Vicoletto: A Calabria Celebration
Met Francesco Covucci from Vicoletto on Green at NoodleFest where I did 2 fresh pasta demonstrations. His restaurant’s fresh tagliatelle with pork rib tomato sugo blew me away. Here he is making the pasta.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/05/01/BAU41J8NMS.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2011%2F04%2F30%2Fba-noodlefest_ph_0503385511.jpg
It took me a couple of weeks to get to Vicoletto but we made it the other night. Francesco warmly welcomed us at the door. The menu features the food of Calabria–the southern region at the vey bottom of the Italian peninsula . Nothing bashful about it.
Francesco took us under his wing and helped us devise our family-style meal. We started with burrata from Puglia, thinly sliced marinated grilled eggplant, and baby arugula salad dressed simply with EVOO and salt. Next, zucchini alla scapece–paper-thin slices of fried zucchini with endive, EVOO, a balsamic reduction and just a hint of fresh mint. A plate of sweet and salty prosciutto San Daniele paired well with the zucchini.
Francesco waited until we each antipasti plate with the grilled bread before setting down a plate of that tagliatelle in the the pork rib tomato sugo that I first tasted at NoodleFest. It’s topped with parmigiano and a drizzle of EVOO flavored by hot cherry peppers. One of those little firecrackers adorned the plate and I ate the whole pepper in honor of my Calabrian uncle Zio Francesco who loved his food spicy hot. Next braciola di maiale arrived, a slice of pork shoulder stuffed with parsley and garlic slow-cooked in a San Marzano tomato sauce. We dipped the roasted potatoes in the sauce as we polished off the braciola. You know I’m crazy about braciole. I make a beef and a pork braciol in this episode.
https://gianni.tv/sunday-gravy/
My dinner partners swore they could eat no more but the vitello piccata in a delicate white wine lemon and caper sauce didn’t last long.
Francesco chose a Gaglioppo Statti, 2009 (Calabria) for us. It paired well with each course. The floral aroma set me up for a surprise with the first sip. It’s a gutsy full-bodied red with earthy intensity.
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2011/01/calabrias-gaglioppo-grape-wine-southern-italy.html
We ended this fabulous Calabrian experience with a bite or two of one of the best tiramisu and panna cotto I’ve had in a long, long time. The sparking rose was a perfect match.
Enough, it’s a school night and we’ve been eating around Calabria for 3 hours already. Oh what a night!
Mille grazie Francesco.