Tag Archives: Bologna

November 7, 2012 · 1:12 PM

Italy: Eating the food Markets and Shops of Bologna

Bologna’s nickname is “The Fat” and we certainly know why. Bologna is not only full of wonderful restaurants, but exceptional food markets and specialty shops, crowding on nearly every corner. We have truly never before seen such varied and high-quality food within such a small area. We only had a day in Bologna, but we definitely made the most of Bologna’s food in that single day – come join us on our tour.

After a highly successful meal at All’Osteria Bottega, we headed north into the center of town. We started our tour at the traditional green market, Mercato delle’erbe (Via Ugo Bassi, 23). This old-school market is housed in a historical covered market building, and is considered the local place to get fresh food. It is a little bit off the tourist track (and is closed around lunchtime), but it is worth seeking out. The array of foods and veggies available at this market are astounding: the freshest herbs, every variety of tomato, romanesco broccoli, and a wide array of Sicilian citrus. Along the perimeter of the market are meat and cheese shops ready to sell accouterments for your meal.

Mercato dell’Erbe

Next we headed to the area just off of the central historical square in Bologna, right outside of the Duomo. In places like Rome, you will want to give the food places near the touristic center a wide (and we mean WIDE) berth. However this is not so in Bologna, where amazing food is found literally in the shadow of the Duomo. Our first stop was Paolo Atti & Figli (Via Caprarie, 7) and our first food mission was Tortellini.

Paolo Atti & Figli

Tortellini, or their larger cousins, tortelli,  are little folded rings of pasta stuffed with meat or cheese. They are native to Bologna, where they are traditionally served in broth. After having divine tortelli at all’Osteria Bottega, we were of the mind to find some to bring home.  Fresh tortellini graced the storefronts in many food stores across Bologna- including Paolo Atti which immediately drew us in. Unfortunately, these fresh, handmade pasta morsels only had a couple days longevity. No preservatives here. Sadly this meant no tortellini could return with us to Lisbon.

Fresh tortelli for sale at Paolo Atti & Figli

However, we found a way to  take a taste of Bologna’s tortellini with us – chocolate tortellini! Chocolate tortellini held pride of place at the amazing food shop Drogheria Gilberto (Via Drapperie, 5). They came in three varieties – white, milk and dark chocolate – all of which are filled with a rich chocolate ganache. Though the prices may seem a little high, you definitely get what you pay for. We’re thinking we should have gotten a kilo more and have carefully been portioning out our remaining choco-tortellini.

Heavenly chocolate tortellini on display at Drogheria Gilberto

If you are looking for some ready-made food to make a quick meal, look no further than A. F. Tamburini (Via Caprarie 1), which had a full counter of lovely Bolognese specialties by the kilo. As you can see, along with prepared foods, there is also no shortage of meats and cheeses on offer. One great thing about Italian cheese stores is that they will vacuum seal any cheese for you. Our favorite kind of souvenir.

A. F. Tamburini

Throughout the day we had been comparing prices for cheese. We decided it was essential to get a block of DOP, 100% authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano, and we know Bologna would be our best chance (outside of Parma). When we happened upon Ceccarelli (Via Pescherie Vecchie, 8) we knew we had found our winner. They had a very friendly, helpful, and welcoming staff, along with an astounding array of cheeses (and prosciutto) at extremely reasonable prices. Also,  there was nary a tourist in sight.
This is a small sampling of the beautiful cheeses on offer at Ceccarelli. Soon enough we were on our way with a healthy wedge (1/2 kilo) of vacuum-sealed parmigiano-reggiano.
We continued our Bologna food walk right outside the doors of Ceccarelli. In the tiny old streets and back alleys along Via Drapperie, Via Pescherie Vecchie and environs, were tons of open-air greengrocers, fishmongers and countless others under canvas awnings. Despite the rain it was fun to walk along these old market streets where it seems nothing has changed for hundred of years.
We definitely fell in love with the sumptuous food of Bologna, “The Fat” and we only wish we had more time to explore the labyrinthine food wonders of this medieval city. We know we will be back someday. As final proof that Bologna takes its food seriously, check out this food stall in the Bologna airport, sending travelers off with some delicious memories.

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November 4, 2012 · 6:01 PM

Italy: Pasta Greatness at All’Osteria Bottega

All’Osteria Bottega
51 Via Santa Caterina
Bologna, Italy

If there is an item that should be on an Italian food lover’s bucket list, it should be eating bolognese sauce in Bologna. Delicately cured bits of meat rounded together in an exquisitely, simply complex sauce, Bolognese (or just ragu, as the locals would call it) symbolizes everything that we love about Italian cooking: high quality, lovingly-prepared ingredients that, when treated well, speak for themselves. Such is the case at All’Osteria Bottega, a tiny restaurant outside of Bologna’s historic center where we went to check that elusive item off M’s bucket list, and sample some other winning dishes in the process.

If you are lucky enough to get one of the 20 seats in All’Osteria Bottega’s tiny seating room, you’ll be greeted by one of the pleasant waitstaff or the delightfully gregarious owner, who will fly between you and the other patrons while engaging in lively chat the whole time. If only we spoke Italian! We could have made a new culinary friend. Not that we aren’t up for making friends with the other inanimate objects in the place: legs of prosciutto, salame, mortadella, cheeses galore, and the giant red meat slicer that dominates the back counter. We wanted to take it home, along with a prosciutto leg or two.

Italians always seem to know how to enjoy a meal. The dress classy for food outings, and they make long affairs of it, ordering plate after plate of prosciutto, cheese, pasta, a main course, wine, dessert, and a coffee. But, unfortunately, we were on a flight layover and in a time crunch: still in our t-shirts and polos (under dressed by Italian standards), we stuck to our main goal: the pasta. M ordered the tagliatelle with bolognese ragu, and L ordered the surprise winner of the evening: tortelli, stuffed with ricotta cheese and served in a light sage cream sauce.

Tagliatelle with ragu bolognese, topped with parmiggiano-reggiano.

This, right here, could have been made by the world’s greatest grandmother, out of the pot she had been using since the ill-fated Mussolini administration. And maybe it was. The mistake so many people make with bolognese ragu is that they make it into too much of a sauce – it slathers over the pasta, dominating it, and the flavors in the meat get bogged down in oil that simply isn’t needed. At Bottega, there is no oil, no liquid in this sauce. Just a series of different meat cuts, ground down to perfection and served delicately integrated into the tagliatelle. You can taste each and every morsel of flavor, all the different textures that went into the ragu, and it just lets you savor each bite that much more. Yet while the sauce was brilliant, the pasta was actually a bit of a disappointment: maybe a thirty seconds or so undercooked, a little less al dente would have made all the difference and really let the sauce (in addition to the parmigiano-reggiano, grated in person!) absolutely shine.

Ricotta tortelli in a sage cream sauce

The same mild criticism of the pasta could not be said for L’s dish, tortelli stuffed with ricotta and served in sage cream sauce. “Little clouds of angelic cheesy goodness” she calls them. Ricotta can come out, especially in tortelli, far too grainy – a product of poor cooking techniques or not using fresh cheese. Not the case here: the oh-so smooth tortelli were stuffed with a ricotta that was extremely smooth; lighter and fluffier than any other ricotta cheese filling she had ever tasted. The sage cream sauce was a perfect complement, providing just the right flavor contrast and letting the great ricotta and its texture steal the show.

A brilliant meal complete for only 30 euro, and then it was off to the center of Bologna to explore an area of food stores founded nearly one thousand years ago that many consider Italy’s best.

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