LetsTravelRome

The Bounty of Rome

By MIMI SHERATON
Published: March 26, 2006

HOW does Rome taste? An odd question perhaps, but the sort that comes to mind when I read travel accounts that define cities by sights and sounds, colors and tempo. What about the flavor, I wonder, meaning that more literally than figuratively.

Say Rome to me and my first thoughts are not of the swirling traffic around the marble wedding cake that is a monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, nor of the eaten-out stone melon that is the Colosseum, nor of the "Dolce Vita" set as immortalized by Fellini. Rather, I think first of the creamy foam, or spuma, that tops lightly sugared espresso at the always jammed Sant'Eustachio around the corner from the Pantheon, the coffee bar that I still consider this city's best.

Next, thoughts turn to Rome's own big, round globe artichokes available from late February to mid-April and most succulent simmered in olive oil with mint and parsley — alla Romana — or as carciofi alla giudea— flattened and fried to resemble dried sunflowers and one of the many Jewish culinary inheritances from the city's Ghetto — preparations that do almost as well by other artichoke varieties in other seasons.

Among Roman pastas, I remember favorites such as the guanciale-and-egg-decked carbonara, cacio e pepe with its cheese and pepper sting, the mellow tomato-and-onion-sauced amatriciana and the unusual, delectable pajata (pronounced pie-YAH-tah), pasta tossed with chopped intestines of newly born lambs that still hold remains of milk, resulting in a creamy, meaty tomato sauce. And gnocchi alla Romana, unlike others in Italy, are rounds of semolina baked under a golden glaze of butter and cheese, an elegant variation.

These lusty eaters enjoy their meats close to the bone, gnawing through roasted abbacchio lamb, suckling pig or braised oxtails. They dote on innards like tomato-simmered tripe and tantalizingly chewy coratella, a savory hash of mixed lamb organs. Suffusing all are the seasonings that define the Roman kitchen: the air-cured pig's jowl bacon called guanciale; salt-etched anchovies; garlic; fiery, red peperoncino chilies; black pepper; the pungent sheep's milk cheese pecorino; and rosemary, sage, parsley and minty mentuccia.

At Il Matriciano we found a robustly fruity, garnet-colored shiraz from Casale del Giglio for about $26. That same producer also accounted for the best white we tried, a fresh but mellow-edged Satrico chardonnay from Frascati. The tasting in New York was organized by Ian D'Agata, director of the International Wine Academy of Roma, a stunning multistoried installation in a 19th-century town palace beside the Spanish Steps. There one can have tastings of Lazio wines, among others, giving good reason to raise the Italian toast "A cent'anni" — "To a hundred years" — most suitable in this ancient city.

For more on Rome you can visit Lets-Travel-Rome.com/Roman-Life

posted by Les Sheppard @ 11:50 AM