Bagna cauda - an alternative energy source

In Italy they take food miles seriously. For good food, they will drive alot of miles.
So on Sunday we drove to the Torino area (about 1 hour north from Milan) for lunch with some friends. In Italy, they also take lunch very seriously. Traditionally people will have a significant stop and a serious feed at lunch time and then just a snack for dinner. So you tend to go out for lunch maybe more than you go out for dinner. And if you are Jane and Rory, that suits us fine since we can't stay awake long enough to make it to their dinner times (and nor can the kids).

Every area in Italy has its own specialities when it comes to food. These are partly dictated by the landscape and climate they are surrounded by. The further north you go, the colder and closer to the mountains you get and the food tends to be calorie rich and heavier. Rory has told me about Bagna cauda and described to me how they make it and it was for this dish, that our friends invited us to clock up some food miles and join them.

After hearing how you make it - I announced to Rory that I would probably order something else which was reasonably amusing when we got there and found out how the lunch would work. There was no choice and here's how you make it:


You take about 1 head of garlic per person (peeled and chopped), cook it gently up in some very good olive oil (quite a lot of it), then throw in piles of anchovies (Rory reckons about 100 grams per person) and maybe some butter or milk - and meld it all together slowly in a terracotta pot either in the oven (long and slow) or on top until it looks like the consistency of a dip (or for the veterinarians who may be reading this - a little like calf diarrhoea).


You then serve this into the top of cute little incense-burner type bowls (candle underneath) and dip piles of raw, seasonal vegetables into the mixture and eat them. For our lunch, we started with the 'lighter' form of the dish with raw veges and moved to the heavier form (even more garlic if this is actually possible) to eat with some cooked vegetables and a small amount of meat. We topped this with dessert and coffee.

There was no other choice of food and we ate with two other groups of people around one big round table. The kids had their own little table and a different menu! And then we drove home in the close environs of the car while the garlic did its magic on our systems. If anybody thinks they are up for it - I can make it for you one dark winter night sometime next year. By that time, the garlic will have worked its way out completely.

The place where we ate it is very serious about organic vegetable production and everything we ate was produced on the place and organically. Even the to-die-for strawberries. Check out www.facebook/bagnacauderia.it. I see we have made it to the facebook page already!