The castagnata: roast chestnuts done properly
Why chestnuts are a celebration in Ticino, how to choose them, score them and roast them in the pan with holes. And how we close the season on the last Sunday in October.
From the grotto’s notebook
Articles
Recipes, wine and grotto customs, written by the people who work here. An article now and then, when there is something to tell.
The boccalino and the tazzine
Why wine at a grotto comes in a ceramic jug and is drunk from a bowl instead of a glass. A habit with a practical reason behind it.
Merlot at the table: what goes with what
From the house boccalino to the riserva, by way of Merlot bianco: which Merlot with which dish, what temperature to serve it at and why there is no need to overthink it.
How to make polenta in the copper pot
Coarse maize flour, water, salt and more than an hour of patience. The method we use in the kitchen, and how to do it at home without a wood fire.
What is a Ticino grotto?
Before it is a place to eat, a grotto is a cellar: a cool room under the rock. That is where the granite tables, the boccalino and the season come from.
The drawings stand in for the photos the owner would publish on the real website.