The heel of the boot: Puglia

We recently got back from a great trip to Puglia/Apulia. We were seeking a European destination with great food and without hordes of tourists. Puglia gets lots of European tourists, but mostly in July and August. So we rented a house at the very heel of the heel and set off.
The nice thing about having a house (and sharing it with, among others, a good friend who happens to be an incredible chef) is that the availability of ingredients was insanely great and we were able to put them to good use.
Every mom and pop store had a terrific selection of cheeses (burrata, mozzarella di bufala, smoked scamorza, caciocavallo...all standard), salumi and wine. Double 00 pizza flour, semolina, fresh cake yeast? No sweat. Puglia produces about 40% of Italy's olive oil--there were olive groves everywhere--the olive oil was some of the best I've ever had.

About half of the cheese selection at the little market near 'our house'


Rabbit at the same market



On our day trips, we found some incredible specialty stores, like this one that sold sheeps milk cheeses made from sheep raised on the local farms/masserie

Beans and taralli, Locorotondo




Puglia is a long thin penninsula, so there was great seafood everywhere







We didn't even have to leave the property where we were staying for lettuce, onions or rosemary...





The largest rosemary bush I have ever seen


The figs weren't ripe yet...


Even the Brindisi airport gift store sold lardo


We found terrific restaurants as well.
I'll post on some of our notable meals when I get a chance.

thaiobsessed wrote: So we rented a house at the very heel of the heel and set off.
The nice thing about having a house (and sharing it with, among others, a good friend who happens to be an incredible chef) is that the availability of ingredients was insanely great and we were able to put them to good use.

So true. In Florence a couple months ago, I had an apartment with a kitchen, and same deal: buy great stuff and really get to know the ingredients by cooking them for yourself. Also, I get tired of eating in restaurants, and it's nice just to have a simple meal of fantastic, super, unbelievably wonderful stuff at a good price.

Getting hungry as I read this - looking forward to reading more. Happy to hear the trip was great.

Bread and baked goods in Puglia

Puglia is known as 'the bread basket of Italy' and I easily consumed my weight in bread/baked goods during the trip. The tarallini, little round bread sticks available freshly baked in an array of flavors (fennel seed, onion, peperoncini, black pepper, etc) at every bakery and food store, were leagues better than any I've ever had. I'm really regretting not bringing more of them home (though I needed room in my suitcase for tins of olive oil).

We started each day with a cappuccino and cornetto at one of the little cafes in the town where we stayed



Every restaurant put out a respectable basket of bread, often with tarallini, and sometimes with pittule, fried balls of unleavened pizza dough.







Lecce, one of our favorite towns of the trip and the capital of the Salento region of Puglia, had some terrific specialty pastries. We visited Lecce on a Monday and most of the restaurants were closed. We found a decent place for lunch but didn't eat much there. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we had plenty of stomach room to hit some bakeries, a great cafe, and of course, a gelateria.

Lecce's baroque duomo



In the Rome thread, turkob extolled Katie Parla's blog about dining in Rome (excellent source of Roman restaurants, thanks turkob). She also had a few posts on Puglia and we had a chance to check out a couple of her recommendations

Alvino bakery and caffe, lecce
The pastries in the lower right corner are rustici leccesi, puff pastry circles filled with bechemel, mozzarella and a little tomato sauce. It would be hard to chose a favorite but these were up there.



On the lower rack are pasticiciotti, lemony, custardy pastries--also delicious and not too sweet



We also picked up some tarrallini and pucce (little squat bread loaves studded with prosciutto and veggies) at Il Fornaio next to Alvino in Piazza Sant'Oronzo





Our last stop in Lecce, also recommended by Katie Parla, was Avio bar for an iced espresso. The gentleman at the register recommended trying it with Latte di Mandorla (a syrup made of almond paste and sugar). I was skeptical, but he said 'trust me' and I did. He was right, it was delicious.

Iced espresso


Latte di Mandorla at Avio (top shelf)


edited to correct information on latte di mandorla

Caffe Alvino
Piazza Sant'Oronzo 30, 73100 Lecce, Italia

Il Fornaio
Piazza S.Oronzo n23, 73100 Lecce, Italia

Bar Avio
Viale XXV Luglio, 73100 Lecce, Italy

My girlfriend and I stayed for a few days in Puglia a few weeks ago during a road trip between Sarajevo and Palermo (lots of driving). We stayed with some friends who run a small trulli rental business between Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica.

While fairly simple, the food we ate there was excellent. Their olive oil was from trees on their land. Homegrown sun-dried tomatoes were marinated in their olive oil, and went perfectly with fresh bread, cheeses, and cured meats. Top it off with some red wine from a nearby vineyard (traded for some olive oil), and it was hard to beat that lunch anywhere else during our travels.

I've been remiss in not posting on some of our other stops in Puglia.

The town of Ostuni was my favorite spot on the trip. Known as the 'White City' for the whitewashed buildings, it almost has a little 'Greek isles' feel. One of our favorite meals of the trip was at Osteria del Tempo Perso. If we had had found it sooner, we would have planned an extra day in Ostuni to eat there again.

Ostuni
Osteria del Tempo Perso


Tomato and eggplant pasta


Artichoke and pancetta pasta


Millefoglie


Espresso


Our most upscale/'fine dining' meal was at Il Cielo restaurant in La Sommita hotel (a medieval castle).
Il Cielo



Of course the meal started with bread...






The pacheri with favas was my favorite dish








La Sommita had a terrific buffet breakfast. My selections consisted mainly of cheese and cured meats.

Section of the buffet




I'll post later on a few other towns. One of our favorite meals was at La Puritate in Gallipoli

Puglia is our next Italian destination, so I'm delighted to read about your trip. Awaiting more. Thanks.