Ferrara: L'oca giuliva

Thursday 1 July

After the dig ended B&H headed off on a tour of humanists, first to Ferrara, home of the Este family, Guarino’s school, Ariosto (whom we've read), Tasso (whom we haven't, but we've seen all his operas), and Olympia Morata.

A good recommendation took us to L’oca giuliva (“The Silly Goose”). We could sit inside (air-conditioned, a great blessing in Ferrara in summer), but looking out (a great blessing in any Italian town). We were greeted with proseco and little green olives filled with riccotta. Now, it seems that every wine from around here, or maybe the whole of Le Marche is fuzzy and fizzy, the reds, the whites, the rosati, too, probably (though we have yet to try the last), so we continued with the local Bosco Elencho Frizzante.

We started by sharing a primo of ravioli stuffed with radicchio, robiola cheese, and coarsely ground almonds, with an aromatic pesto of ortiche (“nettle”) and mentuccia (“pennyroyal”), which we're going to try to duplicate at home.

For secondi, two Ferrarese specials, roasted eel with pickled onions (which had a puréed raw tomato sauce under it; perhaps a little underspiced for the dish?) and a rich flavorful leg of faraona (guinea-hen) stuffed and served with mostarda of apples and pears and (a pleasant surprise) slices of pickled ginger.

The restaurant was crisp as was the service. Alas, despite splitting a primo (in defiance of all that is good and proper), we were too stuffed ourselves to indulge in any of the pastries for which Ferrara is famous. We'll try tomorrow.

Tasting notes from Il Brindisi, already open for business in 1435, where the very nice young sommelier who, when I asked to try a grape I had never had, recommended:

Bursôn 2006, a negretto longanesi, which was new and nice: complex, with rich, slightly gamey tannins.

We also had a Vingeto Saetti, a lambrusco di Modena, with that fizzy feel on the tongue, hints of coffee and something else: plum?

Whites: Corte Madonnina (the main négociant in these here parts), sauvignon (also the principle grape): crisp and flinty.

Lo Scambio, a chardonnay from Ravenna, very honeyed.