Great Taste

Sopra Sotto to close

Sopra Sotto, "The Italian Living Store," located in The Shops at University Square, Rochester, will be closing its doors for good in the coming weeks. 

Owner Maureen McNally writes in an email:

"I have decided that it is time to relocate back to my second hometown of Los Angeles, California, and re-imagine Sopra Sotto! I will be opening a showroom in the Los Angeles Mart and continue to be a source of fine Italian artisanal products....Sopra Sotto will continue as an on-line business as well as a direct business source in California. To make it even easier we will be adding an Amazon Sopra Sotto store as well as retaining our www.sopra-sotto.com store.....As part of our business plan for Sopra Sotto in the future, we hope to expand our offerings also to include fine Italian wines." 

Sopra Sotta has for years helped anchor downtown Rochester's food scene. Its merchandise has included outstanding Italian imported products ranging from Carnaroli risotto rice, lentils, and specialty pastas to fine chocolates to dried porcini mushrooms, uncommon balsamic vinegars, olive oils, and herb blends.

Regularly featured Italian cooking classes have been often taught by top Italian chef and cookbook author Antonio Cecconi. Delicious, freshly prepared foods and beverages have been available for eat-in at an elegant counter in the back of the shop.

Sopra Sotto also has featured Italian handmade ceramics, sleek espresso machines, table linens, leather goods, and bath and body products, among other items.

This writer wishes Ms. McNally the best of luck with her future plans but will sorely miss her retail space in the heart of downtown.....Great Taste offers a heartfelt "thank you" to Maureen for serving the area with her truly exceptional store.

Looking for fresh basil in winter?

If you have a recipe that requires fresh basil leaves--pesto, maybe--or if you just love the taste and fragrance of fresh basil, Trader Joe's, Rochester, has a lot of it to offer. GG bought a package of the herb this evening and enjoyed it on a plate with cold vegetable salad, egg salad, and burrata cheese. 

It's terribly chilly outside for one to be consuming a cold food plate but this was just right after indulgence on the recent trip to Chicago.  

 

A local heart beats for Heartland Restaurant

What we loved last night in St. Paul:

Frisee with Swabian-Hall tasso ham and pear slices; garlic scape aioli

Pork tenderloin with brussels sprouts, lamb bacon, potato-leek puree and ginger pork glace

and

Fruit and spice bread pudding with maple praline sauce, Prosecco-poached apricot, and granola

Didn't try, but wished we had room for:

Bibb lettuce with beets, hazelnuts, and wildflower honey-rosemary vinaigrette

Buckwheat pappardelle with red onion, Marsala, mushroom cream, and Parmesan cheese

Midwestern cassoulet with pork shoulder, kielbasa, smoked kidney, white beans, and pheasant confit

Our favorite thing was:

FARM DIRECT MARKET, the adjacent shop/deli with such locally sourced foods as Hidden Stream Farm fresh pork (Elgin), Pepin Heights Fireside apples (Lake City), and Badgersett chestnuts (Canton).  There are many house-canned goods, like ratatouille, stewed heirloom tomatoes with bay, kimchee, and sauerkraut. And dairy products like fresh cheese, eggs, milk and butter. And large selection of flours, including spelt, millet and rye. And house-made frozen foods, including soups and stocks.

But the above description doesn't do justice to Chef Lenny Russo's first-rate endeavor; there are house-made sausages and house-baked croissants and varieties of bison meat and....The local list goes on. 

It's a culinary destination.

 

What? Christmas--is when? Send a New Year's gift instead....Idea here

Have you run out of time to Christmas shop (or to charge-send)?

No worries. Surprise friends and relatives with a New Year's foodie gift. Here is a link to one of the top food shops in the Midwest, Zingerman's, featuring special suggestions:

http://www.zingermans.com/Category.aspx?category=eve_christmas

 

 

 

Locally made gift baskets to love

Seeking a special holiday gift for your favorite connoisseur? Here are links to what Gourmanda likes for food/wine gift baskets, made in Rochester. 

For wine aficionados:

http://www.sontes.com/information/giftcards.html

For mix of the highest quality, trendiest specialty foods:  

http://www.zzestmarket.com/platters.htm

Just amore:

http://www.sopra-sotto.com/categories.php?catID=83

And a-more to come!

 

 

 

Holiday shopping? How 'bout fresh, fresh, fresh olive oil from Italy

Great Taste wants to spread the word about Sopra Sotto's northern Italian olio nuovo and southern Italian olio novello. 

From Sopra Sotto: 

These young oils are vibrant green in color with a viscous silken texture and the aroma of freshly cut grass, pepper, green apple, artichoke and olive leaf on the pallet. The very first press of the oil is designated as extra virgin.  The qualities in this very exceptional oil are creamy, piquant, zesty, and unfiltered. Olio Nouvo or Olio Novello is the oil in its most intense state, immediately bottled after pressing and not allowed to settle.  

Geographic location and olive varietals play a role in the nouvo or novello oil’s flavor profile. Many of the olive groves in Italy are filled with ancient trees.  Although these ancient trees do not produce as much fruit as younger trees, the fruit is more intense and complex in flavor.  The diversity in climate, varietals and topography gives the nouvo or novello oils of each region their own unique aroma and flavor.

Following are the Olio Nouvos / Olio Novellos now available at Sopra Sotto:

Tenuta di Capezzana Olio Nuovo:  Pressed the week of October 25, 2010, this beautiful lime green olive oil is from the Tuscan Region.  Aromatic of lemon with a buttery texture.  Notes of artichoke, green tea and apple, this olive oil finishes with hints of wintergreen and pine.  Drizzle on seafood, sautéed greens, or roasted Brussels sprouts.  Olive varietals:  Frantoio, Moraiolo, Pendolino, Leccino, Santa Caterina.  

Olio Verde Olio Novello:  From a Sicilian country estate, this lush green-gold oil was pressed the week of October 7^th.  Tastes of fresh cut grass and lime.  Consistently well balanced, this harvest is pungent and well-rounded.  Drizzel on fish or bruschetta or serve with lamb, grilled steak, sardines, or roasted potatoes.  Olive varietals:  100% Nocellara del Belice.

Casale Olio Novello: Pressed on October 20^th and 21^st , this deep green olive oil is from Pianella, Abruzzo and NEW to Sopra Sotto! Aromatic of olives with a nutty taste.  Hints of green tea, artichoke and cinnamon, with a pungent peppery finish.  Serve with grilled meat, hearty fish and roasted squash.  Olive varietals:  90% Dritta and 10% Lecchino olives. 

Frescobaldi Laudemio First Pressing:  Pressed the week of October 25^th, this oil is a luscious emerald green color from Florence, Italy. Robust, complex oil redolent of fresh cut grass and citrus with cinnamon and a peppery finish. Serve with everything; winter soups, farro, roasted vegetables, grilled meats, even pizza. Olive varietals :  Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino. 

Prices for the oils range from $32 to $45 for one-half liter (16.9 ounces). 

 

Farmers market is the hot place for salsa

If you love the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market and authentic Mexican food, you probably already know that the market is superabundant with locally canned salsas. But which ones do you like best?

Two of Great Taste's faves are Outta The Barn's Hot Roasted Tomato Salsa, which is fire-roasted, chunky, uber-fresh tasting, and truly hot pepper hot (maybe too hot for some) and Woo Hoo! Salsa--hot, which is comparatively smoother and more intense in tomato flavor, but also textural and fiery. 

Just how good are these salsas? To Great Taste, who discovered the joys of Mexican food in the early '70s through a Tex-Mex family connection, these two outclass almost anything found on grocery store shelves--including Frontera's salsas.

Great Taste looks forward to your input on locally canned salsas or.....salsa recipes! With the heat and rain we've been having, it shouldn't be long before the local garden beauties, tomatoes, show up in big numbers. 

Weekend suggestion: Break out the 00 flour and make genuine Italian pizza

The groundhog saw his shadow; winter will be long.* But you can make the most of indoor time by creating  authentic Italian pizza for family, friends--or just you.

Ingredients are key to great results. Fine milled 00 is excellent for pizza dough, and 00 is reportedly coming in this week at Zzest Culinary Market, Rochester:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-MN/ZZest-Culinary-Market-and-Wine-Cafe/220478320390

Here is a fascinating, in-depth pizza making tutorial:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/jvpizza/

Also: pizza-making-in-Minnesota discussion on Chowhound:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/124995

Hava sum fun, amici.

*Of course, in Minnesota, just six more weeks of winter is terrific news. But the implication is that spring is a long way off.  

GG

Valentine's Day Dreamin'?....Think Caramel Knowledge

Great Taste recommends Caramel Knowledge, an uber fresh tasting, liquid-caramel-filled rich chocolate, as edible delight for that special Valentine. Made in Minnesota, Caramel Knowlege is available in limited supply at Sopra Sotto, Rochester.

Great Taste will be seeking out more sweet wonders in the weeks before February 14.

Reader suggestions are welcome, too.

   

Last minute shopping? Here's something unexpected...and made in Minnesota!

Still shopping for presents?  

Great Taste adores AUNT ELSE'S 9-HOLE CAST IRON AEBLESKIVER PAN, which comes with its own Aebleskiver mix.

Aebleskiver, a Danish stovetop pastry, is a big hit with Great Taste's family--not only because it's fun to make together in the kitchen but because it's scrumptious.

We like to stuff the little doughnut hole-like aebleskiver with ultra-creamy ricotta cheese from Zzest Culinary Market & Wine Cafe and a little bit of Michigan tart cherry preserve. Luscious.  Aunt Else's aebleskiver mix is made from organic, regional ingredients, including Minnesota-grown wheat; results taste fresh and full-flavored.   

In Denmark aebleskiver is popular during Advent. It is typically served with glogg, also known as mulled wine. 

Aebleskiver kits are available at Uffda Shop, Red Wing, The Cheese Cave, Faribault, and other Minnesota locations. 

For more information: http://auntelse.com/default.aspx 

GG