Flavours of Italy
What you can expect on our sailing adventure in Italy
As you know we spent some time over the Christmas break scoping out the Amalfi Coast for our next adventure in May, now only three months away! No matter where you travel around the Mediterranean there is a style of dish that is common to any region near, or on, the water.
Our divine ‘Mediterranean Seafood Soup‘ is part of our ongoing quest to create food experiences matched only by the beauty and the sailing in these wonderful regions. No matter whether you are in Hvar, Coatia, eating Brodetto; Amalfi, Italy, savouring Cioppino; Genova on the Italian Riviera feasting on Zuppa Di Pesce, or in Marseille, France, the home of Bouillabaisse, they all have their “Seafood Soups”.
I have included our take on what I consider one of the great recipes for these (in)famous dishes. Try it and salivate..! It’s really all about the stock – get that right and you’ll have a delicious soup. This recipe serves four and I’d recommend pairing it with a great European Chardonnay style wine.
Or another great accompaniment to your dish would be a Pinot Gris (the French name) or Pinot Grigio (the Italian name) both of which are made from Pinot Gris grapes. Typically citrus and pear shows on the nose and the wine is crisp, dry and mouthfilling.
Try the well priced Brown Brothers Pinot Grigio from the King Valley or T’Gallant ‘Cape Schanck’ from Mornington Peninsula or be adventurous and get a European one from Brisbane specialty bottle shops like 1889 Enoteca or The Wine Emporium. Best drunk young.
Another alternative I recommend is La Vieille Ferme Cote du Ventoux Rose from the Rhône region of France. It has a lovely floral nose and is rich, fresh and balanced.
The dish is very typical of the areas we’ll visit on our tours.
Visit our website to view the receipe!
Procida at the north end of the Gulf of Naples, quite close to Naples itself, is our start point for this year’s Sail Italy.
Naples is of course the birthplace of pizza, and the best mozzarella cheese in the world (allegedly) comes from Procida. Any mozzarella made of cow’s milk is not the genuine article, it really has to be made from water buffalo milk, and this cheese is designated mozzarella di bufala. Procida is also worth a visit for its panoramas and traditional Mediterranean architecture. In fact the movies The Talented Mr Ripley and Il Postino were both filmed in Procida for this reason.
During our tour in January we had the fortunate experience of travelling to Ravello, a gorgeous little village situated high in the hills 7km from Amalfi.
Dating back to the 5th century, it’s long been a destination for artists, musicians and writers, including Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo and Graham Greene to name a few. It’s famous for two things above all, beautiful brightly coloured pottery and Limoncello.
When we were there we spotted an elderly lady who seemed to need some help carrying her shopping, the problem was she thought we were trying to knock off her shopping! As it turned out we walked with her up to her villa at the top of the village. She spoke pretty good English and told us she spends half the year in Genova in the North and then decamps down to Ravello for the winter (what a life). When the topic of conversation drifted on to Limoncello (as it does in Ravello) she recommended against buying it in the shops – better to get it from a local producer, even better get it from her nephew, who owns a small Limoncello production facility in Ravello!
On the trip we’ll spend an afternoon and evening in Ravello, finishing off with a classical music recital in a beautiful open air setting there.
The more we travelled around the Amalfi Coast, the more we realised how different this trip will be to our previous trips to Croatia. The coastline in Croatia is pretty flat and most of the interesting places to go are in the harbour towns themselves, as well as the many islands. Italy is almost the complete opposite: the coastal villages and towns are gorgeous in their own right, but the real gems are hidden away inland in the hills, complete with stunning views down to the Med.
That’s it from us. Next time we’ll give you some information about the beautiful 50′ & 53’ Jeanneau yachts we’ll be sailing – a combination of high technology and high luxury!
Happy sailing, Pozz & Cath