Livigno - the highest town in Italy

June 5, 15 deg, Fine weather

Livigno is a small Italian Alpine village nestled just on the Italian side of the Swiss Alps. We approached it from Switzerland on this day as the Swiss border is only 30 km from Sondrio (our base) . This road, for most of the year impassable due to the altitude, approximately 2800m above sea level and at least 10m of snow covering the road during winter. Lucky for us the road has reopened recently and we drove through, although at one point about three metres of ice was still on the roadside - allora! Summer in Italy!

All the Italians (and every one else) love Livigno, not only because of the great skiing in winter but because for some reason unknown to me, all goods here are duty free.

We drive through the Swiss border. The vista, to say the least, is spectacular! Around every turn another surprise. Mark wishes he had his BMW with him but instead we are in a Ford Fiesta!

It is no surprise that the menu at the restaurant of Bivio Hotel - www.bivioholydays.com consists mostly of polenta and game meat- good warming tucker.

We shared a plate of handmade gnocchetti with a fresh pesto sauce and speck - delightfully light and flavoursome of fresh basil - it tasted like it had just been made specially for us!

I settled though for some Vatellina bresaola served simply and deliciously with vine ripened tomato and parmesan. Mark surrendered to the buckwheat polenta, cheese and wild mushrooms. Have I mentioned how good the porcini mushrooms are in this part of the world?

Yet another bottle of superb red wine from Antinori - Castello della sala - a Pinot nero from Umbria 2000. It is tough job but someone has to do it !

Sondrio - Alpine Italy

June 7 Sondrio - Alpine Italy - 20 deg Fine

Who would have thought in our own backyard there was such an amazing restaurant. Perched up on the side of a mountain in a village called Sassella lies Ristorante Torre Della Sassella. Blessed with commanding views over the valley, this restored building of unknown origin (to us) was renovated 10 years ago to become an iconic restaurant.

The four level restaurant, shaped like a tower, is made completely of stone, and is probably centuries old. This information was difficult to get as not one word of English is spoken there and even Mark, whose Italian is quite good, was struggling to understand.

You know you are somewhere special when even the mineral water gets decanted into a crystal jug. With the menu completely in Italian we just went with the key words we knew and hoped for the best .

My pick of the dishes was Risotto Carnarnoli con Bollicini Rose Cantadi Castaldi - this transformed to a perfectly executed risotto with a serving of parmesan ice cream and a rose jelly with fresh raspberry in the middle - all served on a segmented Villerory and Boch dinner plate.

Difficult to describe how exquisite this dish was - the adding of the parmesan ice cream to the hot risotto made it creamy and rich beyond description - and finishing with the occasional mouthful with the rose jelly and fresh raspberry cleared the palate for some more cheesey risotto.

The other risotto ordered - equally divine - Risotto Nero Integrace con Ragout di Cappesante , Gamberi e Asparagi. This translated as a squid ink risotto with a ragout of scampi and asparagus. The rice was cooked to perfection in both cases and rich sauce accompaniments also were perfect.

The meal was accompanied with a 2001 bottle of Masi Costasera Amorone Classico - a classic wine from Valpolocella grapes semi dried on a bamboo rack from Costasera region - perfect !

The whole experience left you feeling like you had stepped back in time with the ancient surroundings - the attention to detail was just amazing - the very finest of china and crystal. If you are ever in this part of the world, you must go to this restaurant a visit. You will not be disappointed.

Dining in Bellagio

First in a regular series of reports on food and wine in Italy and more from the wandering Togninis.

Bellagio June 4, 2009

Bellagio, as you will see, is simply beautiful . Mark and I have been here on several occasions and we always return to soak up the beauty. Bellagio is about a half hour's drive from our apartment in Sondrio and a short ferry across Lago Como (no sightings of George).

We went in search of a restaurant - one we had been to with Bennie and Tracey a few years earlier - on the water for lunch. After what seemed like 200 or more stairs up and 200 or more stairs down, we finally found it - La Pergola - Pescallo. Unfortunately, for us, the kitchen was closed by the time we reached it, so we convinced the owner to allow us a bottle of wine to relax and soak up the view of the lake.

We could actually see what we wanted to eat swimming in the lake - those beautiful salmon trout in the crystal clear waters were just teasing us!

So a bottle of Pinot Grigio later and no lunch we made our way back the 200 or so stairs to the touristy side of Bellagio. This is where we found a treasure down some more stairs - you just need to take the right ones. Hidden down an alley way is Apertivo et al www.bellagio.co.nz/aperitivo

It was about 4.30 pm by this stage - no need to tell you how hungry we were after the 200 stairs (maybe I am exaggerating as I really didn't count them) .

Lucky for us there was a bar menu to our liking - Pizzoccheri , soups, cheese and an amazing wine room all only about 8 Euro for a plate. Mark chose a fabulous red from the Veneto region - so smooth, so rich - yes that was the second bottle in as many hours - I love holidays !

Pine mushrooms at Togninis

Taste the last of the season's pine mushrooms at Tognini's Spring Hill. They come from Victoria and are collected from the hills outside Melbourne where they grow under the pine trees. The mushrooms become very meaty when cooked and are a real treat for mushroom lovers.

New Italian pasta from the Gold Coast

Pastificio Fellini has unlocked the secrets of good Italian pasta in a new range available from their newly refurbished fresh pasta outlet at Marina Mirage, Main Beach on the Gold Coast. Owned and managed by award-winning Italian restaurateurs the Percuoco family and partners Raffaele Di Benedetto and Richard Burt, Pastificio Fellini produce artisan-style pasta in the best Italian traditions.

Narelle says the Fellini pasta cooks up quickly and holds together well. The fine angel hair pasta cooks in 5 - 10 minutes, so it's good for a quick meal. It also seems to be lighter than some traditional Italian pastas and not as starchy.

Customers at the Marina Mirage store can even see the pasta being made. The secret to the success of this pasta is the minimum of 18 hours drying period which sees the pasta dried from the inside out. Varieties include squid ink fettuccini, saffron fettuccine, spinach linguini, saffron angel hair and just plain. Find it at Tognini's Milton and Spring Hill in Brisbane.

It's wild at Togninis

Enjoy the taste of wild venison from the Granite Belt, now on the menu at Tognini’s Spring Hill.

Chris Cameron of Granite Belt Game is a fully licensed operator who is reviving the almost lost art of harvesting and processing wild game according to traditional methods.

Fallow deer are an introduced pest species in the Granite Belt and harvesting them for meat reduces the stress they cause on the native environment. The deer graze on natural forage and wild mountain herbs making the meat tender and flavoursome. The animal has no abattoir or transport stress which is better for the animal and better for taste.

The animal is traditionally hung to promote a milder flavour while tenderising the meat, resulting in tender, flavoursome game.

Tognini’s purchase the whole animal and serve it in many forms from wild venison ragu with pappardelle (currently on the Spring Hill menu), pan fried venison scallopini with rocket and osso bucco venison shanks with risotto milanese. Find it in the fridge in take home packs of venison ragu and also venison stock. The venison stock is a perfect combo with Tognini’s new duck ravioli.

Venison is a long standing Tognini family favourite. Mark has relatives who live in the alpine village of Bormio (Winter Olympics fame) in far northern Italy nearing the Swiss border. They cure their own wild venison bresola and store it in their cantena (under the house) with home made salamis and cheeses where the average temperature in summer 6 deg!

5 cookies

Ever been caught without a snack for way too long? If you need to eat regularly, you'll know that it can mean problems to go without even the smallest refuel along the way.

Charlie's 5 cookies are the perfect hand bag saver. They come in this cute tube - about the same height as a regular mobile phone - and will rattle around in the bottom of your handbag until you need them.

They'd also be great for travellers or as a mini treat for children. Each cookie is about the size of a 10 cent piece and a couple of centimetres high. They are fresh, moist and taste great.

Flavours include raspberries + cream, cookies + cream, chocolate mud and sprinkles.