Sampling the local drop or three - Asti

I had the good fortune a few years ago to study at I.C.I.F (Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners) at a little town called Costigliole d’Asti. This where my passion for Italian cooking really developed & where my tastes for expensive ingredients sprung from. The school is smack, bang in the middle of the most important food & wine region of Piedmont; surrounded by vineyards.

Being in the area, I decided to drop by to say hi & to see how everyone was going. I seemed to have caught them at a bad time with multiple groups of students needing to be processed so I couldn’t chat for too long.

So…to kill a bit of time, it was down to the local wine bar that we, as students, used to hang out at. The place is called “Bar Roma” & many a night was spent there drinking & sampling the local drops. What better way to spend the afternoon that with a selection of local dishes: capsicum rolls with a tuna mayonnaise; a plate of tortellini in a sage butter sauce (one of my favourite dishes) & a slice of the local apple cake washed down with a glass of Barbera d’Asti; a glass of Barolo (we are in the Barolo region after all) & a glass of Moscato d’Asti (again, we are in the region). Finish that off with an espresso coffee & you have the perfect meal.