Prehistoric Forests and A Pignata

This was another trip to the mountains. We are still in the Alta Rocca range but it was a different route to yesterday's trip.

We visited Cucuruzzu, a prehistoric site located in the forests of Alta Rocca. The terrain wasn't entirely flat but with good walking shoes, and a desire to see all there is, it is amazing what the legs and body can do in terms of climbing up and coming down from rock boulders and the like.

The early settlers in this site dates from 2nd to 1st millennium BC. Yes, it was that long ago and absolutely fascinating to hear the history and see where they lived. There was these amazing stone huts that displayed where the kitchen could have been or the bedroom. Once again Susan was very informative about the area.

There is even a little chapel built in the 19th century.

After our walk, we headed to A Pignata. It is located in the mountain tops of Alta Rocca near the town of Levie. After our great lunch yesterday, we didn't know what to expect for today. I was thinking to myself, how could another mountain top lunch 'top' yesterday's? Even Susan was saying that today's lunch would be spectacular but I had my reservations.

Upon our arrival, I had a quick look around and fell in love with the place. Gorgeous sceneries; there was an outdoor area where you could drink or have a meal and look out over the mountain range. There were guests cabins and a heated indoor swimming pool.

The restaurant had a rustic French country setting. There was a lovely fireplace, an ingenious rotisserie, lovely copper kettles and it was very Provence in style. Loved it! We met Antoine, the owner of the homestead who was very congenial to us and even allowed us to take a picture of him at the fireplace. We found out from Antoine that A Pignata was started up by his family in 1969. It started as a 2 room accommodation and has now been extended to an 18 room accommodation.

So what did we have for lunch?

Charcuterie of coppa, ham and salami. Delicious and smooth textures. Quite refined actually.

Then we had slow cooked lamb which was so, so delicious. The meat literally fell off the bone and was absolutely 'melt in your mouth'.

There was a fantastic bowl of Canneloni with brucciu. Brucciu is a type of cheese. This dish was again absolutely delicious!

There was a large dish of Butter beans served with black vinegar. It was required that we all tossed some black vinegar over the beans. It made sense as the vinegar cut into the richness of the bean sauce.

They then served us a platter of goat's cheese and sheep's cheese with home made fig jam.

A basket of fruits accompanied the cheese platter too.

Last but not least, we had the chestnut cakes. They tasted and had the texture of a doughnut. Loved it! There was an option to add some grappa to the cakes, which I politely declined.

This lunch was superb! There have been so many wonderful meals along the way and this is definitely somewhere at the top.

Lunch in a rustic farm in the mountains

This is the first time in our trip that we are heading up to the mountains. We came prepared with some jumpers/jackets as it can get quite brisk up there. Maeve was recommended this place and did try it out when she was firming up the tour last year and we were told enough about it to eagerly anticipate the lunch plus the surrounds.

We met our tour guide Susan (pronounced like Suzanne) for the first time. She is an absolute gem, her knowledge of Corsican history and cuisine is exceptional. On top of that she has such a charisma and wit about her that we loved hearing her tell us all that she knew. Susan's passion for all things Corsican is quite infectious!

The road up to the mountain with a jalopy of a bus was interesting in itself. By that I mean, the roads were quite winding and some of the group were starting to feel a little car sick. But when we did eventually arrive, they were fine enough to have the meal (thank goodness!).

The owner of the restaurant and surrounding farm land is Marie France. Her husband and children were away at the beach so she was holding the fort with some other help. She was a dynamo. She had so much to tell us. The charcuterie served here is made on the farm. There were wild herbs everywhere (we went on a short trek after lunch) and some of the herbs were used for the cooking of the meal.

One thing Susan emphasised was the Maquis of Corsica. The different foliage and soil unique to Corsica makes the food taste special. Maquis in this case refers to the scrubland of Corsica. The unique fragrance permeates the island and everything around it. What makes up the maquis? The wild herbs prevalent in this area, in this case it would be rosemary, thyme, myrtle, immortelle, arbutus and rock rose incense. We all had a smell from Susan's bag of maquis magic and it was so fragrant. I could still smell it from my hands even during the evening.

Lunch consisted of the following dishes:

Carpaccio of lonza with lemon, olive oil and capers dressing. Charcuterie of wild boar and sausages. They were quite delicious.

We then tried Polenta made with chestnut flour. It was quite lovely. I could taste the chestnuts in the polenta fritter.

For our main course, we had polenta, salad, wild boar and lamb. Plus some chips cooked the French way. Surprisingly I was more keen on the wild boar than the lamb. The meat was beautifully cooked and very tender.

Then there was a serving of pecorino cheese (sheep's milk).

Desserts were combinations of Panna cotta with fig jam, Panna cotta with blackberry jam and Creme caramel. My favourite dessert was the Panna cotta with the home made fig jam. Yummy!

This one's for Annette and Brian!

Marie France was kind enough to show us a little of her farm and we did quite a hike up the hill to view the landscape. Beautiful panoramic views. Plus along the way, we learnt about wild artichoke, wild thyme, honeysuckle and saw some cute ducks!

Wild thyme

Wild artichoke

Immortelle

We had a fantastic afternoon of rustic country food and local agricultural information.