Another dinner at home

 

Rome, October 17, 2016—

A FRIEND'S HOME, that is; an apartment in the Prati, crowded with moving boxes full of a lifetime's collecting books and scores. The paintings are yet to be moved. A monumental job, begun only a week ago, but it hadn't hindered Jeanne from preparing a marvelous midday meal almost entirely from their country seat on the Tuscan coast.

We began with a type of pilaf: long-grain rice, perfectly cooked, with chopped vegetables: onion, tomato, pepper, and greens. Then a coniglio, beautifully flavored with white wine, rosemary, sage, and thyme — each flavor individually distinguishable, but all blending thanks to the wine and olive oil.

(A fine, green, fragrant oil from their own olives, supple and not at all catch-at-your-throat, that Tuscan quality I don't particularly favor.)

Contorni: what seemed to my companion to be broccolini, but Jeanne insisted was long-leaf green cabbage; perhaps both were involved, long-cooked in the slow Italian way. Insalata verde. 

Fruit: first, Fuyu persimmon — not my favorite fruit, but better than the slimy variety — with alarmingly blue sugar-sprinkles, what the Dutch call hagel. Moscato grapes from their vineyard.

Grillo (Sicily); Chianti (Brolio, Ricasoli, 2014, very nice)

 

Afterward a marvelous gelato down the street. As usual I had fior di latte and crema; both outstanding, the crema a deep yellow.

Gelateria Roma da 1947, Via Cola di Rienzo, 2, Roma, Italy