I cannot now recall just how many courses were served as we sat around a dozen or so refectory tables in a sea of animated conversation, but each was a delight. This was Italian food at its best, the finest ingredients, prepared simply but with care for detail. No Italian meal is complete without a pasta dish, and on this occasion, as is often the case at festive meals, there were two.
The piece de resistance, produced with a splendid theatrical flourish by two elegantly dressed waiters, was a huge carpa regina (queen carp) from the lake, grilled to perfection; moist and with a flavour that managed to be both delicate and full.
The wedding meal started with an antipasto I had never tried before and was, for all its simplicity, quite superb. Fortunately, across the table from me was the owner of a local ristorante who told me exactly how it is made. It is so easy to prepare that every time I serve it I feel as if I am somehow abrogating my responsibilities as a host.
The main ingredient is bresaola, raw fillet of beef prepared in a similar manner to prosciutto crudo; cured in salt, it is then air-dried for about four months and sliced paper-thin when you buy it. Bresaola is the speciality of Valtellina, a valley in Lombardy just south of the Swiss border, and it is said that the best is to be had in Milan. Traditionally it is eaten on its own, and with a hunk of warm crusty bread, a glass of Rosso di Barbera and good company, what could be better?
Well, why not try bresaola con ruccola e parmigiano (bresaola with rocket and parmesan)? Apparently a relatively modern way to eat bresaola, it is an exemplary marriage; the meat’s piquant sweetness with peppery rocket and the saltiness of the cheese make a delicious trio of contrasts.
Preparation
Lay out the bresaola onto individual plates. Make a dressing by whisking together the oil, lemon juice, garlic and seasoning in a bowl. Taste it to check the seasoning and add a little more lemon juice if necessary because the amount of juice needed will depend on how acid the oil is, and on personal taste.
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Toss the rocket with the dressing, place a portion of the dressed salad onto the bresaola, shave half a dozen generous slivers of parmigiano over each, and serve immediately.
For the very best results use the finest ingredients you can find. Of course, bresaola purchased freshly sliced from a norcina in an Italian hill town is going to be better than pre-packed slices in a UK supermarket, but whatever you use, uncovered it will dry out within an hour, so the dish should be put together just before you’re going to eat it, though the dressing can be made days ahead.
I find wild rocket with its smaller leaves and stronger flavour better than other varieties, and parmigiano reggiano is undoubtedly the king
of parmesans. There are very real advantages to buying these in Italy; certainly the parmigiano is better, and you don’t have to re-mortgage your house to buy the rocket (which at the last count in one leading British supermarket was £20 per kilo!).
Perhaps the most obvious style of wine to drink with this dish, a robust red, is not ideal because bresaola has a suprisingly subtle flavor and the acidity of the dressing is likely to clash with the tannins. For that reason I would not recommend what are probably the best wines of Lombardy (for example, Sassella, Grumello or Inferno made from the nebbiolo grape) and which might be thought the most authentic, for they too come from Valtellina. Instead I suggest a light red or medium-bodied white. If you want something from the region try a Cellatica, a lively DOC red made largely with Schiava Gentile and Barbera grapes, or Lugana, a DOC white from the southern shores of Lake Garda, made exclusively from Trebbiano di Lugana. However, these can be hard to find, except locally, so if you want something that is more readily to hand, any good quality Soave works well.
The wedding feast lasted about five hours, and in the early evening, as the fierceness of the sun faded, we drifted away from the tables to a pebble beach just a hundred metres from the towering 12th-century Rocca, changed into swimming costumes and frolicked in the deliciously cool water of the lake. La bella vita!
