Leah & Julian in The World

Prosciutto at Antica Salumeri

I’d like a hundred grams of prosciutto, please!

Parma is the capital of food.  Parmesan cheese, Parma ham (prosciutto) and home to the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority).  Close by is Modena, home to thick, sweet balsamic vinegar.

Aside from welcoming us, our host introduced us to an excellent place for dinner, Mosaiko Ristorante.  How appropriate that the first thing we should eat was parmesan butter on crusty bread.

Our mains were:

• Tagliata di vitello alle nocciole con patate individia e porto (Veal with nuts, potatoes and port)
• Branzino in crosta di pane risotto croccante alle zucchine e basilico (Bass in pastry crust with risotto balls, zuccini and basil sauce)

So delicious and accompanied by a glass of red Sicilian wine.  Then followed by coffee semifreddo and chocolate soufflé.

The veal

We’ve also visited a couple of local ‘enogastronmias’ (Casa del formaggio and Antica Salumeri) for local cheese and cured meats.  At Antica, Luigi hand-turned the slicer that carved slices of prosciutto so fine they are almost transparent.  We watched in awe and in hope that the larger than life butcher would finish slicing without having a coronary.

Pancetta, parmesan and prosciutto

So what to do with this parmesan, prosciutto and pancetta?  Well we found this thing in our apartment called a kitchen, and we set about to cook the best simple pasta around: onions, garlic, butter, white wine, pancetta, tomato, broccoli, sage, topped with parmesan and served with homemade garlic bread.  Yum!

Dinner is served

Parma is quite a nice city.  It has a sizeable university population and some great parks, churches and the Torrente Parma running through it.

Cattedrale, Chiesa e Monastero di San Giovanni Evangelista and Battistero