Halfway through July and friends and family have been asking the same question over and over again 'Karen, how have you been spending your summer vacation?' At home/a casa.
Casa Vitiello - a pizzeria not too far from home that has become, basically, home.
So one Saturday afternoon I decided to check out what Francesco (Ciccio) Viteillo had been serving up on his summer menu.
He served up three pizzas for a mini pizza party with estate/summer as the theme.
One-
Pizza alla Nerano. A pizza named after the famous Campania pasta dish starring sauteed zucchini, mint and Provolone del Monaco cheese.
Two-
La Colorata, A colorful pizza starring yellow and red tomato confit, fior di latte cheese and fresh marjoram.
Three-
O' Ciurilli. Ciurilli means zucchini flowers in dialect, and the ones on Ciccio's pizza are from the family garden. And speaking of garden, the curly endive salad is from an organic farm belonging to amici - Fondazione Leo.
Then there's fior di latte, anchovies from Sciaccia, Sicily and black olives- pitted and powdered versions.
So, the way I see it, summer vacation at home is not such a terrible thing.
Last Saturday began as some usually do. I slept in late, a little grocery shopping, and a lot of housework. So around 1 pm, I needed a boost. I needed to recharge my battery, so to speak. So I headed out to Tuoro, Caserta - precisely to Casa Vitiello- to pop in on Francesco, aka Ciccio, Vitiello to see what he has been up to. And yes, to try a pizza or two.
Saturday afternoon - lunch. The only afternoon that Casa Vitiello is open for lunch. Since I love late pizza lunches, it was perfect! I arrived around 2 pm under a unusually scorching spring sunshine. Perfect! I needed to recharge. I sat at a table right outside the front door, under a huge umbrella, with a perfect view of the ragazzi of Casa Vitiello preparing and serving a large array of pizzas for the packed pizzeria.
I ordered a beer, because during a Saturday lunch at Ciccio's, a beer pairs perfectly. Ciccio suggested a craft beer from La Terra di Lavoro, Senz a Pensieri - loosely translated as without a care. Exactly!
I looked over the menu - excited about the choices. Then I heard the magic words Karen, I have some new pizzas that aren't on the menu.
Bingo!
So Ciccio and I shared a little pizza degustazione- I tried three slices along with the staff paired with a cold craft beer and some cool conversation.
Pizza number one -
Roasted artichoke, Provola from Agerola, and lonzarda ham from the prized Caserta black pork.
Pizza number two -
Cream of asparagus, fior di latte, egg mimosa, and grated Laticauda sheep cheese on a hemp pizza crust.
Pizza number three -
Mozzarella di bufala DOP, puntarelle, roasted garlic cream, anchovies from Cetara, essence of extra virgin olive oil on a hemp pizza crust.
Just what I needed. But we weren't finished! The lunch crowd had left, so Ciccio decided to do a little mozzarella testing. Yes, at times he does use mozzarella on his pizza instead of fior di latte. It is important to Vitiello, though, that the cheese is not too wet causing problems during cooking. Problems that can make the pizza crust damp or nearly soaked. And no one wants a soggy pizza! One solution to fix that problem is to slice up the mozzarella and let it drain for a bit so that it loses about 60% of that excess liquid.
Another possible solution may be found in the mozzarella that I had a chance to share with Vitiello and company. A mozzarella that is drier - the pasta di mozzarella - Vitiello explained. You can almost taste the buffalo, he added. No buttermilk added. None at all.
So, three new pizzas, a great cold beer, and an impromptu mozzarella cheese tasting. Enough to recharge my battery until my next visit, which I'm sure would be sooner and not later!
I sent a message to my friend Domenico last week - Let's go out for a pizza. Let's go to Ciccio's (Casa Vitiello).
Date set for a chilly Thursday evening in Tuoro, Caserta. I found myself at the counter chatting
with Ciccio (Francesco Vitiello) and watching as he and his team put together a wide variety of pizzas, many that I hadn't tried before. Vitiello sent out several pizzas for us to try that evening, but I
got particularly excited about pizza number three.
The pizza dough contained turmeric giving it not only a yellowish color, but also light orange/ginger aromas.
Vitiello topped the pizza with blue cheese, fior di latte, and stewed black pancetta bacon.
I was determined to arrive early for Natale in Casa Vitiello
for several of reasons:
I wanted to see Casa Vitiello’s new location
dressed in Christmas colors and holiday cheer.
I wanted to get a few pics before the dinner crowd arrived.
But most importantly, I
really wanted to eavesdrop on Chef iuseppe 'Peppe' Russo and Pizzaiolo Francesco ‘Ciccio’ Vitiello. The pair were getting ready for Casa Vitiello’s
third in a four part series of four hands dinner featuring Vitiello and an
amico chef.
Ciccio Vitiello and Peppe Russo
I arrived just as the pre-dinner briefing was winding
up. A briefing that was also an
interesting history lesson.
La pizza si fa
riferimento ad alcuni testi di storia e gastronomia dove si evince che il
termine PIZZA nasce dalla evoluzione del termine dialettale PIEZZ'. Termine che
sin dal 600' si utilizzava nella famiglie per indicare una piccola parte di
pane staccata a mano dalla forma di pane per essere utilizzata
"infilandola nel forno" a testare la giusta temperatura prima di
infornare il pane. Nel tempo ci si rese conto che quel PIEZZ' di pane era buono
da mangiare e quindi utile per Alimentarsi. Da qui si incominció a condirlo e
ad affinarne la forma. Naturalmente va detto che il pomodoro"oggi
ingrediente sovrano per la pizza" arriva in Europa solo Dopo il 1492
"data della scoperta delle Americhe". Ma nel frattempo sotto il
Vesuvio la pizza veniva consumata comunque è con i condimenti che normalmente
venivano dalla quoditianità cioè grassi animali , verdure, ortaggi, frutta,pesci
ecc..! Ció detto bisogna considerare altresi che il Piezz' divenne un vero e
proprio contenitore commestibile e quindi comodo anche per trasportare piatti
pronti, quando bisognava viaggiare o quando bisogna lavorare più giorni fuori.
-Chef Russo
The word Pizza , according to various history and gastronomy
texts, was born from the evolution of the dialect PIEZZ'. It’s a term that
dates back to 600 AD to define a small piece of bread, broken off by hand
before placing it into the oven. It was used
to test to see if the wood burning oven
had reached the right temperature for baking.
Over time it was realized that
this PIEZZ’ bread was really good to eat and became part of the daily diet. Over
time, people began to dress it up and to
perfect its shape. Of course it must be said that the tomato "today’s sovereign
pizza ingredient " came to Europe after 1492. But in the meantime under Mt
Vesuvius pizza, however, was topped with
seasonings that normally came from the daily diet such as animal fats, vegetable, potatoes, fruits, fish
etc ..! Having said this we must consider that the Piezz ‘ became a real edible
container, and then also convenient to transport ready meals when one needed to travel or stay away from
home for several days.
So Russo and Vitiello’s plan was to take us back in time with
Arkeopizza.
The piezz was baked in the oven, then lard produced with
Caserta black pork and star anise was spread on top.
Mortarella hazelnuts, found only in Campania, are placed on top.
Whole, not crushed or sliced. Then a sprinkling of pecorino di
laticauda cheese.
A simple slice of pizza, a savory slice of history.
