Tag Archives: Rome

November 28, 2010 · 9:00 pm

Winter Ragu Alla Bolognese Paired with Sangiovese di Romagna

It finally feels like winter has arrived and I decided to ring in the season with a Ragu alla Bolognese. My friend Teresa from Rome and I had just had a conversation last weekend about Ragu and my Mom, the day after Thanksgiving, also declared a desire to make Ragu.

I jumped on the band wagon with a very simple recipe I got from the Silver Spoon or Il Cucchiaio D’Argento. My only missing ingredient was some celery for the soffritto but I think it came out rather nicely.

It seemed sort of like my own Sunday Sauce. I’ve noticed a number of Italian restaurants in New York City have a Sunday Sauce on their menu, including ‘Cesca on the Upper West Side. Another restaurant which elaborates on this concept is Table Tales at the South Street Seaport. Grace the owner was nice enough to give me an interview earlier this year and I will write it up tomorrow because I left my notes in the office.

What to drink with my Ragu? The book suggested a Gutturnio or a wine from the Colli Piacentini but I think I may stick with a nice Sangiovese, perhaps even one from Romagna. I’ve had a few that I enjoyed but they are few and far between. One that I did like was from San Patrignano. This is a community in Romagna that helps people with addiction issues. They have been hugely successful with their charges and also with a wine and food business. I like to support them for this reason as well but they do make a mean Sangiovese, somewhat more modern in style than those that I drink from Tuscany but none the less, quite interesting. The wines are widely available throughout the United States as well.

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November 24, 2010 · 4:47 pm

Roman Work Holiday

I just had the pleasure of spending an amazing five days in Rome for my client the Balzan Foundation. The experience was exciting, uplifting and moving to be honest.

We had a long seminar at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the world’s oldest scientific academy founded in 1603, followed the next day by an elegant prize awarding ceremony at the Quirinale Palace with the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

It was very exciting and I had never had the pleasure of being in the Quirinale Palace in the Salone dei Corazzieri, a striking hall with incredible frescos from the 1600s.

As if all of this weren’t enough, I also had dinner at a fabulous restaurant in the heart of Trastevere called La Trattoria de “Gli Amici” run by the Community of Sant’Egidio. Sant’Egidio had won the Balzan Prize for Peace in 2004 so it was a perfect choice for the press office and journalists to have a dinner there.

The food is delicious and the staff creates a fabulous ambience where people with disabilities work beside their friends “amici” who volunteer to help them.

The wines on their list are all supporters of WINE FOR LIFE, a project created by DREAM, a program that Sant’Egidio started in 2002 to fight AIDS in Africa. As you can imagine, the wine and food were not the only attraction of this restaurant and not the only reason to support it but that said, I would go back there even if it were just for the food. My Cacio and Pepe were perfect, a great Roman “Work” Holiday.

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November 18, 2010 · 12:29 am

Rome – La Vita Quotidiana

I’m in Rome for a client, the International Balzan Foundation which gives out prizes in the sciences, the humanities, literature and a peace prize every few years. Before I began to work in food and wine more heavily, I was quite involved in public relations and journalism in economics, politics and other areas using a different company that I own called Gold Communications.

In my previous life I was obsessed with everything that had to do with Italian politics and economic life, European Integration and so forth. On my plane ride here I realized how much I enjoy all of those subjects and reading the Italian papers. For those who don’t read Italian, I advise looking at I-Italy, a great resource for Italophiles and Italianists. I sometimes write for them but about subjects having nothing to do with wine and food.

This is my wine and food blog so let’s get back to life’s simple pleasures in Italy such as morning succhi. I loved getting a caffe, perhaps a cornetto when in Rome and a succo di frutta in the morning.

I love the way the barista goes through a long list of flavors…pera, pesca, albiccoca, arancio, ACE, ananas….My favorite though is pera, thick and somewhat syrupy, it probably isn’t low on calories but as we all know, the air in the States is fatter than that in Italy so by some miracle, just landing in this country, you lose weight. I swear this is true. I’m not clear of the science behind that statement but I am sure you agree with me.

I have never found these delicious fruit juices in the States to give me that same pleasure although I am sure that getting one at Eataly in New York or from Jerry’s in New Jersey might give me a kick, I think tomorrow’s succo di frutta will taste especially fine. Somewhat like that bottle of wine that always tastes better when you have it in a beautiful location. Tomorrow on the Via Giulia sounds just right to me…As much as I love other cities in Italy and around the world, including my hometown, nothing compares to Rome in my opinion. I fori romani, the swallows, the light, the Teatro Marcello, I could go on and on. Perhaps I will tomorrow. Buona notte.

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