A Roman Lunch in NYC

Michele and I were talking about the kind of lunch we often enjoyed in Rome as we walked to the Union Square Greenmarket where we often go for fresh produce, fish and great bread. At the market, I spotted one of my favorites things — zucchini flowers. We bought the flowers plus the other things we needed and headed home discussing how we would prepare our lunch.

Many Manhattan streets have produce carts where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables. We passed one and Michele spotted some ripe figs. They were the last two boxes and the salesman offered us a deal we couldn’t refuse – two 1-pound boxes for $6.   We figured it was our lucky day as the zucchini flowers and the figs were probably the last of the season.

We started our meal with the perfectly ripe figs that tasted like candy.

Most of the time Michele stuffs the zucchini flowers with mozzarella and anchovies but these were too small so she just dipped them in a light batter and deep-fried them until they were crisp. They were wonderful.

Then she made bucatini all’Amatriciana which was just like we have in my favorite restaurant in Rome Checchino del 1887.

Monte Grazia 2015 Rosso which was perfect with the pasta. The wine is made from 90% Tintore di Tramonti from very old ungrafted vines and 10% Piedirosso. The Tintore di Tramonti grows almost exclusively in the Monte Lattari Valley. The grape is harvested at the end of September, which makes it an early ripener for this area. This indigenous red grape variety belongs to the Tienturier family. Tienturier means dyed or stained in French. The flesh and the juice of these grapes are red in color. The anthocyanin pigments accumulate in the grape berry itself. The free run juice is therefore red.
This is a complex wine with earthly aromas, red fruit and a slight hint of black pepper and spice with good acidity that makes it a very good food wine.

We finished our Roman lunch with Michele’s homemade biscotti with pine nuts and espresso.