Gorgeous gluten-free grub: Senza glutine in Roma, Siena, Cortona and Firenze

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Senza glutine in Roma, Siena, Cortona and Firenze

Unlike France, there is a lot of awareness of coeliac disease and the need to be on a strict gluten-free diet in Italy. More often than not Italians know what you are talking about when you mention words like coeliac or gluten-free (GF) although it does help to say them in Italian - celiachia and senza glutine.

While the country isn't in a great financial situation at the moment, its performance in diagnosing and treating coeliac disease is much better. Italian children are screened for coeliac disease at around 6 years of age and the average time time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis for Italians of any age is usually only 2 to 3 weeks. As a result Italy is up there with Australia, Ireland and Finland as the top four countries for diagnosis of coeliac disease.

At the same time you can't presume that everyone in Italy will be aware of coeliac disease and understand what gluten-free means. So a coeliac's best friend in Italy is the restaurant guide on the Italian Coeliac Association (Associazione Italiana Celiachia) website. To get to the guide, click on the menu item ''dieta senza glutine' and then click on 'Project Power Away'. The information is organised by region so you just have to select Tuscany or Sicily or Veneto etc to find somewhere suitable to eat.

I would highly recommend taking an iPhone or device that allows you to look up GF places to eat as you go. When we were in Italy in the middle of this year, we didn't bring a laptop or any sort of portable device with Internet access. This meant traipsing off to Internet cafes to find a GF restaurant instead of being able to look one up on the go or as we were approaching a new destination.

At the same time you can be pleasantly surprised in Italy like the night we arrived in Castiglion Fiorentino, a small hill-top town about half an hour from Arezzo. When I explained my senza glutine needs the waitress went to the kitchen and returned with a packet of GF pasta.

Another great resource is Maria Ann Roglieri's The Gluten-Free Guide to Italy which is available at www.gfguidetoitaly.com. Unfortunately I only discovered this book just before we set off for Italy so I didn't have it with me. It is packed full of GF eating-out options and is a handy back-up when you don't have Internet access. Here are a few of the coeliac-friendly places we found in Rome, Florence, Cortona and Siena.

Osteria del Gallo, Roma

This is a cute little restaurant in one of those typical narrow Roman streets not far from Piazza Navona. While it was a bit windy the night we dined there we persevered in sitting outside as it was fun watching the passing traffic and taking in the atmosphere in Vicolo di Montevecchio.

Perhaps the most delicious part of this meal was the bruschetta served on toasted GF bread. The traditional tomato and garlic bruschetta was nice but the eggplant and zucchini one was sensational.

For the main course I chose one of my favourite sauces - pesto with GF spaghetti.

There were plenty of GF choices for dessert including panna cotta and torta al cioccolato (gf chocolate torte). Osteria del Gallo is at 27 Vicolo di Montevecchio, Roma.

I Quattro Amici and Il Portale Trattoria-Pizzeria, Firenze

In Florence we enjoyed a nice GF meal at I Quattro Amici which is close to the city's main Santa Maria Novella railway station The staff were very knowledgeable and all the GF options were highlighted on the menu. My main course choice was the grilled sea bass with potatoes,olives and red pepper, followed by creme caramel for dessert.

The next night we dined at Il Portale Trattoria-Pizzeria. Around the corner from I Quattro Amici, at 29 Via Luigi Alamanni, it turned out that this restaurant shared the same kitchen. The entree servings of pasta were huge and easily served as a main meal. I enjoyed the spaghetti allárrabbiata with garlic, olive oil, red pepper and tomato.

Osteria Del Teatro, Cortona

On a day out in the hill-top town of Cortona with our friends at Villa Rossi Mattei in Arezzo, we came across Osteria Del Teatro. As well as being a historic town, Cortona is known as the location of the movie Under the Tuscan Sun.

It's a delightful place and it was great to stumble upon a coeliac-friendly restaurant like Osteria Del Teatro.

For lunch I chose the GF gnocchi which was very nice but quite rich, washed down with a chilled white wine. The GF dessert option was oven-roasted pears with cinnamon, drizzled with chocolate. As you can see from the photo, the chocolate was more than a drizzle, which I endeavoured to work off climbing the steep cobble-stoned Cortona streets.

Il Ghibellino Osteria, Siena

On a day trip to Siena with our Villa friends we enjoyed a pleasant lunch at Il Ghigellino Osteria.

About a five-minute walk from the Piazzo del Campo and close to the Duomo, this is a quiet place to escape the tourists. For lunch I had the leek risotto which fuelled me up for exploring Siena.

Villa Rossi Mattei, Arezzo

And during our week at Villa Rossi Mattei I was more than well-catered for by our host Liliana at our two group lunches and dinners with GF risotto, pasta, meats, salads and sweets.

Grazie Italia! Arrivederci.

2 comments:

TravGlutenFreeDecember 23, 2011 at 1:04 AM
Hi,

I just stumbled across your blog. I run a gluten free travel website and was reading your expereinces of your trip. I was wondering if you may allow me to use these reviews to help fellow gluten free travellers please? I will happily link back toyour blog with credit and subscribe for all future updates.

Many thanks,
Mike
Travel Gluten Free
ReplyDelete
Replies
ThereseDecember 23, 2011 at 1:48 PM
Yes, that's fine Mike. In the New Year I will write one about Spain - mainly the Andalucia area. Happy Christmas.
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What I am cooking

On the menu at the unveiling
The night Sister Wendy popped by to unveil our artwork, I made two types of rice paper rolls - Prawn and avocado and tandoori chicken. I can't remember where I got the recipe for the prawn and avocado rolls but the tandoori chicken ones came from Wheat & Gluten Free by Jody Vassallo and Dianne Boyle. While they are a bit fiddly to make, and by the end I felt a bit like I had repetitive strain injury, they were both delicious. Here are the recipes.

Tandoori chicken rolls
Ingredients: 150g dried rice vermicelli, 325 g gluten-free Greek style yoghurt, 3 tablespoons gluten-free tandoori paste (Patak's is GF), 750g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces, 24 small rice paper rounds, 16 cm in diameter, 24 fresh mint leaves, 3 tablespoons gluten-free mango chutney.
Method: 1. Put the vermicelli into a bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 10 minutes or until the noodles are soft. Drain and cut into short lengths.
2. Combine 260 g of the yoghurt and the tandoori paste in a bowl. Add the chicken and mix to combine. Spread the chicken out on a foil-lined baking tray. Cook under a grill preheated to high, turning a couple of times, for 5-10 minutes or until tender.
3. Soak a rice paper round in lukewarm water (I added a bit of boiling water to help along) until soft and place on a clean, dry tea towel. Top with 2 teaspoons of the noodles and 2 pieces of chicken. Dip a mint leaf in the remaining yoghurt and place on top of the chicken, followed by a small spoonful of mango chutney. Roll up to enclose the filling. Cover with damp absorbent paper while you prepare the remaining rolls. Serve with extra chutney.
Prawn and avocado rolls
Ingredients: about 30 baby prawns, one avocado, two limes, mint leaves (roughly chopped) and coriander (chopped leaves only).
Method: Prepare rice paper rounds as in above recipe. Place a couple of prawns and sliced avocado on the rice paper. Add a squeeze of lime over the avocado (it adds to the flavour and stops the avocado from going brown), followed by some chopped mint and coriander. Roll up to enclose the filling.

Stephanie Alexander's Bolognese Sauce
Stephanie's bolognese (pertaining to Bologna in Italy as opposed to bolognaise) made by Bruce for the first time was a hit at the artwork unveiling. It is from her book, The Cook's Companion, the Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen. Bruce reckoned the inclusion of pancetta gave it the edge. As we had a big group we quadrupled the ingredients. The only thing we left out was the two teaspoons of plain flour. I suppose we could have used gluten-free plain flour but in my experience very rarely do dishes like bolognese or bolognaise need flour. So here is the recipe.
Ingredients: 1 onion, finely chopped, 1 stick celery, finely sliced, 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 400 g minced beef or veal, 100 g pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, chopped, half cup of dry white wine, salt (I don't think it needs salt), freshly ground black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, 2 cups of veal or chicken stock or tomato juice (we used chicken stock), 4 ripe tomatoes or 1 x 400 g can peeled tomatoes in juice, pureed (we used the can variety although couldn't get pureed and remember to check the can as some can tomatoes have thickener in them), 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 large sprig thyme, 1 bay leaf.
Method: Saute onion, celery and garlic in oil in a large saucepan until softened. Add minced meat and pancetta and fry until meat breaks up into small lumps. Add wine, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix well, then increase heat and boil to evaporate liquid. Add stock, tomato, tomato paste and herbs. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring from time to time. Taste for seasoning.

My sister gave me Seriously Good! Gluten-free Cooking by English chef Phil Vickery for Christmas. In March this year Coeliac UK announced that Phil was their new Food Ambassador. The book is full of delicious-looking recipes. The first one we (or I should say Bruce) tried recently was Phil's Slow-cooked Indian Lamb Korma, which is on page 81 of the book. With six tablespoons of double cream, the dish is quite rich. But it's also very flavoursome with lots of herbs and spices including ground coriander, hot chilli powder, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamons, garlic and ginger. A hearty meal for a cold winter's day or night.

Jody Vassallo's Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
I have made this cake about seven times now and it is always a hit as the hazelnut meal makes it a little bit different from all those flourless chocolate cakes out there in cookbook land. It appears in Jody Vassallo's cookbook Wheat & Gluten Free, which is sponsored by The Coeliac Society of Australia Inc. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients: 250g dark cooking chocolate, chopped, 2 tablespoons milk, 120g hazelnut meal, 125g caster sugar, 6 eggs, separated.
Method: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 20cm spring form tin with baking paper. Put the chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool slightly. Put the chocolate mixture, hazelnut meal, sugar and egg yolks into a bowl and mix to combine. Whisk the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and spoon into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until firm. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Serve with fresh berries. Serves 8.