Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston

We went up past Predappio Alta and couldn’t see anything and decided to ask an old man walking up the road if there were any restaurans nearby. He told us to return back to Predappio Alta (3rd curve down), and near the small piazza there was a restaurant which served good food, at good prices and and which was also in an interesting building. We discovered that the man was correct in all 3 assertions.

We parked in the small Piazza Cavour and there was the “Vecia Cantena d’la Pre” Going through the door we entered a small bar area but going down a few steps took us into a large eating area which on a Monday lunch time came complete with groups of workmen finishing off their meals. The waitress brought the menus and told us the dish of the day was “stinco di maiale” (pork knuckle). We opted to share a couple of antipastis of local meats, cheeses etc followed by pork knuckle and roast potatoes for all. The food was really good. For dessert there was a choice of  homemade cakes and I opted for apple strudel. All this with water, wine and coffee came to less than 20 euros a  head. Before we left the waitress told us that it was possible to visit the old cellars of the restaurants. In fact under the dining room floor there were two further levels of basement which contained machinery for wine making and barrels for the wine of local families. Walking up and down the steps in the cellars followed by a walk around the town helped get rid of some of the calories from the splendid meal.

Having had pasta with courgettes and mint in Rome a couple of weeks ago I decided to try it on some dinner guests last Saturday. It was a big success and so it is now going on my list of “quick and easy pasta dishes for when guests arrive”.

You need:

Fusilli pasta (100 grams per person)
Olive oil (2 tablespoonfuls)
Garlic (1 clove garlic, crushed)
Courgettes (3, trimmed and cut into rounds)
Chilli flakes- dried (1/2tsp) – optional
Ricotta (250g / 8oz
Mint (2tbsp chopped)
Parsley(2tbsp chopped
Grated rind 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Parmesan (50g / 1 3/4 oz freshly grated)

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water, following the packet instructions until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil over a moderate heat in a large saucepan and add the garlic and courgettes. Cook until the courgettes are beginning to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the chilli and ricotta and cook, stirring until warmed through. (If necessary add some of the pasta water to thin the ricotta)
Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Add the courgette mixture and mix through. Sprinkle with the herbs and lemon rind. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve with Parmesan.

80% of eggs sold in Italian supermarkets are from intensively reared chickens. The situation is slowly changing and in recent years the number of free range eggs sold have increased. Now the Coop (of which Bill is a member) has decided to stop selling eggs from cage reared birds. In their latest magazine they had an interesting article about the information stamped on each egg.

An example of what the letters and numbers mean stamped on each egg are:

2 IT 001 VR 036. 

2 indiates the way the hen was reared (see below for more info);
IT indicates it comes from Italy
001 the commune where the egg comes from (each commune has a specific number)
VR indicates the province (in this example Verona)
036 is the number of the farm (again each producer has a number).

The first number on the stamp will be either 0, 1, 2, 3.

0 = organic. The chickens can roam freely. At least 80% of their feed is organic.

1 = allowed out in to an open protected area for some hours per day.The outside space must be at least 4 sq mt for each hen.

2 = reared in huts but can move freely inside the hut and will also have access to outside space. There must be at least 1sq mt for every 4 hens.

3 = cage reared in an enclosed area with artifical light. There are about 16-18 hens per sq mt. 

We are all used to Italian restaurants adding a “cover charge” or “coperto” to the bill. On Forum (a television court programme) recently a restaurant owner and a customer were arguing over whether the coperto could be charged for children as the customer claimed the children had eaten from the parent’s plate. The judge found that the children had used knives and forks etc. and so should pay the cover charge. Giving her judgement the judge talked about the origin of the practice which is unique to Italy.

 It began in the 1900s when osterias were places that served only wine. Customers were allowed to bring food into the osteria but owners got fed up with having to clear up after the customers that started to put large sheets of paper or a coperto on the table and charged for this. When the osterias started to produce their own food the charge remained and in fact the idea was taken up by other types of restaurants and became ubiquitous.

However, things may be slowly changing as in some parts of Italy local by-laws have prohibited restaurants adding a cover charge but the situation remains confused.

Last night on the television it was reported that Italy had won its campaign to have the “Mediterranean diet” listed under Unesco’s list of “intangible cultural heritage”. This list was introduced 3 years ago and now includes the tango, the polyphonic singing of the Aka Pygmies of central Africa and Croatian lacemaking.

If the report is true then it will be the first diet on the list and Italy will have to take action to protect it from for example the spread of fast food in italian culture and resulting obesity of the population.

Even here in the Marche they pay lip service to the mediterranean diet and the benefits of olive oil. However it has been reported that the Marche forms part of the “cursed triangle” which covers areas in the Marche, Romagna and Umbria as in these areas the incidence of stomach cancer is the highest in Italy. The blame is being put on eating too much red meat (particularly if barbecued), salted foods and smoked foods. Another hypothesis links the high incidence of stomach cancer to the levels of nitrates (presumably due to farming practice) in the water.