GUSTI Blog

Pomodorino Magnifico. From Maida Farm in Cilento

From Elana, who successfully completed her first week at Gustiamo. I think she likes it!

After my first week at Gustiamo I have been starting to taste some of the many delicious products in stock. On the shelves of the warehouse something in particular caught my attention, begging to be taken home with me. It was a jar of little baby tomatoes, bright red, plump and juicy, called Vine Tomatoes from Cilento, by Maida Farm.  Maida's products are made in very small batches using the highest quality ingredients grown on their farm in Cilento in the region of Campania. Check out past blogs about Maida's lovely products.

It is farms like Maida's that I love to support because their practices are sustainable for the land and their food has the highest nutritional value. And it tastes the best of course!  "Certo", as the Italians say!

Last night I simply heated the tomatoes on the stove to adorn my pasta.  I wanted to see how they taste in their purest form. Jarred with fresh basil, they are so fragrant they make a sauce by themselves. I finished the dish with some steamed kale and a dollop of delightful burrata. Magnifica!

Ciao!

-Elana

 

Butternut Squash Caponata with Corbezzolo Honey

This is a Winter Caponata, where, instead of eggplants, you use butternut squash. It is an adaptation of a Mario Batali's recipe for the TV program "The Chew", which for some reason, we never watch.

We were made aware of it, and the recipe, as a result of a surge in orders for our Corbezzolo Honey. This honey is very rare and precious. It http://gustiamo.com/ dark in color and bitter i taste. It gives this dish perfect balance.

Below is Mario Batali's recipe, adapted by Gustiamo. It is very easy and it will make 6 people very happy.

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup Currants (or Raisins) soaked for 15 (or more) minutes in 1/3 cup of Red Wine

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium Yellow Onion (medium diced)

Salt and freshly cracked pepper

2 ribs of celery (medium diced)

2 cups Butternut Squash (peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes)

1/2 cup Fennel (medium diced)

2 tablespoons Corbezzolo Honey (plus more for garnish)

1 teaspoon Fennel Pollen (if you have it)

 

Instructions

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss in the onions. Season with salt and stir to coat. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until onions are just starting to brown.

Toss in the celery, squash, and fennel. If the pan seems dry, add a few more tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for approximately 30 minutes, or until the squash is fork tender.

Toss in the currants (or raisins) and about a tablespoon of the soaking wine. Toss with the Corbezzolo Honey and adjust seasoning with salt. Plate the butternut squash and sprinkle with fennel pollen (if you have it), drizzle with more honey and serve.

Gustiamo People-Stefano, by Danielle

Danielle's Gustiamo People series: Stefano.

I'm just going to say it, Stefano is a Genovese-Brooklyn-Hipster. Stefano's story of how he ended up in the food biz is a bit incongruous, but that only adds to his hipster style.

After Stefano graduated from Law School in Genova, he took off to push artisanal Italian foods throughout Brooklyn, New York and the entire USA.

Every day Stefano takes the 2 train, or the 5 train, or some combination of the two as he traverses three boroughs to get to work.

He uses the differences between Brooklyn and Manhattan as a metaphor for things in his daily life. For example, if you were to ask Stefano, "How would you describe the difference between the Palermitan resturants Zia Pina and Osteria del Vespri?" he might say, "Well, the difference is much like the distinction between Brooklyn and Manhattan" (Zia Pina being Brooklyn, of course).

Another part of Stefano's hipster image is defiantly his new fancy olive oil tasting glasses. One of the highlight moments from my 3 weeks in the Gustiamo warehouse was tasting Sicilian EV Olive Oil out of these glasses with Stefano. We compared an EV Olive Oil that I had brought with me from Sicily to Gustiamo's Sicilian Pianogrillo. No comparison. I was amazed that last seasons EV Olive Oil could be so flavorful.

Talking with Your Mouth Full of Panettone

Talking with a mouthful of panettone takes some effort, but somehow, the people we know manage to say the darnedest things the first time they try Biasetto Panettone. "This is heavenly", said our colleague Elliot; "I realize I've never had a good panettone in my life other than this one", said our friend Nicoletta; and "I feel like I'm eating a sunny-day cloud," said our colleague Danielle.
 
But Chef Luigi Biasetto says it best when he states that "Panettone e' il dolce migliore nel mondo" or "Panettone is the best dessert in the world".  And his Traditional Panettone  is the best of the best. Why? Well, if it tasting like a "heavenly cloud" isn't enough for you, here is a list of Italian reasons why this Panettone is so delectable and also, so expensive:

-Stone Milled Flour from Padova 
-Fresh eggs from Padova chickens
-17 year old mother yeast, she lives in Padova
-DOP Acacia honey produced in the Italian Alps
-Candied Orange peel from Sicily

Anything else, would be a compromise.

What does Fagottino, Really means? Best Dried Figs from Ciento

Have you watched our latest interview with Antonio from our favorite fig farm?  

We know you are curious exactly what we mean when we say our White Dottato Figs from Cilento are packaged in their own leaves. And what exactly is a "fagottino" anyway?  We know this word sounds like a slur in English, but in Italian it simply means "little bundle".

Let Gustiamo's Stefano unwrap the mystery of traditional fig preservation for you (watch the video). 

But enough about fig leaves... while Melissa Clark was harvesting figs from the giant fig tree on North 11th between Bedford & Berry in Brooklyn this summer, Antonio was hard at work upholding his grandfather's legacy, harvesting DOP figs in Cilento. So, how was the 2012 Ciletan White Dottato Fig harvest? Antonio tells us that it was "low in quanitiy, but high in quality and you are VERY fortunate if you get the chance to taste these exceptional figs fresh or dried." 

We hope you all will one day have the chance to meet Dr. Antonio Longo, he is an ardent advocate for Cilentan figs and he is very particular about who he will sell his figs to. Luckily for us, we live up to his standards; check out his comment under our blog post.

 

 

Pianogrillo Olive Oil Is Organic and DOP

Lorenzo Piccione makes one of the most spectacular Italian olive oils, Pianogrillo, with tonda iblea olives. We have written about him in the past, and call him the nay sayer.

We went to visit him this summer, and he showed us his beautiful property, chapel included. Lorenzo also proudly showed us his Nebrodi Pig farm, his newest project: 1 boar named Silvio (Why?), 5 sows and some 100 little pigs that happily run wild on a fenced property, among the oak and olive trees.

Lorenzo explained to us that his 70 hectares of olive trees (70% tonda iblea, but also careolea and nocellara) are located 650 meters above water which means that the constant breeze repels naturally the olive trees bugs. Therefore, the trees are not treated with pesticides. The production of Lorenzo's oil is totally organic. The oil is also DOP (Monti Iblei). Nevertheless, the nay sayer, does not beleive in labels. Lorenzo says: just try my olive oil, it does not need any labels, it is very good. Yes, we love Pianogrillo olive oil and we love Lorenzo.

Watch Lorenzo, his property, the trees and the whole conversation in the video below. (Click on the arrow.)

GustiGifts

You know what day it is? We are so happy we are not out there being trampled. Instead we are finishing up our gustigifts.

Teleporting to Gustiamo’s Gift Central looks something like this: shelves stocked with eco-chic crates brimming with Italy’s Best Foods, painstakingly wrapped.  

Ah the dilemma to decide what goes in which crate... Pasta, pandoro, pomodori, porcini? What would I want for myself? TUTTO. Finally it’s done and we are ready!

Get out your sheet of paper, make your list, make someone deliriously happy – nothing will go to waste and food memories are the most lasting ones.

Pick a wood crate OR our functional cardboard box, we will fill it with gusto and attention.

If our labor of love selection is not what you had in mind, we’ll help you make your own.

If you haven’t the faintest idea of what to pick, ask us, we have too many. Call us @718-860-2949 and we’ll guide you to our classic Italian foods and through the more obscure ones.

December 17 last day for ground shipping. December 19 last day for overnight shipping.

Don’t be the one who hesitates – this is a pain free gift session and the Italian experts will hold your hand. Italian food experts @ 718-860-2949. We’ll get it done in one shot.

Why is the Dried White Dottato Fig from Cilento so Special?

From over 600 varieties of Italian figs comes one that shines above the rest. The White Dottato Fig from Cilento  is marvelous. Why is it marvelous? Let Antonio from Santomiele Farm break down for you the 2 natural characteristics of this fig that make it taste so good (watch the video, below).  They are so good in fact, that the EU has legally recognized their quality as something special. As we mentioned in our recent post about EV olive oil, we are major naysayers when it comes to purchasing decisions based on packaging. But we do love the packing of Santomiele's figs. We love it, not becuase Martha Stewart thinks it is beautiful enough for her Fall Wedding Flower Arrangements, but because it is traditional. The dried figs are wrapped in their own leaves.  Sustainable packaging at its best.

Elana, Welcome in the Land of Italy's Best Foods

From Elana:

Today is my first day at Gustiamo.  The butterflies in my stomach remind me of being a kid on the first day of school.  Only this is the education you cannot learn in the classroom.  I am here visiting from San Francisco to observe the insides of the company that brings the highest quality, small-batch Italian food to the States.  I look forward to practicing my Italian with Beatrice, Stefano, and Martina, learning about these food and their artisanal producers, and getting to know the whole team who makes it all possible.

My morning began with learning the Gustiamo technique of making coffee.  They brew Sant'Eustachio from Roma that is wood-roasted for a smooth flavor that needs no milk or sugar. With the coffee aroma filling the warehouse Stefano gave me a quick tour.  Pasta, rice, olive oil, and my favorite Italian word carciofi- artichokes. There laid sacks of fine salt, bottles of basalmico, and of course the tomatoes.  "These are fantastico!" Stefano exclaims in his lovely Italian accent.  Note to self to get a taste of those.  Then the whole team lets out a unison cheer when the shipment of pesto from Genova arrives. It is now safely in the fridge awaiting your order!  Hurry before it's gone!

Check back for updates on my adventure in the Bronx!

-Elana

Santomiele Dry Figs Worth of Martha Stewart's Wedding

Martha Stewart's Fall Wedding Flower Arrangements series is not just for autumn brides and wedding planners. This table is simply stunning for any fall/winter feast.

Take a look at this photo again, that small brown package sitting on the dish comes to you from Cilento, Italy and contains the precious and divine Fico Dottato DOP, white fig that have been stuffed with almonds, soaked in rum and fig mollasses with citrus peel and raisins. Who wouldn't want to sit down at an eating event to find an elegant, sustainably packaged and culturally significant gift?

And the floral arrangement? Spectacular! Created by Amy, our friend and super floral designer of Seaport Flowers, in Brooklyn. Thank you Martha Stewart and thank you Amy!