Another day .. another cheese tasting ... (yawnnnn). 

Just kidding of course! This was a great one! We accompanied some restaurant owners to Luigi Guffanti Cheese Producers, in nearby Arona, for a cheese tasting event open to restaurants, shops, and other distributors of their products. On an unassuming street, in a nondescript building, distinguishable today only by the large balloon inflated outside to draw attention to the event, a large group of people were gathered inside for a tour of the cheese cantina, to be followed by a buffet tasting.

Here are some of the highlights:

Bollito Misto is a traditional Northern Italian dish, much loved and prepared in the cold winter months. The name means "boiled mix," and that is exactly what the dish is. Bollito is most popular in the northern regions of Italy, such as Piemonte, Lombardia, and Emilia-Romagna, and has been so for centuries, as is witnessed by its common inclusion in several historic cookbooks. For example, a cookbook printed in 1694, Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward), includes 38 different varieties of bolliti.

In keeping with this tradition, we recently went to a special Serata Bolliti, featuring an all-inclusive, fixed-price bollito menu. Here's the traditional menu:

I've received a few mails recently asking about where to eat breakfast in Stresa:

"Do you know if there are places in Stresa where I can have breakfast? I am considering to book a hotel without breakfast. I couldn't find any address of a cafeteria there."

"We're staying in a place w/o breakfast - can you suggest some great places for breakfast?"

There is no cafeteria-style restaurant in Stresa. There is no Starbucks, and no McDonalds. The restaurants around the piazza and along the lake, although open early in the morning, for the most part do not serve a 'breakfast', if your idea of breakfast is ham and eggs, pancakes, or cereals. They do, however, all offer the traditional Italian breakfast, colazione, of a cappuccino and a brioche. And of course you should have that. But, what can you do if you are used to, or want, or need, a bit more in the morning? Here are five ways to get your morning meal in Stresa:   (   continued ....  )

Start with a saucepan of your vegetable stock, brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer. In another saucepan you have already slightly browned some chopped onion in a bit of olive oil and butter. Add the rice (I generally use carnaroli for risotto), and allow it to 'open' by heating it for a couple of minutes, until the rice sfrigola, sizzles, before adding the first scoops of brodo, broth. How much rice? A handful for me, a handful for you, and a handful for the pot.

Here's the backstory on these cookies:

Bresaola and radicchio pizza... This is my favorite pizza to eat when I'm here in Stresa. Maybe because it's a pizza that I'd never heard of before... or maybe it's because it was the first dinner that I ever had here... or maybe just because it is that good.

Every tourist wants to eat pizza when they are here in Italy, and I am no different. One always wants to compare it to their pizza at home. For me, the differences were several. Here in Stresa, pizza was definitely a fork and knife food; there were no slices precut. And the large pie was intended to be a meal for one, all for me. So, I just began cutting and eating. The pie ordered for me was a bresaola and radicchio pizza, and although I've tried other pizzas since, this one remains my favorite. Bresaola are paper-thin slices of meat, beef or sometimes horse. They are not cooked but either dried or cured, and then shaved into thin pieces. They can be a little dry on their own, which is why they are generally served with something which contains a bit of olive oil, to moisten them up. And radicchio is red chicory, crisp and crunchy.

At first I thought perhaps this was a regional specialty, but it turns out that it's more a specialty of the Ristorante Nazionale, in Baveno, where we ate it. It's just one of many interesting combinations of toppings you can find on the pizza here. And although I am sure you may be able to find it again at other restaurants somewhere, I still haven't seen this pizza anywhere else except Nazionale. Therefore, you'll need to come here to try it. Or, if not this one, to discover your own favorite.


Piazza Dante Alighieri, 17
+39 0323 924529.

Fil da Fer served hot at Ristorante Casa della Neve atop Mt. Mottarone.

The winters are long and cold in the mountains of the Italian Alps of Piemonte. The highest mountain in the Alps, Mont Blanc, is near the Italian-French border, and the second highest, Monte Rosa, straddles the Swiss-Italian, not far at all from Stresa. Its peak is clearly visible as we drive into Stresa from Milan, it dominates the view to the north from Mt. Mottarone, and even from Lago Maggiore and the Borromean Islands I can see Monte Rosa. The point is, it's cold up in all those mountains. The people living on Monte Rosa long ago concocted a liquore to help warm the long winter days and nights. The legend has it that it was during a prolonged and brutal blizzard which they passed safely in a shelter stored with foods. They combined their simple mountain distilled whiskey with some of the supplies, and a drink was invented. They called it fildafer. It is a Piemontese dialect word which means threads of iron. Imagine red-hot iron down your throat. That would warm you up...

Today Fil da Fer is produced by the Distilleria Monterosa, using the same ingredients of old. The drink is a mixture of whisky rye, milk, sugar, egg yolks, marsala, and just a hint of vanilla. It can be drank at room temperature, but most often it is heated; now it warms you in two ways. The slightly thick, bright orange liquore is packaged by Distilleria Monterosa in attractive bottles and flasks, making it a nice gift from the region. But the better way to try it is atop Mt. Mottarone, at one of the ski-lodge-type restaurants found there, sitting in front of a fireplace and looking out the windows at the skiers and the snow.

I had my first taste in this way, at Ristorante Casa della Neve. This is one of a few rustic looking restaurants that can be found at the summit of Mt. Mottarone. The back of the restaurant has expansive views of Lago Maggiore far below. The front entrance has an 'undressing' area, with large hooks along the walls, useful for the skiers in winter and the mountain bikers in summer. In the center is a stone fireplace, surrounded by a few couches; they are close enough to the fire to really feel the heat. My fildafer was served hot, in a small glass cup with a metal handle. The drink was warm and slightly sweet. The fire was crackling and hot. Outside the snow was white and the sky crisp and clear all the way to Milano. Those early mountain men really knew how to brighten a cold winter day.

In case you missed it, yesterday's Italian Notebook featured an amusing article about the story behind risotto alla milanese. Whether the tale of the Duomo painting assistant nicknamed Zafferano is true or not, it makes for good reading, and definitely a fun explanation for how the traditional risotto here in the northern regions of Italy came to be made always with saffron. With the winter months coming now, risotto alla milanese will be second only to polenta as the accompaniment of choice to the brasato, stufato (braised beef and stews), and osso buco that are so common, and you can be sure that it will be seen on my plate a lot.

But there are variations on the theme, and risotto is made and found in local restaurants with many other additions beyond the traditional saffron. I remember one in particular, a very special plate of champagne risotto I ate at il Ristorante Arc en Ciel, on Via P. Tomaso in Stresa. I had it as my primo at this meal; for my antipasto there was a refreshing plate of melone e prosciutto crudo. In my mind a perfect summer northern Italian meal. I regret that I didn't take photos that evening, and so you'll need to imagine this champagne risotto, with a good quarter bottle of champagne added before the broth, and vegetable broth used in place of beef broth. The result is creamy, white risotto, rich tasting, with just a hint of tartness from the champagne.


Giuseppe and I have made many pots of risotto. One winner was our prosecco risotto prepared alla versione Marchesi. This is a reference to the great Italian chef Gualtiero Marchesi, who makes risotto with water instead of broth. We tried just this, and created a perfect and light risotto with prosecco, which, per essere onesta, to be honest, I preferred even to the champagne version, as I for one will take prosecco any day over champagne.

The problem with porcini mushrooms is that they can't easily be cultivated. Like truffles, they only grow well in a symbiotic relationship with certain trees and earth around them. In the late summer and early autumn the porcini mature. This means you must eat as many as you can now, because for the rest of the year you will be left only with dried porcini to use.

Zuppa d’Orzo con Funghi.

Ravioli al ripieno di Porcini.

Medaglione di Fassona con funghi e zucchine.

Torta di Pane della nonna Afra su crema calda.

La Taverna del Mago, Viale Azari, 94, Verbania Pallanza.

I have such wonderful memories of autumns in Stresa, and when I think of autumns in Stresa I think also of chestnuts. I first noticed the abundance of chestnuts when hiking on a trail in the hills above the town, aptly named the Sentiero dei Castagni, the Chestnut Trail. I could have filled bushels with them as we walked; instead, I settled for a handful in my pocket, my very first chestnuts picked up from the very ground they fell on; I still have those few as souvenirs. And so, since that time, it's not the fancy restaurant dishes prepared with chestnuts that I recall the most fondly, it's the simple events, the ones that have involved roasted chestnuts.


Here in Stresa several different groups organize chestnuts roastings in the piazzas and therefore there will be chestnuts to be enjoyed for several successive weekends. The fire department of Stresa organizes the largest roasting, with many pans at the same time set up along the lake near the Stresa imbarcadero. The Gruppo Alpini have arranged for another, in Piazza Marconi...

I was in Mergozzo a different autumn day when they had their event. It was smaller of course, with a couple of large fires roasting near the lake. Above it, as an extra added attraction, a tight cable strung across the corner of the lake offered harness rides from one side to the other. I sat in my favorite spot in the birreria while the people sailed over our heads and the smoke rose from the roasting pans.


But my favorite chestnut festival of all was my first, the one in the town of Coimo, in the Valle Vigezzo. This was the largest festival by far that I've been to, as it was more of a regional fair for the string of small villages in the valley. Underneath a large, red tent, rows of picnic tables were arranged. Along the side were the longest grills I've ever seen. On them were cooking the biggest ribs I've ever seen. And there was wine flowing, you could bring your glass or an empty bottle to the counter where it would be filled from nameless vats of red wine. Children from the town, all wearing chestnut festival t-shirts, sold the bags of fresh and very hot chestnuts on another side of the tent. We had a pile of ribs, and a huge bag of castagne which we tore open a bit in the center of the table. These were the first chestnuts I ate, ever, perhaps for this they are my favorite. More likely though it is the memory of the fun of sitting at the long table in the big red tent, filled with the smoky smell of ribs and chestnuts, the sound of people cracking them open all around me and laughter. An overabundance, and not only of chestnuts...

The small terrace at Ristorante il Vicolleto.

Recently I spoke about the octopus dishes that I ate in Stresa. One of them was from Ristorante il Vicoletto, and I promised that I'd talk again about the entire meal that I ate there, as it was one of my favorites. Vicoletto is found on Vicolo del Poncivo, 3, a little bit off of the new Piazza Possi, on a charming side alley that also houses the post office, the K2 gelato shop, Marcello's coffee bar Torrefazione, and a variety of slightly eccentric buildings. When Massimiliano Quarenga, he's the chef, and Monica Francese, she's the house manager, took over the space they renovated both inside and out. An outside alcove has been turned into a terrace with five tables. It's a small and quiet spot, with three sides enclosed with walls, and the fourth, open to the street, is shielded with glass, which provides a nice barrier against wind on the terrace but still allows a view out. Inside, the restaurant seats 60. The decor inside is cozier, with white cloth-covered tables and cabinets filled with wine bottles. The food is traditional for the Lago Maggiore region, and the presentation, as you can see, is beautiful.

We were shown immediately to our table on the terrace, as we had made a prenotazione, a reservation, the day before. Grisini, breadsticks were already on the table. Water and our Vermentino Ligure were brought quickly, along with a basket of small breads. For our primo we had the carpaccio di polpo con pomodorini pachino and the insalata caprese. Both portions were large, fresh, and delicious. They were served on the square white plates that, it turned out, all the courses were served on.


For our secondi, we both chose the pesto con trofie. This was a generous serving of the traditional, twisted little trofie pasta well-tossed with pesto. This pesto was a little lighter than some others I've had, which I liked, as others can become too heavy, and this was a generous portion. There were a few green beans and chunks of potatoes mixed into the dish, and for show, a parmesan cheese crisp decorating the top.

Lucky us, because our pestos weren't too heavy, we still had room enough for these desserts. Again on the square plate with flared edges, I had the tiramisu. I liked that it was an individual serving, as everything stayed together, and as you can see, it had a wonderfully thick topping of cocoa. And the artistic dessert that looks like a volcano is pistachio ice cream with chocolate syrup.



Ristorante Vicoletto
Vicolo del Poncivo 3, Stresa
tel. 0323 932102

Open for lunch and dinner every day except Thursday.

www.ristoranteilvicoletto.com

This is a "good" cappuccino from the IperCoop supermarket caffe bar, Gravellona.

We've been comparing cappuccinos... Giuseppe tells me that there is average cappuccino, there is good cappuccino, and then there is serious cappuccino, and I absolutely need to know the difference. This isn't about knowing how to make a perfect cappuccino, it's only about drinking them.

Just average cappuccino, hmm, try to stay away from it.

Go at least for a good one. A good cappuccino has the following qualities: It should be the perfect temperature the moment it is put in front of you. Not so hot that you need to wait to drink it, and not so cool that it tastes like it's been sitting on the counter for some time. The foam should be foamy, but not too much or too little. That is, it shouldn't disappear like soda bubbles in just moments. It also shouldn't be like drinking coffee through whipped cream. It should be a perfect balance of steamed milk and caffe blending together as you drink, leaving only a bit of foam clinging to the side of the cup after you take that last sip. You can sprinkle chocolate on top of a good cappuccino, or you may be asked if you want some and it will be sprinkled in a design.


Serious cappuccino takes all of the above good qualities and turns it into an art form. In serious cappuccino, after the steamed milk is poured, the barista moves the espresso through the milk with a stirrer to make those designs that make us go awwwwww...

Take a look at some really serious cappuccini in this video:

The Italian Espresso National Institute now safeguards and promotes Italian Espresso through a product certification process. Companies which comply with the manufacturing processes set forth by the organization have the right to display the Certified Italian Espresso mark, guaranteeing consumers of an espresso which meets the high standards:

On sight, a Certified Espresso Italiano has a hazel-brown to dark - brown foam – characterised by tawny reflexes – with a very fine texture (absence of large mesh and larger or smaller bubbles). The nose reveals an intense scent with notes of flowers, fruits, toasted bread and chocolate. All of these sensations are felt also after swallowing the coffee in the long lasting aroma that remains for several seconds, sometimes even for minutes. Its taste is round, substantial and velvet-like. Sour and bitter tastes are well balanced and neither one prevails over the other. There is no, or a barely perceptible, astringent taste.

Octopus, polpo, has become one of my favorite foods to eat when I'm in Stresa. Part of the reason is that I rarely see polpo on menus here in my part of the United States. But the main reason is that it's just so delicious, simple, and healthy. Here are three memorable polpo dishes from my recent stay in Stresa:

Insalata di Polpo con Patate
Caffe Torino, in Piazza Cadorna, is becoming my casual restaurant of choice, and this salad is one of the reasons why. This couldn't be any simpler. Chunks of polpo and chunks of potato, boiled, and then tossed together and served warm with a light oil and vinegar dressing and a bit of parsley. I had this as my primo piatto; I followed it with a plate of ravioli con brie e speck, and only sparkling water on that hot evening, sitting outside in the piazza.

Carpaccio di Polpo con Pomodorini Pachino
At Ristorante Vicoletto I had as my primo one evening this plate of very thinly sliced octopus, served with what I call cherry tomatoes, pomodorini pachino. The dish was lightly tossed with very nice olive oil, and the plate drizzled with the most delicious balsalmic vinegar. Vicoletto is a lovely little restaurant in Via Bolongaro. My portion of polpo was quite large, as was the pesto dish I had as a second. This evening, white wine, and there was still room for dessert.


Insalata Tiepida di Mare
I feel a little funny talking about O'Connor's Pub in this post. It is, obviously, not an Italian restaurant. It's a typical Irish pub, but it happens to serve surprisingly good Italian food. There are several reasons I like going to O'Connors. First, definitely the food. Then, the atmosphere. O'Connors is clearly not a tourist destination. It has a comfortable enclosed garden set with many tables. Part of the garden is covered with a porch; I ate under there one rainy evening. It's always been crowded when I've been there, and if the locals think the food is that good they must be right. This salad with polpo I've had a couple of times. The bowl is a fascinating mix of pieces of polpo, calamari, shrimp, potato, green beans, pomodorini pachino, rucola lettuce, and green olives. Oh, and one other ingredient, moscardini. Moscardini were a new thing for me. They are teeny tiny complete little octopuses, each being maybe the size of those large olives. If you look closely you can see a couple of them in this bowl. And yes, you just pop them in your mouth whole. This salad, like the others, is dressed with a light oil and vinegar dressing. The blend of flavors is incredible. This would definitely make for a very complete light meal for me. But I followed it with a fillet wrapped in pastry dough, and, since it is O'Connor's, of course Guinness. What a meal...


There you have it. Polpo, three different ways, at three different restaurants that are favorites of mine. If polpo is as unique for you as it is for me I recommend trying these, as they are very traditional dishes in the region. Note that sometimes you may see polpo spelled polipo on menus or recipes, the words are uguale, the same.

People all over Stresa are drinking a coffee drink this summer that takes care of their craving for caffeine but also cools them down. It's called the Shakerato. I've seen it being served in Piazza Cadorna, at the Lido Beach Club in Baveno, and at outdoor seating in coffee bars all around town.

The Shakerato begins with a double shot of espresso (a long espresso). This is poured into a martini shaker. Some ice is added. About two tablespoons of the clear simple syrup is added. And that's it. Put the top on tightly. And then shake. And shake.

The cold Shakerato is then poured, without the ice, into a tall fluted glass in which there is already a small amount of a sweet liquor, usually amaretto. Shaking the coffee and simple syrup mixture has transformed the dark espresso into a lighter, cappuccino color, and the coffee rests above the amaretto layer. Add sugar to taste, if you like.

Maybe this is not for your first cappuccino of the day, but this is perfect for that 11 a.m. one, when the day's starting to heat up, or later in the afternoon, as I saw many do after the pool or the beach.

It had been determined, for some reason I can't remember, that I didn't know enough about the traditional breads of this area. Therefore, Saturday, July 18, 2009 had been designated as La Giornata del Pane, Bread Day. The idea was that we would eat nothing but bread on this day, for la colazione, il pranzo e la cena, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and in this way I'd learn about local breads.

Here's how it went: Breakfast must be a brioche, the croissant pastry most commonly had with cappuccino here. There are three bars in Stresa which make their brioche fresh each morning on the premises, and we taste tested brioche at two of these to compare. First was the old and elegant Gigi Bar, on Corso Umberto, facing the lake. A small brioche filled with about a tablespoon amount of apricot marmellata. Light, with the tear-away layers of pastry dough I like that melt in your mouth. The cappuccino was also excellent, btw...


The competitor was the marmellata-filled brioche made at Bravi Bar, on Via Garibaldi. This one had more filling, and the pastry was spongier, chewier. My choice of the two? Gigi... buttery and soft.


While munching on my second brioche we visited a fornaio in Stresa, a bread shop, La Casa del Pane, where Giovanni was busy serving customers. I wasn't fit to eat any more bread at this time, o anzi, better to say, no more bread could fit into me at this time, but we bought a few rolls for later. Two traditional types of Piemontese rolls. The round rosetta, which has a floral design on the top, and the maggiolino, which is more of a spiral. Both are crunchy on the outside, and softer inside. Traditionally these would be eaten with maybe some mortadella slices, maybe some prosciutto cotto, making an inexpensive little meal of meat and bread.

Lunch was a bit of an expedition. A drive to Verbania in search of certain fornaios, in search of focaccia. Unfortunately, we failed somehow, on this Saturday afternoon, to find the focaccia makers we were searching. Not to be undone, we continued the expedition into the Essalunga supermarket, crowded with tourists, and made our way to the very fully stocked bread department, where we chose two small focaccia with olives, and two small margharita pizzas. Unexplicably hungry, we ate the breads while driving. This is against the law; when in Italy, one doesn't pizza and drive.


Bread day is going well, and only la cena, dinner, remained. The weather was gorgeous, the perfect place for a small cena, really an aperitivo, was the Lido Beach Club in Baveno. The beach was empty, but the lounge was full, there was a nice breeze, and with my prosecco I ate bruschetta from the buffet. A little bit of creative license with the bread for dinner, but, it was, at the end, a delicious, educational, and carbohydrate-packed giorno tutto del pane.