Ischia Safari - My Three Day Ischiaddicted Diary, 17-19 September, 2017

The dates had been penciled in on my calendar since last spring - and finally...finally the big event arrived.  Ischia Safari - a fun filled gastronomic fest on the big green island.  I had the pleasure to attend, though it was definitely a challenge balancing the island nightlife and work the next morning on the mainland.

I thought it would be fun to put together an Ischia Safari diary jam packed with ischiaddicted moments.  Here's a look - Enjoy!

Sunday, 17 September 2017.

2:15 pm - Ristorante Pizzeria Da Ciccio ,Forio

Though the press dinner was scheduled for 8 pm, I decided to arrive around lunchtime for a pizza and beer at Ristorante Pizzeria Da Ciccio located in Forio.  There I tried Ivano Veccia's Da Ciccio - the house pizza.  The pizza is topped with creamy Ischia white onions (that had been cooked under ashes) along with  rosemary, basil, and oregano, fior di latte and mozarella cheese and then baked in the oven. After it comes out, Veccia adds his tuna capaccio - prepared by Veccia by placing the tuna fillets in salt, sugar, and spices for five days. 

Ivano Veccia's Da Ciccio 

2:51 pm - Ristorante Pizzeria Da Ciccio ,Forio

A quick caffe' before tackling the rest of the day.

3:37 pm - Negombo, Lacco Ameno

Veccia offered to give me a ride to my hotel in Ischia Porto, but first he hand an errand to run.  Veccia - pizzaiolo in charge for Ischia Safari - needed to light the ovens so that they'd be the right temperature for the following evening.

Ivano Veccia

3:51 pm - Negombo, Lacco Ameno

Michelin starred chef, fresh from a packed lunch service at nearby Ristorante Indaco, arrived to check thins out.  Palamaro, alongside Chef Nino Di Costanzo is one of the organizers of this event, now in its third year.

Chef Palamaro (right) and sous chef Tommaso Luongo

9:12 pm, Casa Colonica 1930, Negombo, Lacco Ameno

Press dinner featuring some amazing local dishes, sparkling wine, music, friends and fun!

Buffalo mil mozzarella cheese

Fried 'montanara' pizza

Fresh tomato salad

Friarielli greens and black olives

Bruschetta, butter, anchovies, and lemon/orange zest

Pane/Pomodoro - Bread and tomatoes

9:35 pm, Casa Colonica 1930, Negombo, Lacco Ameno
 During the meal, we sang along to Neapolitan classic hits courtesy of Girolamo Mattera.

Marinated sardines, mint, and fresh oregano

Fried cod and sweet onions

10:25 pm, Casa Colonica 1930, Negombo, Lacco Ameno
In the kitchen as pasta maker Giovanni Assante of Gerardo di Nola prepares his pasta and beans. Yum!

Jack Monti and Giovanni Assante

Pasta and beans/ pasta e fagioli

Spaghetti, pine nuts, raisins and very very hot chili peppers

Dessert! Sfogliatelle and donuts

September 18, 2017

00:15 am  Ischia Porto

Lights out for me! I have a ferry to catch at 0620 am!Yikes!

8:02 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno

A full day of school, a rush to the ferry, and a quick taxi ride - my 2nd night at the Safari!

Around 2,500 people attended this fundraising event.  For forty five euro, guests had the chance to try five dishes choosing from over 100 chefs, pizzamakers, and pastry chefs. 

First stop: Chef Zone

Chef Crescenzo Scotti's stuffed pepper

Chef Lino Scarallo

Scarallo's beef and marinated eggplant sandwich and horseradish sauce

Chef Domenico Iavarone

Golden fried calf's head, white beans, and marinated onions

8:22 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno
Pizza and Panini Zone

Gianfranco Iervolino's pizza with anchovies, garlic and black olives.

Gianfranco Iervolino

Ivano Veccia

Giuseppe Pignalosa's rucola, yellow tomatoes and tuna

Giuseppe Pignalosa

Bifulco's tuna and yellow tomato sandwich

8:57 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno

Back to the Chef Zone

Chef Palamaro's dish starring pecorino cheese, pepper, sea snails, mantis shrimp, and frairielli greens

9:05 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno
A little rock music with guitarist Matteo Di Meglio and company.

 9:09 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno
Chef Zone
A quick conversation with Chef Crescenzo Scotti - (who later served as my uber driver!)

Chef Scotti and Emanuela Mazzella

Chef Umberto De Martino

Chef Giorgio Bartolucci's bastoa', foie gras, and apricot chutney

Chef Giulio Coppola's mussel soup

Chef Ciro Mattera's tanuta fish with burrata cheese,lettuce and red saurkraut

 9:56 pm Negombo, Lacco Ameno

Pastry Zone:

Here I found a couple of familiar faces and tried some tasty pastries.

Pastry chef Nello Iervolino's dish reminds one of candy often given to kids by their 'nonna'/grandma

Pastry Chef Angelo Tramontano's fried San Giuseppe zeppole

Random pics from social media...

September 19, 2017

05:25 am Ischia Porto
My taxi picks me up at my hotel.  Another ferry to catch! Grooooaaaan!

8:20 pm Ristorante Indaco, Lacco Ameno

Perfect location for aperitifs prepared by Michelin starred chefs for the last evening of Ischia Safari.  About a hundred or so guests.  I even wore a dress.

Chef Andrea Migliaccio

Migliaccio's pasta al genovese, beans, and friarelli greens

Migliaccio's marinated amberjack in tomato water with avocado, annurca apple, and sea asparagus

Butcher Mario Carrabs bbq platter

Chef Francesco Sposito's soft taco with celery, turnip, tuna, and a pistachio vinagrette

Sposito's crunchy part of fried macaroni

Chef Vittorio Fusari's perch fish cerviche and amberjack spritz

Chef Giuseppe Ianotti's 'tonnato sbagliato'

Franco Pepe's fried Ciro pizza

9:56 pm Ristorante Indaco Lacco Ameno
After aperitifs poolside, I'm led to my seat inside Indaco for the start of the main portion of our meal.  Each dish served with a glass of champagne.

Chef GaetanoTrovato's oyster and burrata cheese appetier

Chef Bobo Cerea's risotto with tarragon cream, pumpkin bisque, and sea scallops

Chef Gaetano Trovato's agnolotti pasta with red shrimp, zucchini, mint and caviar

10:57 pm Ristorante Indaco
A quick peek in the kitchen!

11:05 pm Ristorante Indaco Lacco Ameno
Back at the table...

Chef Pino Cuttaia's beef fillet, artichoke oil, and potato

11:22 pm. Ristorante Indaco Lacco Ameno
Pic with the brigade of the night.

Time to head outside behind the restaurant, on practically hugging the sea for dessert! I tried 2 dishes- that's all I had space for!

Pastry Chef Carmine Di Donna's passion fruit

Pastry Chef Antonino Maresca's 'Mexico and Clouds'

 20 September, 2017
02:00 am Ischia Porto
A last get together with friends while waiting for the ferry - at 2:30 in the morning!

So, that's my diary!
A grande grazie to Chef Nino Di Costanzo, Chef Pasquale Palamaro and my partner in crime, Ivano Veccia.

Ciao Ischia
Ciao Ischia Safari-

A presto

A Scottissimo Summer Experience, Dinner with the Stars, Il Flauto di Pan, Ravello (Sa)

It was an invitation to dinner that I could not refuse. Executive Chef Crescenzo Scotti asked his close friend and fellow Ischian,  Chef Nino Di Costanzo to join him for the second night of his Dinner with the Stars, his four hands dinner series at  Il Flauto di Pan, Villa Cimbrone, one of the most beautiful and romantic places on earth. 

We’ll have dinner in the crypt instead of the dining room, the chef had written me a few days before the big event. 

The crypt?  I thought.  I had visited it months before. I remembered it as a large empty place with plain, but impressive arches dating back to the Gothic era.   That memory was soon forgotten as I walked into the crypt last Monday evening.  The staff had transformed the space into something out of a fairy tale.

I took a silent tour as the chefs met with the dining room staff for the pre service briefing.  I then followed Scotti and Di Costanzo into the hotel’s garden for an aperitif paired with sparkling wine and a spectacular September full moon.

Eggplant parmigiana

The chef’s stuffed pepper

Braided zucchini stuffed with white fish and fresh mint

Seared scallops with watermelon gazpacho

Time for dinner, so I, along with about forty guests, headed to our seats.  There we were greeted by music, a glass of Monte di Grazia Bianco IGT white wine and the first appetizer of the evening.

Lobster cappuccino with potato cream and black ink squid powder, Chef Scotti’s classic signature dish.

The next plate that arrived was accompanied by a mesmerizing aroma of fresh dill.  Scotti prepared scampi, burrata and basil with pork cheek together with a celery sauce, lemon tarallo and toasted almonds.

The next dish that left the kitchen was a familiar one.  One that I had tried for the first time while sitting at Di Costanzo’s chef’s table at Dani Maison in Ischia a little over a year ago.  His risotto with lemon, zucchini and shrimp. 

To be savored slowly.

Between dishes, I had the pleasure to discuss the wines served so far with sommelier Arturo Terminello and Event manager Baldo Durazzo.  Terminello chose to stay on the Amalfi Coast with the wine list for the night.  Wines such as Vigna Grottapiana by Ettore Sammarco and Tramonti rose’ by Tenuta San Francesco.

It was at this point that the chefs entered silently and set up shop table side to prepare the next course – Le Fumarole.  

Chef Di Costanzo and Chef Scotti

This dish is Di Costanzo’s homage to his island, his Ischia, where there are geysers on the island – fumarole- that some islanders use the heat to cook with.  

The chef steamed cooked cod over hot rocks and herbs.  He then delicately placed the fish on the serving dish inside a colorful crown of crunchy seasonal vegetables such as zucchini, peppers and tomato confit, and topped it with a double sauce starring corn on the cob and cauliflower.

From delicate to hearty- the next dish served was Laticauda lamb topped with a foie gras sauce.  

Chef Scotti had explained this dish to me earlier in the evening.  He noticed that I was admiring the mini apples at the pass during one of my many visits to the kitchen.  The chef actually had diced up Campania’s tasty Annurca apples and cooked them in red wine, sugar and cinnamon.   Some of the cubes are then shaped into tiny spheres, wrapped in plastic and frozen. The rest of the cooked apple cubes are placed into a red wine reduction along with a gelling agent.  

The frozen apple spheres are then added to the gelled mixture giving it a shiny glassy look. The apples,  lamb, and a Modica chocolate sauce and a glass of Borgo di Gete by Reale.

It was impossible to resist the urge to clean my plate with bread!

It was time for dessert – well, predessert.  The tomato, which is not a tomato at all.  But a delicious burst of passion fruit.  

This followed by a plate of strawberry, milk cream and dark chocolate and a glass of Passion dessert wine by Cantina Apicella.

The arrival of dessert usually marks the end of the meal, the end of the evening.  The guests go home, and the chefs along with the brigade prepare something to eat for themselves.  Usually a plate of spaghetti with garlic, extra virgin olive oil and red chili peppers flakes.

Chef Scotti had every intention to keep this casual tradition alive, but he added a twist.  He invited his dinner guests and members of the dining room staff into the kitchen. I’m not sure how many were there…Fifty or so?  

It felt like a big family – pasta – sparkling wine, and in the end, a sugary chocolate-topped bomba!

It was an invitation to dinner that I could not refuse. Executive Chef Crescenzo Scotti asked his close friend and fellow Ischian,  Chef Nino Di Costanzo to join him for the second night of his Dinner with the Stars series at  Il Flauto di Pan, Villa Cimbrone, one of the most beautiful, romantic and friendly places on earth. 

Grazie, Chef!

#Ischiaddicted - Ischia Safari 2017

September means back to school….and back to Ischia, the island that has practically adopted me this past year.

Yeah, I'll be hopping on the ferry in just a few weeks- I’ve had  these dates marked on my calendar or some time – September 18/19 IschiaSafari.  This is the third year for this fund raising event held on the green island.  Behind the event are  two of Ischia’s shining stars, Chefs Nino DiCostanzo, Dani Maison and Pasquale Palamaro, Ristorante Indaco.  The chefs, alongside others, founded the Associazioneculturale Ischia Saperi e Sapori - Centro Culturale ed Artistico.  This association’s scope is to promote enogastronomic culture – particularly cuisine.  So where does Ischia Safari fit in?  Two days on the island featuring events to help raise money for scholarships for students who are interested in  food and wine industry.  In addition, funds will also go towards helping families who have suffered during the recent earthquake in Casamicciola, a small fraction of the island.

Here’s a quick look at what to expect.

Monday, September 18^th, 7:30 pm, Negombo ThermalGardens

Over 70 chefs, pizza makers, and pastry chefs will be on hand throughout the park with food, fun, laughs and so much more!  Check out the video from last year !

More info and tickets here.

Tuesday, September 19^th, 4 pm, Hotel Regina Isabella

Master Class Trento Doc Wine Tasting led by Sommelier Maurizio Fillipi, Italy’s Sommelier of the Year 2016. More info here.

Tuesday, September 19^th, 8:30 pm, Ristorante Indaco, Hotel Regina Isabella

Gala Dinner starring some of Italy’s top chefs alongside Di Costanzo and Palamaro will treat about 120 guest to a glamorous gourmet dinner in the restaurant that includes appetizers and pizza by the pool.

Some serious names include chefs such as Andrea Migliaccio, Salatore Elefante, Anthony Genovese, Francesco Sposito,  Gaetano Trovato, Cerea Brothers, Giuseppe Ianotti, Vittorio Fusari, and Antonino Maresca.

Info here. 

So, the countdown is on!  Ready? Ci vediamo ad Ischia!

#Ischiaddicted