Puglia, Italy- Stop Two- Valle d'Itria

We arrived to our second stop outside of Martina Franca in the Valle d'Itria. This was my second favorite stop in our trip in Puglia.  I liked it so much because it was very green, very relaxed and so charming with unique scenery.  You can read about stop One in Pogliano di Mare here.  

I've been enamored with these little trulli houses for some time, so when I found a cute and inexpensive one online, I booked it!

We spent under $100 a night for this one bedroom, one bath unit.  It does sleep 4, but I would recommend for two.  If you want the link, look for property 10776012  on VRBO.com   LINK .

We had a small pool too, but it was kind of cold in April, so it wasn't open yet.  We had such a great time relaxing here, we made dinner here every night and usually had great lunches out while we were sight seeing.

The kitchen was super small but had everything we needed.  We also had a welcome table of items for our stay including wine, fresh pasta, sauce, fruit, nuts, fresh basil and tomatoes and cheese!

Our place was off a quiet country road and had a few neighbors.  The neighbors next store arrived to work on their place doing renovation, but were also having a party on Italian holiday of Liberation Day when the Allies liberated Italy.  It is a major big deal in Italy on April 25th.  At first we were dismayed with the pounding music, but when 6 darling kids showed up at the door to invite us to the party, how could we say no?  They were so cute and had been told to bring us over! Only one guy, our host, knew English but he did a great job introducing us and having us try local specialties like the smoked cheese served melted over bread.  We also had some great homemade wine and enjoyed the festivities.

Alberello is a great but very touristy town of over 1,000 trulli homes. The streets are cute cobblestoned and the hills aren't too stepp for strolling and seeing the sites.  Prepare to take a lot of pictures.  My recommendation is to get there very earlier before all the buses.  We arrived about 9:15am and had no issue finding parking, but when we left about 11am, it was packed with cars trying to find parking. I had to jump out of the car to direct traffic so we could even back out of our parking space. I felt a little awkward, but it's nice that arm movements are universally understood and the guy behind the guy blocking our exit, got what I was trying to do. Plus, he was thrilled to get our parking spot.

There's a couple different parts of the town, and you should stroll up both sides as each has its merits. The side less traveled has the best panoramic views of the town. 

Trulli are often adorned with a painted symbol. Their origin is unknown but they usually have a religious or astrological meaning. Symbols may include astrological signs, the evil eye, the cross, a heart, a star, and others. 

Here's a little sign of some of the local symbols, a couple of them make sense to me and others leave me mystified.

This picture is from the less traveled part of Alberello. Watch for signs that say 'belvedre', which means view point! It was a great little garden park with different trails and areas to take pictures. 

Our trulli host recommended that we visit the walled town of Cisternino. It was a great day trip on our anniversary for a lunch in one of the highest rated local restaurants.

No Italian post would be right without showing some food, so here's the best pasta I ate in Puglia. We had a great lunch in Cisternino for our anniversary.  This  pasta was fantastic. 

T a g l i o l i n o b u rr o , p a r m i g i a n o , t a rt u f o * n e r o 

Fresh pasta cooked and thrown into a heated wheel of cheese and stirred until the cheese is incorporated into a sauce.  Topped with fresh truffles.  Link to the restaurant is here, Osteria Piatti Chiari. The truffles are priced separately, what's shown in the picture is about 4.50 euros.  They weigh the truffle before and after slicing it on your pasta so they know how much you were served.  You can see the girl has the basket with the truffle and the scale too.

We wandered around Cisternino and enjoyed the labyrinth of streets. 

Go ahead and try to get lost!  It's worth it.

Argentinian - Chupin de Pescado (whitefish stew)

 

Sometimes, you just know a recipe is going to be a keeper!  I found this one in the Food & Wine magazine (Link here) that had been kicking around since July 2023 at our cabin. It sounded like a wonderful Cioppino or Bouillabaisse... but was easier with only one kind of fish

Luckily we had brought some frozen mahi mahi and I had almost everything else, except for roasted red peppers and clam nectar. While fish broth or clam nectar are definitely more authentic, I'm not convinced that chicken stock wouldn't be as good as a substitute.

I did my sauce ahead of time, and then reheated it when we returned from a day of fun.  I nestled the pre-cooked potatoes and the fish into the sauce and reheated it on medium low.  Be sure to cover the pan if you do it that way.  If you heat the sauce, then ad the potatoes and the fish, cover it, and cook it for about 10-15 minutes.  I cut each mahi mahi filet into 4 'fingers' so it would cook faster.  

All in all, this was a quick and very satisfying meal.  It's not necessarily South American in flavors, more like Italian, in my humble opinion.  I pasted in the original recipe and instructions, only adding a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes. I also used just two 8oz filets of fish, but I had lots of delicious sauce left over. I used the leftovers with sauteed zucchini and it was a wonderful side dish.

Ingredients, Serves 4

Potato Rounds 

• 3 small (4-ounce) Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed
•  4 cups water
•  1/4 cup kosher salt

 Pomarola

•  1 (15-ounce) can whole peeled plum tomatoes
•  1/4 cup olive oill, plus more for drizzling
•  1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped
•  3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
•  2 fresh or dried bay leaves
•  1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
•  1 teaspoon black pepper, plus more for garnish
•  Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
• Granulated sugar, to taste

 Chupín

•  1 (1 1/2-pound) skinless grouper fillet (1 1/2 inches thick), halved crosswise
•  1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
•  1 1/2 cups fish broth or clam nectar
•  1/2 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
•  1/2 cup pitted and quartered black olives
•  1/2 cup drained jarred roasted red bell pepper strips
•  2 tablespoons drained capers
•  Finely chopped fresh parsley

Make the potato rounds

1. Bring potatoes, 4 cups water, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over high. Reduce heat to medium-high, and cook potatoes, undisturbed, until just tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from heat, and let potatoes cool in water 30 minutes; drain. Peel potatoes, and slice crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Set aside.

Meanwhile, make the pomarola

1. Puree tomatoes in a food processor until smooth, about 10 seconds; set aside. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Add onion, garlic, and salt; cook, stirring often, until onion is mostly translucent, about 4 minutes. Add bay leaves, paprika, and black pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in pureed plum tomatoes, and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and is slightly chunky, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Season with sugar to taste.

Make the chupín

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Season grouper with salt, and let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, stir fish broth, chickpeas, olives, bell pepper strips, and capers into pomarola. Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour into a 12-inch nonreactive ovenproof skillet. Nestle grouper in sauce. Bake in preheated oven 9 minutes. Remove from oven; gently flip grouper using a spatula, and add potato rounds. Return to oven, and bake until fish is opaque and easily flakes with a fork and a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of grouper registers 135°F, 9 to 12 minutes. Drizzle with additional olive oil. Garnish with black pepper and parsley. Serve immediately.