L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019 The Grolla is used to drink vin brûlé and caffé Valdostano © Sim082 | Dreamstime.com Fonduta is a dish made with fontina cheese, milk, butter and eggs © Foodmaniac | Dreamstime.com LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES VARINIA CAPPELLETTI Continued to page 32 The delicious world of Valle d'Aosta V alle d'Aosta: "heaven for men, purgatory for women, hell for mules," but certainly delicious for our palates! Among mountains and castles, up there, in the western-most cor- ner of Italy, the smallest of regions, Valle d'Aosta, winks at us. Stern and strong, but so wel- coming and soft, just like one of its most famous dishes, fonduta. It is the only Italian region with a fully mountainous territory, for centuries protected and isolated from the rest of the world by the Alps' most majestic peaks. Thanks to this isolation imposed by nature though, Valle d'Aosta's culinary traditions remained vir- tually untouched. Wheat, the great protagonist of Italian cuisine, is virtually absent here, whereas rye, barley, cabbage and game, all inherited from ancient Roman traditions, domi- nate the table. Along with them, the other main ingredients of the Valdostana pantry: butter and cheese. Alpine cucina povera is also visible in the way foods are pre- served: from the ubiquitous pork sausages, salami and sanguinacci (blood puddings), to pickled preparation (in carpione) and red wine and spices marinades, or civit. Vine was also brought by Roman legions and found here such a fertile ground that today Valle d'Aosta is known for its delicious wines which, beside being bottled and having gained DOCG and IGT denominations, are also used to prepare vin brûlé and the extra strong caffé alla grappa. The cuisine of Valle d'Aosta is characterized by dishes based on meat and its products, while the vegetables used to accompany them are not many: beside pota- toes and cabbage, we'll find local delicacies like the dent de lion, fiori di zucca (zucchini's flowers), the heads of wild thistle, carline (carline thistle) and many aromatic herbs. Valle d'Aosta is also known for its delicious soups, like the ancient seupa de grì or the soupe paysanne, enriched with pork ribs and Alpine cheeses, as well as the ever-present rye and barley bread. Cheese, the real pride of the region, is amazing. Beside the well known Fontina - whose whey is used to produce a cheese similar to ricotta, called Séràs - we can find the Toma di Gressoney and the Bleu d'Aoste (a type of blue cheese). Desserts are simple and mostly based on butter, fresh milk, sugar or honey. Among the oldest, we should mention the Brochat, fresh milk with wine and plenty of sugar, and the Rhotia, a mix of egg, sugar, white wine, grappa, cinnamon and bread. Bread making in Valle d'Aosta used to be a social event, a sort of epopee taking place once a year, at the beginning of the Winter. It was a rye brown bread, baked for a long time, then dried on special grills and then sliced with a special instrument called copapan or tsapiet, and then distributed among the village people, its crumbs were used to make soups. And now, roll up your sleeves, because it's time to prepare a true Valdostano meal. A perfect lunch in Valle d'Aosta should always start with a variety of local cold cuts and cheeses, which are unfor- tunately difficult to find outside the region. But let's get the acquolina in bocca nevertheless: think of some toasted bread, light- ly flavored with some garlic, topped with slowly melting slices of Lard d'Arnad, one of the region DOP products. Add some drops of mountain honey to it. Let's lead our palate to the dis- covery of Jambon de Bosses, a ham aged high in the mountains and then, let's end this amazing starter with some thin slices of Motsetta, an ancient traditional cold cut made with a mix of dif- ferent meats - chamois, games and pork - softened in walnut oil… Here's our ultimate menu: the soupe paysanne , fonduta and a good caffé alla Valdostana, per- fect to socialize and digest! Easy and Quick Soupe Paysanne (30 minutes) (Ingredients for 4 people) • 10 1/2 oz of stale bread (rye

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