Italian food, much as i love it…it is can be so goddamn rigidly regional that people have never heard of common dishes that are being served up by their neighbours 30 of 40 km up the road. 5 years in Piedmont educated me well in their cheesy-meaty-polenta-y…well…heavy but truly wonderful cuisine (except for the polenta [concia]…or prison food as i like to call it…). But the food of Lombardy and of Milan in particular has always remained a bit vague to me, a risotto here, a frogs leg there…However the other night in a local Milanese restaurant i had a bit of a revelatory culinary experience…
To start with something very austere, it’s so Italian to pare your food down to the bare but exquisite essentials…so a plate with one solitary thick slice of very lightly cured soft salami. You have to keep space for the serious stuff ahead…
…and to the house speciality…ossobuco e risotto allo zafferano (osso buco with saffron risotto)…i had my doubts…i don’t normally like risotto…too boring…too bland…can make it better myself at home…blah blah blah…Trust me says my friend and generous host, you will like it. I trust him, and so i found myself with this placed in front of me:
ossobuco e risotto allo zafferano
So the photo does not really do justice to the scale and perfume of the thing but suffice it to say it was a mighty plate-full…and the risotto, so rich, so perfect, so full of butter that as it cooled it was reverting to its previous incarnation (in a good way), full of flavour from the stock of the meat and just al dente…and the meat, aromatic and buttery soft and falling off the bone in a liquor of its own juices that was rich with herbs and well…meat. I ate it all…every last scrap of it, even the fat around the outside. In fact i think i scared/impressed the waiters, all hardened professionals of a certain age who were used to more petite milanese ladies than myself…,whatever… i would have licked the plate clean if i thought i could have gotten away with it! There was pudding too (there is always room for pudding)…a bready, raisiny, chocolatey affair and it was good, but i was drunk on meat and saffron (and dolcetto d’alba red wine) and forgot to photograph it. If anyone is planning a trip to Milan ask me where this place is and go there, the people watching is also fantastic, it’s an old school neighbourhood restaurant, its not cheap and it is worth every single penny.
other foodie posts on this blog
further adventures in foraging
i say yes to this
i know! and i know that it probably is hardening your arteries just to look at the thing, but it is worth it…who wants to live forever anyway!!
Beautifully explained..
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hi marga,
how are you?
I know, it sounds a bit weird a late reply, but great if you email me the name of the restaurant. I have to “fare bella figura” with a friend of mine.
Still love your blog, a brief watching-listening to your pics and posts, but we would love to see you and have you by us.
I hope you are fine.
All the best
Il fra
ciao fra!!
thanks for you nice comments, i would really love to come down and see you all but life just keeps getting in the way!, hopefully some day soon though. The restaurant is called Trattoria AL MATAREL, corso garibaldi, 75, tel 02654204. Let me know what you think…be warned there is no air conditioning! Will be in Biella til mid oct if you and Cri are around. Mx