Korcula... getting excited about the wrong kind of arancini

A quick (4 hour) ferry ride from Dubrovnik and we arrived in Korcula, a sleepy and much quieter town than the hustle and bustle of the city we had just come from. We stayed in an apartment right in the centre, a short walk from the old city walls.

The food in Korcula is, as you might expect, heavily fish-focused. However, there does seem to be a stronger Italian influence than we experienced in Dubrovnik. Pizzas and pasta and bruschetta aplenty here.

Bruschetta with garlic, tomato and anchovies

Nearly at the end of our European adventure but this glass is definitely half full...

Another great speciality in Korcula (and one I sadly have no photos of) is arancini. You may have seen my post about the start of my arancini obsession in Sicily. Unfortunately, my joy at seeing the word 'arancini' on a sign and racing into a shop to buy a delicious stuffed rice ball was short lived. Arancini in Korcula it turns out, are actually a version of candied orange peel. Sweet and delicious, but not the savoury snack I had anticipated.

After a few days of serious pizza-eating and soaking up the sun in Korcula, on to Hvar...

The Deep South - Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and 'cucina povera'

The food in this region of Southern Italy is often referred to as 'cucina poverta'.. literally 'poor man's food'.

Pasta made without eggs, bread made from hard durum wheat and greens gathered from the hedgerows. This is what makes Southern Italian food so welcoming, hearty and filling.

In the past few days we've eaten orecchiette pasta with wild horseradish in Matera - one of the oldest settlements in the world where the houses are built into caves; pureed fava beans and bitter chard in Alberobello - a village seemingly built for dwarfs where all the little white buildings have perfect conical stone roofs; and riso, patate e cozze (rice, potatoes and mussels, another classic regional dish) in Polignano a Mare - a town perched on the clifftops.

Matera - 46 degrees in the late afternoon. The cave dwellings are nice and cool though

Homemade pasta with wild horseradish (nose-burning!) at Le Botteghe in Matera

Polignano a Mare

riso, patate e cozze

 

Alberobello

Pureed fava beans with bitter chard and lashings of olive oil

Orecchiette with tomatoes and ricotta forte - strong, aged ricotta

The seafood in this region is of course outstanding too. And I ate a whole octopus in Bari.

One of the highlights of the trip through South Italy for me though has been stumbling across a side street in Bari where a team of old ladies were making fresh pasta outside their houses, to cater for the local restaurants. They were kind enough to let me take pictures - and get a few tips on technique as they proudly showed me how they made orecchiette by hand.

Next stop... Croatia...

Catania, Pasta Norma, Mount Etna, and my first swordfish auction

Catania, at the base of Mount Etna, is a vibrant city bursting with life. The Catanian motto is apparently Carpe Diem (seize the day), very apt if you are living at the base of one of the world's most active volcanoes.

From the cafes surrounding Piazza Del Duomo (a UNESCO world heritage site), which serve incredible lemon-scented cornetti, wild strawberries and ricotta-filled canolli, to the bustling La Pescheria (the daily fish market), Catania's warmth, friendliness and spirit is intoxicating.

La Pescheria is something that cannot be missed. The catch of the morning is paraded by the local fishermen in front of the locals and restaurateurs. Whole swordfish are gutted and filleted in the square and auctioned off by weight. Clams, mussels, oysters, eels, prawns, squid and the largest selection of fish I have ever seen is on offer.

As well as the sights and sounds of the fish market, we were told not to leave Catania without tasting a traditional Pasta Norma - a dish that is meant to symbolise Mount Etna; tomatoes resemble the molten lava flowing down the sides, the dark skins of the aubergine are said to be the solid pumice, the snowy peaks are represented by crumbled, salted ricotta and the basil on top is the grassy slopes.

We ate Pasta Norma at Trattoria di De Fiore. A family run restaurant that served the most incredible homemade pasta I have ever eaten. A must if you are visiting the city. No photos of this I'm afraid. It was devoured too quickly.

Next post... discovering Taormina and my arrancini obsession

Leiths week 2 - sea bass cerviche, parsley pasta, wild mushrooms & warm red salsa

Week 2 at Leiths started with removing the skin from a fillet of sea bass, marinating it in lemon juice, lime juice and birds eye chillis and chucking it in the fridge for a couple of hours. While the cerviche was cerviching, we made a quick salsa with tomatoes, coriander & avocado and 'degorged' some red onions. Degorging is a brilliant word for removing the moisture from something using salt. The thinly sliced onion was covered in a salty layer, left for 20 minutes and then rinsed, covered in lemon juice and sweetened with sugar to create a bright pink accompaniment to the fish.

The pasta machines came out next to make 'parsley pasta'.. basically young parsley springs sandwiched between two sheets of pasta and then re rolled though as low a setting you can, without tearing. The resulting pasta is very pretty looking, with the parsley springs showing through the pasta sheets.

This would be a great pasta to use in an open lasagna.. I used it cut into small pieces and served with some (very) garlicky wild mushrooms and a warm red salsa made from finely diced red peppers, olive oil, basil, lemon juice and a concasse of tomato (another new term learnt today, this is just a fancy name for finely diced!)

Next week, twice baked crab souffles and partridge with lentils, pancetta and thyme.