On Vino Italiano Part II

Some wine and food pairings, a recipe for Peperonata & Ricotta Bruschetta, and another BOOK GIVEAWAY!

Benvenuti! Welcome to Buona Domenica, a weekly newsletter of inspired Italian home cooking. I’m Domenica Marchetti, journalist, cooking instructor, occasional tour guide, and author of eight cookbooks on Italian cuisine.

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In Sunday’s newsletter, I wrote about a new book on Italian wine, co-authored by San Francisco sommelier Shelley Lindgren and writer Kate Leahy. Italian Wine: The History, Regions, and Grapes of an Iconic Wine Country, is not just a guide to the wine; it’s a journey through Italy’s 20 regions and a collection of stories about the people and families who make wine according to new and ancient methods. Each chapter focuses on a region, beginning with Abruzzo and ending with the Veneto.

What the book is not is a cookbook—a deliberate decision, says co-author Kate Leahy. You can read my full interview with Kate here. While there are no recipes, each chapter includes a sidebar that lists typical dishes of the region. Some dishes will be familiar to most people who know something about Italy, even if you’ve never been. Take the chapter on Lazio, the region that includes Rome. While many of us have heard of and/or enjoyed spaghetti alla carbonara or carciofi alla romana, perhaps not all of us know about pupazza frascatana, a doll-shaped cookie with three breasts, two for milk and one for wine. (It’s attention to details this that makes the book so much fun to read.)

During my conversation with Kate, she talked about the role of Italian wine at the table and the inclusion of regional food lists in the book. “It’s really just a taste [of foods from each region],” she said. “Obviously, it would be really hard to summarize a region in just one little section, but we wanted to give people some highlights, some signposts, of foods from each region that would naturally pair with the wines of that region, because Italian wine was meant to be enioyed with food.”

It really comes back to the adage, ‘What grows together goes together,’ she said. “Shelley has a good story about pairing artichokes with wine. You’re always warned—you can’t drink wine with artichokes because your mouth will taste metallic, the wine will taste bad, the artichokes will taste bad, everyone loses! But, if you’re in Rome during artichoke season you’re not going to avoid artichokes and you’re also not going to avoid wine. So maybe you look at what white wines are from Lazio; that’s a really good place to start. Or maybe it’s time to take another look at Frascati, or maybe even Cesanese. You wouldn’t necessarily think red wine with artichokes, but because it’s a red wine from Lazio and it’s a lighter, more floral wine, it can work.”

I asked Kate if she wouldn’t mind making wine pairing recommendations to go with a few of my recipes and she generously agreed. I’ve listed them below, along with links to the recipes.

After we spoke, I pulled down from my bookshelves, my copy of A16 Food & Wine, the first book that Kate co-authored with Shelley Lindgren, along with then-chef Nate Appleman, back in 2008. The cookbook is based on Shelley’s restaurant of the same name and focuses on southern Italy. It had been years since I’d looked at it, and, paging through, I was reminded of what a good book it is, kind of classic and modern all at once, with suggested wine pairings accompanying each recipe.

Peperonata and ricotta bruschetta

The recipe for peperonata, a spicy, savory condiment with many uses, including bruschetta topping, caught my eye, so I’m sharing it below for my paid subscribers.

Thanks to Ten Speed Press, I am also giving away a copy of Italian Wine. The giveaway is limited to paid subscribers who live in the U.S. For those who are eligible, all you need to do to enter is to leave a comment about Italian wine—a wine you love, a wine you hate, a memorable food and wine pairing, whatever strikes your fancy! Also, please feel free to share Sunday’s newsletter and/or today’s with the Italian wine lover in your life. Sharing helps to get the word out about this newsletter. The winner of the cookbook will be chosen at random and announced in next Sunday’s newsletter.

If you haven’t yet upgraded to a paid subscription, please consider doing so. I put a lot of love, hours, and work into this newsletter, which I would not be able to do without your generous support. Thank you!

MORE ON ITALIAN WINE: One of the topics that came up in my interview with Kate is the growing number of women winemakers in Italy. Coincidentally,

Ilaria Ippoliti

just posted about two wine-making women in Le Marche. You can read about them in her latest newsletter, Piccolo Centro.

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WINE PAIRINGS by Kate Leahy; recipes by me

1. Zuppa di Farro e Zucca: farro and winter squash soup with onion, carrots, celery, parsley, peperoncino, borlotti beans, chicken broth, farro, and a parm rind

Either Pecorino from Abruzzo or Verdicchio from Le Marche. Both white wines have acidity to balance the soup's earthy flavors, and both have enough body to complement the rich textures.

2. Fusilli Corti with Tomato Cream Sauce: spiral pasta with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, shallots, thyme, a splash of heavy cream, and basil.

I'm torn between a Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, which can walk the line between a rosato and a rosso, complementing the tomatoes and herbs with acidity without tasting too light.  But if the tomatoes are more pronounced, I'd be curious about a Cirò Gaglioppo from Calabria. It has herbal/tomato notes that would go well with the slow-roasted cherry tomatoes. 

3. Polpettone alla Ligure: a baked dish of mashed yellow potatoes and green beans with onions, garlic, marjoram, parmigiano, and breadcrumbs.

Try Pigato from Liguria—the wine has a bit more body than Vermentino, but it has a similar saline note that would be a nice accent. For a red, something herbal and medium-light in body would be good, too, like Rossese from Liguria or Piedirosso from Campania.

4. September Swordfish Stew: a Sicilian stew of swordfish, cherry tomatoes, garlic, Gaeta (or Kalamata) olives, bay leaves, fresh oregano, and olive oil.

Grillo from Sicily would be great here. The white wine has herbal/floral accents and body to complement the meaty fish. Or I'd go for a lighter Sicilian red, like Frappato, which you can drink slightly chilled if it's a hot day.

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On to the recipe for peperonata and ricotta bruschetta…