Antica Corte Pallavicina is a restored estate located near the Po River between Parma and Cremona, now owned by the Spigaroli family. Massimo Spigaroli, as I have read and we have been told, is an expert on traditional cooking of Emilia-Romagna. He has taught at the university and as we learned, has a most impressive group of young chefs working at the property. He was instrumental in re-creating the traditional method of producing culatello di zibello, a ham made from the rump region of what was recently an almost extinct breed of black pig indigenous to the area. The ham is made in the traditional way using cellars and sweet sea breezes for the curing process, unlike the refrigerated cellaring of fattened, light pigs largely used in the Parma ham (prosciutto) production. The family has restored the property with apparent love and dedication, and now runs a Relais as well as an impressive restaurant on site. They raise or grow almost everything used in the kitchen, themselves on the adjoining land. It looked like much of the large culatello production at the estate has been purchased in advance by various restaurants, chefs, etc.
We took a class on pasta making and of course, Gidget was on top of everything, I think impressing our instructor, Alessandro from Milan Alessandro was terrific in explaining things, as was Sarah from Montreal who sometimes helped with English translations of Italian terms though Alessandro spoke excellent English. There are a number of young chefs who are fortunate to land internship or apprentice-type employment here after their culinary training. I suspect it is intensely competitive to land such a position.
Alessandro walked us through the preparation of traditional tortelli (simply flour and eggs with a touch of salt, a pinch of oil optional). He also showed us how to make a traditional filling of ricotta, parmesan, and egg, a little salt, and nutmeg, with a seasonal green (in this case spinach) added for color. (Pics show a few of the steps and the final dish). He also showed us a few other pasta forms made from the same dough, and how to make the type of gnocchi which is traditional in this region, without any potatoes but rather strictly with finely ground bread crumbs and flour.
Also: a risotto preparation from the toasting of the rice to lock in the glutins to the process of cooking with broth. The final dish involved a pomodoro fresca sauce, finished off with cheese and presented in a round of upright green beans. Our lunch included the tortelli and the risotto we had just watched Alessandro make. Fabulous--especially the risotto. Gidget remembers all the details; I remember about 10% of them!
I fully intended to have only a green or mixed salad for dinner after that lunch, which had included wine and dessert. Then we made the happy mistake of going to La Greppia in Parma. Hands down, the best meal of our trip. Our earlier meals here in Parma were great, in more casual taverna or trattoria settings, while La Greppia was a bit more formal. We had some of the culatello di zibello that we had learned about today and found it to be far superior (to our tastes) to the standard Parma ham: leaner, sweeter, with more intense character. Then a shared first course of tortelli stuffed with deer and accompanied by a reduced cherry sauce (yum) and secondi of braised beef in a reduced red wine sauce (me) and chicken breast with a cherry and berry sauce (Gidget). Then they wheeled around a spectacular dessert cart with probably a dozen choices on it. We had a wonderful peach / ground almond / chocolate delight in which the chocolate flavor surprisingly always kicked in a couple seconds after the other two, then they all lingered.
The clientele was fascinating. At least three couples were speaking German; I believe the couple closest to us was in more "German" Deutsch compared to the "Swiss" German we heard In Luzern (and which I had even more trouble trying to understand than the German I learned in high school and have since forgotten). A young attractive couple speaking French across from us. A couple toward the front of the restaurant speaking English with a British accent but fluent in Italian as well. I was straining to hear some Italian! I rolled out of the restaurant feeling fat, provincial and happy. The diet starts tomorrow... maybe....
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