Mucho Denaro

Spending a day with Salvatore Denaro is one of life’s great pleasures. But be sure to bring a pair of comfortable shoes and drink plenty of water. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

We have cooked with Salvatore on just about every visit to Umbria over the past few years. This internationally known and beloved chef, formerly proprietor of Foligno’s favorite restaurant il Bacco Felice has, for two years or so taken up residence at the Arnoldo Caprai winery, serving as the house chef, cooking class instructor and all around ambassador for the winery and its owner Marco Caprai. There at the winery Marco has given Salvatore the resources and support for him to flourish and to do what Salvatore does best – being Salvatore.

Our visits often start out, as it did yesterday, meeting Salvatore at his orto just outside Cantalupo to harvest fresh produce for the class but even more as an excuse for an aperitivo in the natural setting of his garden. And what a garden it is. Here, rows of various types of tomatoes – dateri, paccheri, heirloom – as well as okra, lettuces, zucchini and the like grow well tended and lovingly cared for. A tour through the orto is an opportunity to see firsthand how Salvatore truly loves the land and all that springs from it. Fruit trees, especially this time of year hang pendulous with ripe and unripe fruits, Salvatore plucking them off and putting them in the red plastic basket or woven reed one or, more often, popping them into his mouth, eyes rolling and “meriviglioso” streaming from his mouth as he hands you a fresh fig or a ripe cherry tomato. A trip to the pig sty to see Wilbur, his enormous pig kept not for butchering but as a pet, together with the new ones has been supplemented with the addition of a chicken coop where a dozen or more chickens now lay eggs and await their turn to be featured in Salvatore’s cooking.

There is something not so much magical as it is natural to wander in a pack behind Salvatore, absorbing the residual excitement and love for this place that sloughs off of him as he careens down its rocky soil paths.

Harvesting wild greens – nettles, boracchio and other herbs and plants that most people would not even notice – has become a highlight of our visits with him. And when we return to the kitchen at Caprai and with our basket of bounty it is often hard to imagine how we could possibly use these weeds and leaves. But we do. But not before first enjoying a glass or two of wine, shaded from the bright sun by a canopy of nature, enjoying Salvatore’s excitement and each other’s company before packing up and making the short drive to Bevagna and the Caprai winery.

For guests who have never before seen the Arnaldo Caprai winery the entrance is, while perhaps not rising to the level of breathtaking, at least headshakingly memorable. In a land where many wineries are operated exclusively by family members and which typically are comprised of 10-20 acres, Caprai is a temple, an elegant structure dominating the top of a hill, surrounded by well maintained vines in every direction. And the vines go on and on, Caprai being the biggest winery in Montefalco. But in addition to being the biggest Caprai is credited with being one of the leading forces that put Montefalco on the international wine map, helping develop Sagrantino secco, the dry red wine made from the region’s indigenous grape of the same name and leading the promotional effort that brought Montefalco and its wines out of the shadows. No one is at a loss for an opinion about Caprai but it is undeniable that it has played an essential role in shaping the Montefalco of today.

Salvatore’s kitchen is an impressive, well outfitted space with modern equipment, plenty of light and, being located above the cantina, a refrigerator full of wine. Wine which Salvatore freely pours and sometimes even shares with his guests. As he is fond of saying in halting English, “I like to cooka with the wine. Sometimes I putta it in the food.” Often while in the middle of preparing a dish, such as his unbelievably sumptuous nettle pasta lasagna, he will look up realizing his glass is empty and break into song. “Vino, vino, vino” and we will search for a bottle before returing to the task at hand.

Cooking with Salvatore is one great big slight of hand and he is a magician of considerable skill. Just like a conjurer, he often seems to be running down a dark alley, destined for a dead end when, voila, he changes course and an unforgettable dish takes shape. Bruschetta with figs. Whoda thunkit? We are so conditioned to turn on the salivary glands when we see toasted bread topped with glowing red tomatoes that we tend to stop thinking about other possibilitites. Not Salvatore. In the orto we harvest a dozen or so ripe figs as well as handful of hard unripe ones, the soft figs being spread on toasted bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. It is a combination of tastes that would never have crossed our imagination but it is still just a “work in progress” according to Salvatore, although in our estimation it seems to have already arrived at its destination. A veritable Italian Fig Newton. Similarly, the unripe figs are diced and added to a pasta dish with tomato sauce, adding a vegetal taste that amplifies the traditional. Now who woulda thunk of that?

As Salvatore seemingly improvises the menu (which he clearly has not as all of the ingredients, with the exception of eggs, are prepped and at the ready) the anticipated end time begins pushing past lunch and the mid afternoon into the dinner hour. And so it does as we will share Salvatore’s company until nearly 6:00pm. But as long as we must wait for the porchetta to finish roasting in the oven we might as well work on other dishes, such as the nettle pasta for the lasagna or the béchamel sauce for the same. And if you get tired of cooking you can always rest your feet and maybe play with Rosa, Salvatore’s faithful retriever. Or with Mose, the newest addition to the Denaro family, this adorable two month old pincer only just coming up to your ankles and finding much to keep him busy around your shoes. If there is an easy, unrushed and unstructured feel to a day with Salvatore it is because it is easy, unrushed and unstructured. Despite all the hard work, the concentration and artistry that cooking at this level requires, Salvatore makes it feel spontaneous and natural. And it is this feeling of peacefulness and joy which makes you forget that all is not so simple or automatic. A day with Salvatore is truly the definition of la dolce vita, yet another example of that elusive feeling of well being that is not so elusive here in Italy.