Dine Like a Local Romagnolo
As we continue to embrace our support for the Italian region of Emilia Romagna, especially in light of the recent flood disasters for which we have been running a fundraiser campaign, we return back to Romagna, Italy.
Davide Castagnoli, a Romagnolo, native from Romagna, enjoying a meal of capretto al forno with his Sangiovese red wine at a local trattoria.
If you know anything about traditional Italian cuisine, their meals have 2 main parts:
a primo piatto, literally translated to ‘first dish,’ which is a starch dish usually made up of pasta or rice. An example of this is the fresh pasta, tortelli, a traditional ravioli like pasta dish from Romagna;
a secondo, or second dish, which is primarily made up of a protein food, usually of meat, poultry or fish.
This article is about a traditional secondo, or main course entree, shared by the Braschi Boys with the winery in Romagna. Davide and Vincenzo, natives from Romagna, are known each as ‘Romagnolo’, an adjective to describe someone from Romagna. How does a local Romangolo dine? Let’s find out!
Romagnolo Capretto al Forno
In the hills of Romagna, there are a great many farms and a lot of agriculture. These hidden areas of Romagna is a treasure fold of culture and tradition, as we wrote in our recent Love Letter to Emilia Romagna, and, unfortunately, have been hardest hid by the recent flood disasters with landslides that have closed off many remote roads. These areas are somewhat cut off anyway from more modern ways of living, so they have learned to live off their land more so. Here, in the trattorias of the Romagna countryside, you find a lot of capretto or agnello.
Agnello is lamb, called pecora when it is a fully grown sheep or mouton when a male sheep. Capretto is like the lamb version of a goat, or the young kid, with capra or caprone being the goat-based equilavants of pecora and mouton. Yet, capretto and agnello have similar tastes, hence why they are used interchangeably in Italy.
So, for the goat recipe we share below, if you prefer to use lamb instead, you will have a similar result and flavor profile. If a lamb shank is more your style (or in some places easier to find), it is a great alternative to switch up with recipe for oven roasted goat.
Of course, don’t forget with either version to finish off your dish with a pop of flavor using a drizzle of Italian olive oil, like one of our organic EVOOs.
Oven roasted capretto, or goat, a traditional dish of the countryside in Romagna.
Winemaker Vincenzo Vernocchi of Braschiwinery in Romagna, with Braschi’s Sangiovese Superiore, ready to enjoy capretto al forno!
Food and Wine Pairings
Whether you stay traditional with using a goat shoulder, or you substitute with lamb, this recipe promises to be juicy and succulent with the classic goat and lamb flavors standing out strong. With a dish like that, you need a full bodied red wine to not only match the intensity of flavor, but have some tannins to pair with the juicy meat. A great option is to stay local to Romagna where this recipe is from, and try a sangiovese food pairing! We have two options for a sangiovese wine that come from Romagna winery Braschi, a Sangiovese Superiore and a Sangiovese Superiore Riserva. While both fabulous, it is worth noting that the Riserva does have extra time aging, allowing for more earthy flavors to pop up, as well as a different tannic structure than the Superiore.
Try Emilia Romagna Wines and Help Their Relief Efforts
Emilia Romagna recently had disastrous flooding, and it was the Romagna area which was particularly hard hit, especially the small towns, nooks and crannies, which are the lifeblood of the region but inaccessible due to avalanches and closed roads. To help them we are running a fundraiser campaign, encouraging donations directly to the relief efforts and to buy the Emilia Romagna Disaster Relief Fundraiser Wine Box with an assortment of artisanal wines from this hard hit region.
Capretto al Forno - Oven Roasted Goat
Cooking and Prep Time: 2-3 Hours
Portions: 4 portions
Ingredients:
1 Goat leg or shoulder
2 cloves of garlic
1 bunch fresh rosemary
1 bunch fresh sage
500ml of white wine
3-4 Potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Il Nostro Oro, Febo, Aurinia,
or Caletra)
Procedure:
1. In a large roasting pan, place the goat (or lamb if preferred) leg or shoulder. Cut 6 or 7 cuts into the meat and insert chopped garlic, sage and rosemary into the slits, or even leave them whole. Keep a few of these herbs aside for later.
2. Place the leg in the pan, sprinkle it with salt pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Bake it at 390°F for approximately 2 hours. Every 15-20 minutes or so, baste the meat with its juices or flip the meat over.
3. In the meantime, peel and cut the potatoes into large cubes and season them separately with more salt, pepper, the reserved chopped herbs, and some extra virgin olive oil. Set aside until later.
3. After about 1-1.5 hours, add the potato cubes to the pan around the meat and stir to coat potatoes. When the meat is cooked to the bone and easily pulled apart with a fork, the meat is done.
4. To serve, remove the potatoes, pull the meat off the bone, and serve both with some cooking juices served over them.
This recipe is courtesy of Braschi winery in Romagna, Italy.
What Wine to Pair?
A wine similar to this Monte Sasso Sangiovese is the La Maliosa Tarconte.
Small production wines like this don’t stay long in stock! This product is sold out. Head back to the VeroShop to see what other small production wines we have available.
This organic Sangiovese comes from the well-known Bertinoro vineyards in Romagna, just north of Tuscany Italy. With a dark ruby color, this easy to drink single vineyard sangiovese has floral and herbal aromas with cherry vanilla and a fruit forward cherry taste with pleasant sandy tannins and a long finish. A people-pleaser red wine.
A wine similar to this Monte Sasso Sangiovese is the Canalino Brunello di Montalcino.
Small production wines like this don’t stay long in stock! This product is sold out. Head back to the VeroShop to see what other small production wines we have available.
This wine is made from the best, hand selected grapes in the Costone vineyard located in the Bertinoro cru known for the exceptional Sangiovese wines produced in Romagna, Italy. With notes of cherry jam and red berries, it has a complex earthy, cherry taste with robust tannins and a persistent finish with hints of flint. Aged in Slavonian casks and neutral French oak barrique for 30 months before bottle aging for 6 months. Give it some time to open up and you'll love it.
From rediscovered white wine grapes thought long lost, to a sparkling pet nat Lambrusco, to a white sweet wine with a history reaching back to the Romans, these wines from Emilia Romagna are a delicious way to discover the Italian region. Shipping is also included in the Continental US for this set, and extends to any other products you add to your order… so this is an excellent time to stock up and treat yourself to something new, or replace a favorite wine!
Included in this wine gift set are:
Or Italian Olive Oil to Use?
This is an olive oil, super food for super foodies. This is small production organic & vegan extra virgin olive oil made primarily from a rare local cultivar from the area of Macerata Italy called Piantone de Mogliano. The buttery flavors and taste of this organic EVOO so inspired the family behind Quercia Scarlatta farm and winery in Le Marche Italy to name it ‘our gold’, or Il Nostro Oro.
Hand harvested and milled at the family’s farm, a first run, cold press evoo, this olive oil’s aromas remind you of stepping into a garden full of fresh green beans with a whiff of black pepper. Likewise, tasting it is like having fresh green beans with black pepper and butter, thanks to its buttery texture. Black pepper continues on the finish.
This organic extra virgin olive oil comes in a 3 liter container, made for following the Mediterranean diet to a tee!
From the hills of Abruzzo near the Adriatic Coast of Italy, comes this Organic EVOO, or Extra Virgin Olive Oil, farmed and made by the Febo family. Farmed sustainably and organic, this natural extra virgin olive oil is also vegan and, like all evoos, a first run - cold press olive oil, the best kind of olive oil for you.
The 2024 harvest is still made from a blend of olives like leccino and 500 year old trees, but now it is mostly the dritta cultivar.
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Farming | Biodynamic | Vegan | No additives | Unfiltered | Organic
Fun Facts: The dritta cultivar is a rare one being saved by Davide Febo who is trying to save and rehabilitate it.
This is a woman made, limited production first cold press organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the Maremma hills of Tuscany made from a blend of four Tuscan cultivars. Buttery deliciousness with a bitter kick at the end, thanks to its polyphenols. It has won gold medals in a competition which judges the best extra virgin organic olive oils from around the world.
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Farming | Biodynamic | Vegan | No additives | Unfiltered | Organic | Metodo Corino
Fun Facts: The natural farming method that produced this extra virgin olive oil, the metodo corino, is actually patented by La Maliosa woman winemaker Antonella Manuli after she helped to develop it with natural wine legend Lorenzo Corino of Case Corini.
A prestigious first cold press monocultivar organic extra virgin olive oil from the Maremma hils of Tuscany which has won best organic extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany! Its polyphenols which are used to determine how good an olive oil is, are exceptionally high!
Top awards include extra gold, as best Tuscan organic EVOO by Biol Novello which evaluates the best olive oils in the world. In the past this olive oil has also won Best in Italy, as well as Gambero Rosso 3 leaves (their highest rating).
Its aromas of grass, green pepper and mint lead to an intense hot pepper taste and a long finish with black pepper lingering in your mouth. Even just a little drizzled over a simple lettuce salad will bring it to life with flavor.
Farming & Winemaking Highlights: Regenerative Agriculture | Sustainable Farming | Biodynamic | Vegan | No additives | Unfiltered | Organic | Metodo Corino
Fun Facts: The natural farming method that produced this extra virgin olive oil, the metodo corino, is actually patented by La Maliosa woman winemaker Antonella Manuli after she helped to develop it with natural wine legend Lorenzo Corino of Case Corini.
