"Eataly" rocking in Pinerolo

It was with great surprise and anticipation when I heard this summer that we were going to be getting an Eataly in little ole Pinerolo. As we watched the progress of the transformation of an old farmhouse that had already been transformed a time or two, emerge with Eataly's signature trademark  outside, I knew we were really and truly going to be blessed with this "Slow Food" store. For those of you unfamiliar with Eataly,  it is a store which originated in Torino and showcases the vast array of "Slow Food" products  and other high quality products made in Italy, with a heavy sampling from here in Piedmont because Bra, Italy, is the birthplace of Slow Food and it needs the massive old factory that has everything beautifully laid out with eating kiosks throughout the store to encourage you to sample whats on offer. The stores are starting to spread with one now in Milano, Bologna, and even Tokyo, so we are very happy to be in such good company.  For those of you visiting our area, it is a must do on your list of things to do and most of all experience.

 

The store is gorgeous and well laid out to entice and delight. There are so many different nooks and crannies. They have a well stocked wine cellar, beer emporium, fresh and unusual veggies,  and a gelato kiosk at the front so it can be your first and last stop of your visit. There are facilities for meeting rooms  or intimate tastings and an expansive patio with a sall pond for eating al fresco when the weather agrees. Eating is encouraged there and at home, so you really can experience the many facets of Italian  foods made with the utmost care. We have been a few times and it seems to have already established itself as favorite stop for having a bite to eat whether you're shopping or not.  Although I do recommend the shopping and this time of year, it's a marvelous place to discover all sorts of unique treats in addition to the best rice, pasta and loaves of hearty bread browned to perfection in their wood fired oven.  Yes, I know that you won't be able to walk out without a few purchases, if you're anything like me. We couldn't resist trying one of their hand tossed pizzas the last time we stopped in.

In true Fabrizio fashion, he knew their pizzaiolo maestro, with whom he had worked with many years before in the valley.  Davide, whose recommendation was to sample their simplest variety so we could truly taste the pizza dough and judge for ourselves if it was good or not, was spot on.

  

Classic Margherita, named in honor of our Savoy Queen Margherita, in 1889,  is a light tomato sauce, fresh basil and regular and buffalo mozzarella pizza, that just happens to be Fabrizio's favorite. We had no problem submitting to his suggestion, and I must say, the dough was divine. It had just a hint of tang and their wood fired oven imparts it's own flavor whilst producing that wonderful blend of a slightly crisp crust with just the right amount of chewiness. Topped with a light hand for sauce and cheese with fresh basil, which elevates pizza to a food group all it's own. Savoring it with an equally tasty micro brewed beer reinforced my love of simplicity with emphasis on quality, which Italian food relies on time and again.

  

It's reassuring to know too that if I'm stumped for a gift be it Christmas or any other time, that I can peruse the shelves of Eataly and not go empty handed.  Everyone loves to eat.

 

You will find plenty of foods that are a good value and great for every day eating in addition to ones on the "treat" list and in this day of watching our wallets empty out faster than filling up, it's good to know you can trust the quality offered here and find some great bargains in addition to a few things "just for fun" too.

and in the words of this poster on your way out of the store.

"Life is too brief, to eat and drink badly"

Trek to Torino to Eataly

Spring is a fickled season, and today, has been no exception with a few snow flurries with a warming trend this evening. So I thought a stroll back to this autumn and a visit to Torino's latest food sensation, "Eataly" seemed like as good a time as any other. I couldn't quite keep up with all of the events and festivals last autumn, so now it is between times, so I think I'll revisit it.

Torino's Eataly, opened last April in an old Carpano aperitif factory, just across the street from the original Fiat factory that has been refurbished as the Lingotto shopping mecca and convention center. Carpano was an apple liqueur that was made for many years in Torino. They kept a corner of this massive old factory building as a small museum to preserve a piece of Torino's history. There is a long tradition of cordials, liqueurs, digestivos, amaro, and grappa made in Torino and surrounding Piedmont by many small producers of these specialty drinks that Italians are so fond of. Everyone makes them at home as well, but that is another story.

I hadn't really heard anything about Eataly until some of our guests last summer mentioned it and got me intrigued to discover what it was all about. What a discovery. Walking into this supermercato of all things remotely plant, animal, vegetable, drink and more rolled up into a mega Italian cuisine extravaganza, well that would be Eataly. To say I was mildly bowled over would be an understatement. Having been in Europe for awhile I have gotten use to smaller specialized stores and going to all the small specialized shops and markets to pick up the different elements of the food adventure, that wen I walked into an American sized and styled food store, it was completely absorbing. Fabrizio had a conference next door at the Lingotto and I had a good four hours to fully explore the place. It wasn't enough time. I kid you not.

The concept seems to be "Slow Food" of Piemonte meets "Whole Foods" of America. Slow food has been consultants and they say they aren't partnered in, but it is definitely a showcase for all things Italian, and specifically all things Slow food and Piedmont. it's rather nice to see Piedmont featured so prominently. It's well laid out with just about the whole gamut covered. There are places to sample a bit of the goods dotted around the place and they have cooking courses going on with celebrity chefs and featuring the foods of this region and seasonally offered.

Wandering around all the different nooks and crannies kept me engrossed in all the different treasures to be discovered. I almost did make it round the the first part when I discovered the free use of the Internet on the 8 full sized Macintosh computers they had by the front door. As we were having computer and Internet challenges once again, I was thrilled to have a spin around their Macintosh world first thing, but opted to stroll around a little before letting the Internet dictate to me once again.

I'm so glad I did. Right around the corner was the fresh pasta station with the wall- o- pasta

A wood fired bread oven that stole my heart

And apparently caught everyone else's attention.

Top of the line local Piemonte white and black truffles. The smell was intoxicating

Cellars with Grana Padano and Proscuitto crudo

All manner of fish and somewhere to sample the wares. Wash it all down with beer from Val Chisone or wine of Piedmont.

Just one more reason, for when you're in the neighborhood to check out Torino's Eataly
for one stop shopping on all the highest of quality foods that you can afford.
Fortunately, looking is free.

"Tutto Mele" Everthing Apple

Continuing on with the apple theme, this past week has been the 28th edition of Cavour's Tutto Mele (all about apples). This charming village pulls out all the stops to show case the local produce which is the main source of income in this part of our province. This festival is one of it's main claims to fame as the home of the Count of Cavour, Camillo Benso, who was instrumental in pushing forward the unification of Italy into a united Kingdom and later a sovereign country. It's geography features a huge hump of a hill that dramatically juts out of the plains at the foot of our mountains and yet it isn't part of the Cottian or Maritine alps, it's a separate entity and an interesting physical landmark.

    Fabrizio spent last Saturday, representing our B&B association, ScopriPiemonte, in our Turin Province booth, promoting our B&B's. this Saturday, we just had a stroll around for the day enjoying all the food and drink that was on offer. I like this festival because it reminds me of the apple festivals from where I grew up in southern Illinois. Autumn was always about apples, small town parades and carnival rides that tested your nerve and stomach's ability to keep festival food where it should be, in your stomach.

Tutto Mele is a lot like the festivals of my younger days, perhaps just a tad more sophisticated. Instead of corn dogs and caramel apples, we have creamy polenta with sausages or Toma cheese and fresh roasted chestnuts all washed down with the tastiest apple cider. Apple cider where I grew up meant unfiltered fresh pressed apple juice and you could taste all the different varieties blended together. Here the cider is delicious but has a has a bit of a kick, that was not really appreciated in my world growing up in the thick of the tea toteling bible belt.

In addition to seemingly endless varieties of apples, there were plenty of pears and kiwi to burden ourselves as we wandered around through out the village sampling all sorts of tasty offerings.Italy is now the number one producer of Kiwi in the world and naturally all of the provinces are fighting to say they are the most prolific and produce the finest.We came away with several bags of apples, pears and kiwi for under 10 euro. Quite the deal. These varieties are all ones that store well, so we have a nice supply for awhile.
Cafferel our local chocolate factory in Torre Pellice, passed out complimentary(chocolate hazelnut).

 

We sampled polenta, pasta meliga (rich cornmeal) cookies, grissini, roasted chestnuts, cider, organic apple juice and cider from our friends at
Frutta Permesso along with several varieties of olive oil from all over Italy. Fratelli Carli were one of the sponsors this year and offered a very interesting olive oil tasting with complimentary plates and blue glass for doing our own tasting at home. It was a very interesting lecture, if a bit hard to keep up with the technical and rapid Italian. We enjoyed seeing our dear friend,
Caterina Bruno's latest series on a pilgrimage she did in Spain. She's a home grown talent that's realizing her dream to paint and paint and paint. Her watercolors were shown in a small chapel that has been turned into a Sacred Art Museum. It was a lovely setting and added to the diversity of the festival. Cavour's many bakeries graced their windows with tantalizing apple pastries to entice and satisfy your taste for apples, if you didn't find enough to fill you up throughout the day. It's a pleasant day out and worth the effort if you find your way here next year for all things apple, Tutto Mele!

I Dare Myself Too!

I seem to be on a 24/7 dash, to revamp my B&B website, so not a great deal of time for guilt free blogging or blog browsing. The winter refuses to cooperate and happen, so instead of winter antics and activities to blog about, I thought I would finally write about a challenge that Ilva over at Lucullian Delights put forward way back on the 3rd of January. "Lucullian Delights, An Italian Experience" is where I first discovered the fascinating world of blogging, and discovered the power of blogs to draw me in regularly to not only savor her incredible droolable food photographs and moody Tuscan landscapes, but I found myself away on a trip to all sorts of culinary adventures and beyond to all sorts of places and people, thanks to My Blog Log. I no longer felt like I was in such a remote part of the Italian alps anymore. Well we're not so remote, just not so close to town up a small twisty road that seems like you're very remote. I love her inventiveness and courageous approach to cooking. She uses a lot of spices and food combinations that I haven't been so freely adventuresome with myself. I'm a different kind of inventive that has found a renewed courageousness when I find myself trying to make cuisine other than Italian without the proper Asian or Mexican ingredients. I have become very brave with forging on with local ingredients with interesting and usually very satisfying results. Anyway, She had started a meme one year previous called "This Year I Dare" to come up with 5 things she had not made before and didn't get thru all the list so has brought the challenge forward again for this year. I've been contemplating and it's not too late to put one forward myself. Ilva's is already in her archive for Jan 06. You might want to put one together also, feel free to do the same. We'll see how we get on by next year.
My list

• 1) Fresh Ideas for some of my favorites veggies that I hadn't really made before coming to Italy. Fresh Artichokes and Cauliflower(the ones in the picture below are called Roman varieties) and fennel. Love em and want to expand my repertoire.
• 2) Sardinian Ravioli. Rowena from over at Rubber Slippers In Italy made some awhile back and I have been wanting to try them ever since, as they are an upright dumpling type affair that looks like they take a bit of patience and practice.
• 3)Dim Sum ok, so they aren't Italian, but I've never made any and I'm always curious to build on my somewhat weak repertoire of Asian food
• 4) Scary flat fish. Turbot I think. Fish has never appealed to my adventuresome side but they always make it look so easy on our local version of "Ready Steady Cook",(La Prova delle Cuoco) that I think I must pick up the gauntlet. I was inspired by a picture of one I found on Toraa's, Norwegian site, after he stopped in the other day.
  
• 5) Carnival Bugia, like the ones pictured at the top of the post. I've made one variety of filled ones that are sort of like sopapillas, but the flat lasagne strip types ones are so yummy and light, that I must discover their secret. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh and one last challenge to myself.
I would like to occasionally add some recipes and photos, but I'm not so hot with writing precise measurements especially now that I tend to do a combination of metric and American measurements, if I'm measuring accurately at all.

We shall see how I get on with that challenge.
Just had to tidy up my spelling and grammar errors, as I wrote this very late last night! Mg