La Cantinetta Ristorante

Menu Degustazione

Affettati tipici

Antipasto Piemontese (Roasted pepper and liver pâté)

Egg yolk ravioli and Parmesan

Home made gnocci with Gorgonzola ~ Gnocchi al Gorgonzola

La Cantinetta
Via Roma, 33 - 12060 Barolo (Cn)
Tel. 0173/56198 - Fax: 0173/56198
Owners since 1995: Maurilio e Paolo Chiappetto

Beautiful day in Barolo

Dinning Room

Wine decanting by the owner

Inevitably delightful

Agnolotti del plin al sugo di arrosto

'Agnolotti al Plin' are a square or rectangular shape agnolotti with a side of about 1 inch. Plin' means a 'pinch' because you pinch it with thumb and forefinger between each mound of filling to close and seal the little pasta packets. Traditionally, they are dressed in a beef broth and a pinch of melted butter or in a fresh sage and generous melted butter sauce, as any other more complex sauce would take away the flavours of the agnolotti filling. In both cases topped with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese!

Hotel Barolo - Ristorante Brezza

Via Lomondo, 2 - 12060 Barolo (Cn) - Italia
Tel: +39 0173.56354 - Fax: +39 0173.560026
Email: hotelbarolo@hotelbarolo.it

Decoding the Serie: "From the Serie - ..."

From the Serie - Message in a bottle...

Delectable gastronomic quotations from books, texts and manuscripts

From the Serie - Menu du Jour...

From the market, an update from seasonal ingredients, menu creation, execution and its grand finale

From the Serie - Bacchanalia

"The bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Roman god Bacchus (or Dionysus). It has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry" (from Wikipedie, the free enclopedia). Simplifying it, my memories (sometimes lacking), notes, pictures, labels from wines tasted around the world

From the Serie - Bacchanalia

Great duet tasted at the celebrated lunch at the restaurant La Cantinetta in Barolo

From the Serie - Menu du Jour...

MENU du JOUR

Saturday 14.11.09

Sliced warm veal tongue with herb vinaigrette
Lingua tiepida di vitello con vinaigrette alle erbe

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Risotto ai funghi chanterelle d'automne, riduzioni di cervo

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Stewed Bresse pigeon with black olives, mushrooms and thyme
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Semi-dry goat cheese from Eaux Vives Market and lamb's lettuce salad
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Clémentine de Corse

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons of the year, the transition from summer into winter, when nights become noticeably earlier and apetites awaken as if from sleep. Our body responds to the transition from warm to cold weather, and its related status as the season of the primary harvest, assimilating the new colours, smells and habits.

For me Autumn comes as the green light for good and comforting food, all that food lovers have waited for, the best excuse to eat with a clear conscience. Not that my conscience was ever an obstacle when it comes to food.

It was one of those typical Saturday mornings in Geneva and after picking the ingredients in the Eaux Vives market we were off for an afternoon of serious cooking.

Six pigeon caracasses were roasted to prepare a brown chicken stock as a base for many preparations. Once brown, simply brush them with tomate paste and roast for 3-4 additional minutes. A delicate broth made with fresh leeks, carrots, turnips and onions will slowly cook our veal tongue which will be ultimately sliced and served with a herb vinaigrette. A must on this recipe is to slice the onion which has cooked in the broth and serve it on petals with olive oil and sea salt to balance it's natural sweetness.

"I see risottos being prepared since I was 3 years old" states Federico Colombo, perhaps exagerating with the words, however not an overstatement to say that his mushroom risotto with a venison reduction was close to perfection.

The pigeons followed, quickly seared and finished in a clear pigeon broth, along with black olives and mushrooms, served with buttered mashed potatoes.

Cheese, lamb's lettuce and obviously wine quite a lot of wine.

CANTINA GIUSEPPE RINALDI

The entrance

Tasting notes

Post it on a wooden chair

From the Serie - Message in a bottle...

"...The rare fruit would come later, however. First, one of the speakers said he would like to correct a few misunderstandings. "Some of you labor under the assumption that there is no more beautiful sound in this world than the pop of a champagne cork," he said. "You are wrong." "Champagne must be opened not with a pop or a bang but with a whisper." To open it otherwise, he warned, allows carbon dioxide to escape prematurely and the result, 'though spectacular', is usually a mess."

(Kladstrup, Don & Petie ; Wine & War ; 2001; p 182)

Save the Date

Tradiotionally served on Saturday afternoons, the Brazilian Feijoada is more than a lunch. The main idea is combining food, great caipirinhas and even greater people. Please save the date, Geneva 28/02/09.

From the Serie - Menu du Jour...

MENU du JOUR

Sunday 01.01.09

Mortadella di Bologna

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Tagliatelle alla bolognese

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Porchetta

Cime di rape ripassate in padella

Not even the heavy snow the covered Geneva this Sunday morning intimidated us to the religious trip to the Plainpalais market. A visit to the Amicucci stand is a must, we'll talk more about them another time, and we started with a thick and foamy espresso, kindly offered by the owner, probably noticing our need for cafeine, before we could start. "-200 grams of transparent slices of Mortadella di Bologna", the striking aroma that starts making you hungry.

Still not sure about the menu, and checking out the ingredients available to put a lunch together, we were asked to try one of their specialities of saucisson, a wild fennel and the other piquant.

That was the enlivening of our main course, snowy days require rich and comforting food, so we decided to make a ragoût, a stew with fresh sausages. By adding some minced meat and lardon we just needed to chose the pasta to be eaten with our ragoût alla bolognese. "-500 grams of fresh tagliatelle", a nice chunk of Parmesan, home made tomato sauce (with the instructions of the owner on how to prepare it) and that would be the dish of the day.

The kind lady still offered us a generous slice of roasted porchetta, which now with all the respect to the bolognese, has taken actual main course place. Some cime di rape, olive oil, garlic and chili pepper were going to be the perfect accompaniment for the porchetta. Champagne Billecart Salmon Brut Réserve and a great sparkling wine, a Brut Millesime 2004 from Jacques Germanier - Conthey / Switzerland (merci Stephanie) complemented this typical bolognese lunch.

Special thanks to the same irréductibles that are always there, even on snowy days