Sunday, May 9, 2010

La Vecchia Quercia

San Cipriano Picentino, May 9, 2010—


WE HAPPENED ON THIS place quite by chance: I was checking distances between Naples and Sicily on the ViaMichelin website and a story came up on their home page, a three-day gastronomic tour of Campania. I took note of this one Agriturismo, and I'm glad I did.

We're in a big room in a detached house quite out in the country: bullfrogs, fireflies, vines, lemon trees. The room's comfortable, and dinner was really very good:

Amuse-gueules: little ricotta-and-sheep's-cheese tarts with eggplant or red pepper jam; puff-pastry triangles with a tiny bit of cheese filling

Tagliatelle baskets with cheese, cream, and little peas

Thin-sliced roast beef with red and yellow peppers with "gatto": potato-and-cheese cake

Salad for the girls; I'd had a big salad for lunch today

Moist chocolate-hazelnut cake with orange-flavored tapioca pudding. Fran said: I was just thinking the other day how much I missed tapioca pudding, and I haven't had a cake like this in months, and here they are together.
Local red wine (Aglianico, Barbera, and Chianti blend, recent vintage
  • Agriturismo "La Vecchia Quercia", Via Montevetrano 4, San Cipriano Picentino (Campania); tel. +39 089 882528, www.lavecchiaquercia.it
  • No comments: