After our tortas and a bit of wine had whet our palates, the main course arrived, with great presentation. A large platter of bolliti, a separate bowl of carrots and potatoes, and another plate, containing five different salsas: the salsa verde, Bearnaise, a horseradish compote, a garlic sauce, and the mostarda.

This was a meal to linger over and enjoy, and we did, but when we were ready there was a dessert included, Bonet alla Piemontese, seen below, another very traditional dish. Like bollito, bonet is typically eaten during the winter months. And, like the bollito, it has been prepared for centuries, with little variation apart from the addition of chocolate after the discovery of the New World. In old Piemontese dialect the word bonet means hat, and there are two old theories as to why it is called this. One theory is that the hat represented the chef's hat. And the other is that this was the last thing eaten before putting on one's hat to leave. Recipes abound on modern versions that are not difficult to prepare, and I had written about bonet once before on this blog, here, after having tried my very first one.