2021 Giro d’Italia - Stage 5: Modena to Cattolica
A second day, this one sunny and beautiful, through Emilia-Romagna. Today’s route also took them through the region’s capital, the historic city of Bologna, a vibrant hub of trains and cuisine. I decided to go back to an old steady: Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. One of her featured Bologna-centric recipes is Crescentina - her take on a local, savory, focaccia that is laden with bacon. Yum, right?!
Not really. This was actually a really disappointing focaccia. It’s too thick; too dense. It doesn’t have any herbs or the signature dimples of a focaccia, rather absurd diagonal gouges across the top surface. Finally, it also tastes a bit "eggy" from the confusingly required egg wash topping - even though I listened to Marcella and went sparingly with the egg wash. This is like the Chicago-style pizza of focaccias. We all tried a piece and have been giving the rest to our dog, Duke. He seems to love it!
While I’m not going to provide you a bad recipe, I’m also not going to leave you with empty stomachs, either, in honor of Bologna also being known as "Fat City". So, if you’re craving focaccia, try this Brindisi Puddica I made for last year’s Giro. But, if you’re really looking for something amazing, that is also Bologna-centric, you have to make Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese and Pappardelle which I made with my girls a couple of months ago. We had a BLAST making this and our stomachs were mightily rewarded afterwards. ______________________________
Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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