February 20, 2019

I am sitting in the servants’ quarters as I write this.  The servants’ quarters of a palazzo in Matera.  The Palazzo Gattini, in Piazza Duomo, is now a luxury hotel.  Around the corner and down some stairs are the former servants’ quarters, now turned into short-term rentals.  Ours is in Dimora Santa Barbara hosted by a wonderful father-son duo, Angelo and Ivan.

I couldn’t be happier.  The suite is massive; definitely bigger than my first house.  It has a separate fully-equipped kitchen, a large salon set up as both a living and dining room, a bedroom that is up a flight of stairs and overlooks the living room, and a bathroom.

The floors are marble and granite, the furnishings are antique, and the lighting is soft.  It is also blissfully quiet.  I could spend weeks, perhaps months, here but, unfortunately, it will only last two days.

Let me fill you in on what has happened since my last blog post.

The week of conserves and mixology ended on February 15th with what was billed as a “Pizza Party.”  Ha! It was not a party, it was a contest.  At the end, everyone was hungry because every two students made one small pizza, half of which was eaten by the judges.

We were randomly assigned to teams of two.  Tommy Palmer and I were a team.  The premise was that each team had to create a pizza from a basket of ingredients that would change from team to team using a maximum of five ingredients, not including the crust, and pair it with a creative cocktail using a maximum of five ingredients, not including garnishes, from a well-stocked bar.  The clincher was that we would have 10 minutes to make and bake the pizza and create the cocktail after we were given our basket of ingredients!

Once the ground rules were laid out, each team was given time to discuss cocktails with our mixologist, Agelos.  The conversation happened at the bar inside the school.  When our turn came, Tommy and I each took a seat at a bar stool and Agelos stood behind the bar.  He offered us each a shot.  We accepted.  He poured one for himself too.  We talked about strategy for pairing cocktails with pizza and how to have a plan that could be finalized and executed within the allotted 10 minutes.

Tommy and I then went off to discuss how we were going to tackle the task, knowing what ingredients we had to work with at the bar but not knowing what we had to work with for the pizza.  We also decided that Tommy would make the cocktail and I would make the pizza.

We had a couple of free hours before we had to assemble at 5 to start the contest.  About 4:45 my husband, Frank, arrived with Great Aunt Fidalma and cousins Massimo and Francesca from Tuscany.  They had all met up at the airport in Lamezia and driven to the school together.

Chef John saw that they were well-fed with house-cured meats, small sandwiches and pizza while we had our contest.

Tommy and I had decided that our theme would be Southern Italian.  That meant we would do a spicy pizza based on whatever spicy ingredients were available (it was unthinkable that there wouldn’t be at least ONE spicy ingredient) and that our cocktail would have citrus for which Southern Italy is well known.

We were introduced to our basket of ingredients by Chef John.  We had Bomba Calabrese, pickled pepperoncini, thinly sliced scallions, pizza cheese, Pecorino Romano cheese, anchovies, and sgombro (mackerel) that had been delicately braised.  We also learned that the two minutes Chef John took to explain our ingredients were deducted from our 10-minute allotment.  We now had 8 minutes to make a pizza and a cocktail.

I was hoping for arugula and pepperoncino oil so that I could top the pizza with something fresh that would also scream Southern Italy but it wasn’t to be.

Tommy went off to make the cocktail: one part lemon syrup, one part Aperol, and two parts gin stirred with ice, poured into a large ice-filled wine glass, topped with prosecco, sprayed with lemon and orange oil from freshly cut peels, and garnished with basil.

For the pizza, I stirred Bomba Calabrese into the tomato puree to evenly disperse the heat.  I rolled out the crust, topped it with the sauce, pizza cheese (pasta filata) and a small amount of Pecorino.  Thinly sliced onions were the closest I was going to come to a vegetable so those got added.  When the pizza came out of the oven, I topped it with small bits of scombro for my best attempt at a delicate freshness.  I avoided the anchovies as being too strong and the pickled pepperoncini as being to acidic.

Although Tommy and I didn’t win, Chef John held up a slice of the pizza to display, describing it as a perfectly baked pizza (smile).  Many of the students came up to Tommy and told him that they could have drunk our cocktail “all night.”

When the contest was over, a few of the students baked pies that were shared but these still didn’t satisfy everyone’s hunger.  So, while Agelos set about making a dirty vodka martini for Frank, with the dirty part being a few drops of Bomba Calabrese oil and a few drops of rosemary-infused extra virgin olive oil floating on top, Chef Juan and Ryan set about making a kilo of spaghetti con aglio e olio.  It went so fast that a second kilo followed immediately behind!

When the evening was over, a few of us ended up in Agelos’ suite drinking and talking until 3 AM.  Agelos was still raring to go but the rest of us were anxious to get some sleep.

The next morning, I had breakfast with the relatives while Frank slept.  Not only was he time-shifted by 8 hours, he hadn’t slept for 40 hours before our 3 AM curfew!

Mid-morning we headed to Soverato Dolci for coffee and pastries before driving to Serra San Bruno in the mountains.  The museum was closed so we headed back down the mountain to “il mare” (the sea) where it was warmer.  We had a very nice lunch at La Cabana restaurant on the beach (literally) in Pietragrande, the beach town below the school.

After a few hours of down time we went to Al Fondaco for dinner.  Al Fondaco serves superbly prepared Calabrian food.  We ordered wine and antipasto to start since the server said that the antipasto was “abondante” (abundant).  It sure was.  Over the course of an hour we got plate after bowl after platter of food.  We did manage to order a few plates of pasta after the antipasto (and a second liter of wine) but anything more was unthinkable, except, of course espresso and an amaro.

We went to bed happy and full.  We also woke up happy and full!

After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday the 17th we drove to Soverato and walked the lungomare (walkway along the sea); what Italians would call la passagiata.  Since it was Sunday, lots of folks were doing the same.  We had lunch at a small restaurant in Soverato followed by pastry and coffee at Soverato Dolci.

We drove to Lamezia and had an unremarkable drive through the old part of town before heading to the airport and saying goodbye to Zia Fidalma, Massimo and Francesca.

There were a few of us at the school for dinner.  Chef John had prepared an amazing dinner of ricotta gnocchi with spicy sausage in tomato sauce followed by a shredded cabbage salad which was followed by beautifully sautéed pork medallions with a rich sauce (I’m ashamed to say I don’t remember what the vegetable was!).  For dessert we had a caramelized ricotta cheesecake with rum-soaked raisins.

After breakfast the next morning, Frank and I set off for our adventure in Matera, an adventure that started in the servants’ quarters of a palazzo in Piazza Duomo.  Before that, however, we had some really good sandwiches at an AutoGrill on the Autostrada.  The quality of the food in Italy is amazing.  Here we were, essentially at a place to grab a quick bite at a highway rest stop and the sandwiches were memorable!  The gas station attendant also ran a small shop selling Calabrian food products.  Seasonal and regional are BIG concepts in Italian food.

Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It has a long (and at times disturbing) history.  I won’t try to recap Matera’s history here since that is better covered by travel books and websites.  But I will say that it is worth every minute of a long visit.  I’m sorry that we’re only here for two days.

While here, we’ve been trying to eat local food.  The area is famous for peppers that are fried until crispy and dark in spots.  Interestingly, they are not at all spicy but they are very flavorful.  As Chef John says, “If it doesn’t taste yummy it’s worthless.”