Arturo's Osteria & Pizzeria Blog

The Olive Harvest.

In the middle of all of this eating…

We managed to harvest a few olives and watch them morph into beautiful extra virgin olive oil.  As it has come to my attention, just about all of the olives grown in Umbria are designated as a DOP product, meaning that it’s production is protected by certain rules and regulations.  I learned this from my extra virgin olive oil expert and friend Sara Scipioni who imports and sells the award winning organic EVO from Puglia that we use at Arturo’s – Osteria & Pizzeria. 

The oils produced from Umbrian olives are fruity and rich with complexity and depth.  The Umbrian countryside is filled with olive groves and there’s just something about the weather and the soil that truly lends itself to producing great olives.  This concept of terroir is usually applied to wine specifically, but the Italians apply it to just about everything.  From the San Marzano tomatoes surrounding Napoli to the hazelnuts of Piemonte, Italians celebrate the individuality and character of different soil, climate, and tradition. 

After an early start from Castello Santa Maria, we traversed the steep hillside towards a man whose voice was the only indication of where we were headed.  He was perched on a ladder somewhere in the middle of endless rows of olive trees.  Finally, we found the row and the specific four trees that the small crew of three was harvesting.  They were gently shaking, pulling, and whacking the branches until the fruits fell onto the net-covered floor.  After pulling every olive off, they carefully gathered the giant net and guided the fruit into a crate ready for pressing.  Shortly after being plucked from its limbs, the olives were transported to a small, semi-enclosed shelter just fifty meters from the castle.  The pressing machinery was in full action!  One at a time, the crates of just-picked olives were emptied into the first machine.  They were violently shaken to remove any traces of stems and sticks from the harvest.  Then, they were bruised to expose the flesh of the fruit and pressed into a paste with the pits included.  Next, this mash was separated into solids and liquid.  The liquid portion was piped into a centrifuge to quickly break the oil-water suspension.  The oil emerged from this machine literally dripping like gold into the stainless steel barrel placed beneath.  It took only minutes for the freshly harvested olives to be transformed from inedible fruit to the highest quality, unfiltered, fruity, complex, GREEN, extra virgin olive oil.  It was amazing to see this transformation occur while realizing my daily and unconscious use of this ubiquitous fat.  There are SO many health benefits, flavor characteristics, and overall advantages of using this natural and fruit-derived product versus the many unhealthy fats like butter, chemically processed oils, shortenings, and other synthetic fats that appear in our diets.  I was also enthralled with the utilization of the solid by-product (the ground pits, skins, and flesh).  They burned it as fuel to heat their living space!  Incredible! 
Thank you Adolfo and Diego for a wonderful experience at Castello Santa Maria in Civitella d'Agliano. 

Umbria. Day 3.

After Perugia, we headed to Assisi where we had a cocktail and a plate of cured meats at a little outdoor café.  Lame.  Assisi was beautiful but way too touristy.  I felt like I was in Tuscany/Disneyland.  After the long drive back to Orvieto, we were ready to eat again.  I noticed a little place in a small alley, tucked away from the main streets in downtown Orvieto with a sign next to the door saying, “Naturally leavened bread, handmade pasta, and proudly serving all local products”.  It was clear to me that we must try this place.  Well we did and it was utterly disappointing.  First of all, as soon as we sat down we realized that the bathroom was located so close to the small dining room that there was an overwhelming smell of feces.  It was at the point that we decided to order only two pastas and play it by ear as to what was next.  Well, the pastas were terrible; the bread was awful and definitely naturally leavened.  We tried to get out of this restaurant as fast as possible so we could find a better meal at a second restaurant.   We found a small restaurant located further away from the center of town that felt like it was a German restaurant.  The pastas were pretty good!  We tried Strangozzi (handmade pasta) with black truffles, fettuccine with chicken liver sauce (tomato based), and a fettuccine with a lamb ragu.  The pastas were definitely made by hand and were great.  My biggest complaint was that they were over-sauced which took away from the purity and elegance of the handmade pasta.  But, this was true for just about every single plate of pasta that we tried in Umbria.  I have spent so much time in Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte, where the handmade pasta is never overwhelmed by an overabundance of sauce.  The sauce is the condiment, meant to compliment or enhance the pasta.  It should never compete with the pasta.  We also tried the Stracciatella (Italian egg drop soup) and a lame, flavorless vegetable soup.  We were starting to see a pattern of mediocre food in Umbria.  Now, this is of course due to the fact that we were eating at restaurants in the center of town.  I am positive that somewhere in the countryside and in the homes of the Umbrian locals, the food is prepared with love and a proper understanding of ingredients and technique.  Unfortunately we did not find this in our Umbrian adventure more than once.  The meal that blew us away was on our third and last day in Umbria.  We journeyed to Spoleto and to Todi which were both gorgeous towns located in remote areas of the hilly Umbrian countryside.  My friend Annalisa grew up in Perugia and told me that historically speaking, many of the hill-towns of Umbria were at one time ruled by the Church.  And so, they are built from the finest materials with no expenses spared.  Each town had individuality yet all were equally stunning in both architecture and landscape.  Todi was just 45 minutes through windy roads from Orvieto.  We stopped for a quick lunch at a recommended restaurant just off the main square in Todi.  Any restaurant near the central piazza is always suspect to me and I usually avoid them at all cost.  Thankfully we took a chance because it turned out to be the gem of Umbria.  There was a giant fireplace in the small dining room where the owner was building a small fire.  It turned out that he would eventually cook sausages on a small iron grill placed over the fire.  The crackling from the fat in the sausages and the smell of the birch wood burning set a certain tone for our meal.  It was incredibly cozy and warm with a certain air of hospitality that we love about Italian culture.  And the food!!!  We devoured the handmade gnocchi with ragu made in a style similar to the Bolognese.  Fred wasn’t a fan of the tagliatelle con leper that Chris and I could not pass up on.  It was handmade pasta with a sauce made from ground hare.  It was similar to rabbit but with a darker, richer flavor.  It wasn’t the best hare I’ve ever tasted but it sure was delicious!!  We also had a Zuppa di Farro, which we all agreed was incredible.  Farro is that ancient grain that the Romans and many other cultures subsisted on for thousands of years.  It is indigenous to the region of Umbria and this was a great representation of the grain.  It was almost like a risotto with its starchy and creamy but toothsome texture.  We could taste each grain of farro and it was incredibly warming and comforting.  Somehow, it still felt healthy since it is a whole grain and it was not masked by butter or other fat.  There was only a slight drizzle of Umbrian extra virgin olive oil sitting on top of the farro like little puddles of gold.  We also had a side of sautéed chicory.  It was by far our favorite meal in Umbria!

 

Umbria. Check out this recipe!

After an eventful train ride to Orvieto, we walked to the Hertz rental office to pick up our car.  In true Italian fashion, the car was one hour from being ready and Hertz did not have a GPS for us.  They gave us a map and said good luck.  Who knows how to read a map these days?  Anyway, we drove from Orvieto Scala, where the train station is located, to the top of Orvieto.  It was beautiful!  The ancient architecture is perched above the olive groves, farms, and pastures.  The sun was setting and we were due to meet our escort, Adolfo, back at the train station.  After a “15” minute drive to the Castello Santa Maria, we checked in and were at the dinner table twenty minutes later.  We sat with a small group of colorful characters, like ourselves, and were fed by Diego and his lovely daughter Serena.  We started with some cheese with their house made jams.  The jams were incredible but the cheeses were lame.  Shop-rite status.  For pasta, Diego served us spaghetti puttanesca and the local wines of Napoli.  Diego must have thought that we were back in Naples, but in reality we were in the depths of the Umbria/Lazio border.  But he is a kind man and his daughter is a trained pastry chef.  Her dessert was by far the best part of dinner, beside the company of course. 

We woke up a bit late in the morning and we barely made it to breakfast.  We ate fresh doughnuts, cereal with hot milk (nasty), jams, fruit, toast, ham, coffee, and arancia rossa (blood orange juice – my favorite!).  Then we were off to Perugia.  What a gorgeous city!  There were tents set up throughout the center of town with vendors selling various products.  We stopped at the beer tent where they were pouring an artisanal beer from Padova.  After a quick stop, we were ready for lunch.  We found a little trattoria specializing in the local cuisine of Perugia.  We found this place more out of necessity (one of us had to use their facilities), but we were definitely glad that we did.  We had a few soups and a few pastas.  Our favorite was the Zuppa di Ceci.  It was a pureed soup with chickpeas topped with fennel pollen.  Here is a recipe derived from what I tasted:  It’s perfect for a fall/winter afternoon.  Watch for this dish at Arturo’s in the coming weeks!

ZUPPA DI CECI

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 onion

1 tsp tomato paste

28 oz can of chickpeas

Rosemary

Bread

Parmigiano Reggiano

Extra virgin olive oil

Fennel Pollen

Chop roughly the carrot, onion, and celery.  Sautee in extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until softened.  Season with salt.  Add tomato paste and cook until slightly caramelized.  Add the can of chickpeas (wash them first) and enough water to cover the chickpeas.  Add one sprig of rosemary to the pot.  Cover and cook on low heat for at least 45 minutes, adding additional water if necessary.  Then remove the rosemary and blend it with a blender, immersion blender,  or a food mill.  Season it with salt and pepper. To finish, top the soup with fennel pollen, Parmigiano, extra virgin olive oil (preferably from Umbria), and a piece of toasted bread.  For a variation, try adding pancetta at the very beginning with the carrot, onion and celery.  Serves four as a first course.

 

More from Rome

Where did I leave off...

I guess it was before dinner.  We somehow found Da Sergio which was recommended to us by our friends at Sora Margherita.  It's near Campo De' Fiori and it features typical Roman cuisine.  We started with a Antipasti Misti with cured meats, an amazing pecorino romano (I normally despise this), and roasted vegetables.  Then it was a plate of simply cooked zucchini (unfortunately they were out of artichokes) and a mixed salad that was completely lame.  We drank a nice bottle of Morellino Di Scansano which was a nice change from my usual Piemontese favorites.  Our pastas were Amatriciana (a roman classic with guanciale and tomato) and spaghetti vongole (great local clams).  Chris had tiramisu (that I stole half of) and fred had a little bowl of fruit.  Not a bad first dinner.  After dinner we headed out for a beer.  Ok a few beers.  Our friends at Grapehops told us that Baladin, my favorite Italian brewery from Piemonte has opened a beer bar in Rome.  Thankfully it was one block away from where we ate dinner!  Baladin's beer bar, Open, was incredible!!!  I said it last year and I'll say it again... Watch out for up and coming Italian artisinal beers! They love this stuff.  I think the Italians are a bit bored of wine.  We stayed here for a few hours imbibing on all kinds of beer from IPAs to belgian style triples to beer made from farro.  We did not want to leave!  But, it was a long day and we had an early morning of cooking planned.  Plus, Fred was about to fall asleep at the table! Haha.  So we tucked Fred in to bed and Chris and I headed back out into the night!  Unfortunately it was after 2 am (yes we had been awake at this point for over 30 hours!!) and nothing was open.  We heard the faint sound of boom-boom (music) next door to the hotel and decided to check it out.  It turned out to be a members-only bar/lounge that was open until 4:30am.  So, we became members!  We had another few belgian style beers and a great conversation with a young, heavy-set chef/rap-artist.  Chris put his head down at one point and fell asleep.  Thankfully the hotel was literally next door and somehow we found our room.  Off to bed...

We woke up at 8 am, had a quick breakfast and headed out to Sora Margherita for a lesson in cucina romana.  We were greeted with open arms, as usual.  We watched as artichokes were being cleaned and fried (Jewish-style).  Pasta was laid out over every table to dry before being cut by hand into fettuccine and filled for agnolotti (roman style, not the piemontese version that I adore).  We were there for a few hours and learned a ton.  We have a few videos shot by the self-proclaimed master cinematographer...Chris, of course.  Now were back at the hotel in Trastevere.  We are packing up now and about to head out into Rome for our last lunch (ok maybe two lunches) and we have to be on a 2:30 pm train to orvieto where we will pick up our rental car and head to the hills of Umbria!  More to come...

Day 1 - Rome

We arrived in Rome at 6 am this morning with a truly Italian welcome....they couldn't figure out how to open the airplane door!  Twenty minutes!  Hahahaha. Then we walked directly through customs without stopping and were out of the airport in 10 minutes.  Great security.  We arrived at our hotel in Trastevere at 8 am and began our journey shortly thereafter.  We walked to a corner bar for a quick cup of espresso and a pastry then headed to Campo dei Fiori for a pizza bianca and a pizza marinara from a very famous bakery.  I peeked into the area where the guys were baking and the smell of fermenting dough hit me.  It was incredible!! This was a great way to start our day.  Then it was off to see the sites before lunch.  We ate more pizza and had our first of many cups of gelato while walking around touristy Rome.  After a few hours we decided it was time for lunch.  We headed back to Trastevere to find a local spot but were disappointed with our selection.  Tourist trap.  We had subpar Caccio e pepe, saltimbocca, carciofi alla giudia, carciofi all romana, and pasta amatriciana.  Lame and not well prepared.  They actually did not understand the principles of what makes good pasta.  The sauce and pasta must be one. The pasta must be cooked with the sauce for enough time that the pasta absorbs some of the sauce and marries.  So, we left immediately to find another lunch!  We found it in the Jewish ghetto area at Sora Margherita.  We had a blast at this small, super-casual osteria.  We had funghi porcini trifolati, meatballs (not as good as arturo's!), and more carciofi all giudia.  The artichokes were amazingly prepared.  Fried in extra virgin olive oil with a touch of sea salt.  They were super crispy on the outside and tender and flavorful on the inside.  The lovely folks who run the place loved us and invited us to cook with them tomorrow morning.  We'll be there at 9 am to learn how to make fettuccine like the Romans do.  Also, they said we'd be making braised oxtail! My favorite!!  That is, if we can wake up in time!  Its going to be a long night in Rome.  We're heading out for dinner now.  More to come!

Congratulations to Mikey from Zone 7 (our link to sustainable NJ produce )

http://njmonthly.com/articles/restaurants/the-huggable-middleman.html

We've delivered our last pie...

Starting today, Monday 7/19/10, we will no longer be offering our delivery service.  Our primary objective at Arturo’s is to offer an optimal quality product that we are truly proud to serve.  We’ve concluded that, through delivery, the quality of our food is vastly compromised.  Despite implementing alternative approaches, such as packaging our food differently and even hiring more delivery drivers to decrease delivery times, we ultimately reached a point where we could no longer tolerate being unable to uphold these objectives, while still providing a delivery service.

We know this decision may seem sudden and understand that convenience is important to us all.  We hope, however, that you will recognize our unwavering commitment to the constant evolution and growth of our restaurant, just as you have in the past with other major changes that we have made.  Thanks!!!
See you all soon!

Last Saturday's Tasting Menu

Saturday's Menu:

(7/17/10)

 Antipasti - Wild Boar Sausage & Crostini with Ricotta and NJ Red Russian Kale

Farmer's Salad - NJ Organic Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Wild Arugula, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Crab Panzanella - House Baked Bread with Crab, Radish Sprouts and Salsa Verde

Tagliatelle - Handmade Pasta with our House Cured Pancetta and Red Onion

Roasted Leg of Lamb - NJ White Corn Risotto

Peaches and Cream - NJ Organic Yellow Peaches with Fresh Vanilla Whipped Cream and Vin Cotto

NEXT WEEK:

More tomatoes, corn, yellow and white peaches, zucchini and others!! Plenty of space available for Tuesday's 4 course!

New Video!! By James Worrell

ARTURO’S TO HOLD FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR
LAURA’S JOURNEYS ON SATURDAY, MAY 8
--Program Encourages and Facilitates Therapeutic Recreational Travel for Cancer Patients

Arturo’s of Maplewood will host a fundraising event on Saturday, May 8 in support of Laura’s Journeys, a philanthropic program created by New Jersey resident Bill Parness in memory of his wife Laura,who passed away in November 2008 at the age of 54 after a courageous battle with breast cancer.
The two-hour event, scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m., will feature a special six-course tasting menu featuring chef/owner Dan Richer’s signature dishes created using seasonal ingredients, local produce and artisanal techniques. The cost is $48 per person, with 25 percent of the proceeds donated to “Laura’s Journeys.”

“Laura’s Journeys” a program for cancer patients at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan and other institutions within the Continuum Health Partners network, is designed to encourage cancer patients and their significant others to travel, whether it is a weekend stay at a nearby bed & breakfast, a week-long cruise, or trips overseas. Bill Parness created the program based on the therapeutic benefits he and Laura derived from their extensive travels during the six years she was being treated for advanced breast cancer. Since its inception last fall, the group has provided vacations and weekend getaways to:

· A 39-year-old breast cancer patient and her fiancé, who enjoyed a one-week Caribbean cruise.

· A 44-year-old cancer patient, who will travel in May to Athens, Greece for a six-night stay in the city’s historic district. He will be accompanied by his wife and child.

· A 60-year-old cancer patient, who won a one-week vacation in May to Merritt Island, Fla., where she and her friends will stay in a five-bedroom house with a private pool.

· An 84-year-old cancer patient, who will travel with her daughter and son-in-law to Lenox, Mass. for a weekend in late April.

In addition to trip giveaways, through its website (www.laurasjourneys.org), “Laura’s Journeys” offers tips for traveling while undergoing treatment for cancer and money-saving advice.

For reservations or more information on the event, call Arturo’s of Maplewood at (973) 378-5800. Arturo’s is located at 180 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, N.J., www.arturosnj.com