Connie (a friend that I worked with for 25 years) and I talked about doing just such a trip for many years. We both love to cook AND to travel. A two for the price of one Groupon special popped up, thru a company called Edible Destinations by Epitourean. https://www.epitourean.com/master/345/a-taste-of-abruzzo-culinary-vacation Rather than just going all that way for one week, neither of us had been to Puglia, so we added a week there to our adventure. I’m doing this in two parts….first week at the cooking school, second week on our own in Puglia.
Sat. Sept 8
Met Connie at the airport at 6AM. Checked in, had coffee and off we went. A 3 hour stopover in Toronto then 8.5 hours to Rome.
Sun. Sept 9
Arrived on time around 9:45AM. Customs and immigration was crazy busy….the guy at the counter just waved us thru. Didn’t check or stamp our passports or anything! Luggage came down pretty quick and then found our way outside and the meeting spot outside the bookstore. Found the some of the group waiting for Fabrizio (our tour guide). Had a few hours to kill before everyone arrived. By 12:30 we were off! There are 16 of us. All Americans except for Connie and me.
A 3+ hour bus ride to Termoli. One stop for lunch/coffee break at an autogrille (coffee and a huge arancini). Termoli is right on the Adriatic in Molise, which has now merged with Abruzzo . Lovely old town with gorgeous views of the coast and big beautiful sandy beaches.
The hotel (Residenza Sveva) is referred to as “Alberghi diffuse” https://www.alberghidiffusi.it/?lang=en . Our room is a little odd….one big bed and one very tiny bed. Bathroom is big enough. We’re in #5, which is in a building just around the corner from the main piazza, with the church, restaurants etc., where the main part of the hotel is. We got checked in an met back at the hotel at 7:15 for our orientation, dinner and drinks.
They gave us two bottles of wine in the room! But no corkscrew so we met the neighbour, who kindly opened it for us! Funny, narrow little alley that you can almost touch the wall across from our little balcony. All the locals are sitting outside their doors, drinking their wine and visiting. Very warm, pleasant evening.
Had dinner at Ristorante Svevia (where our cooking classes will be) with the group. http://www.svevia.it/index_en.php Fantastic meal! Antipasto was mashed potato topped with a couple of really good and big shrimp and a drizzled with a mild light tomoato sauce…and a little salad. Primi was a cuttlefish risotto that was excellent….the cuttlefish was diced and very much like clams in texture and taste. Secondi was fish en papillote but clear paper (fata paper?) which was sort of like trout but came from the Adriatic. Dolce was a semifreddo with wine reduction sauce….very good. Then a cherry liqueur that was really good…..20% alcohol!
Termoli is very resort-ish until you get to the old town. Typical Italian town with piazzas, restaurants etc. Very nice. Lots of narrow little streets, balconies, tons of potted plants and flowers tumbling over railings and in the evenings, people sitting outside their doors. Really quite a cute place.
http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/termoli.php
After dinner we had coffee at the café next to the hotel, chatted and got to know our companions for the week. Called Ken….all is OK. Also found out we’re the only ones with a room without a view!! It was 11:30PM and there were people of all ages wandering around. Little kids riding their bikes, women with babies in strollers etc. It’s still pretty warm so maybe this is just what you do when it’s too hot to stay inside. Temp is quite pleasant.
Mon Sept 10
Busy, busy day! Beautiful day….lots of sun, not too warm, just perfect!
Got our room changed….yeah. So right after breakfast we had to quickly go back, repack and take our suitcases to the lobby. Couldn’t move in right away so we had no idea where it was going to be other than it had a view and bigger balcony.
Off we went in our little bus to the Trabucco, which is a fishing contraption built out over the rocks….big net that is hooked up to a boom type thing with what looks like a big tangled mess of ropes attached to the corners. As a school of fish approach, the net is lowered into the water and the fish swim in and voila! They raise the net using a big crank…..was interesting as I’d never heard or saw one before. Very common on the Adriatic coast. http://www.italianways.com/the-trabocchi-coast/
While they did a demo for us, they served some sparkling white wine, bread with olive oil and pizzelle (waffle type cookie) with orange marmalade. Fun!
Off to San Giovanni Abbey. Built in the 12 century overlooking the Adriatic. Beautiful outside and I’m sure just as beautiful inside……we couldn’t go in because of a wedding. Very nice garden with a 1000 yr old olive tree that they thought had been dead for years but it bloomed this year! The views down the coast are spectacular! https://magazine.dooid.it/en/interests-en/rocca-san-giovanni-and-the-abbey-of-san-giovanni-in-venere/
Enroute to Vasto we had a quick stop at a local ceramiche workshop. She gave info on the local clay used, technic, etc, a quick demo and painted a number of pieces….all interesting but surprisingly nothing in her workshop was for sale for us!! She did mostly commissioned pieces….usually get the big sale run around but this was strictly to familiarize us with the local artisan and her work….kind of nice for a change but there were a couple of pieces that I wouldn’t of minded having!
Picnic lunch at Riserva Naturale Regionale Punta Aderci https://www.puntaderci.it/gallery/ a beautiful park on the coast…..spectacular views in both directions, some great trails for quick or long hikes. Fabrizio sent us off to explore telling us to come back in 45 min. at which point lunch had arrived! Many different kinds of pizza and buns/meat etc. and a number of bottles of “homemade” wine to wash it all down! Quite fun!
Fabrizio is new at this job…..it’s his own company that he started only a few months ago, Italia Sweet Italia. He has a degree in hospitality and tourism from a university in London, where he had initially hoped to stay. But after realizing that his Abruzzo had so much to offer and is relatively untouched by tourism (except on the coast) he saw an opportunity to make a business out of it and share his lovely Abruzzo with others. With some help from friends and family he got his company off to a start. We are only the 3rd tour of this type that he’s done. Using Groupon and getting connected with Edible Destinations was a good start for him. He told us to give him all feedback, positive and negative, so he can ensure a good experience. Abruzzo has been referred to a the poor man’s Tuscany….lol. More mountainous but just as beautiful in a bit of a different way.
Into Vasto proper for a tour around and a visit to the museum/art gallery in the Palazzo Avalos. Quite a history…. https://www.italyheritage.com/magazine/2002_02/0202_a.htm Many of the paintings were done by two brothers from the area. Beautiful garden with gorgeous views!
Met up at a café, had a quick drink and off on a walking tour of Vasto. Very pretty town/city. Beautiful doors…..old doors on many buildings, the usual old guys sitting in the piazza visiting.
Long day! Back to Termoli around 7:30. Got our new room. Much smaller but lovely view over looking the bay and beach. AND….there is only one bed!! Luckily it’s a queen size one so Connie and I divvied it up with our books/laptops etc. We’ll manage!
Dinner tonight was at a restaurant round the corner, Battello Ebbro. http://www.ilbattelloebbro.eu/ Antipasti was meats and cheese, primi was pasta and ceci and then secondi, chicken stew along with lots of wine and a “bitter” that wasn’t too good. Excellent dinner. It appears that “our” restaurant is closed on Monday, so we ate here instead. All this is included in the price we paid…..certainly cannot complain! All food so far has been local and so, so good! Chatted with our tour companions, got to know some a bit better. The couple from Utah….he won the trip through a pizza cooking contest on a radio station! Too fun! Wandered around town a bit after dinner, bought mugs/cups for our coffee in the morning (no coffee makers in the rooms so brought French press, electric water boiler and Starbucks café Via!) then met up with and sat and chatted with another couple until 11:30. NO internet….argh. Will deal with that tomorrow!
We have 3 sets of doors to our balcony. An outside set of shutters/doors, a middle set of glass doors and then an inner set of shutter type doors. Was quite warm in the room so wanted to leave them all open except the outside shutters….this is when we discovered that not only do those shutters open like normal doors but that they also tilt, but only the top part…..we thought we’d broken them and had a bit of a laugh about that. Apparently though they should not both, tilt and open at the same time…..we did manage to get them back to where they should have been and tilted properly. We then discovered that our bathroom window had exactly the same type of set up….so figured out to just tilt that one open except we somehow ended up knocking the curtain rod off and was surprisingly quite challenging to get back on!! Again, lots of laughs and a bit of cursing to get that done!
Excited about our first class tomorrow!
Tues Sept 11
Up very late last night…..couldn’t sleep even after taking a Benadryl. No more coffee at that time of night for me….or maybe just too much excitement.
Up at 6:30. Made coffee in the French press that Connie brought. I brought the water boiler, which worked ok but didn’t boil the water in the bottom of the press so you have to take it out and stir it every now and again……worked good enough. Tried to do this without waking Connie….she is not an early bird! Sat on our little balcony enjoying the view and updating my journal.
Breakfast was around 8:00 at the main hotel. Continental but very good…..lovely fresh buns and breads with local preserves to go with them….and more coffee….our choice of Americano, Cappuccino, tea, juice etc.
Our first cooking class “Homemade Pasta”. At the Svevia restaurant with Chef Massimo. We’re in a private room, which was set up really nice with workstations for everyone around the huge table. We each get aprons and a cookbook with all the recipes that we’re making.
First thing we made was the regular past dough with the flour well and 2 eggs. Kneaded it A LOT….way more than I ever do at home but it was also way better! Chef came by and said mine was “perfetto”! Wrapped that up and left it while we prepared the dough for the cavatelli (local pasta…). It’s semolina and water with just a touch of olive oil only. Took a little bit to finally get it the right texture….a drier dough without the eggs. Has to be kneaded way more than the regular dough…..I think mine was “perfetto” again 🙂 Will definitely have some achy shoulders in the morning!
Next the sauce….into the kitchen, where the prep staff were getting all the seafood ready (fresh off the boat!). Chef M chopped up the veggies for the soffritto (as in the French mirepoix)….he peeled the freakin’ celery for goodness sakes!! Carrots, celery, white and red onion, a bit of olive oil and some salt. Once that was all just translucent, he added the meat….veal, pork, and lamb just hacked into big chunks. Browned it all nicely then added WHITE wine and then tomato sauce. Boiled it on high for 1/2 an hour then turned it down to simmer for at least 2 hours. All the veg were so fresh and so pretty!! Straight from the market that morning.
Then we made meatballs! They went into the tomato sauce that was simmering away.
Back to the pasta (and the wine had appeared!!)….chitarra, or guitar pasta because of the thing to cut it…looks like a square guitar with a million strings. Had to roll it out our regular dough and then cut it to fit in the guitar. Then you used a rolling pin to roll it over the strings which cuts the past into perfect spaghetti. To make the cavatelli (traditional pasta from Abruzzo) you cut the dough ball into small pieces then roll it into long skinny snakes a little thicker than you baby finger. Cut off 1/4 – 1/2 inch pieces, then with two fingers push the bits of dough forward and it kind of rolls over on itself, making a shell or “hotdog bun” shape. Chef M had made a veggie sauce earlier that we had later with the cavatelli.
Lunch was excellent….the chitarra pasta with just the tomato sauce, no meat, then the cavatelli with the veg sauce, then separately all the meat, including the meatballs. Absolutely delicious! Tiramisu for dessert…..finished around 2:30.
Off on a field trip……olive oil tour and tasting was our first stop at La Selvotta. Some very different oils. A couple with quite the citrus flavor (lemon and orange very distinguishable…) would be great on fish and/or chicken. The oil was very good….gave that nice little after burn. Beautiful olive grove with trees anywhere from 5 – 50 years old. They process and sell all their own and also process small batches for personal use for local people. For their own (commercial use) they used all the new high tech presses but they still have the old stone presses that are used for the locals. They no longer use the old fashioned press with the mats….too much bacteria and mixing of old and new. https://www.oliveoilsitaly.com/producer/la-selvotta/
Wine tasting was next…..I forgot to grab a business card and now can’t remember the name of the winery!! Must remember to ask Fabrizio tomorrow. Toured the vineyard and he explained the “arbor” or “pergola” method of growing and shaping the canopy….protects the grapes from too much sun and also reduces moisture loss. They had vineyards using that method and also just the regular staked method. Tasted some Montipulciano d’Abruzzo, which is all they grow there. They make a reserve, DOC, IFH as well as vino d’tavola. Had a taste of prosciutto, headcheese (very good!) and bread with olive oil to go with our tasting. I bought a 2007 DOC.
Almost 7 before we headed back to Termoli. Dinner tonight was at Svevia Restaurant. Salted cod with a bread crumb topping, pan fired potatoes and beans. It was really good. I got my own special chocolalte crème brulee and everyone else had ice cream with pistachio nuts….which I could have eaten but oh well! Lots of wine and liqueurs to sample tonight. Sat around an chatted for a long time.
It’s midnight and I’m going to take a gravol….I really need a good nights sleep!
Wed Sept 12
Slept good! Another beautiful morning and another great continental breakfast
Class today was “L’arte Dei Ripieni – The Art of Stuffing”. We made ravioli pasta then the spinach and ricotta stuffing. Next was stuffed mussels……which was cheese and bread crumbs stuffed back into the mussel shells, then they were tied closed with little bits of string and poached in the mussels liquid……these were to die for!! Stuffed veggies…..little eggplants, zucchini, peppers….meat stuffing for the eggplant and zucchini and cheese for the peppers. Then we made egg and cheese balls which were really good! They were deep fried and served as appies or fried and covered with a tomato sauce. Lots of wine as usual.
Lunch was absolutely delicious…..we ate everything we made! At each meal we have many different drinks….usually one that is like a special of the day, aperitif, wine, various local made liqueurs to choose from and thankfully lots of water!! Finished around 2.
Had a bit of a rest and then on the bus and Vasto again to visit a cook shop…..same idea as our Gourmet Warehouse or Williams Sonoma….lots of great bits and pieces and some beautiful big pots and pans and gorgeous ceramics. I bought one of the clay/terracotta bowls that can go on the stove……..our mussels were cooked in a similar bowl/pot. Hope it makes it home in one piece!
Tonight some of us (10) opted for a dinner with Fabrizios family at his aunts place. Up on a hillside with views to the sea. Nice brick and stone house among olive trees and a vineyard. They have a little farm with a donkey, goats, chicken etc. They make their own wine, of course, so we got to fill the jugs from their big stainless steel vats. Lots of dried garlic ropes, onions and peppers hanging from the ceiling in their sort of lean-to type shed (which was quite lovely!) There were salumi hanging/drying from the rafters in the living room!! Quite enjoyable wandering around, chatting with his uncle and grandpa, drinking wine.
His mom and aunt started making the pasta for the lasagna and we rolled it out and put it all together. A local traditional lasagna…..layers of pasta, mushrooms in a sauce, béchamel, ham, parm and mozza cheese, topped with beaten egg and more parm. That went into the oven and back outside to enjoy all the goodies they’d put out for appies….their homemade salumi, olives from their trees, a couple of different kinds of cheese (can’t recall if from their goats…) and lots of wine of course.
They got the bbq going…..skewers of lamb done on a neat little contraption that has a bunch of little tube things that you stick the end of the skewers into and then they rotate over the fire.
First course was the best ever tomato salad….dressed simply with olive oil, basil, parsley and a bit of chili along with the antipasti of melon with prosciutto and more cheese. Lasagna was next….so simple but so delicious. Then the lamb skewers, which went well with the last bit of the salad. Dessert was olive oil cookies filled with grape marmalade….very good and lastly homemade limoncello and cherry liqueur to wash it all down. 20 of us all for dinner under the olive trees….so lovely. (I have lost all my pictures from that evening….I have no idea what happened to them but they are gone from my SD card….so disappointing)
Visited for a while after dinner and then back to Termoli. Had coffee with Rocky and Kathy (Philadelphia)…..chatted about healthcare (their system and ours…..they wished for ours!). She had worked in Healthcare Admin and Connie and I in insurance. A few of the younger ones came along with a few drinks under their belts and entertained us for a long time…..lots of laughs. Almost 2AM before we packed it in!
Thurs Sept 13
“Traditional Homemade Desserts” today. Zia Rosaria (Chef Massimos aunt!) was our party chef. We made 4 different kinds of cookies…all very good. First ones were Mostaccioli, which they said were kind of chocolate molasses (mustardo) cookie, then one that was like a big scored sugar cookie that was cut into pieces, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sugar, Breakfast biscuits and finally Cavicioni which, besides flour, are made with chickpeas that have been boiled and blended….the dough is rolled out (using a pasta machine) very thin then stuffed with a filling like ravioli!
A couple of interesting things…..a couple of the recipes used baking ammonia. It’s crystals that come in big jar and it really smells like ammonia….it makes everything more light and airy. I’ve never seen it at home, but that said, nor have I ever looked for it or used a recipe that called for it! You can substitute 1tsp of the baking ammonia = 1 tsp baking soda and 1tsp baking powder. The other was the vanilla…..at home our recipes call for a tsp of pure vanilla extract, which is liquid, here they use pre-measured packets of powdered vanilla…..these I have seen at home but never thought to use them….are they “pure” vanilla?? Zia Rosaria didn’t use a bowl at all….made all her pastry dough the same a you would your pasta dough….kneading by hand and using the pasta maker to roll it out. No salt was added to any of the baked goodies! She also used a wine bottle to crush the ammonia crystals and to roll out some of the dough. Lot of wine while making all these…..before lunch. Fun morning!
Lunch today was delicious! Pork scallopine in a truffle gravy…..absolutely fantastic. I sopped up every last drop of it with the bread….and honestly would have licked the plate. It came with a tomato and onion salad that was great too. All the pastries for dessert. This was referred to as a “light lunch”!
After lunch we were supposed to have walking tour of old town Termoli artisan area but it was so windy and rainy….and COLD…I only did the tour of the fort and tower. My umbrella and blown inside out about 4 times just getting that far so didn’t bother with the rest of the tour. The info on the tower was interesting…..not terribly much there other than an old cannon and a few rather bizarre paintings. They can’t afford to do all the necessary restoration work so it’s not usually open unless someone has an exhibit of some sort (the art??). Just went back to the room, checked emails, reloaded the phone, napped and read for a while.
Dinner tonight was roast chicken….really moist and wonderfully crispy skin. First course was a delicious soup…..a very tasty broth with kidney beans, flat noodles, a bit of carrot and pancetta. More of the pastries for dessert along with limoncello.
After dinner Connie and I went in search of a café for a nightcap or coffee but because of the weather pretty well everything was closed up tight. Old town Termoli isn’t very big but there must be at least 10 or more really nice looking restaurants…..if they are anything like the Svevia, that is incredible for such a small place!
Just back to the room, made our own decaf coffee. Emails, reading….kind of a nice quiet day for a change.
Fri Sept 14
Up very early today. Had to be on the bus by 8:15. Much nicer this morning than yesterday….windy with the sun popping out every now and again…..definitely needed a jacket!
Our beach had taken quite a beating the night before!
First was the visit to the bell foundry, about an hour or so outside of Termoli, in the hilltown of Agnone. Beautiful drive inland with towns on the top…..the very top….of just about every hill or mountain we passed. Lots and lots of olive trees, some vineyards up the side of the hills.
The bell foundry was incredibly interesting….who would have thought! They have a very nice little museum and store, of course. Quite an amazing process that they go thru making the inner and outer moulds and the moulds for the decorations and inscriptions. Then the entire tuning process was interesting in itself….had never thought about “tuning” bells!! http://campanemarinelli.com/en/
On to Caseificio de Nucci Antonio. Had a great tour. Couldn’t go in the room where they make the curds but watched them dump big buckets of then into a big bin where they mooshed around, then someone takes big handfuls and shapes them into the cheeses….we seen the cacciocavello being made. After the cheese is shaped it sits in a saltwater bath for anywhere from 20 – 40 days, then into the cold room. We did get to go in there. All the cheeses, in various stages of maturity, were hanging. Some really dark yellow and covered in mold, others barely any colour at all. Very damp and moldy smelling…..there’s a well under the stone floor that keeps the humidity level correct. Connie and I bought a cacciocavello and scmorza. Finished the tour in their little museum with some information on the history and samples!
Our lunch was at Santa Lucia Massaria. Up on the hillside with incredible views in every direction. Beautiful place! We had a very simple lunch of porchetta buns and fresh tomato bruschetta. The porchetta was good but not as good as the Tuscan one….not as flavourful, but still good. Some pretty harsh homemade wine to go with it….watered it down quite a bit. Espresso’s and fresh figs and other fruit for dessert. She had a bunch of homemade products as well….confits, jams, honey, including truffle honey! 5E a jar….a real deal considering I paid almost $25 at home for a jar. I bought 3! Killed the rest of an hour or so wandering around the property. We were supposed to have lunch outside under a pergola, which looked lovely but a little too iffy to do that today. Very pretty place with lots of cozy little sitting areas and big stone patio with planters full of geraniums and other colourful flowers. Tons of olive trees and many other fruit trees. Unfortunately it was a bit windy and chilly just to sit though…..sun poked in and out….good while it was out, not so good when it wasn’t. One of the hilltowns across the way was Agnone, where the bell foundry was.
Back on the bus to Termoli at 5 for our Pizza Making class. Chef M had some of the pizza dough ready for kneading so some of us took a stab at that, others made the dough from scratch themselves. When it was all ready to go, rolled and pressed it into the pans and put the sauce on them…..which was simply canned tomatoes that had been put through a food mill, a bit of fresh basil, oregano and salt. I’m not a big sauce person so a little too much on the pizza for me, nor it thick crust pizza one of my favs…..lots of fun putting it all together…..lots of wine while we were doing it. Made a couple of different kinds of pizza as well as a bruschetta with mozza and stracchino cheese and Italian sausage and a pizza tart (covered) with onions and anchovies. All was delicious…..too much sauce, thick crust and all! One thing he did that I really liked was after putting the sauce on the pizza dough you back it! In a really hot oven for 10 or so minutes just to get the crust rising, cook the bottom and starting to brown around the edges. Take it out, put on whatever toppings you want and cheese, then back in the hot oven for just a few minutes to heat everything up and melt the cheese.
The bruschetta and pizza for dinner……our last dinner 😦 Lots of pics and hugs and Italian style cheek kisses. Jim and Susan from Iowa, Karen and Florence from NY were the ones that Connie and I hung around with most of the time. Great people. Susan had kidney cancer and luckily had recovered and was in full remission….small world really! We braved a coffee in the wind at the bar under our room. Looked like it was going to clear up quite nicely….lots of stars peeking out through the clouds.
A fun, very busy week. Learned some good technics for my future pasta and pizza making endeavours….looking forward to trying some of these things at home. Fabrizio was a great tour guide…..very attentive to everyones needs, open to suggestions and overall just a very nice guy. I hope his company is a great success for him. We certainly had no complaints….everything was what we thought and more! So impressed with the restaurant…..really quite an elegant place.
Back to the room to pack up and get ready for our next adventure…..Puglia! Have never been so looking forward to visiting….and of course staying in our trullo for the next week!
My Travel Journals