Latest news with #Mortadella
Courier-Mail
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Courier-Mail
Matt Preston finds the best tortellini in Italy's Emilia Romagna region
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. The countryside between Parma and Bologna is the culinary heart of Italy. Sure, Naples, Rome, Milan and Florence all have claims but with world-famous produce like Parmesan Reggiano, Balsamic vinegar, Mortadella and Prosciutto di Parma, and world-famous dishes like lasagne – and the best chocolate ice cream in the world – the region of Emilia Romagna punches well above its weight. A certain world-famous spaghetti dish also bears the capital's name. Embark on an Italian odyssey: Discover the 10 most thrilling destinations to explore Video Player is loading. Play Video This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. X Learn More Loaded : 0.00% 0:00 Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. 00:26 SUBSCRIBER ONLY Embark on an Italian odyssey: Discover the 10 most thrilling destinations to explore more more odyssey as we unveil the top 10 destinations that promise an exhilarating journey through this enchanting country. Prepare to embark on a thrilling Italian...... ... more It is also home to globally recognised chefs Massimo Bottura – the man behind former world No.1 restaurant Osteria Francescana – and locavore champion Massimo Spigaroli from the Michelin-starred Antica Corte Pallavicina. This all makes the medieval cities of Parma, Modena and Bologna a brilliant destination for anyone who likes food and wine, loves history and wants to embrace the area's vibrant way of life. I've been coming here since the 1980s and it still never fails to impress and charm. The landscapes of the Emilia Romagno region are as delightful as its cuisine. One locally revered dish is seldom on visitors' bucket lists. It's a dish of impeccable delicacy and depth that gets lost overseas under the ruckus created by noisier pastas like carbonara and 'matriciana, bolognese and lasagne. 'In Modena if you don't believe in God, you can always believe in tortellini,' Massimo Bottura tells me with a laugh down the line from Italy. When I speak to Massimo Spigaroli, he says: 'The supreme quality of the (local) products used, such as the parmesan cheese, and the ancient knowledge of our land is what makes for the perfect tortellini al brodo.' Tortellini al brodo is a traditional dish claimed by both Bologna and Modena. Tortellini al brodo is claimed as 'theirs' by both Modena and Bologna and sits proudly on most menus of the area. Eating the pasta in no more than the broth is apparently the best way to see the skill of the cook and the required fine-finger technique of the pasta maker's skill. Such is the obsession with doing tortellini al brodo the 'right way' I reckon it's hard to find a bad one – even at a dodgy place behind Bologna's central railway station. This is also held out by local foodies' guides all listing different places to get the best tortellini. I found the tortellini good and al dente but the broth a little salty at the century-old Emilian icon Ristorante Diana, but I loved the version at Drogheria della Rosa. This quirky spot on a quiet side street in Bologna is the perfect place to while away a long lunch. The simplicity of the dish leaves nowhere to hide but the tortellini here are deliciously plump with the umami hit of meat boosted by the aged parmesan also in the filling. (Never sprinkle extra parmesan over the tortellini because it should have enough in it and you'll throw the hard-strived-for balance of the dish.) Drogheria della Rosa is Matt Preston's choice for tortellini in Bologna. Luck has a hand in me finding a fine tortellini al brodo in Modena. We're dragging our cases from the train station to our accommodation when a yellow sign in a nondescript suburban street hoves into view. Trattoria Ermes opened in 1963, and the late chef and owner Ermes Rinaldi became a giant of Modenese cuisine. The restaurant he left still is. Amazingly they have one table left for lunch. The dining room is tiny; communal tables with red-checked tablecloths are packed and the vibe is boisterous. The set menu changes each lunch but thankfully today is a tortellini al brodo day and there's a €12 bottle of local lambrusco on the table – it's the most expensive on the list – suggested by winemakers having a long, fraternal and raucous lunch at a nearby table. The €10 bowl of pasta has a broth that is clean but rich, and the tortellini are suitably half and half meat and pasta. This is the sort of honest cookery that I travel for and while their stewed tripe might be a little too rustic for some, escalopes of pork finished with balsamic vinegar are such a hit that it's a recipe I now make at home. Cavallino restaurant at the Ferrari Factory at Maranello. Another fine choice for tortellini in Modena is Cavallino, the restaurant overseen by Massimo Bottura at the Ferrari Factory at Maranello. The tortellini here is handmade by children and adults on the autism spectrum in a social workshop project called Il Tortellante that's been running for almost a decade – the project says this traditional, precise but repetitive process helps instil traditional skills, confidence and a sense of inclusion. The students' mentors are local nonnas who in Modena are revered with the title rezdora… 'she who rolls'. They are highly valued as the custodians and teachers of the ancient local culinary ways of which tortellini is paramount. I ask Massimo Spigaroli for his favourite tortellini outside home and he points to Osteria di Fornio, a simple rustic restaurant 10 minutes outside Fidenza. It immediately goes on my bucket list. Originally published as Matt Preston finds the best tortellini in Italy's Emilia Romagna region
7NEWS
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
We make a giant panino to celebrate the best fresh Italian produce
Anna Simon is a home cook, recipe developer and TV personality. And on Thursday, she joined us to make a 1.5m long panino. Anna says that she created this dish to celebrate her Italian heritage, she says growing up people used to tease her at school for having salami sandwiches, but these days these types of sandwiches have actually become very popular. The Little Italy Sandwich Mortadella Salami Aged Prosciutto Provolone Cheese Sun Dried Tomato Strips Artichoke Hearts Grilled Eggplant Fillets Grilled Zucchini Roasted Pepper Strips Green Olives Arugula Pesto Balsamic Glaze Layered inside fresh, crusty focaccia, this panino is a tribute to the rich Italian history of Leichhardt. One bite, and you're right back in Little Italy, where every ingredient tells a story and every sandwich feels like home.
Time Out
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
First look: inside the £85 million National Gallery revamp opening this weekend
Step foot in the National Gallery 's new-look Sainsbury Wing and you'll be greeted with a genuine sense of anticipation. A sanctuary from the pigeons, buskers and walking tours crowding Trafalgar Square, neutral limestone shades and vast expanses of glass encompass a wide, open foyer. Your eyes are immediately drawn to one of three digital HD screens – a large horizontal stretch at the back of the room, and a smaller two on pillars to your left – each showing a slow-moving pan of a painting housed in the floor above. Look closer, and you can see every crack of oil paint, every scratch, every immaculate stroke. Now this is a proper welcome to one of the world's greatest art museums. Designed by US postmodernists Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the Sainsbury Wing originally opened in 1991 as an addition to the main gallery building – but the foyer was dark and low-ceilinged, cluttered with false columns and dimmed by shaded windows. Needless to say, not everyone was a fan. During the wing restoration last year, contractors discovered a regretful note from benefactor Lord Sainsbury inside one of the hollow columns, writing: 'Let it be known that one of the donors of this building is absolutely delighted that your generation has decided to dispense with the unnecessary columns.' Old Sainsbury might have been glad to hear that after two years and a £85 million spend, the refurbished Sainsbury Wing is now fully completed. It opens to the public this weekend, along with the 'Wonder of Art': a major rehang of around 1000 works in the gallery's collection of European painting. 'We thought the welcome could be better,' said Gabriele Finaldi, Director of National Gallery, speaking about the wing refresh in a speech today. The museum utilised architect Annabel Selldorf, whose credits include the expansion of New York's Frick Collection, to lead the refurb in line with the gallery's bicentenary celebrations. Lively and inviting, the result is a triumph. Reimagining the entrance as a 'place to rest and think, to meet your friends', the stairs were opened up, dark glazing swapped for clear glass and several columns removed, doubling the height of the foyer. On a quiet day, it's a lot of empty space – according to the Guardian, there is 60 percent more room than before – but that's surely the point; you can imagine it filling up fast with groups of school trips and tours. The Sainsbury Wing now acts as the main entrance for the gallery – and with a new exterior sign, it's near impossible to miss (goodbye, days of running between queues with your phone out). Look left inside and you'll find a swish seating lounge next to Bar Giorgio, which is run in collab with Searcy's and serves great coffee (and £9.50 Mortadella rolls). Head down to the basement for the refreshed teal-blue Pigott Theatre with a larger improved lobby (in time, there are plans to build an underground tunnel link to take you to the main building), or turn right to the brightly lit main staircase, leading up past a mezzanine housing a shop and the new Locatelli Italian restaurant – and up into the gallery hosting the very oldest works in the museum's collection. Names of major artists are subtly etched into stone on the side of the staircase walls – Bellini, Leonardo, Raphael – and in pride of place at the top, you'll see Richard Long's newly commissioned 'Mud Sun': an intricate, planet-like shape made with mud from the River Avon, acting as a bridge between the Medieval and Early Renaissance worlds of the gallery and the present day viewer. Onto the collection itself. As you might expect, this is not a radical rehang – it's a subtle, clever, tasteful one, all white, light and clean, allowing the paintings to pop under the towering high ceilings. Throughout the rooms, which are loosely structured around chronological and geographical themes such as 15th century Netherlandish illusionism and early renaissance Florentine altarpieces, you'll spot all manner of world-famous works, like Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait and Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Virgin of the Rocks'. But you'll also encounter stuff that makes you stop in your tracks, such as an early 16th-century triptych unusually displayed with closed doors to show off its decorative exterior panels, or Segna di Bonaventura's 14th-century crucifix suspended high from the ceiling. Teeny tiny panels, vast golden triptychs, battle scenes, portraits, dozens and dozens of devotional works: this is a mind-boggling abundance of stunning, fascinating, invaluable paintings from Western art history. There is a fair amount of criticism about the revamp – the building is, after all, Grade I-listed, and the original extension is still regarded as a postmodern icon – but there's no need to wax lyrical. A real, modern visitor will take space and light over a Trafalgar Square cellar any day. The new Sainsbury Wing is exactly what an art building should be – and most importantly of all, it is still completely free.
