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Category Archives: Italy
Italian Restaurant: La Quercia di Rosa
On our way down to Abruzzo for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday, we stopped for lunch near Modena, the home of balsamic vinegar. Quite by accident (although this kind of accident is not unusual in Italy), we found an excellent restaurant, La Quercia di Rosa (the Rose Oak – ?).
They make their own balsamic vinegar, and, as the proprietress said, it’s so good that you can put it on everything or even drink it by itself as a digestivo (after-dinner digestive drink). The thin industrial balsamic vinegar that you can buy at the supermarket is only a very distant relation to this syrupy, sweet-sour nectar.
For starters, we had it sprinkled on aged parmigiano (parmesan cheese). The combination of flavors somehow reminded me of walnuts, though there was not a single nut in sight.
For my first course, I had pockets of lasagna dough baked with a zucchine filling, with a creamy basil sauce. Light, flavorful, and not too filling – perfect for the season.
Enrico had tagliatelle with fresh porcini (wild mushrooms) – also in season now and absolutely yummy.
My second course was zucchine flowers, dipped in a light batter and deep fried. These were very good just as you see them above, and even better with a few drops of the house balsamic.
Enrico had tagliata di manzo (sliced steak) – very good meat, well flavored with rosemary and pepper. Ross had sole cooked with… balsamic vinegar!
As a side dish, Enrico and I shared radicchio di campo (field greens) with a dressing of crispy pancetta (bacon – unusually for Italy, sliced thin) – we put some balsamic on that, too.
We were not surprised to notice a flask of balsamic vinegar on the dessert cart. I asked what it was used for in desserts, and here’s what I had:
Fresh strawberries with gelato di panna (cream-flavored ice cream) and balsamic vinegar. Heaven!
Total cost of the meal for three of us (two primi, three secondi, three desserts, half-bottle of wine, lots of water) was just over 100 euros.
La Quercia di Rosa
via Scartazza 22
localita’ Fossalta
41100 Modena
phone 059 280 730
email querciadirosa@libero.it
closed Tuesdays
more information about real, traditional balsamic vinegar
Italian Garden 2007: July
Unintended Consequences
Here’s what happens when I leave my garden unattended: I get beautiful wild grains like the above – otherwise known as weeds.
A weed I had been assiduously removing (but, obviously, missed one) turns out to have charming puffy purple blossoms.
The insalata riccia (curly lettuce) bolted into meter-high stalks with delicate blossoms. Wasn’t very edible at this point, however, so I took some pictures, tore it all up, and planted onions, herbs, and more lettuce in that space.
The wild fig that I never even planted, in the lower wall, came out with a promising crop of fruit.
And the vegetables just kept on producing – I picked our first tomatoes this morning.
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Milan Cow Parade 2007
above: Pippi Longcow with a junior art critic – Piazza Castello
Street art didn’t fare so well in Milan. The newspapers reported that Milan set a record for the number of cows vandalized, particularly during the night that the AC Milan football club won the European championships for the seventh time. The poor cows were variously burned, thrown into a fountain, or simply taken away. They had been intended to be sold to raise money for charity. Alternative ways to raise this money are now being explored.
Here are a few I managed to salvage photographically.
metro station at Cairoli
La cow é mobile, qual pium al vento…
via Dante
