Paccheri with red and yellow tomato, buffalo mozzarella and chaource

On our European road trip with Katya we stopped off in Como for lunch (as you do).  Actually we were amazed with Como.  I thought it’d be a sleepy town in January but it was PACKED.  I think it might have been the fact it was a Saturday and the end of the Italian school holidays.  But it seriously was as packed as it is in summer.

Everyone was lunching too.  We had to hunker out under one of the outside heaters to wait for a table to become availabile inside the place we chose but it ended out worth the wait.  I'll just take this opportunity to say how it was a bit of a relief to be in Italy for a few days after lunching through France.  The hours are so strict in France, if you're not in the door by 1.15pm you're out of luck and of course all bread and pastry shops are closed for lunch during lunchtime in France.  

Anyway back to the restaurant in Como.  It was a lovely little place inside, cosy and busy and serving up bowls of delicious pasta.  Andy and I chose pumpkin ravioli with a cheese sauce and shaved truffle which was indeed delicious but it was Katya’s that took centre stage if nothing other than for the gorgoues colours.

It was Paccheri pasta with two tomato sauces, one red and one yelllow, served simply with torn burrata on top.  It really looked absolutely gorgoues and she reckoned it was the best pasta dish she’d had on this trip (and we sampled a fair few, believe me).

So I decided to try and recreate it at home.  I made a rich red tomato sauce with a spash of sherry vinegar and sugar for an extra kick of sweet acidity.  Just onion garlic and tinned plum tomatoes, a touch of chilli cooked down to a lovely rich thick sauce. 

I roasted yellow tomatoes with a little salt, sugar, garlic and olive oil and then deskinned them and broke them up for the yellow tomato component.

Cooked up some pacceri, mixed it with the red sauce and topped it with the yellow roasted tomatoes, parsley and torn buffalo mozzerela (I couldn’t get buratta) and for an extra extravegence spooned on some of our crazily delicous Chaource cheese purchased the other day from the local supermarket which when I googled it comes from a town located one hour drive from our house in Sig.  Bloody deliciuos cheese, so runny a spoon is required.  It’s literally like cheese sauce, it’s that runny.  Yum.  I'm buying some in France next time for sure. 

Anyway this dish wasn’t the exact replica.  I didn’t taste Katya’s but this was a very very very delicious bowl of pasta.  The flavours were absoltely outstanding ..... and it was ... drum roll... vegetarian!!

Salmon with purple potato khichdi, tomato kadai sauce, purple potato powder and crisp kale

This is the same one we did for Christmas with Katya.  I froze the extra sauce (tomato kadai) and purple potato khichdi.  Instead of purple potato crispy bits I did kale.  First time for me to do crispy kale and damn yum.  I added roasted cherry tomatoes to sit under the salmon.  For me, better than the recipe.  The kale added a more interesting crisp element to the purple potato and roasted cherry tomatoes gave it a kick of sweet/acid that just worked.  Yum.  Katya, I wish you had tried this version.  

Andy's 60th

After going for a run, we made pain d'espice pancakes with caramelised apple, vanilla yoghurt and cherry jam for brekkie.  Then hit the road for Chablis.  I have to mention the apple.  From our tree (I KNOW ALREADY...YAWN) but they are really the most incredible little apples.  Very tart. Sensational cooking apples. Difficult to buy such things in the shops.  They are late season jobs and are ready in October. 

 The bed and breakfast I'd booked ended out to be very good indeed.  For 80 euro including breakfast and off  street gated parking in a wine chateau central Chablis I wasn't expecting too much.  I knew it'd be good though and it was very good indeed.

Outside our bnb.  

The Pico family have three large rooms in their cavenous house.  The bathroom was enormous.  Simply yet tastefully furnished, this place is an undeniable find.   They work on trust.  You book (email or call) pay no deposit and pay cash at the end.

They are an established wine making family in Chablis.  Thomas Pico took over the family vines from his father George and started fresh and new in what is usually an overwhelmingly traditional winemaking  region ...  a little history .

Anyway I digress, so we were staying in the Charmes d'hôtes Faubourg St-Pierre   and I really wanted to get some of these prized Pico wines.  But absolutely nothing available.  They were completely and utterly sold out.  We couldn't even buy the stuff from the family that made it! 

  

Walking to dinner, just down the road from our bnb.

I was really looking forward to dinner at Au fil du zinc .  I had planned it for quite some time.  It just looked like a very good restaurant.

It was a slightly chilly early November evening but a lovely walk.   The restaurant  was already rather full (at 0730, their opening time) and filled up completed within 15 minutes of our arrival.  How they do such numbers with such a small team and with such aplomb is beyond me.

I had already researched their wine list because before going to Chablis I had no idea about the stuff other than I like some, others not so much, it’s expensive and it’s chardonnay. So after said study in advance of their (extensive) wine list I had decided on a bottle of Chablis Grand Cru “Les Clos” 2010 from Francios Raveneau.  It is on Au Fil du Zinc wine list at 85euro.  It sells in shops (if you can get it) for at least triple this price.  Not sure why it’s so cheap.  Anyway I’m sounding like a wine bore but it was a sumptuous wine.  Full and rich.  A sipper not a quaffer.

Au Fil du Zinc do not faff around with pomp and circumstance.  They offer tap water without asking,  there is a lovely feel of casual warmth inside the restaurant.  They have quickly established a name in the region and locals and tourists travel to go there but they keep their humility.  It is also that great mix.  A casual restaurant with very high standards in food and service.

We chose the 5 course degustation.  There's either 3 course, 5 course or 7 course.  45euro for 5 courses is a steel.

First course, bread with very very good salted butter and truffle.  Simple and divine.

Second course, pumpkin soup with pumpkin seed, crumb pumpkin.  A delcious combo with enough textural components  to keep it interesting. 

Third course, scallop with cabbage and scollop foam.  Ummmm yummmm.

Forth course, pork with little things.  

Finally white chocolate mousse with meringue.

A total of under 200€ for two including the superb wine & quality of food / service is utterly gobsmacking. 

Highlight? The level of salt. Taken to that point of utter mouthwatering perfection which reminds oneself why salt is the truest of elements to balance food and awaken our palates to what's what. What a wonderful restaurant. This stands out as one of the best we have been to.  It's refreshing to pay so little and get so much in return. 

The next morning we perused the Chablis Sunday market (being Sunday and all...)
A lovely way to end a perfect birthday celebration.

 These cauliflowers ... whiter than white.  We bought one.  But only because they were so lovely to look at !   

Roasted chicken is a thing in markets here but this is a prime one with potato , the chicken fat falls on to the potatoes.  The smell is absolutely mouth watering.

Anyway, back to Sig, with a lovely birthday, dinner and night in Chablis to remember.