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Noteworthy Notizie – March 27th

FullSizeRenderLife news that happened this week: the first Vinopalooza kicked off yesterday in Umbria, in DC it broke 70 degrees for the first time this year, and we officially got out our cherry-blossom Geribi bowls.

 

Here’s what was happening in Italian news:

 

The Pope gets a pizza! His Holiness was handed a Neapolitan pizza from a restauranteur who jumped a barricade during a procession, to deliver his pizza into the hands of the most holy.

 

We might bake up some Italian Easter Lemon cookies (that we think look like doughnuts). Not in the mood to bake for Easter? Just order one of our many sweet treats online and have it delivered in time for Easter morning for a flat rate of $15.

 

The Knox Case resurfaces, casting the international spotlight on Umbria.  Italy’s highest court is to rule on Knox murder case this week.

 

Notaries got paid a lot in Italy in Medieval times, and still do today. Honestly we got sucked into this article by the cute painting of the Medieval notary in the Economist, but it’s economic insights are interesting.

 

Unfortunately, there is more bad news for the future olive oil harvest. The EU has issued a warning, as more trees in Lecce are affected by the blight. If you really care about the Italian Olive Oil industry, please join us at our next book club, Virgin Territory: Exploring the World of Olive Oil.  You’ll be able to know what you are buying to stock up before the prices hike again.

 

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

– Via Umbria

Life news that happened this week: the first Vinopalooza kicked off yesterday in Umbria, in DC it broke 70 degrees for the ...

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Our Italian Library – Silver Spoon Pasta

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PASTA. Noodles. Spaghetti. It is often one of the simplest meals you can make. On weeknights we often find ourselves tucking into a bowl of the comfort food, as it is fast and delicious.

But the world of pasta is a very big world. In Italy, each region, sometimes each town, has it’s own specialties.  Pasta that is served nightly on tables in Naples will never see the light of day in Milan.

Each pasta shape was created to pair with a certain sauce. Once you start learning how to properly prepare pasta, your world can change.

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Where is where The Silver Spoon Pasta, from the powerhouse publishers Phaidon, comes in handy. An encyclopedia of knowledge about this product can be found in its pages. With beautiful photography and recipes from basic to gourmet, it is the definitive source on pasta varieties and recipes.

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We like to play “pasta roulette” with this book. Randomly open a page, and BAM – make that for dinner. There are 360 recipes, so you only need to find none-pasta meals for five days a year. You can pick up a pasta starter kit at Via Umbria, and then get cracking in the kitchen.

A tavola!

– Via Umbria

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PASTA. Noodles. Spaghetti. It is often one of the simplest meals you can make. On weeknights we often find ourselves tucking into ...

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Photo Diary

Things we love right now:

Cloudy Montefalco spring days that break way to sun, small cantinas, DiFilippo wine, being treated like a local.

The week is just beginning. Vinopalooza 2015 is gonna be good.

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Vinopalooza Day One Read more

Things we love right now: Cloudy Montefalco spring days that break way to sun, small cantinas, DiFilippo wine, being treated like a local. The ...

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Recipe – Lara’s Red Pesto Chicken

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Wanting to try something different from the standard pasta + sauce combination, I decided to put Seggiano’s Red Pesto sauce to a more creative use. I had previously tried the all-natural sauce on the Mancino’s whole wheat Orecchiette and loved its flavorful combination of basil, tomato, and creamy nut base, so I decided to use it to add a burst of flavor to some chicken thighs.

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I like to keep my recipes simple ( and mostly paleo and gluten-free for my boyfriend), and this quick dish only required a few steps:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  • Lightly oil, salt, and pepper raw chicken pieces. Add a coat of Seggiano’s Red Pesto sauce to soak in while in oven
  • Place seasoned chicken on baking pan and leave in oven for 30 minutes (15 minutes on each side)
  • Heat Seggiano’s Red Pesto sauce on a stovetop for about 5 minutes on medium-high heat
  • Remove chicken from the oven, and glaze a second coat of Seggiano’s Red Pesto sauce while it cools

The chicken can pair nicely with many things, and I prepared it alongside a kale salad with raisins, tomatoes, and almonds as well as roasted portabella mushroom slices.

 

Simple and delicious, buon appetito !

 

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Lara enjoys simple, quality, home-cooked meals. Although she does not consider herself to be a cook, she knows to appreciate all kinds of cuisine and has tasted unbelievable dishes from her travels around the world. Fairly new to the DC area after living in France and Tunisia, Lara is discovering all that the city has to offer, including the specialty foods at Via Umbria!

 

Wanting to try something different from the standard pasta + sauce combination, I decided to put Seggiano's Red Pesto sauce to a more creative ...

Comings & Goings, Events, Tastes of Italy
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Our Italian Library – Virgin Territory

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When we heard Nancy Harmon Jenkins was coming out with a new book on olive oil, we pre-ordered it immediately. The leading authority on the subject in the United States, Jenkins is worth her weight in (olive oil) gold.

 

Her most popular book,The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, is a staple for understanding why eating the way Italians (and other cultures) do can be healthy, easy, and delicious. Though we loved this book, the Washington Post places Extra Virginity on an even higher pedestal, saying “This is her seventh cookbook, with much more to offer than her well-written, mostly Mediterranean-based recipes.” In addition to over 100 recipes featuring olive oil, she also gives a vast tutorial on selecting a quality oil.

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Jenkins is very particular about her oil, which comes through in her book. It is her Boston Globe Question and Answer she says that “…people should try, as much as possible, to find places that offer tastings,” from which to buy their oil. At Via Umbria, we wholeheartedly believe that taste should be your guide, which is why all of our oils are out daily for tastings. Our featured tasting this month gets the seal of approval in her book, which is a bit of an ego boost for our selection process.

 

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Italy when reading this, you are well aware that it is artichoke season. Harmon Jenkins offered a sneak peek at a recipe in her book – Oven Braised Artichokes, Potatoes, and Onions, from the Wisconsin Public Radio.

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We are drooling over this book, and hope that you will join us to discuss its merits (or imperfections) at our next book club, on April 7th at 7PM in our events space in Georgetown. You can be sure there will be some oil tasting going on! And be sure to support your local store, and pop on it to sweep a copy off our shelves!

 

— Via Umbria

When we heard Nancy Harmon Jenkins was coming out with a new book on olive oil, we pre-ordered it immediately. The leading ...

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Goat Curds and Little Herds

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How cute are these little white goats!?  Bill and and son Teddy and daughter Lindsey, along with Via Umbria favorite Simone Proietti-Pesci, got a chance to visit the goats last week when they stopped by the farm of local cheesemaker and winemaker Diego Calcabrina. Diego is well known and respected in the area for making goat cheese, alongside small batches of hand crafted Sagrantino wine.  He is very passionate about his work as a farmer and a winemaker. He holds himself out as a biodynamic farmer, which means he practices organic farming, as well as many other strictures about following the phases of the moon and getting in touch with nature’s natural rhythms.

 

The Menard family visited Diego for the first time last fall, and Lindsey, Teddy and Bill (along with Simone) revisited on the first day of their current trip. Cheese first.

 

And just how difficult is it to make goat cheese? The process is not too complicated but requires completely clean and unadulterated goat’s milk, which is an art in itself. Those goats are not always the most cleanly, or easy, to milk. And it requires a cheesemaker’s niche knowledge of the right feel of curd, and the correct temperatures during the different stages of the cheese process.

 

But you should try it at home. Goat cheese is best when ultra-fresh. You can still taste the…goats…which most of the time is a good thing. Yours may not end up as good as Diego’s, but you can always drop by Via Umbria and pick up a bottle of Sagrantino to wash it down.

 

Simply follow these few steps:

In a medium saucepan, we heat the fresh goat milk until it reaches about 180 degrees.

Then we remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. This separates the curds (the fat and protein, which becomes cheese), from the whey (the liquid).

We shake the little curds into their cheese containers, and place them on a tray that allows the excess whey to run off into the pail. One the desired amount of liquid has come off, the curds all set in their containers, making a solid block of cheese.

 

Ci Vediamo!

– Via Umbria

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Meet our new friends! Read more

  How cute are these little white goats!?  Bill and and son Teddy and daughter Lindsey, along with Via Umbria favorite Simone Proietti-Pesci, got ...

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Noteworthy Notizie – March 20th

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How adorable is this photo of a little goose on the typewriter!  Winemaker Roberto DiFilippo sent it to us with the caption “my new secretary.” We love it!  Spring is not quite in the air in Georgetown, which gives us extra motivation do cozy up with a blanket and peruse the news from this past week:

 

Michel Graves, a great industrial designer, passed away suddenly last week, which is a loss for the design community. We carry his beautiful coffee service for Alessi in store and online.

 

Obama and Italy’s Renzi are to meet on Ukraine, and the Islamic State, in a month.

 

The Telegraph picks out the best places to visit in Umbria! Do you see anyplace you have been to with us?

 

Over in Italy it is artichoke season. Artichokes in abundance are reigning in Umbria (see our Facebook for how we prefer to cook them!) Here are some recipes from Food and Wine Magazine if you find yourself overwhelmed by the artichoke.

 

Italy pulls a DC and moves to legalize marijuana.

 

Happy Weekend from all of us here at Via Umbria!

How adorable is this photo of a little goose on the typewriter!  Winemaker Roberto DiFilippo sent it to us with the caption ...

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Cocktail Corner – Italian Soda Please!

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Ah, the classic gin and tonic. We begin our cocktail series slowly, with a recipe in which we are well versed and think we have mastered (if we do say so ourselves).

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When making our cocktails, we always turn to the Italian Sodas of J. Glasco. This company in Torino uses only natural ingredients, without the use of colors or preservatives.

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Hand carved olive wood corkscrew

Their quality Indian Tonic is the perfect size for one personal cocktail.

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Sterling silver jigger available in store or online.

So this hump days lets shake it up with a little gin and tonic!

Add 3cl gin to a chilled glass with ice. Pour 6cl J.Gasco Premium Indian Tonic over the gin. Serve with a dash of lime.

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Nebbiolo glass. 

Cheers!  Perugia!

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–Via Umbria

Ah, the classic gin and tonic. We begin our cocktail series slowly, with a recipe in which we are well versed and ...

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Noteworthy Notizie – March 13th

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It’s Friday again! Here’s what we have been reading over the week:

 

An Italian village gets eight feet of snow in one day!

 

The Washington Post lays out a concise plan of why and how Italy needs to protect itself from IS. A worthwhile read.

 

Newsweek reports that this game aiming to educate children on gender roles causes outrage. Gender inequality is a serious issue in Italy, and the backlash against this project only reiterates the need for progress in this arena.

 

This Sunday, we will be having a complementary wine tasting from 2:00 – 5:00 PM in store!  Stop by and sip away.

 

Publishers weekly gives Elizabeth Minchilli’s new book (to be published in April!) a nice review. On a daily basis we drool over her blog….and are so excited for this book that we may have to make it assigned reading for Book Club.

 

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

 

— Via Umbria

  It's Friday again! Here's what we have been reading over the week:   An Italian village gets eight feet of snow in one day!   The ...

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Our Italian Library – How to be both

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Last night, with the rain softly pattering down on the skylights in our events space, we nestled in with some Montefalco Rosso at our monthly book club. Our friend and book club member Dick, who researches our wine and runs weekly tastings, educated us on the two wines we sipped for a brief moment while we noshed on some Italian cheese.

 

Once fueled, we started on discussing our latest book – How to be both by Ali Smith.  Though shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and in the display windows of every independent book store in DC, this group gave it a resounding thumbs down. Three of our book club members gave up reading in exasperation, while those who powered through had difficulty reconciling the style and the themes in a productive way. The conversation was wonderful nonetheless.

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Did any of you art history buffs recognize the eyes from the cover of this book from our very own National Gallery here in DC? That’s right, Francesco del Cossa (who is a protagonist in this novel) has his painting of Saint Lucy in the permeant collection of the National Gallery of Art!  Anyone want to go on a field trip?

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Next month’s book should be significantly earlier to digest. Nancy Harmon Jenkins has just published a tome on olive oil, called Virgin Territory. It is a definitive guide to our favorite liquid gold, where stories, science, and recipes weave together in perfect harmony. On flipping through we even found our good friend Salvatore in it’s pages!

 

But don’t take our word for it (as our word has been tarnished apparently by last month’s selection), you can always read the review in the Washington Post.

 

If you missed this month’s club, be sure to join us next time, on Tuesday April 7th at 7PM, to discuss Virgin Territory. And stop by to pick up your copy in-store, where we will happily let you taste some of the fine oils she writes about in her book!

 

— Via Umbria

Last night, with the rain softly pattering down on the skylights in our events space, we nestled in with some Montefalco Rosso ...

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Our Italian Library – Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef

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Sometimes, on slower days at Via Umbria, we wander to our Italian book shelf and flip lovingly through the many wonderful cookbooks we have in store.

It is always validating to have a book we have fallen in love with get recognized by the food and publishing community.

Which brings us to the Art of Eating Prize, which was awarded last week. The Art of Eating Prize was established in 2014 and is awarded annually to the author of the year’s best book about food.

The six books of the 2015 Art of Eating Prize Shortlist represent a range of outstanding food writing. From the daunting pile of 84 nominations, the judges produced first a long list of 12 books and then a shortlist of six. We were thrilled that one of our favorite new Italian cookbooks made that minimal list.

The three-Michelin-star awarded chef Massimo Bottura in presents the stories behind four dozen of his dishes in Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef. Though this book looks quite serious, his interview and tasting menu on Jimmy Kimmel Live proves him to be a man of humor as well.

This tome is a tribute to Bottura’s twenty-five year career and the evolution of Osteria Francescana. Divided into four chapters, each one dealing with a different period, the book features 50 recipes and accompanying texts explaining Bottura’s inspiration, ingredients and techniques. Substantial enough to be a serious work of food literature, yet stimulating (and large) enough to be a coffee table book, this recognition is well deserved.

 

— Via Umbria 

Sometimes, on slower days at Via Umbria, we wander to our Italian book shelf and flip lovingly through the many wonderful cookbooks ...

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Noteworthy Notizie – March 6th

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FRIDAY, MARCH 6th

We hope this Friday finds you safe, warm, and excited for the weekend. Hopefully you are beside a pool (this image is from La Fattoria del Gelso in Umbria), but if you find yourself snowed in, we hope you have a relaxing and toasty weekend. Here’s what we have been reading at Via Umbria this week from around the web — grab some espresso and take a look.

 

 

So you think we are having bad weather in the Northeast? A dramatic helicopter rescue happened in the Italian Dolomites as 200 skiers were stranded when high winds blew a tree onto a cable car line.

 

An important new book on what makes Italy, Italy, got a delightful review by the New York Times. We can’t wait to crack it open.

 

Here are 20 things you have been doing wrong when cooking Italian food, and why and how to fix them.

 

Olive oil fraud is nothing new, but a class action suit to protect the purity of the labels is something to watch. At Via Umbria, we personally meet our suppliers, mostly tiny farms, to ensure that our oil is top quality, and not the fake stuff. Stock up on our trustworthy and tasty favorites online or in store. .

 

It’s not exaclty Umbria, but this New York Times Travel video of 36 hours in Rome has us craving la dolce vita.

 

Happy Weekend!

–Via Umbria

FRIDAY, MARCH 6th We hope this Friday finds you safe, warm, and excited for the weekend. Hopefully you are beside a pool (this ...