Durum wheat, home-grown Mediterranean fruits, lamb from a nearby farm, and many other items from the "backyard" or close by.
MENU
Three small plates:
Fried pasta all' arrabbiata
Panzerotti of pork and olives
Grilled squash blossoms
Salad: Wild greens with fresh almonds, farro, and orange honey vinaigrette
Minestra of baccalà and farro luganega with celery leaf pesto and pine nuts
Main course: Roasted young goat with Fava bean purée and poppy seed sugo
Dolci:
Olive oil cake with kumquat compôte garnished with borage
and jasmine blossoms
Almond milk, cinnamon, and rose biancomangiare with strawberries
garnished with rose petals
$65 prix fixe
(some of these dishes will also be available
on the regular à la carte menu)
Won't you join us for one- or all- of these special dinners from Puglia? Our fishmonger, local farmers, and cooks and chefs have taken special pains to offer the main ingredients as they are experienced in that sunny, white-washed, ancient gem of an oliveto between two seas.
Call 510-547-5356 for reservations.
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