What is “on offer” in the Fattoria’s vegetable patches, both large and small, varies according to the seasons; the vegetables are plentiful, well tended and above all healthy and natural. As the temperature gets milder in spring, along with the last cauliflowers, artichokes and asparagus, green beans and spinach arrive; then in summer, under the hot July sun, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and onions ripen… they’re cooked and eaten in thousands of ways and, to prolong their life and enjoy them even when the good weather is over, they’re prepared and put into jars (with the cooks “approval”), particularly the tomatoes, in numerous recipes. The latest creation, after the winter version, is the “Summer Giardiniera”. The seasonal vegetables, blanched quickly so as not to lose their valuable qualities, are put into a brine (water, salt and Balsamico Bianco) with peppercorns and sprigs of lesser calamint, which grows in abundance along the Fattoria’s walls and meadows in the hot weather. This “life-extending” method has been handed down from olden times, when housewives used it to preserve the vegetables they had too many of. The Giardiniera is light and tempting, with just the right “touch” of sweet and sour. It can be served with a board of cold cuts to accompany aperitifs or as an appetizer, with grilled or boiled meat, mixed salads of rice, pasta, spelt, fish or vegetables, on toasted bread “crostini” (with a drizzle of oil on top), or as a side dish with an omelette.
Ingredients: Bell peppers, Onions, Aubergines, Balsamico Bianco, Date tomatoes, Lesser calamint, Salt of Trapani I.G.P., White grape must, Black pepper.