NYTimes in Ischia, Eating Gustiamo

Did you read Julia Moskin’s “In Ischia, Italy, Cooking Is Done in the Sand, Not the Stove” in the NYTimes? Weren’t you literally salivating by the end of the article? What a meal she had! While she was waiting for her secondo to cook in the sand, she indulged in an epic antipasto, made with Maida Farm sotto’oli; the same vegetables preserved under extra virgin olive oil Gustiamo imports!

As Ms. Moskin says, “Filippo slings the rope-tied parcels over his shoulder, lowers them into the pit, covers them with ample hot sand, and twists the ropes around the hoe to mark the spot. About an hour later — after antipasti of local artichokes, anchovies, melon and mozzarella rolled with prosciutto and arugula; after a taste of friarielli, a small sweet cousin of broccoli rabe, steamed in vinegar and then drowned in olive oil; a pasta course of thick spaghetti with tomato sauce; and yet another pasta course, of paccheri (wide tubes) with mussels and shreds of pecorino — Filippo heads back out to the now-dark beach and drags the parcels to the surface. As each is hurriedly unwrapped, an herbal, wine-scented blast of pure chicken aroma rises into the air, to the fascination of local children, cats and dogs drawn by the spectacle and the smell.”