Narni, Umbria we find Polenta with Sausage Sauce and wine from Montepulciano

Well, it was just the thing to drive out the chill of a misty morning and our visit to subterranean Narni – a polenta with a rich sausage based sauce, together with a glass of unusual red wine.

By the way the recipe book is now available in eBook formats for Amazon Kindles and Adobe digital editions – go to http://www.adacooksitaly.com/Buy.html

Narni (20) (S)Narni is a typical Umbrian hill town halfway between Rome and Assisi, where in 1979 six members of the local speleological team discovered a small hole in the historical centre, covered by bushes and thick grass, which led to an old church built from 12th or 13th century, with frescos covered by a thin layer of limestone. A door was reopened which lead to the most secret part of the monastic complex, a large room, once occupied by the Holy Inquisition, with a small doorway leading to a prison cell, containing a number of arcane graffiti made by the prisoners, some in a symbolic language, still not completely understood.

A few centuries later, published in the 1950’s, The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy stories written by C.S. Lewis, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, are linked to Narni. Walter Hooper (who, with Roger Lancelyn Green, wrote C. S. Lewis: A Biography) asked the author where he found the name ‘Narnia’, and Lewis showed him Murray’s Small Classical Atlas, containing a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it.Narni (24) (S)

Narnia - or ‘Narni’ in modern Italian – is where we find ourselves today, after 2 hours underground following an early start to meet our guide for the subterranean tour. To find out more about Narni underground, go to http://www.narnisotterranea.it/INGLESE/index2.htm

As we climbed back to street level, with a light rain falling, chilled to the marrow, were we ready for something warming? Indeed, we were! And what we got at La Bottega del Giullare, Via Garibaldi, 12 certainly worked a miracle: a rich sauce of sausage meat, tomatoes and onions, together with a polenta, with a slightly runny consistency. We have re-interpreted this recipe wonderful dish, and you will find the recipe at www.adacooksitaly.com/DisplayOne?id=199

And another discovery arrived with the wine – OBVIUS Rosso di Montepulciano D.O.C. 2012.  The interesting thing with this wine is the lack of any added sulphites. This was made possible by the selection of high quality grapes with perfect skins, quick and delicate transportation to cellar and into vats, CO2 based fermenters developed at the winery (100% based on their own production of gas/energy, being an ‘Off-Grid’ and organic producer) and ageing and bottling in total absence of oxygen. Take a look at the Salcheto web site at http://www.salcheto.it/en/ We were so impressed we went to the producer at Montepulciano in Tuscany to buy a couple of bottles and visit the winery.

Fagioli all’uccelletto – Beans as Birds

Check out the latest addition to our online cookbook: Fagioli all’uccelletto – Beans as Birds. An archetypical Tuscan dish, Fagioli all’uccelletto are easy to prepare and absolutely tasty – great comfort food!

We prepare it with cannellini beans, a white variety of beans, a bit elongated and not too big. This dish can be served as a vegetarian secondo, accompanied with slices of toasted rustic bread, or as a side dish for boiled meats or sausages.

We can only guess at the origin of the peculiar name of this dish… As the father of the Italian cuisine, Pellegrino Artusi, hypothesized, the name might derive from the fact that in the old days birds were cooked with the same kind of seasoning – sage, garlic and tomatoes.

Find out more about Pellegrino Artusi on Wikipedia.

In the second part of the XIX century, Pellegrino Artusi was the first to assemble in one book – La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene (The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well) – recipes from different regions of Italy. Some might sound a bit strange today, as certain ingredients are no longer in common use, but the stories he tells about some of the recipes and his humorous tone are a real scream! Find his book on Amazon…

 

Try Our New Recipe: Marina’s Rice Tart!

There are endless variations of this typical Italian tart. We have learned the one we are proposing here from our friend Marina, and we swear:  it is really the best we have ever tasted!Torta di Riso

Prepare it one day in advance, because the tart has to rest for at least 12 hours for the complexity of its taste and texture to fully develop. It is worth the effort and the wait!

And let us know if you like it!

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