Trani International festival, from September 11th till the 14th, the lady of the Adriatic sea has showcased an Apulia that was in great shape. And an army of chefs, producers, wine makers who have demonstrated surprising flexibility by adjusting their performances to the themes of the four evenings: the road of food (the task: interpreting traditional sandwiches each in their own way), food plays an away game (like in Vico Equense, tables were set in the city’s glamorous shopping locations), the tiella-contest (fought with rice, potatoes and mussels) and the chic-nic (guzzling on the urban field, overlooking the sea, set in Piazza Quercia). Here are a few shots, to get an idea.
The boys from Barba baffi e pellicce in Locorotondo (Bari)
At the beginning it was the
pagnotta, the basic unit of Apulian-style street food. For instance, the good bread made by brothers
Luciano and
Salvatore Patronelli of
Barba baffi e pellicce, the gourmet corner in Locorotondo (a long, American style bar and a handful of stools) that played a close match with the famous chefs lined up on this occasion.
How so? With a succulent
rosetta filled with turnip, stracciatella and demi-sec cherry tomatoes signed by
De Carlo, the historic olive mill in Bitritto with four centuries of strict extra virgin olive oil production behind it. The same simplifying principle was the basis for an Italian version of hamburgers given by
Paolo Parisi (Le Macchie, Pisa), which was a strong reply against stereotypes with his 70’s-style slices of “old and fat cow” in a bread soaking with Muraglia oil.
Autochthonous certainties, such as the
battuta di podolica served by
Michele Sabatino (butcher from Apricena, in the menu of the bi-starred
Aimo e Nadia in Milan) were in the filling of the sandwich prepared by
Mario Musci (of
Gallo restaurant in Trani), or as the
caciocavallo podolico in the chickpea focaccia with roasted lamb and baked tomato by
Vito Giannuzzi (
Borgo bianco resort in Polignano a Mare).
Gargano resists with the kitchen couple of
Al fornello da Ricci in Ceglie Messapica, formed by
Antonella Ricci and
Vinod Sookar who have prepared a sandwich with seven cereals so crispy it could challenge the early autumn humidity with
capocollo from Martina Franca (produced by
Santoro, Cisternino).
Speaking of certainties. Basic triplet for
Antonio Scalera (restaurant
La Bul, Bari) in his Apulian
gazpacho with tomato juice, stracciatella and capocollo, resulting in a spoonful of liquid, acid, sweet, dense and crispy freshness. Too bad it only lasted the short time of a finger food.
The same approach was that of
Raffaele Vitale, chef-architect from
Casa del Nonno 13 in Salerno: a bite based on tuna tartare and buffalo milk mozzarella with saffron, an interesting dairy-herbal experiment that was born on the Tuscan hills by
Croco e Smilace, which immediately aroused the curiosity of the chef with surprising results. As in the case of the sweet-and-savoury octopus by
Francesco Nacci (
Botrus, Ceglie Messapica) fried in batter and dipped in codfish yogurt.
In the end, the pastry chefs were stormed thanks to
Sospiro di Bisceglie, a centennial, traditional dessert that deserves to be defended and replicated for future generations. The same goes for another very classic recipe that in this case was presented in the Apulian version, with sapid and true Apulian notes: playing with different temperatures, the chocolate ice cream was mixed with scales of crispy bread and served on toasted Altamura bread. Hot-cold-sweet-savoury. Prepared on the spot at
Bar Roma in Cerignola by
Tommaso Perrucci.
Rendez vous in September 2015, in front of the magnificent blue horizon of Trani.
