Food, glorious food

One of the joys of travelling is eating the food of the area you are visiting. In Italy this is especially rewarding because the principle has always been to cook with whatever is local and in season. For this reason tomatoes taste like tomatoes, and there is the added thrill as the various fruits and vegetables become available with the seasons.

Today I am posting photos of some of the foods we have been eating, from picnics to excellent restaurants. Enjoy! .....we did!

Lunches and picnics - local prosciutto and sausages, tomatoes, pecorino cheese, rockmelon, figs, apricots and a variety of pizza bread baked daily.

Il Gallo nel Pozzo is an excellent ristorante trattoria in Piazza Umberto. We had a divine meal on our first night here. A terrine of pheasant and mushrooms with Sicilian orange slices followed by a pasta Giglia alla Norcina with Panicale sausage, porcini mushrooms and black truffles. Kel's dish was a gnocchi. 

Another popular restaurant is Masolino, just off the piazza. This week we enjoyed another excellent meal. We started with a glass of Umbrian wine - sparkling, pink and dry.It is made from the sagrantino grape and was very good, better than Prosecco, according to Andrea! We both had a pappardelle pasta with wild boar and juniper berry ragù. My main course was the chef Bruna's award winning guinea fowl served on a toast. Kelly had tagliata (slices of beef) with rocket and shaved parmesan. We finished with one of my favourites, torta della Nonna and a semifreddo. A Nobile de Montepulciano Tuscan red accompanied the meal.

What do we eat at home? Pasta with a roast pork and tomato sauce, gnocchi with fresh pesto, lots of locally made prosciutto and fresh tomatoes, pizza from Il Caffe della Piazza.

Tonight we had lasagne, home delivered from Katie's kitchen to ours.

 Sometimes the daily gelati is enjoyed seated at Aldo's Bar in the Piazza. Fast licking is not needed then because we have little spoons!