Puglia Italian Food fest at Park Bangalore

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“ PUGLIA’S CUCINA POVERA is about as EARTHY as ITALIAN CUISINE gets without EATING it STRAIGHT out of the SOIL”

Source : Lonely Planet

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Before I talk about the Puglia Food festival at Park Bangalore, let us know about the region in brief.A Land of rich culinary traditions, Puglia is one of the most fascinating regions of Italy. Located in the easternmost part of Southern Italy , with vast agricultural landscapes, the region produces wine and olive oil in abundance, along with vegetables and the durum wheat, ideal for the pasta.

The region is also known for its best values in Italian wine like Salice Salentino and Primitivocome from this region. I have been told that the Puglia wines pair well with a wide variety of foods as they are usually red and full-bodied.Some of the best cheeses of Italy like the canestrato pugliese (often grated on pasta) and some good range of fresh cheeses like burrata di Andria, fallone di Gravina, and pampanella, ideally eaten fresh within 24 hours.

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(Picture courtesy:Pixabay)

The Italy was one of the first countries I had visited during my maiden trip of europe. Since then,I have been fascinated by their culture ,food and heritage. Aptly summarized in the Italian saying below that means “The cuisine of a country is the only exact attestation of its civilization”.

“ La cucina di un popolo è la sola esatta testimonianza della sua civiltà ”

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(Picture courtesy:Pixabay)

The Italia at Park Bangalore , the city’s premium Italian dining resturant,is presently hosting the South Italian Puglia Food festival in their monthly series of focussing on food from various regions of Italy. I went there last week on invite to savour the rustic cuisine of the region.

One of the three resturants at The Park Bangalore, the ambiance of Italia is based on the “The GodFather” Theme. You will thus find lot of shades of black, grey and whites used effectively.

We also had the pleasure of meeting the Executive Sous Chef, Krishna Sharma , who has been part of the Park group for nearly two decades now.

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He was joined by the Italian cuisine chef Baseer , the brain behind the entire series of Italian regional food festival here. During my conversation with him, he told me that it takes lot of efforts in research and subsequent umpteen trials to reach the level of regional food. According to him, the puglia food is mainly simple, fresh and wholesome prerpared with the local produce, often called “Cucina Povera” – Food of the Poor.

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We began with Zuppa Bollito di carne , a traditional thin soup made of lamb, potatoes,tomatoes and spaghetti. It has many variations of this dish depending on the locale you visit in Italy. It was extremely delicious with mild meat and vegetable flavours. A Perfect homely dish , I can have almost daily.

The Antipasti of the Day was stuffed Button Mushrooms along with the Pockets of Anchovvy stuffed with the traditional Stuffing I could not recall right away.Also part of the platter was roundels of Bocconcini cheese topped with local tomato slices.

One of the most awaited dish of the evening was the Orecchiette con cime di rapa made with Orecchiette , the small ears shaped signature pasta of the region with broccoli rabe, garlic, fresh tomatoes and ricotta cheese. I must also add here that this region is also home to some other pasta varieties like troccoli, cavatelli, stacchiodde, curti, gruessi etc. Surprisingly ,most of them were made using just flour and water and didn’t use egg as it was considered unaffordable by most local inhabitants.

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Another favorite from the menu was the Sgombri con patate al forno , a delicious side dish of baked mackerel, an oily tasty fish with potatoes and tomato layer.

Risotto has been one of my favorite in the Italian cuisine and here we were served , Risotto con zucchini e menta , a Risotto with zucchini and mint. Truly blissful preparation by the Chef Baseer.

No Italian menu is complete without the Pizza, I always feel. And Chef suggested us to try their Puccia ,a sandwich made of pizza dough stuffed with meat, cheese and vegetables. Quite homely , I must say.

Though there was lot more to try from the menu, we decided to wrap up the evening with their dessert course, Dolce. The first to arrive was the Torta di ricotta , Orange and lemon flavored creamy ricotta cheese cake and the Bocconotto , Short pastry tart filled with pastry cream, blue berry and chocolate.

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