A Culinary Tour of Italy — Rome

Authentic Italian Food and Wine From Rome

To have heat evenly distributed to your food, particularly for delicately cooked foods, use copper cookware; click on the cooper cookware to purchase. Prevent your wines from going bad, and age wines properly in a controlled wine cellar; click on the image to purchase. For the best seafood, it must be fresh: click on the fish to purchase.

Our plane landed in Rome where we met my parents, who were vacationing in Italy. During our drive to our pensione, I was thinking that I will learn about some if New York’s favorite Italian foods were Italian food or American Italian food you know, Fettuccini Alfredo, Spaghetti alla Carbonara, scaloppini piccata, Saltimbocca, all Francese, Italian rum cake, and other dishes. We also discussed where we should take our meals in Rome.  We agreed that it would be best to go to the smaller trattoria’s that were patronized by the Romans themselves. However, we thought it would be a good idea to have one meal at the oldest restaurant in Rome, La Cisterna and a meal at the famous Alfredo’s.

Home Style Fish La Cisterna

That evening we decided to go to dinner at La Cisterna. We were seated in La Cisterna’s dining room, which was on the old cobblestone streets of Rome where the traffic drove past the tables. Our server was discussing the menu with us when a gentleman came to our table. He said to my father, “Camillo, I would like to welcome you to La Cisterna.  I am the director of this establishment. Then he pointed to a table and said, the folks at that table are sending you this bottle of wine.” He then presented my father with a bottle of Dom Perignon. Mr. Camillo graciously acknowledged the gift that was sent over to our table by one of his NY patrons, a French film producer. The gentlemen asked if we liked seafood and said that he would make us a baked bronzino that was not on the menu and we all agreed. We paired this Italian food with French Champagne, Dom Perignon. After we enjoyed a typical Italian Antipasto, the waiter presented a large fish covered in fresh herbs. The waiter proceeded to remove the herbs from the fish and bone the fish. He decoratively placed the herbs and boned fish on our dishes and squeezed fresh lemon over the fish, which we enjoyed immensely.  We finished our meal with liquor flamed strawberries.

The manager then requested that we follow him to La Cisterna’s wine cellar. We walked down a dungeon like stairway past an old well to their antique wine cellar. The old stone wine cellar is part of the original building built by the Romans. This old room has four levels, which illustrates each street level as the Romans modernized.

We dined magnificently on an authentic Italian meal. With dishes that most Americans would never consider to be Italian. Afterwards, we were given an archeological history lesson from a wine cellar.

Cooking Strawberries Flambe'

I learned a new dish, La Cisterna’s herb smothered baked fish. The Strawberry flambé dessert was a familiar dish. However, I was convinced that fruits cooked with a liqueur were European, Italian recipes, as opposed to American or Italian American. I’ve made these dishes many times and never a drop is left in the plate. Below is how I make these two dishes. My preparation for these dishes has never been formalized; I’ll just wing it.

La Cisterna’s Baked Herbed Smothered Fish – Professionally, I have always used a whole, large fish to serve two to four people. At home I use fish such as striped bass or red snapper that is boned. Here is how I do it at home. I use eight to ten ounces of boned fish. I spread a little olive oil over the bottom of an ovenproof dish to prevent the fish from sticking. Now, place the fish skin side down in the oiled ovenproof dish. Pour about two tablespoons of white wine over each filet and squeeze the juice of about 1/4 of a lemon over each filet of fish. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place a scallion over each piece of fish, three fresh bay leaves, a stem of fresh thyme, a small sprig of sage, a sprig of parsley and cover it with Rome’s favorite herb –

Renata Tebaldi Renowned Opera Star Feeds Camillo Fruit at His NY Restaurant

fresh mint. Cook in a preheated 325-degree oven, until the fish is flaky, about twenty minutes. Serve with lemon wedges on the side. I like to use individual ovenproof platters.

Favorite Restaurant in Rome: La Cisterna – Dreaming In Italian

If you are looking for a unique dining experience in Rome, something that goes beyond a normal restaurant experience yet remains authentic Roman, look no further than La Cisterna. One reason is the excellent food. Another …

Publish Date: 02/26/2010 19:26

http://www.dreaming-in-italian.com/2010/02/favorite-restaurant-in-rome-la-cisterna/

Italian’s Insight to Travel Italy: Rome – La Cisterna

It is rumored that this well is actually in the lower basements of the restaurant La Cisterna. In the 1600s the street … Frequently the Tiber, the river that flows through the center of Rome, would overflow, flooding the entire area. …

Publish Date: 11/07/2005 18:15

http://viewitaly.blogspot.com/2005/11/rome-la-cisterna.html

Tagged as: flambe desert recipe, Italian food recipes, wine pairing, with Italian food