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If there is one thing that gets my knickers in a twist, it’s those things that still have me stymied after 50 years in Italy.  So let’s like to try to solve the broccoli/broccoletti dilemma once and for all, shall we?

First up are broccoletti aka cime di rapa, rapini and broccoli di rape (broccoli raab or rabe in english).  This vegetable is actually the top tender leaves and buds of a wild yellow flower that is picked before it blossoms.  I am told they are a member of the Chicory Family.  In Naples they are called friarielli - not to be confused with friggiarelli, which are those scrumptious little green peppers that are stir-fried in garlic and oil.

Then an American couple told me that broccoletti in America (aka broccolini) are a different plant altogether; a cross between broccoli and Gai Lan or Asian Broccoli.  Oh Lord!

Chaos sets in when it comes to the broccoli enigma because as a little girl in America, I remember broccoli as a vegetable that looked like a tiny green tree.

But when I came to Rome and was sent to the market to buy some, the vendor handed me a fascinating, alien-green cauliflower (cavolfiore) with fractal spires that looked like something that had been revisited by Max Escher.  He called it broccolo.

Now broccolo, or cavolo, is actually a cabbage, which is part of the Brassicaceae Family.  Other members include: cavolo cappuccio (used to make sauerkraut), cavolo nero, cavolo cinese, broccolo cinese, cavolo portoghese, cavolo rosso, cavoletti di Bruxelles (Bruxelles sprouts) and even CAVOLO BROCCOLO!

MA CHE CAVOLO! (in english, what the…!) or as the Romans say, “SONO CAVOLI VOSTRI” or ‘it’s your problem’.

And so be it!

Welcome to a delicious culinary and cultural event hosted by Marilì Mustilli.  Together with her husband Leonardo and their two daughters, Anna Chiara and Paola, her family runs the prestigious Mustilli Winery, set in the medieval town of S. Agata dei Goti and perched on a spectacular tufa outcrop. Under Marilì’s expert supervision you will learn traditional dishes of Campania, including hand-made pasta and vegetable pasta sauce, a meat or cheese dish and a dessert. All the ingredients and herbs used are seasonal and are grown locally.

Program
10:30am - Arrival at S. Agata dei Goti
Cooking Menu:
Home-made pasta (cavatielli) and a pasta sauce using seasonal and locally-grown vegetables.
Involtino (stuffed escalope) or Cotoletta di Provola (Provola Cheese Cutlet if you prefer vegetarian)
Torta di Nocciola (Hazelnut Cake)

Lunch will include all the food you have cooked in addition to the renowned Falanghina and Aglianico wines produced by the Mustilli family.

After lunch you will visit the ancient underground wine cellars that were hewn into tufa rock in the 16th century and your guide will take you on a walking tour of the ancient town.

Price: 100,00 euro per person (4 people or more)
150,00 euro per person (2-3 people)

includes: cooking course, wine tasting, visit to the wine cellars, tour of the town and your own personal guide and interpreter.

APRIL 17th, 24th and MAY 1st, 2010

(versione italiana)

Fresh, hot bread.  A rush of old memories.   Who can resist the smell of it, or the temptation to rush into the baker’s and buy a slab of hot pizza bianca?

My grandfather had a clever saying on how to remember where the sun rises and sets.  “It’s like bread”, he’d say in his thick yiddish accent. “It rises in the yeast and it sets behind the vest.”

Although small bakeries are getting harder to find in the big cities, we are fortunate to live in a part of Italy where people still make home-made bread that stays fresh for days, baked in their outdoor wooden-burning ovens.

And that’s an experience we’d like to share with you: a hands-on experience; kneading the dough, baking the pizzas and brushing off the loaves of casareccio - mixed with laughter, friendship and fine food.

With the collaboration the Mustilli family, famous for their exceptional Falanghina and Aglianico, Savour the Sannio invites you to spend a weekend in the region where, in addition to learning a few local recipes you will also taste the region’s superb wines.

My grandmother used to say, “If you can bake bread, you can make a living”. Come and learn from locals.

Calling all vegetarians! This is the perfect outing for you!

PROGRAM-Day One (Saturday)

-Arrival in Sant’Agata dei Goti and check-in at the Agriturismo Mustilli

-Welcome aperitivo in the gardens of the Mustilli home for a tasting of their latest wine: Spumante di Falanghina.

-Lunch and wine-tasting at Palazzo Rainone. Owner and enologist Leonardo Mustilli will explain the process of making wine today and guide us through a tasting of his renowned Falanghina and Aglianico.

-Visit to the 16th century wine cellars hewn into the tufa rock.

- Preparing the bread and kneading the dough.
- Cooking lesson: Pancotto.  A traditional recipe made with dried bread, vegetables and extravirgin olive oil.
-Preparation of the wood-burning oven and baking of the bread.
-Dinner with at the Mustilli wine bar

PROGRAM-Day Two (Sunday)
-Breakfast
-Visit to the outdoor market
-Guided tour of the city.

PRICE
Adults: 185,00 euro per person with double room occupancy
Children ages 0-3: Free  (you pay only for their meals)
Children ages 3-6: Half price.

Price includes:

- double room occupancy with breakfast
-Welcome aperitivo
- Three course lunch with bottled wine
- wine-tasting
- bread-baking and cooking lessons
- Visit to the Mustilli winery and wine museum
- Dinner with music
- personal guide and interpreter
- Guided tour of S. Agata dei Goti

Click here to read about last year’s tour.

To reserve your place contact Barbara Goldfield at barbaragoldfield@savourthesannio.com or call 0823.953663 or 347.1416866

This exclusive event is limited to no more than 8 people per date.  The B&B requires two weeks advance notice so please sign up immediately to reserve your place.
We must reach a minimum of 6 people to hold this event.

DIRECTIONS BY CAR TO S. AGATA DEI GOTI FROM ROME
1. take the AI motorway south towards Naples and exit at CAIANELLO (125km from the Roma Sud tollgate).
2. take the SS 372 Telesina (first right) towards Benevento.
3. after 35 km take the exit for S. Agata dei Goti and Naples.
4. you will now be on the Fondo Valle dell’Isclero  (call us at this point.  You are about 15 minutes away)
5. Take exit for Sant’Agata dei Goti.  Follow this road to its natural end, then take a left and then a right.  This winding road will take you to the central square of Sant’Agata where we will be waiting for you.

By respecting all the speed limits the trip should take no more that 3 1/2 hours.

FROM NAPLES take the A1 Motorway north and exit at Caserta Sud.  Follow the signs for Benevento and Telese. After passing the Carolino Aqueduct, take the second exit marked Sant’Agata dei Goti. (call us at this point.  You are about 5 minutes away)  Follow this road for 5 km, then turn left, cross the bridge to central square of Sant’Agata where we will be waiting for you.

It started out as a convivial challenge. “I need to find a name for my new product.”

Our friend Berardino Lombardo, rugged maverick chef-turned-farmer-and-breeder, had done it again: by applying the old italian adage, del maiale non si butta niente (nothing of the pig goes to waste), he’d forged his latest idea into an extraordinary example of cured meat, the result of tying together the lard, bacon and loin of pork.

Accompanied by our photographer Claudio Corrivetti, we trudged deep into the chestnut forests of his 40 hectare estate, to the hut where Berardino prepares and smokes his products. There amidst the prized prosciutti, capocolli, soppressate and sausages hung something new. It was odd-looking: the entire back of the pig folded in half like a wallet, pressed together between two pieces of wood and firmly tied with string all along its length.

These, however, were no ordinary pigs, but the rare black maiale nero Casertano, an ancient indigenous breed which (it is said) Berardino single-handedly saved from extinction. (To cure this cut of meat, it is salted, seasoned, smoked for two months over a smouldering aromatic fire of pines and bay leaves and then matured for another nine months in tufa caves).

Berardino hoisted a big piece onto his shoulders and climbing up the hill to his 18th century casale said, “Now let’s see what it tastes like.”

We sat, ate, drank and talked about this wonderful new …’thing’. It was extraordinary: delicate, rich and juicy, with a spicy, round flavour. Looking at Claudio’s photos I said the word “string” out loud in English. My husband countered with the Italian “stringa”.  Claudio paused, then blurted, “I have it! Stringata!”

At that’s how the Stringata got its name!

It’s too bad the holidays are over.  In December we look forward to Christmas and anticipate visiting with extended families and eating wonderful seasonal recipes. Then it’s time to greet the new year with spumante, panettone, cotechino and lenticchie.  And finally presents and candy-coal are bought to stuff the children’s stockings for la Befana.  After this prolonged food orgy, a kind of lagging fatigue sets in; it seems there is hardly anything worth living for until Easter.  If it wasn’t for the pigs, January would be a dull, cold month indeed.

U’ puorc (as the pig is called in Campanian dialect), is the prince of the season. Now as in the past, this is a time of celebration for rural farmers and an excellent reason for the whole family to get together once again. A fat, healthy pig signifies ample food for the winter, with tasty delicacies such as prosciutto, culatello, salami and capocollo or soppressata,. The saying goes “E’ una festa per tutti tranne che per il maiale” (It’s a party for everyone but the pig).

Whereas everyone has heard of these wonderful Italian pork products, there are other, lesser known ones as well. “Del maiale non si butta niente” (nothing of the pig goes to waste), goes another old saying, and nothing could be more true of this generous, multi-purpose mammal.  There is the unusual sausage called sanguinaccio, which comes from the word sangue or blood.  After the pig is slaughtered it is hung and drained of blood.  In Campania (as in other regions of Italy) the blood is quickly collected and mixed with raisins, pepper, salt, grated cheese and hand-made tagliolini (or wheat, rice or spelt).  For the sweet version, the cheese and salt are substituted with sugar and cocoa.  It is then either fried, baked or boiled and afterwards sliced and served.  Inevitably, as more animals are bred and fed industrially, this ancient recipe is becoming harder to find.

Old-time farmers still use this as an excellent remedy for anemia, but it has a strong taste and is not for the faint-hearted!