Quail Festival

Last week, not very far away from us, was another Sagra or Festival.  This one was celebrating with quail roast on a spit.  It was the Festa di San Giuseppe.  It was so good- it was wrapped with bacon before it was roasted.  Sadly, I didn't get any pics of it roasting.  We (my husband and I) tried fettuccine and gnocchi with quail sauce, which was delicious, and split a roast quail/fried polenta dish between us.  Everything was so good!

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Sagra del Broccolo Fiolaro

Two chefs perfecting the Gnocchi di Broccolo Fiolaro.

Nearby Vicenza, Italy, is the small town of Creazzo, where a special green grows.  This vegetable, called "Broccolo Fiolaro", dates back to Roman times and almost became extinct (because farmers were growing imported veggies instead) until farmers in Creazzo brought it back.  Now, it's only grown in the hills of Creazzo, and is what would be considered an "heirloom vegetable" if it was grown in the US.  It has quite a large local following- and its very own Sagra, or Festival, that is two weeks long!  You can buy this all around Vicenza right now, and it is also featured in local restaurants.  The harvest time is from November-February.  The broccolo is sweet and not bitter at all, and very good for you. I like to buy it at least once a week this time of year and cook it at home.  I'll share my "recipe" for that next week.

We attended the Sagra twice this year- once on Risotto night, and then again on Gnocchi night.  On Gnocchi night we took some friends with us for their first Sagra experience.  (Pictured below is the Gnocchi; above is a Broccolo Fiolaro plant.)

We love going to local Sagras and experiencing new foods and the Italian culture.  It's also nice to have a Sagra in January, as most of them fall within Spring/Summer/Early Fall.  Sagras usually have music or some entertainment later in the evening.  We usually have the kids with us, so we haven't often stayed long enough to enjoy that.  Maybe in a few years when everybody's older.

Broccolo Fiolaro on display at the Sagra.

Huge skillet of gnocchi!!!

People enjoying the Sagra.

Two pics above; Risotto night!!

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Fair in Grisignano

Back in September, we went to a huge fair they have in this area.  It's kind of like a state or county fair in the States (although I'm not all that familiar with those, but that's what I hear).  There's kilometers of booths set up in the streets of the town of Grisignano.  Hot food booths, and selling everything from olives to brooms, computers and outdoor fireplaces, hot tubs, etc.  We mostly went for the food, though.  Our neighbors told us we must try this special risotto made with red wine.  We did, and it was so delicious.  We also got a panino porchetta, or pork sandwich made with special Tuscan-style roast pork.  That was only ok though, so no pic.  :)  The pic above is the guy stirring the risotto.  (We did ask to take his pic, but he was in charge of a serious job, I guess.)  

The risotto was super popular, obviously.  We sat next to a family with a child who was so anxious to dig in, he burnt his tongue on the very hot risotto.  

Some of the other food for sale were Cannoli and other Sicilian pastries, dried fruits (everywhere!) but most exciting was this olive guy.  He had so many different kinds, and lot I had never seen before.  Some HUGE green olives.  (Top pic).  We got some mixed olives but they've been pushed to the back of the fridge.  I need to eat them!  

I bought a tangine there, so I need to make Tangine from Morocco.  Other than that we just walked around and enjoyed the experience.  They had a lot of rides too, but we didn't partake.  

PS:  Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!  We celebrated with roast chicken and mashed potatoes (with gravy!)  No pics because my plate was too "beige".  Lol.  

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Festa Della Zucca (Pumpkin Festival)

We went to the pumpkin festival a few weeks ago.  They really love pumpkins and pumpkin foods here in the fall, and it was a great opportunity to try some of the local foods featuring pumpkin.  I had pumpkin gnocchi, of course, and it was amazingly delicious.  My husband had a pumpkin filled pasta, and it was good, but a little too sweet.  My pumpkin gnocchi was flavored with sage butter, and my husband's had two sauces; one sage butter and one tomato and sausage.

There were helpful instructions posted for newcomers to Sagras, or festivals, in Italy.  This is how you get your food (English and Italian!).

The "order form", above.  So many choices!  It's always hard to choose.  They always have fries for those who don't like the good stuff.

Sweet, fried pumpkin flowers.  They were battered and covered in sugar.  I've never had sweet ones before!

This pumpkin cheesecake was so good- SO light and fluffy. Not heavy at all.  I loved it.

This man was sculpting different kinds of squash.  It was pretty cool to watch him work.  See his handiwork, on the left.

Advertising what kind of food was available.  Like I said, so many choices!  I always want them all.  :)

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Gnocchi Festival

Throughout Italy, there are many Sagras, or Festivals, all through the year, but early fall is a very popular time for them.  They celebrate different things; sometimes, just focusing on one type of food. I found out about this Gnocchi Festival a month before it happened and I was so excited to go, but it looked like we weren't going to have time to go.  At the last minute, some stuff got canceled, and my husband and I drove out to it.  It was everything I hoped for, and more.  :)

Here are some pictures from our night.  It was held in the hills in a tiny town of Trissino, right by this lovely church.  The Sagra had some booths, (besides gnocchi), selling produce, cheese, salami, home goods, handmade jewelry, etc.  Below is a photo of the special potatoes one needs to make gnocchi.

The photo above is all the different types of gnocchi available to eat.  It was SO hard to choose!!  I wanted them all.  At first we decided on just two types (pic below), the pumpkin one and the truffles one, but eventually we added the rosemary and cream on, too.  It was way too much for the two of us!!  We ate it anyway.  The sauces available: leek, pumpkin and speck (similar to prosciutto but peppery and smoked), prosciutto with cream and rosemary, truffles, radicchio and pastasalado (not sure what that is... lol), a Padovian goose sauce, speck with walnuts, butter and sage, mascarpone and red peppers, regular meat sauce, and plain tomato sauce.

Above is a gnocchi and wine pairing list.  Below is the pumpkin, leek and speck.

Above, rosemary, prosciutto, and cream.  Below, truffles, with butter.  My favorites!!  It was so good. They were ALL so good!

 Above, a pic of the typical sagra eating set-up.  The benches are not very sturdy!  Be careful getting up and down.  :)  Below, tents with wares for sale, and the locals talking, kids playing, etc.

Live music is always at Sagras after a certain time (usually starts at 9pm).  Above is a pic of the VERY GOOD Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band; they even dressed like them and had long hair!  We usually miss the music because we have the kids and leave before it starts, but not this time. Below is a farther shot so you can see the cool church they were playing right in front of.

Above, the inside of the church.  Below, shot of the band and crowd taken from the church's entrance.

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