Food and Friends In Puglia and Basilicata

We start our La Bella Puglia tour in Lecce, a pretty province capital with a lively scene and white-stone Baroque palaces and monuments abound.

Antonella and Giorgio of Locanda Rivoli, who host our first dinner on tour–just around the corner from our hotel–are the perfect local pugliesi to introduce and fully immerse us in local food and traditions. We always meet with them in advance to collaborate and discuss in detail the dishes, the menu, but on one particular occasion we went all out to convince them to prepare with us a very local dish called pampanella–a soft creamy white, fresh delicious spread made by dropping milk into a fig leaf and bending the stem so that its white liquid comes in contact with the milk.

Cheese takes rennet to prepare the curd. Rennet is a complex of enzymes produced in stomachs of ruminant mammals and it is widely used all over the world (though there are other unique ways of making milk turn and eventually become cheese). In China, some use rice wine to produce a “royal” cheese, but Puglia has it’s own special process around the production of this very unique cheese. In a very short period of time it all solidifies. On tour we had the pleasure of tasting it while Antonella recalls and shares with us how once upon a time she spent copious hours and care to finding, calling and then personally driving to a local masseria (estate farm) to buy all the materials and begin following the instruction/specific details around making this local cheese.

Antonella and her husband Giorgio are also magically skilled at making a delightful local dish called tajedda (rice, potatoes, muscles; a traditional recipe) and they love serving this dish along with their powerful home-made Laurel Leaf Liquor.

Half way through our trip we get closer to one of the most visited and photographed sites (Unesco): Alberobello. This  little town with its unique houses called trulli–is no longer a secret. Afterwards, at Nadia and Peppino’s local masseria– a large family size farm with crops and animals–we enjoy a traditional picnic-lunch stop. Delicious home made food including the legendary (and very traditional) fava beans puree with wild chicory. The couple offers an interesting demonstration on how to prepare the original orecchiette pasta dish–the local “king” dish of Puglia.

But the real gran finale happens during our last few days in the city of Matera. Located in the region of Basilicata, just across the Puglia border, Matera is so much more then just a Unesco World Heritage site. It’s a town shaped by caves and stones and, well, we could spend hours here relishing in its history.

The last day of our tour includes an exhilarating descent and an unforgettable farewell lunch at L’Orto di Lucania. This gorgeous farmhouse restaurant is situated in the middle of a large plain dominated by the town of Montescaglioso. Owners Cinzia and Fulvio have spent a good part of their life in renovating and developing the produce growing side of the business reaching national praise for their open air dried tomatoes and also the DOP (locally and territorially protected) red eggplant.

A few of these days call for low calorie burning but our priority is: climbing, then descending and finally a strong focus on not missing anything at the table.  In Matera it is common to see a very simple serving of chick peas, small, sweet and creamy in the traditional puree version, with a slice of the very typical local bread and a drop of spicy and polyphenols rich olive oil. Simply divine!

Fulvio and Cinzia deserve a real shout out! It’s always a pleasure for guests to meet them, listen to stories of working the local land, buying and selling local property. This couples shares their vast knowledge of the local people, relationships to land and production of local produce or products and an open minded perspective on life. We especially adore their creative dessert made with fresh mandarins, home made jam, and freshly prepared strawberry ice cream.