The C.O.S.I group has chosen winter for this months joint post. Italy is full of great things to do and I am sure the C.O.S.I bloggers will have lots of useful information from visiting wonderful places in Florence to skiing in the Alps. I personally think skiing is far to dangerous for a mere black sheep (Pecora Nera) So instead I will tell you about food, wine and dinning with good friends, which is much closer to my heart than skiing.
Mrs Sensible and I were invited to the 50th Bagna Cauda evening in Cortandone, by a wonderful couple (Mr & Mrs K) who we had met a few months ago. Mr K and I appear to have a couple of things in common, we both enjoy a laugh, we have Italian wives who are bilingual and neither of us have mastered the Italian language, allegedly Mr K knowledge of Italian is a bit better than mine.
The festivities took place in a little village in Asti about 48 kilometers (about 30 Miles in real money) from where we live.
Bagna Cauda, according to the nice old guy who was sat at our table, is a traditional Piedmontese winter meal; the ingredients are remarkably simple and are guaranteed to your sinuses; they are garlic and anchovies cooked in olive oil. We took our seats and I was mildly impressed to see there was already a carafe of wine on the table.
While Mr K and I sampled the wine and tried to decided if it was Barbera or a Grignolino (we finally decided it was definitely a red) the waiter arrived and poured some of the mixture into our dishes. Now it is very hard to describe the texture and colour of the Bagna Cauda, it certainly smelt of anchovies and garlic, there was obviously a lot of olive oil mixed in the mixture with bits floating in it and it also looked a little bit like a primeval swamp.
On the table there was a couple of platters of raw and cooked vegetables, including potatoes, radish, peppers and celery. I even found a couple of large and fantastic spring onions to throw into my pot. As you can see I was correct, it was red wine.
The following is not a very good picture, but I think it is important to show you the size of the spring onion I rescued from the vegetable platter and stuck in my pot… much to the dismay of Mrs Sensible.
After a second refill of Bagna Cauda, the waiter arrived with some plates of pastina. Pastina is a light soup with very small pieces of pasta floating in it.
I very nearly got into trouble at this point because Mrs S asked me if I was enjoying the pastina, I said yes it is OK; but it tastes like soup with scrambled egg floating in it. I was informed by Mrs S that it was egg pasta!!! Which was why to me, it tasted of scrambled egg in soup…. Still it was very nice, a little unusual because I normally prefer my scrambled egg on toast.
After the scrambled egg in soup, a waiter arrived to ask if we wanted the meat dish. I always become a little worried when waiters (or my wife) tell me it is meat rather than pork or beef. The nice old mans wife asked if I like meat. I confidently answered.”Io mangio tutti” Mrs Sensible, said he means “tutto not tutti” Apparently with my limited grasp of the Italian language I had just informed the nice old lady that I eat everybody rather than everything. Oh well.
Then the meat arrived.
There were two items on the plate that I recognised and a couple of pieces that looked like maybe they had come from dubious origins. While no one was watching too closely I slide the strange-looking meat onto Mrs Sensible’s plate and kept what looked like a slice of beef. I know the round thing was cotechino and under normal circumstances I would have eaten it, but what with scrambled eggs in soup I wasn’t going to take any chances. Plus I had eaten salami at the start of the meal, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.
We had a quick raffle, I failed miserably, I didn’t even win a cuddly toy.
And then the sweet arrived and the waiter kindly brought another carafe of wine.
I won’t say Roberto was the highlight of the evening; but he came very close to it. He arrived at out table with a bottle of grappa in one hand and a bottle of limoncello in the other.
Which would you like? Roberto asked. “Yes please” I answered. As Mrs Sensible rolled her eyes to heaven he poured me a large measure of grappa and a glass of limoncello. Roberto then turned to my friend and asked if he would like a glass of both. I am not sure his wife approved and I think Mr K tried to say it was my fault, that I was a bad influence.
This morning I awoke to find the bedroom windows had been mysteriously opened by Mrs S in the middle of the night. I think the smell of garlic, anchovies, spring onions, wine, limoncello and grappa had become too much for her sensitive nose.
Verdict on the evening.
Brilliant, The food was great and it is always a pleasure to spend time with good friends.
Georgette (Girl in Florence): What to expect when you visit Florence in winter
Andrea (Sex lies and Nutella): Surviving the Italian winter
Gina (The Florence Diaries): A foreigner’s guide to surviving winter in Italy
Rochelle (Unwilling Expat):Without winter there would be no summer
Misty (Surviving in Italy): Italy in the winter: Baby, it’s cold outside
Maria (Married to Italy)
Rick (Rick’s Rome): How to enjoy winter in Italy
This made me laugh out loud! scrambled eggs in soup and NO cuddly toy? At least it all ended with grappa.
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Hi Georgette, I thought scrambled eggs in soup was a bit strange, but apparently it is completely normal here. Mind you Italians eat some weird pasta dish made with either the ink of squid or octopus. personally I have stayed clear of it, the only black things I like to eat are liquorice, burnt toast or food that I have cremated by accident
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Sounded lovely to have a meal with new good friends. I would not have eaten the meat at all. Do they eat horses/donkeys in Italy too? I cringe at the thought.
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The Italians will eat most things, obviously cooked to perfection. Donkey (Asino) is very popular around here, I guess that is why you don’t see too many on the beaches giving children rides. Horses also get eaten, in fact don’t tell anyone, but I like horse meat it is very sweet and full of iron. The first time I tried horse, Mrs Sensible kept telling me it was cavallo so I kept eating it. When I asked her what cavallo was I nearly choked on the horse meat.
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oh for shame. I could not eat horse or donkey unless I had absolutely nothing else to eat. I don’t eat beef or pork but eat a bit of fish, chicken or, turkey BECAUSE my MD told me that I MUST get more protein. But I don’t try to convert anyone. My choices are a moral one and I don’t impose or try to change anyone else to think or do the same.
So my thinking for you is that if you can’t ride’em then eat’em. 🙂
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A horse once bit me, donkey is a different matter I remember riding them on the UK beaches. It is difficult to eat something that was once called Judy or Jake.
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Whoa. You are a scream. You might have eaten one called Pete.
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To my knowledge they I have only eaten Italian horses, so it might have been either Mario or Marco.
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Hee-hee and neigh-neigh or in my case I say nay to eating horse meat but I bet you whinny in your sleep.
Pete. I am just having a bit of fun with you. Hope you know that. Happy “hay” day to you.:-)
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I made bagna cauda once as an effort to cook Italian. Never again. The meat here is strange, either dull or suspicious, that cottechino stuff is just horrible. Why haven’t they discovered gravy or a simple piece of fillet steak done rare !!! I love the ravioli when done delicately but otherwise ……. I am longing for a real curry that I don’t have to cook myself.
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I think cottechino is an acquired taste, some days I will eat it and on others I will pass.
Have you tried stinco? I refused to eat it for many years, mainly based on the name 🙂 Mrs Sensible says I am like a child and eat with my eyes 😉
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That’s one thing you can count on in Italy: something unpleasant (in this case the cold) is almost always balanced by something comforting, usually in the form of food and/or wine. Life’s small pleasures.
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Bagna Cauda is incredibly famous up in the north. Most of the Pro Loco will have a bagna cauda evening. And as you said it balances out the cold.
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What a great evening, at least for you and Mr K.
Cotechino … ugh. Mrs Sensible can have my portion too.
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Mr K is a hoot, the women where discussing something in Italian and we had started our own little wine tasting session. The cotechino didn’t look to bad, but there was some very strange white and grisly meat on the plate, I think it is the meat we English throw away, hence I passed it all to Mrs S
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Love cooking and trying out Piedmontese recipes. Have yet to try making bagna cauda though. May very well cure my sinuses which have taken a beating recently too…
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Hi Turin mamma, They must be serving bagna cauda near you! I really do like it and enjoy the evening. It is just the following day when your breath can melt the windscreen of your car that is the problem.
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i have to say i would have made the exact same call. hide the meat of unknown origin on someone else’s plate and fill up on the safe foods, wine, sweets, alcohol, and veggies. a survival of the fittest technique to be sure.
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Hi Beth,
We are the same, 🙂 You need to come and join one of our wine tasting evenings. We can all pass the dodgy meat on to Mrs Sensible’s plate
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Now that’s the best way to while away the winter … looks delish!!!!
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It was delish, especially the wine, grappa and limoncello
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That meat certainly looks… interesting! I tried Bagna Cauda for the first time last week and was distinctly underwhelmed. On the plus side, they just kept bringing us more wine, so all’s well that ends well!
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I wasn’t too sure about the meat…. hence Mrs S received double portions. I think Mr K and I had consumed half of the first carafe of wine before the bagna cauda arrived 🙂
Just not enough to tempt me to eat the strange meat..
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Bagna Cauda is amazing, I love the stuff. Would love to attend an event like this someday.
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In Piemonte during November and December there is a bagna cauda event most weekends. They are great fun. Where are you based?
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Phoenix, Arizona unfortunately.
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Tsk! Too far to drop in for a nice glass of Barbera
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Unfortunately, yes.
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Never heard of bagna cauda but it sounds delicious! A meal in itself really. I’m surprised you could get up from the table after eating the whole meal!
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Did I mention the oranges and monkey nuts they placed on the table?
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I haven’t tried bagna cauda but it sounds really good. I love brodo straciatella- with a beaten egg and lots of parmigiano. Yum! I was in a restaurant in Greve a few years ago and they had asino on the menu. The menu was bilingual and I couldn’t stop laughing at the translation-‘piece of ass’! Ciao, Cristina
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Lol piece of ass!!! Brilliant. I hope you took a picture. Did you try it ?
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I couldn’t bring myself to try it! Not with the poor but hilarious translation! Sadly I did not take a picture-since this was a few years before Instagram!
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I feel as though I was there with you! The strong smell of the anchovies and garlic managed to seep out through my computer… It looks like it was a wonderful evening – not surprised Mrs S had to open the windows! 😀
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Sorry about that, you will have to sleep with the windows open until the whiff goes away. It was great fun, I find my Italian improves as my volume of alcohol increases, well I think it does
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I’ve had all windows open all day, plus a scented candle burning, and I think the whiff has finally subsided. 🙂
More alcohol more of the time would seem to be the answer to your Italian studies.
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Good to hear that you had a great evening and thanks for the laugh 🙂
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