THE FOOD
When we finally got home, Karen and I sautéed a skilletful of red peppers, onions, and garlic, then added a jar of Italian tomato sauce to put over our ravioli which was beef and lightly seasoned. We grated some of the fermière’s cheese for the topping. We were still not impressed. Fresh parmesan it wasn’t. “Well,” Karen said analytically, “it doesn’t take away from the pasta, but it doesn’t add anything either!” We hated to admit that we had pounds of cheese that neither of us liked. I urged her to take some back to Paris with her, but she refused.
Elena with cheese and ravioli.
Valiantly, I have attempted to redeem this cheese in other preparations. One night I microwaved some of it in a small dish, hoping to dip bread in it like raclette. (I’m sure true cheese lovers are shuddering, but I was desperate.) It only melted a bit around the edges, and wouldn’t spread. Later, the grated bits I added to my potato soup were chewier than the potatoes. A final test was to put several long slivers into a skillet over low heat. It softened to the consistency of playground blacktop on a hot July day. You could smoosh it a bit, but it never lost its shape or its rubbery quality. Originally, seeing the farmhouse there in the Alps, I had visions of Heidi, whose gruff uncle speared hunks of cheese, toasted them over the fire and delivered them onto a slab of brown bread. If this is the same type of cheese, I now know why it didn’t fall into the fire. It simply doesn’t melt!
Karen said later, “There is no purpose whatsoever for that cheese; it just adds empty calories!” But in all fairness to the farmers, it is a method of protein condensation, just like tofu. And it uses milk, which prior to refrigeration, would have spoiled. Perhaps if one has been eating it since birth, it is comfort food.
I’m heartily in favor of the Slow Food movement and the trend toward supporting area farmers, whether in Indiana or Italy, but one can’t gushingly assume that just because “artisanal” food is prepared locally from indigenous ingredients, that it is all gourmet, or even good. I remember a cherry pie that I bought from an Amish farm stand in the middle of Pennsylvania and bore proudly over the hills to my girlfriend’s house in Pittsburgh. She is a piemaker of renown in her family, and I have been schooled in the Elnora Hiatt Culinary Institute of Pies, so we cut this cherry pie with high expectation. The crust: thick and leaden. Cardboard was a delicacy in comparison. The filling: gelatinous. The cherries, where were the cherries? We located 7 or 8 in the middle of the red goo. Nothing would redeem this pie, as nothing would redeem this cheese. So much for the myth of country cooking.
Travelers, if you take the high road to Triora and you see the lone farm there in the hills, wave at the fermière, but don’t stop. Save your money for lunch at the Ristorante Albergo.
Still, the story alone was worth the 10 Euro.
DETAILS:
Karen Henrich’s Potage aux Legumes
Chop 1 large onion, 3-4 ribs of celery, and half of a hot pepper, and sauté in oil until golden. Put in about half of the celery leaves, but save some for later.
Smash several cloves of garlic, removing outer peel, and add to onion. Sauté briefly.
Add several cups of chicken broth to pot, along with a bay leaf or two. Begin simmering.
Clean and cut several carrots into discs about 1/8” thick.
Wash and dice 2 potatoes. No need to peel.
Cut 1/2 head of cabbage into 1” squares. Add all to pot.
Add 2 large cans of tomatoes with juice, smashing tomatoes with wooden spoon. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add water if necessary to cover vegetables.
Chop several small zucchini. Add to pot.
Simmer another 10-15 minutes until vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add chopped cilantro and more celery leaves just before serving.
Sprinkle a spoonful of grated parmesan cheese into the soup each bowl, then drizzle with crème fraiche.
Antico Ristorante Albergo
“Santo Spirito”
Piazza Roma, 23
18010 Molini Di Triora
Italia
Tel: 0184.94019
www.ristorantesantospirito.com
For more information on Triora:
http://www.bussana.com/surf.to/triora/
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