MARIANI’S

  August 14, 2005                                                        NEWSLETTER

UPDATE:  To go to my web site, in which I will update food & travel information and help link readers to other first-rate travel & food sites,  click on: home page

ACCESS TO ARCHIVE:  Readers may now access an Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July, 2003, by simply clicking on www.johnmariani.com/archive .

NEW FEATURE! You may now subscribe anyone you wish to this newsletter by clicking here.

In This Issue

     W hen Italian friends describe their family feasts--the mandatory  Sunday dinners and extravagant holiday  celebrations --I ache to be Italian. It’s not the feasts that I envy,  it’s the communal preparation, the intimate hours in the family kitchen, the careful passing of the culinary torch from one generation to the next.
     This summer, I finally indulged in my Italian kitchen fantasy in an immersion-style cooking course at the new, $15 million Academia Barilla (www.academiabarilla) campus in Parma, Italy.  Dedicated to the art of traditional Italian cuisine, this brainchild of the Barilla family was constructed last year on the footprint of its original pasta factory, steps from the center of Parma.
      There could be no better base for this noble culinary cause. The enchanting city of Parma, with its buildings famously painted "Parma gold," sits between Milan and Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region--widely considered the jewel in Italy’s culinary crown. From the fertile Parma plain comes the “holy trinity” of prized Italian delicacies -- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (left), Prosciutto di Parma ham, and the traditional balsamic vinegar, Aceto Balsamico.
   Academia Barilla houses the world’s largest culinary library and to high-tech tasting laboratories where chefs and scientists taste and analyze olive oils, cheeses and other artisanal food products. The finest of these are commissioned in small batches and marketed under the Academia label. But the real scene stealers at the academy are the  spectacular kitchens. In the Northern Italian tradition, they are industrial-strength, sleek and hardwired to the max, so classes can be broadcast to adjoining auditoriums and even around the world. In its first year,  more than 4,000 students, from eager novices to professional chefs, passed through Academia’s gleaming halls, lined with food-themed art from the Barilla family collection.
     My four inspiring days in Parma were packed with hands-on cooking classes, excursions to local restaurants and product sources, plus tickets to a memorable performance of Verdi’s Aida.  (Composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born, lived and died in nearby Piacenza, is revered by the citizens of Parma.) Everything on our itinerary had a culinary connection, from the elegant antipasti served during opera intermissions to the architectural tour of the city. Pointing to colorful ceramic plates  imbedded in an ancient stone wall, our guide explained, “For pilgrims who could not read nor write, these plates served as a travel guide, showing them where to sleep and eat.”
     Back in the Academia kitchens, we experienced Parma’s legendary hospitality under the wing of Barilla’s executive chef Nicoli Bandini,  (left, making pasta) . One of many Italian masters tapped to teach at Academia, the entertaining Nicoli is an expert in both traditional local dishes  and in the  art of digression. During a tiramisù lesson, for instance, the conversation wandered from the the sweet biscuits we were dousing with espresso to the 100 varieties of local breads.  After extolling the virtues of piadini, Nicoli dispatched an assistant to purchase this local flatbread, plus the stracchino cheese, prosciutto and arugula for  a popular local snack. Accustomed to juggling multiple tasks, Nicoli sautéed  the impromptu piadini while fielding our non-stop questions and whisking eggs for the tiramisù.
      Not yet out of his 30's and a veteran of NYC’s  San Domenico restaurant, Nicoli has been making pasta since he was four years old.  At  13 he left home for cooking school. At 17, he left Italy to apprentice in New York. His colorful commentary--about local history, his family and the idiosyncrasies of his countrymen--made our hours in the kitchen pass far too fast.
     To our pasta classes  Nicoli brought his grandmother’s rolling pin--an old broomstick.  After mixing flour, eggs and water and kneading it into a soft dough, he patiently used the  broomstick  to roll his dough paper thin, fluffing the sheet of pasta like a featherbed before cutting it into long strands of tagliatelle. We students took the less laborious route,  feeding our dough into a hand-cranked,  stainless steel pasta machine. Later we tasted the difference: the old wooden broomstick left a subtle texture on the surface of the pasta. When we ladled our bolognese meat sauce over the cooked tagliatelle, it seeped right into the rougher pasta.  The machine-made pasta, though light and smooth, absorbed far less of the rich sauce.
     We also layered sheets of pasta with the bolognese and besciamella sauces, for a classic Northern Italian lasagna. We made tiny, plump tortelli with a sausage filling, and  strazzopelli, a sturdy, hand-shaped pasta  with bread crumbs in its dough--a perfect match for a hearty sauce of ham, mushrooms, cream, arugula and Parmigiano-Reggiano. We made gnocchi in a simple bath of  butter and sage, and a mouthwatering pasta sauce of  pumpkin and bacon. Yes, it took time, making pasta and sauces from scratch. But it was a comforting, gratifying process, accompanied by many stories and much laughter.
     Slowly, I realized that the secret to this  celebrated cuisine lies more in its stellar ingredients than in complicated cooking techniques. The thought  of using out-of-season or less than full-flavored ingredients is alien to Italians, as is the need to invent new dishes continually. They never tire of  simple pleasures: wisps of Prosciutto di Parma wrapped around a bread stick; a drop of fine balsamic vinegar over a few fresh strawberries; a perfect wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano. How can you improve upon perfection? they reason. And why  change for the sake of change?

     Academia Barilla in Parma, Italy, offers a wide range of culinary experiences, including private cooking classes, regularly scheduled courses. The cuisine and culture package described above includes 3 nights at the Grand Hotel de la Ville on the Academia Barilla campus, daily breakfast and lunch, two dinners in Parma restaurants, culinary classes, visits to producers of regional products and cultural excursions, start at 1995€ euros ($2400). For more information, contact info@academiabarilla.com

Part Two of this story will be published shortly.

Gigino at Wagner Park
20 Battery Place
212-528-2228
www.gigno-wagnerparl.com.
  
     I am not much for dining outdoors when the weather has been--and it has been--brutally hot and drenchingly humid.  But this doesn't seem to faze New Yorkers and visitors who think there's nothing nicer than to dine al fresco.  And when the view offers a panorama that stretches from the Statue of Liberty to the skyline of New Jersey, it is easier to understand.  Gigino at Wagner Park offers just such a view, and, when cooler weather settles in, there's nowhere I'd rather be than beneath a white canvas umbrella here at the very toe of Manhattan, smack on the Battery and straddling the greenery of Wagner Park.
      GWP (let's call it) is the offshoot of the TriBeCa original, opened in 1994 by Phil Suarez and Bob Giraldi with chef-partner Luigi Celentano (below), who must have longed for the sea, having been born and raised and worked along the beautiful Amalfi Coast, including at the great La Siraneuse in Positano. Within a striking modern design in white and watery colors, with a large patio for al fresco dining, he has managed seemingly to please everybody with a large menu that hits a few high notes along with many commendable classics of what might be called "New York Italian."  Thus, there are the requisite fried calamari (very good), sandwiches, chicken alla cacciatore, and broiled salmon. along with an array of well-wrought pastas.
        The service staff is friendly but overburdened with tables, and the manager on duty one evening seemed little concerned by the long waits for food. The wine list pretty good, especially in Italian labels.
      Our party was quite happy with  housemade mozzarella with ripe tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and oregano.  Pastas come in big portions as main courses and they are almost as generous as appetizers.  I very much enjoyed rigatoni Pulcinella in a light cream sauce with veal and pork sausage; tortellini buongustaia with ham, peas, and mushrooms; gnocchi of potato with a tomato ragù; and an assertive signature dish, spaghetti del Padrino, with beets, escarole, garlic, and a little  touch of anchovy.
     Simple, grilled fish with olive oil and lemon was impeccably cooked, flaky to the bone, and juicy because of it. Chicken scaloppine with herbed bread crumbs, mushrooms, and white cannellini beans made for a nice, light summer option, while the veal chop is a mighty slab of finely grained meat,  served with sweet red onions and roasted potatoes.
      For a menu this size the desserts are impressive and freshly made--a tingling lemon custard tart and a classic torta di mandorle of dark chocolate and almonds that is the signature dish of the Amalfi coast.  The Battery may not have all the charms of the Amalfi Coast, but its own are considerable, with the Financial District's skyscrapers behind you and the Lady in the Harbor before you, as all the great ships and small boats ply their way through the choppy waters on their way to the Big Apple.
   
       Appetizers running $5-$8, full pastas $12-$13, and main courses $15-$29. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

NOT TO MENTION THE DYSENTARY

ONE VISIT TO DISNEYWORLD AND THEY'LL PROBABLY RAISE THE NUMBER AGAIN

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, Bloomberg News and Radio, and Diversion.  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).

 Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.

copyright John Mariani 2005