Tag Archives: Italy

Truffle Hunting – Italy – Part 3

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo
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I know you have waited a long time for this truffle post, but it was semi-intentional. I wanted to post this right before the Fancy Food Show here in Las Vegas.

Last year at the show, friends Cathy & Michael Stamm of MGP Specialty Foods and Cured & Whey introduced me to the family that owns Savini Tartufi, a family owned and operated truffle concern. When I said I was visiting Tuscany in the fall, they invited me to their home offices and took us on a truffle hunt. It was AMAZING!

For the record, I ate more truffles in 2 weeks in Italy than I had the entire previous year. Because they grow there, the Tuscans put truffles into literally anything you can imagine, up to and including dessert! Truffled mortadella (my fave cold cut), honey, charcuterie, cheese, pasta, and on and on! And yes, I did eat all of those things and more.

While I have had the opportunity to enjoy truffles before, I just didn’t know a lot about them other than the fact that they grow underground. Learning about them, seeing how they grow and are harvested is something entirely different.

Here is what I learned while visiting Savini Tartufi:

  • There are more than 200 different truffles, but only a few have true market value
  • They grow below ground, always
  • Age does not dictate size. Growing conditions have a big impact as well
  • The White Alba truffle is the rarest and most sought after
  • Black truffles should always be cooked
  • White truffles should always be served raw. They are typically shaved onto dishes or shredded onto dishes as a garnish. Check out the pictures from our lunch below!
  • When grading truffles there are many criteria – aroma, color, exterior, interior matrix, firmness and more.
  • Contrary to popular belief, pigs are no longer used to hunt truffles. They like to eat the spoils and can get very aggressive. They have been known to bite the human hunter’s fingers clean off in an attempt to eat what they found.
  • Dogs are the preferred hunters for truffles. Their keen sense of smell and trainability make them ideal for the task. Dog training begins at just a few months old, and the training at Savini Tartufi is done on site. When they find a truffle, they start to dig and then lay their head to the ground like they are listening to the earth.
  • Unlike “truffle farms”, as seen on Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, where the ground is seeded with the spores of truffles, everything at Savini Tartufi is wild truffle. All truffles are harvested in the nearby woods.

It rained like hell the day we went on the truffle hunt, but it didn’t dampen our spirits or our enthusiasm for the experience. The rain did, however, dampen our poor little dog’s ability to find a bunch of truffles. The rain messed with his sense of smell. Even with the downpour, he managed to find 2 white truffles, and you can see the pic of me holding them here.

Lunch was as Tasty as it was Beautiful

At the main building, we were served an incredible lunch that had truffles in every single dish. Some dishes had truffles more than one way. Be sure to read the captions on the pics for all the details. YOu can click on hte pics to enlarge them.

Luca and our Truffle Dog
Luca and our Truffle Dog
Truffled grazing board
The mortadella and cheese were stuffed with black truffle, and white truffles were shredded across the board.
Truffled pasta with shaved white truffle
The pasta itself was embedded with black truffles and the white truffles were shaved on top at service.
Eggs fried in olive oil with shaved white truffle
Farm eggs, fried in olive oil to get that crispy edge and topped with shaved white truffle
Ice cream with truffled honey
Vanilla ice cream with crumbled amaretto cookies and topped with locally sourced truffled honey
Truffled grazing board
Mortadella and cheese studded with black truffle, with white truffles shredded across the board. (I inserted this pic twice so you could really see the entire board – it was beautiful).

More about Italy soon! If you are in Vegas and can get access, I suggest you go to the Fancy Food Show and see what the upcoming trends are in the food world!

Focaccia = SandWISH from now on

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

This is the second in a series of posts about our recent trip to Italy. There was so much awesome food and so many amazing experiences that I couldn’t fit it all into one without you all losing interest.

I’ll Never Look at a SandWISH* the Same Way Again!

We just returned from two weeks in Italy and to say that I ate my weight in carbs would be an understatement! Between the bread (not all of it good), the pizza, the sandWISHes, and the pasta, not to mention the local craft beers, I was in Carb-a-Palooza.

I’ve always loved a sandWISH*. From chicken salad to cold cuts to meatball subs, and so forth. Our recent trip to Italy has forever changed the way I will look at them. It’s basically about the bread! Instead of a roll, or a wrap, or basic sliced bread, each sandWISH we ate was served on split focaccia. Why did I never think of that? It’s not like I hadn’t had it before. In fact, I ate focaccia sandWISHes at by Ismael Romano inside Ellis Island Casino, but for some reason the concept resonated more for me in Italy…go figure!

Influencers Have NO Influence on Me

Like all good foodies, in preparation for the trip, we researched the amazing offerings in the cities and towns we planned to visit. Of course, All’Antico Vinaio popped up because so many “influencers” (UGH) had videos and pics on their socials. But, unlike many good foodies, we DO NOT take “influencers” seriously. So, we talked to bartenders, servers, other bar patrons and ALL of them said, without exception, to skip All’Antico and go for ANY other ‘WISH shop. The locals informed us that nearly any locally owned joint would have a ‘WISH as good as, or better than, All’Antico and we wouldn’t have to wait in line for more than 30 minutes to be fed. (If you know me at all, you know I don’t like waiting in line for food…or anything else really).

Focaccia Makes the World Go ‘Round

Around the corner from our rented apartment, we found a fabulous little place – I’Girone de Ghiotti. The porchetta was out of this world and the mortadella with pistachio pesto was insanely good. But, not only were the fillings amazing, the focaccia they were served on was incredible. Light airy pockets in the crumb and a crisp, but sturdy crust to hold all the goodness. In fact, both of our sandWISHes were so good that we went back a second time when we returned to Florence. We also had good versions at the Marketo Centrale at Massimiliano Parri’s stall with fantastic prosciutto and marinated artichoke hearts. And again, the focaccia was amazing. Admittedly the sandWISHes at the Marketo were more expensive, but it was to be expected since it’s a huge tourist destination and I am sure the overhead partially drives their pricing.

Back to Basics and Baking Focaccia

Upon returning home, I woke up my sourdough starter and started making bread again. I began with English muffins, in part because I enjoy making them, in part because I can easily share the bounty and I can use “unfed” starter. Of course, that includes trying my hand at focaccia so I can recreate some of the luscious sandWISHes I ate. So far, mixed results on the focaccia; it tastes good, but the crumb doesn’t have the big air pockets and lightness of the ones I enjoyed in Florence. Trial and error, practice makes perfection, and try, try again until I get it right. And don’t think for one second that I didn’t buy shelled pistachios to recreate that pesto either. Yes, there is mortadella, ham, and other fixings in the fridge and I will be eating all of it. I think I may never eat another sandWISH unless it is on focaccia. I said what I said.

*FYI – I always write SandWISH

Things I Learned While Traveling in Italy

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

This is the first in a series of posts about our recent trip to Italy. There was so much awesome food and so many amazing experiences that I couldn’t fit it all into one without you all losing interest.

Take me Places and Tell Me I’m Pretty

In case you didn’t know, I became a travel agent right before COVID hit. Not my smartest business move ever, but after traveling to Egypt, I decided I needed a kickback on our travel. Since that time, we have explored different cruise lines, countries, and areas of the US in new ways. When you are ready to travel, be sure to reach out so I can share my experiences and expertise with you.

Italy was AMAZING!

We just returned from two weeks in Italy. While we had stopped in a few ports of Italy on a cruise, we had never really spent a lot of time in Italy. For me personally, two weeks was more than enough. We flew into Florence, stayed a few days, then drove to Cortona, then back to Florence on the way home. One of the things I learned was that I will never fly into Florence again, that airport is a shit show.

Here’s a run down of some of the things I learned:

  • Tuscan bread has no salt. It’s pretty awful. Except for the focaccia. More on that in the next post.
  • I don’t care for most of the red wine in Tuscany.
  • They take their food SERIOUSLY!
  • They take their coffee very seriously. John didn’t have a bad cup of coffee the entire trip. And don’t order a cappuccino after 11 am.
  • Pici is my new favorite pasta, and I am hoping a certain restaurant in my ‘hood will make it a special one of these days. More on that soon.
  • Wild boar ragu and Chianina ragu are amazing. I knew about the wild boar, but it was astounding in Italy! Chianina was a whole new thing for me. More on that soon as well.
  • In the center of Florence, the streets are so narrow and none of them paved (all stones) that the cars, bicycles, and pedestrians share the streets. The drivers honk or ring a bell to get you out of their way.
  • Michaelangelo’s David is truly marvelous.
  • The Birth of Venus by Botticelli made me incapable of speech it was so gorgeous.
  • I’ve got to learn to pack lighter! None of the places we stayed in Italy had elevators, and dragging suitcases up steps is my idea of horror. I think all of the accommodations we enjoyed were in buildings over 200 years old.
  • Getting back your VAT is a pain the ass and not worth the trouble unless you buy a LOT of high-end goods.
  • I ate more truffles in two weeks in Italy than I did the entire past year.
  • White truffles should only be eaten raw as a garnish and black truffles should always be cooked. More on truffles and our truffle hunt soon.
  • The Perugina chocolate factory MAY in fact be the first factory to have on site childcare! When the men were called to war in WWI, and the women went to work in the factory, childcare was set up on site. Even though the factory has a new location, the childcare center still exists on site.
  • Pistachios and Pecorino are good on nearly everything!

Stay tuned for more of our adventures. In the meantime, go check out my Facebook page or my Instagram to see pics of the adventures! Oh and BTW – did you know you can SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a spoonful? Well, you can…and I don’t share your info with anyone.