andiamotrips - campania, italy with karen phillips

Gino Sorbillo Sunset on the beach.   Early June. I'm watching as  Gino Sorbillo   is preparing the ingredients for a pizza with pesto.  Gino…we keep bumping into each other , I said. A smile… Quando vieni da me?  He asked.   When will I come?  When you’re there was my answer.  But I wanted a Saturday. A Saturday in Pizzeria with Gino Sorbillo at his pilace on Via Tribuniali.    Not far from where we Americans call Christmas Alley .  In the heat of the city.  The heart of the city.  Da Gino .  I wanted a table where I could try a pizza or two or 5 or 6 to with the rhythm of Napoli in the background.  Neapolitans, tourists, regulars, first timers.  All curious, if not a little enthusiastic about having a seat at Sorbillo’s...pizza makers for three generations. Gino greeted me at the door that afternoon. I was able to grab a table just before a line started to form outside...

It may have been the interior design.  Or the serious wine collection that rests quietly in the back of the dining room. Or the wine list packed with Campania…packed with Irpinia’s finest.  Maybe the books on the shelf…cookbooks by chefs with familiar names and faces.    Or the menu, based on baccala…or in English-cod. Or maybe a combination of all of these things that had me return to Antonio Petrillo’s La Corte dei Filangieri less than a week after I shook hands with Petrillo in the garden of his wine restaurant. La Corte dei Filangieri is located in Candida in the Avellino province.   Petrillo’s hometown.  And where he believed would be the perfect to set up a place where he could share a common passion...his love of wine and food.   A love that led him to become a sommelier.  Open up a wine bar with a small menu.  And slowly, over a few short years, La Corte expanded into a wine restaurant.  Petrillo added to th...

I used to be one of those people who assumed that it doesn’t get hot in Alta Irpinia in the summer. Used to be . So it was a refreshing relief to take a break in a cool cantina in Paternopoli. A fresh comfortable cantina where I talked with Luigi Tecce about his Poliphemo , his Taurasi DOCG made with grapes from his Aglianico vineyards speckled around the area. In Montemarano, in Castelfranci, and here in Paternopoli. Vineyards that do their best to give Tecce what he desires in an Aglianico…in a Taurasi.    He is constantly looking for his idea of the right balance between a grape’s tannicity and acidity. Harvest?, I wondered. November, but varies. He thinks for a moment. 2007, around the 6th of November…2006, around the 26th…more or less .  As comfortable as it was in the wine cellar, talking with Tecce, it was time to hit the vineyards. A quick glass of water, then out into the heat. Tecce’s small winery is located in a very interesting position. Al...

It was hard to take my eyes off of this amazing appetizer served to me by Chef Spagnuolo  of Morabianco Ristorante .  And the flavors? Perfect for that hot Saturday afternoon.    I ngredients for 4-6 : 200   grams of toasted bread   ( mascuotto), 7-8   tomatoes (datteri), salt,     3 nodini di   Montella (a cheese made with cow’s milk ),  a few basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, and 8   Cetara   anchovies (preferably those that have been preserved in salt and boned) Directions: : First   wash   the tomatoes   and basil . Wet the bread   under running water   for a minute     being careful   not to add   too much   water otherwise   it will become soggy. .   Cut   the tomatoes   into very small cubes   . Do the same with the nodino   and   the anchovies , : Place   all of the ingredients in a   wok and   season ...

A midsummer night’s dinner.  A cooking class with Chef Paolo Barrale and his right hand man Chef Roberto Allocca in the kitchen of Marennà, Feudi di San Gregorio’s Michelin star restaurant.  A midsummer night’s dinner… a midsummernight’s dream.  This was my second visit to Marennà for a lesson with Barrale and I must admit I was a little skeptical.  Could he live up to last month’s menu?  Let’s take a look… Appetizer:  Zucchini flowers with tomato seeds and anchovy oil served with DUBL Aglianico, Spumante Metedo Classico . First Course: Ravioli stuffed with eggplant parmagiana served with Campanaro 2010, Campania Bianoco DOC . Second Course:  Bass ‘all aqua pazza’…with oysters served with Cutizzi 2009, Greco di Tufo DOCG . Dessert:  Apricots, honey, lemon, and lavender served with Privilegio 2008, Campania Bianco IGT. I was in the front row…so to speak.  Asking questions,… jotting down tips …enjoying my midsummer...

Pizza can be a serious business. And in my adopted Campania, we take it very seriously. The right ingredients, the right pizza dough, the right temperature in a wood burning oven. So when I received an invite from my friend Maurizio Cortese of Gazzetta Gastronomica to have a pizza, it was an easy decision. After all, Maurizio invited me out for a pizza back in June …an event that would be very hard to forget. This was to be a little more casual, I was told. A few friends, pizza, wine. With maestro pizza maker Franco Pepe . In the garden of Don Alfonso 1890 in St Agata sui Due Golfi. When I arrived, Pepe was checking out the ingredients. Scrutinizing every little detail. Testing the temperature of the oven. It’s like driving a car that doesn’t belong to you, he smiled. So he decided to take it for a test drive. I watched in admiration as he took some of his hand made pasta dough, tossed it around and shaped it into the perfect shape. He drizzled extra virgin olive oi...

Excuse me…which way to La Ripa?   I had just parked my car outside the centro storico of medieval Rocca San Felice in the province of Avellino.  Alta Irpinia.  New territory for me.  All I had was a few mental snapshots from earlier internet research and  my   Mesali guide book. La Ripa Ristorante Museo was one of the 12 restaurants featured at an event that I  attended a few weeks back.  And so here I was.  In the main piazza in front of an enormous 200 year old linden tree asking directions.  Again.  Apparently I wasn’t that far off.  I just needed to continue past the tree and down a quite little stone cobbled alley. I found La Ripa in a calm little corner of this quiet little village.  I arrived just in time as to see the sunset from the terrace.  The purple/blue/red colors in harmony with the subdued lighting from the pergola was spectacular.  But as stunning and soothing a spot on the terr...

Raffaele Boccella Castelfranci...A small community in Alta Irpinia, in the province of Avellino. A paese where you can sit outside at a bar in the main piazza, enjoy a cappuccino and warm cornetto filled with homemade jam for only € 1.70. Where they still make maccaronara pasta by hand with a serrated rolling pin. Topped with fresh tomatoes from the garden and freshly grated cheese. Castelfranci-600 meters above sea level. And from the balcony of a villa in the small village of S. Eustachio, there is a breath taking view of Paternopoil…of Montemarano…and if you look hard enough…the Calore River. I was on the balcony of Raffaele Boccella’ s house. I admired the view as he pointed out his breathtaking vineyards. Vineyards that I wanted to see up close on my visit that late morning, right before the August sun became too hot. I was in Irpinia to visit Azienda Agricola Bocella . The cantina is small , Raffaele Boccella mentioned as he opened the cantina door. Small in ...

My benvenuto from Chef Francesco Spagnuolo of Morabianca Ristorante was a little dolce a little salato , and perfect for the summer. Ingredients   for 6-8     2 stalks   of celery ,   ½ cantaloupe, 100   grams of   smoked cod. Directions Clean   the melon   by removing the rind and seeds. Wash   the   celery and peel with a vegetable peeler to remove the stringy parts .   Cut   the melon and celery into small cubes. Add the thinly cut smoked cod.   ( You can substitute the smoked cod with smoked salmon )   Serve in a cocktail glass or   in a shallow dish   and with the   help of   a   round   flan   mold . Garnish   with   extra virgin olive oil , and a sprig of valerian .