20 October 2023, Contigliano
With the scalandrini, the baskets and the bigonzi on the cart, we set off for the vineyard on the hills or the plains. At the end of September and until mid-October the countryside resounded with calls and songs celebrating the grape harvest. The bunches were first deposited in the corbelli and then emptied into the bigonzi on the cart or on the back of a patient donkey. In the sun that was beginning to turn autumnal, this rite was also carried out which opened cellars, moved wine presses and filled barrels – Sandro Boccini, A Thread of Red Coral - Traditions, Rites and Magic of the Farmer’s World
Autumn is a busy time in the Italian countryside, but it always seems to be this way. Rural rites and traditions in connection with the rhythms of the earth, gives mankind plenty enough to do.
Just passing us now is the season of the wine harvest known as La Vendemmia. It’s one of the more exciting and celebrated moments of the agricultural year. I cannot speak in depth about this thousands-year-old practice, it’s just something that is felt strongly in the air here in Italy and the fruits of this moment brings enogastronomic joy and economic security to many.
In our house, we have one vine of Concord grapes known here as uva fragola, uva americana or uva isabella. Like everything else in the garden, it is a vine that was planted by my late father-in-law and every year we enjoy our own little Vendemmia.
This year when Riccardo decided to mow the lawn, he passed by the vines, stopped the mower, and came into the house to let me know that the grapes were ready. In a moment of excitement, I slipped on my fuschia mail-order garden clogs and walked to the vines to lift their yellow-stained leaves to reveal bunches of glorious, delicate and deep-coloured cloudy glass jewels reflecting in the warm morning light.
As I picked and he mowed, he shouted that the vines were over twenty years old and that they should no longer be producing grapes and then boasted,
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in."
An ancient Greek proverb that he surely learned while studying at his Classical Scuola Superiore. Concord vines can actually live up to forty years, but I chose to take the romantic notion that the vines were ‘miraculously’ producing grapes after their time as a teaching moment.
From time to time I remind the children that even if they never met their Nonno, they can feel his love in the trees and the flowers because he planted them for his family and for his grandchildren which he always had in his heart. Their words and actions tell me that it is a sentiment that they cling to.
In a world where the traditions and benefits of community-based thinking and living have slowly started to slip away, I encourage them to do small acts of planting or picking up litter and to think about doing work that will not only benefit themselves but also society. It’s a lesson that might seem a little over the head of children under ten, but it’s a fundamental lesson for the world at large in the search to heal our planet - and our children are brighter than we know.
So I continued to bend and swoop and was delighted with the sweet hit of the first grapes. Their flavour always brings me to another place and time when peanut butter and Concord grape jelly on wheat or ‘Wonder white’ bread kept most Massachusetts and you might even say American kids alive. A time when we also consumed a range of grape drinks and stayed cool with sugary grape popsicles while scratching and sniffing our 80’s grape stickers.
New England was, and still is, a grape-flavoured world thanks to Ephraim Wales Bull (how’s that for a name) who in 1849 developed this cold-resistant grape in Concord, Massachusetts. A ‘cultivar’ which was derived from his experimentations with the wild Vitis labrusca or fox grape native to America’s northeast, it eventually made its way to Italy. There is a long explanation as to why this grape was technically banned for wine production (fragolino, a wine story), but that didn’t stop it from making its way into Italy’s culinary fabric.
Our love of this fruit and its flavour is why we get excited for this short-lived moment in the food year. Here on the Rieti plain in Alta Sabina in northeastern Lazio, in an area that once belonged to Umbria, we are still just a short fifteen-minute drive over the border driving north. Therefore, one might speculate or argue that we are a bit of a culinary crossroads between Laziale and Umbrian cuisine. This recipe is in fact an Umbrian one.
The local Salsiccia Paesana used here is one that features in many traditional recipes here in Rieti as part of Lazio’s Agrifood heritage and is one of the many highly noted bi-products that results from this region’s equally rich heritage in the art of Norceria or pig butchery. Umbria, also backing on to the Apennines, claims a similar heritage. The word paesana in its feminine form is a word that I frequently heard while growing up in a community filled with Italian Americans, and it can be translated to mean a fellow countryman/woman, comrade, or friend from the same neighbourhood, city or region. It also refers to the likes of peasants, farmers and rustic villagers. These sausages were once and still are prepared by rural families (as Riccardo once did with his), as part of the annual winter ritual of the butchering of the pig.
The afternoon before we realized that the grapes were ready, I just so happened to bring our son to our local butcher here in Contigliano. He is very into these sausages and I have to say that I really enjoy them too.
When he rocked up to the counter, he promptly asked the butcher what his sausages were made of. Delighted with the question from such a young boy, the butcher answered, “The shoulder and the leg and some white wine“. In fact, these country sausages that form such an important stitch in the local cuisine are made from lean cuts taken from the ribs, shoulder, leg and loin trimmings. The amounts of pepper, minced garlic and fennel vary based on the region and the notions of the person preparing them.
So on that unseasonably warm weekend afternoon with our mini grape harvest and a pile of fresh sausages to hand, this rustic dish in its simplest two or you might even say three main-ingredient form was a bit of an obvious one.
The savoury pig is a perfect marriage for this sweetest grape which I believe brings this recipe to its height. The deep burgundy liquid and heady aromas that are released upon cooking offer an experience that is incredibly pleasing to the senses.
To satisfy vegetarian guests, these same grapes cooked down in a separate pan, would be delicious spooned over main course crostone, smeared with ricotta, gorgonzola or goat’s cheese, and covered with finely chopped rosemary or gently fried sage. To this mix, which can also be served as part of an antipasto, you might also consider adding the thinnest slices of prosciutto or culatello. If possible, from Amatrice.
The seeds which can sometimes be a bother, tend to remain inside the gently cooked bulbs if they are cooked to the right point. Lift the vines with the grapes still attached onto your serving plate/s and spoon the pan juices over the sausages. Use your fork to bring the warm pulp into every aromatic bite. Serve with roast potatoes and/or a big loaf of crusty bread. A plate of sausages never tasted so good.
Country Sausages + Concord Grapes
Salsiccia paesana + uva fragola
LF. GF. GrF.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
8 fresh Italian pork sausages
4 small bunches of Concord grapes
A splash of quality white wine
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt + freshly ground black pepper
A small sprig of rosemary or bay leaf (optional)
Method:
Cut the sausages if connected and lightly prick the skin with a fork. Cover the bottom of a roomy high-sided frying or cast iron pan with the thinnest film of olive oil and brown on all sides (add the herbs here if using) then add a few tablespoons of water and a few tablespoons of white wine. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-high heat until the liquid is evaporated.
Remove the sausages, pour off most of the fat, add your grapes, lightly season and then cook them over a medium-high flame for a few minutes gently shaking.
Return the sausages to the pan once the grapes begin to release their juices. Partially cover and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Lower if necessary. You want the grapes to be slightly collapsed but still holding their shape on the vine with a generous amount of cooking juices at the bottom of the pan.
Serve hot with roast potatoes and/or fresh slices of warm crusty bread.
Notes:
Concord grapes have a long shelf life lasting 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator. You should be able to find them at a grocer near you until early November to cook with some fresh Italian sausages made with love at a butcher near you.