Friday, May 17, 2019

Wine and Food of the Giro 2019: Stage 7

Where are we?
Vasto: Vasto is one of the most fascinating town of Abruzzo, on the Adriatic Sea with its characteristic gulf and protected by the Apennine peaks, beautiful in its uniqueness. Full of history, art, culture and lined with splendid beaches, the city of Vasto offers visitors, in addition to rest and relaxation at the sea, many cultural initiatives.
Vasto is also famous for its delicious cuisine of land and especially the seafood: typical dishes such as the Brodetto can be tasted in the numerous restaurants along the seafront and in the historical center.

L'Aquila: L’Aquila, capital city of Abruzzo, is the ninth largest municipality in Italy, with 467 km² of surface area for 70 thousand inhabitants. The city, located within the Aterno river valley, at 721 meters above sea level, is surrounded by the Sirente – Velino (Regional Park) and Gran Sasso d’Italia (National Park) chains. Founded in 1254 by the surrounding castles, it is divided into four quarters: S. Maria, S. Pietro, S. Giorgio and San Giovanni. Despite the earthquakes of 1461, 1703 and 2009, L’Aquila boasts a centuries-old historical heritage, with medieval elements in the City Walls, Renaissance with regard to the palaces and some churches, baroque and neoclassical.

Typical first courses are “maccheroni alla chitarra”, usually served with castrato sauce, and “timballo all’aquilana”, prepared with pork and veal with hard-boiled eggs and scamorza. Chickpea soups with chestnuts and beans with pork rind are also widely used. Characteristic is the taste of the lamb and that of the arrosticini. The pork is used to prepare cured meats, including salami and liver sausages. From sheep’s milk, cheese, ricotta and scamorze are made. Excellent bread, both white and integral. Torrone of soft chocolate is the typical sweet. Saffron is the spice grown on site and Gentian is the typical liqueur.


The stage: Looking like a likely breakaway stage. 




 Abandonment Gaviria, apparently suffering from knee pain.
35 kilometers to go and their gap was just under two minutes. Still in the break:
Rojas, Formolo, Bilbao, Gallopin, Cattaneo, McCarthy, Hamilton, Henao, Zeits, and Pedrero. 25 kilometers to go and the gap was still at two minutes. With more teams starting to work behind, the gap at 10 kilometers to go was down to one minute. Cue infighting within the break as the started to attack each other, dreaming of a stage win.
Two kilometers to go and Rojas had a slight lead. He would be caught. Next to attack Bilbao. And he would hang on and take the win.



 



 



 

 The wine: Tiberio Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo 
Tasted at Batonnage. 
One of the most exciting of the new wave of Abruzzo producers today, Tiberio was founded by the passion of Riccardo Tiberio, who having worked extensively at one of the region’s largest cooperative wineries, discovered a plot of rare 60-year-old Trebbiano Abruzzese vines in Cugnoli, 15km east of Abruzzo’s mountain region and 30km west from the Pescara coast. Riccardo’s children Cristiano and Antonio now run the estate, making careful massal selections from the old vines and pursuing clean, fresh and varietally accurate expression of Abruzzo’s native grapes.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo became its own DOC in 2010, reserved for Rosato/Rose wines from vineyards in the region comprised of at least 85% Montepulciano. Very little skin contact is applied, resulting in wonderful and interesting flavors of cherry, hence the Cerasuolo (Cherry) part of the name.
 The food: Castrato sauce
I admit it, I'm allergic to lamb, so am not trying this one myself.
INGREDIENTS for SAUCE di CASTRATO

  • 400 gr. of castrated lamb (agnello castrato);
  • 1 onion (cipolle);
  • 1 glass of red wine (bicchiera di vino rosso);
  • 250 gr. peeled tomatoes (pomodori pelati);
  • 1 twig of rosemary (ramoscello di rosmarino);
  • 1 hot red pepper (peperoncini rosso piccante);
  • 4 spoons of excellent olive oil (cucchiai olio extravergine d’oliva);
  • 1 piece of garlic (spicchio d’aglio);
  • salt (sale).
PREPARATION
Fry the olive oil, garlic and onion;
Add the lamb in small pieces;
When the meat is medium fried, add the red wine, the tomatoes, the rosemary, the hot paprika and salt to your taste;
Slowly cook for half an hour or more to get a tasty sauce.
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