Cooking
Late last year I got a chance to eat at La Ciccia restaurant in Noe Valley. La Ciccia is the only restaurant I know of that specializes in the food of Sardinia. I like to think I know a bit about Italian food, having lived and studied in Italy but when it comes to the cuisine of Sardinia, up to now, I've been tremendously ignorant.
Having eaten at La Ciccia a couple of times now, I have only begun to get familiar with Sardinian cuisine. It has many of the same elements you find in other Italian food but the ingredients are different. There is the saltiness of bottarga, a dried salted roe, the al dente chew of pasta but in the form of "fregola" large pearl shaped pasta, a distinctive crisp bread called carta musica--sheet music, and the slightly bitter almost indescribable flavor of saffron.
What else can I tell you? Sardinia has a wonderful range of wines that you are probably unfamiliar with but they are well worth exploring. And La Ciccia is a great place to explore them. Familiar ingredients include olives and tomatoes, olive oil and fresh herbs, but the character of the cuisine is less refined and more exotic with touches of Arab and Middle Eastern flavors including raisins, honey, walnuts, saba and mint. Not surprisingly because Sardinia is an island, there is also plenty of fish and shellfish.
I love discovering another branch of Italian food. And at La Ciccia I enjoyed the same kind of friendliness and hospitality I remember from my happiest meals in Italy.
FOOD + SARDINIA
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When it comes to Italian food, the true measure of whether a recipe is authentic is whether it's the way your Italian mamma made it. It's hard to say whether a cookbook is ever truly authentic, unless of course your mamma wrote it. With Italian...
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Usually I don't write about restaurant openings because really, what can you say? An opening is just a chance to get a sneak peek and a bite and that's usually it. But last Friday's opening of Riva Cucina in Berkeley was a little different,...
- Spaghetti Salad: Recipe
I think you can argue that it isn't really Summer until tomatoes are juice-down-your-chin ripe. When a tomato is at it's sweet peak, I'm not alone in believing it should be eaten raw. In countries where tomatoes are grown, there are lots...
Cooking
La Ciccia: Restaurant
Late last year I got a chance to eat at La Ciccia restaurant in Noe Valley. La Ciccia is the only restaurant I know of that specializes in the food of Sardinia. I like to think I know a bit about Italian food, having lived and studied in Italy but when it comes to the cuisine of Sardinia, up to now, I've been tremendously ignorant.
Having eaten at La Ciccia a couple of times now, I have only begun to get familiar with Sardinian cuisine. It has many of the same elements you find in other Italian food but the ingredients are different. There is the saltiness of bottarga, a dried salted roe, the al dente chew of pasta but in the form of "fregola" large pearl shaped pasta, a distinctive crisp bread called carta musica--sheet music, and the slightly bitter almost indescribable flavor of saffron.
What else can I tell you? Sardinia has a wonderful range of wines that you are probably unfamiliar with but they are well worth exploring. And La Ciccia is a great place to explore them. Familiar ingredients include olives and tomatoes, olive oil and fresh herbs, but the character of the cuisine is less refined and more exotic with touches of Arab and Middle Eastern flavors including raisins, honey, walnuts, saba and mint. Not surprisingly because Sardinia is an island, there is also plenty of fish and shellfish.
I love discovering another branch of Italian food. And at La Ciccia I enjoyed the same kind of friendliness and hospitality I remember from my happiest meals in Italy.
| READ MORE Over at SF Station is my review of La Ciccia |
FOOD + SARDINIA
- A16 Turns 10
A16 restaurant is celebrating a 10 year anniversary. That’s a huge accomplishment in any city, especially San Francisco. A16 focuses on the food and wine of Southern Italy. When it opened, the idea of a regional Italian restaurant was a bit of an anomaly...
- Spaghetti With Walnuts And Anchovies: Recipe
Conventional wisdom says a good cookbook is one that allows you to reproduce a given recipe with consistently successful results. Another opinion is that the recipes should be really special, not run-of-the-mill or the best versions of classics. I may...
- Italian Cookbooks
When it comes to Italian food, the true measure of whether a recipe is authentic is whether it's the way your Italian mamma made it. It's hard to say whether a cookbook is ever truly authentic, unless of course your mamma wrote it. With Italian...
- Riva Cucina
Usually I don't write about restaurant openings because really, what can you say? An opening is just a chance to get a sneak peek and a bite and that's usually it. But last Friday's opening of Riva Cucina in Berkeley was a little different,...
- Spaghetti Salad: Recipe
I think you can argue that it isn't really Summer until tomatoes are juice-down-your-chin ripe. When a tomato is at it's sweet peak, I'm not alone in believing it should be eaten raw. In countries where tomatoes are grown, there are lots...