Milan

Polenta, the thrifty side of Milanese cuisine

Polenta, the thrifty side of Milanese cuisine

Posted on by Pat and David
Given the cost of saffron, risotto alla milanese can be an indulgence. But the folks in Milan also favor maize (as they call American corn) as a base for many great dishes. Polenta is nothing more than coarse cornmeal cooked into a kind of porridge. That's a little like saying great bread is ‶nothing more″ than ground up wheat. Polenta can be a subtle treat on its own and makes a versatile base for almost any kind of sauce or even leftovers. In Milan, as Stanley Tucci pointed out in part four of Searching for Italy, it's often served topped with pot roast. Maize was introduced to Italy when Columbus sent corn to the Vatican in the 1490s. In the half millennium since, Italians have...Read More
In Milan, a little wealth helps make rich risotto

In Milan, a little wealth helps make rich risotto

Posted on by Pat and David
Our experience with Milan is a little like Stanley Tucci's before he started shooting the Searching for Italy series now running on CNN. It was always a place we admired from afar and but visited mostly when we were changing trains or planes. For many years, Alitalia had direct flights between Boston and Milan, so we often flew through Malpensa when we were visiting northern Italy. As Tucci observed, the first thing that hit us about Milan is the pace. The city has a hurry-scurry that almost makes Manhattan feel laid-back. That's probably because the Milanese are so busy making money. The city is home to the Italian stock market, the furniture industry, and to Italian fashion and design. It helps to have all that...Read More

Franciacorta: effervescent joy from Italy

Posted on by Pat and David
Contrary to common usage, there's nothing like real Champagne, the sparkling wine made in a delimited area in France. We'd suggest that there is also nothing like Franciacorta, the elegant and more affordable sparkling wine made in the Lombardy countryside an hour east of Milan. In fact, that city's fashionistas have been drinking a lot of Franciacorta for the last several days during Milan Fashion Week. The district has been growing grapes at least since the 16th century under the aegis of the region's monasteries. (The name of the region indicates a region of monasteries not subject to ducal taxes.) Serious spumante production is much more recent, dating from the years after World War II, and the big players are industrialists, not monks. That said,...Read More