If you fancy enjoying a taste of Italy but don’t want to fork over the air fare, then Periwinkle’s Tour of Italy might just be the answer.
From March 24, the alfresco Italian restaurant, at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, is offering a series of tasting menus highlighting cuisine from three regions of central Italy – Lazio, March 24-29, Abruzzo, April 21-26, and Umbria, May 26-31. Each region offers distinct flavors and cooking techniques which will be featured on the three tasting menus.
“The foundation for Italian cuisine is farm-to-fork, being creative with all available ingredients and the whole animal to create meals. Each region we feature speaks to that tradition,” Periwinkle’s chef de cuisine Stefano Attardi explains. “Lazio, for example, is known for using rare cuts of meat that we normally would not expect to taste. But this rustic tradition is how Italians have cooked at home for decades and now offers unique depth to contemporary cuisine.
“You may notice similar ingredients in each menu but, when we visit Abruzzo and Umbria, you’ll notice different cooking preparations than what you experienced in Lazio. It is the most authentic Italian experience you will have outside of Italy, and that’s what we wanted to create for guests at Periwinkle.”
Fresh vegetables are an important part of the cuisine from the Lazio region. Indeed, the hills in Lazio are rich and fertile, making it easy to grow vegetables of all types, which are often cooked with liberal amounts of oil, herbs and garlic. Meat dishes from this region are also typically robust, often featuring rarer cuts of meat typically paired with bigger, chunkier types of pasta, such at bucatini and conchiglie.
Abruzzo hugs the coastline of the Adriatric Sea and is also home to one of Italy’s highest peaks – the Gran Sasso. The region boasts a rich repertoire of seafood specialities and robust dishes with ingredients sourced from its fertile soil. Rich seafood soups and stews are mainstays of this region, along with lamb and mountain goat.
Umbria is the only landlocked region in Italy. The region’s capital, the medieval town of Perugia, is famed for its silky rich chocolates. Other specialties of the region include its rich cheeses, abundance of black truffles and pork or wild boar products. Locally grown lentils, cardoons and porcini mushrooms are also a mainstay on dinner tables across this region.
An Italian-born chef from Naples, Attardi earned his culinary degree in Italy and has worked in some of the most prestigious restaurants around the world. His aim is to create truly authentic dishes from his native homeland for diners to enjoy at Periwinkle, and the Tour of Italy offers the veteran chef the ideal opportunity to serve guests some of his favorite dishes.
“Guests will not find American-Italian dishes on our Tour of Italy menu,” Attardi says. “No chicken Parmesan or fettucini alfredo. It is a more adventurous Italian menu and the Tour of Italy is an experience for anyone interested in exploring new tastes.
“At the same time, Periwinkle is a wonderful restaurant for families,” he says. “We serve our normal menu alongside the Taste of Italy menu, so couples can enjoy the more authentic dishes, while children are still able to have their favorites in a casual, alfresco setting.”
This is the third year Periwinkle has offered the Tour of Italy tasting menus. Last year’s menus focused on regions in the south of Italy. Next year, Attardi plans to focus on dishes from northern Italy.
Each tasting menu is priced at $48 per person plus 15 percent service charge. Wine pairings from Periwinkle’s extensive collection of Italian wines are also available.
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