Friulian fare steps into limelight: Northern Italian region gains recognition as specialty dishes show up on menus nationwide

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 11, 2004 by Erica Duecy

When people think of Italian food, they think of spaghetti and meatballs, not venison and potatoes," observes Emanuele Simeoni, chef-owner of Barbaluc, a New York restaurant that serves the cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the northeasternmost province of Italy. Friuli, which borders Austria, Slovenia and the Adriatic Sea, is known for a rustic style of cooking largely influenced by the proximity of the province to Eastern Europe.

Recently the buzz about Friulian cuisine has grown, owing in large part, Simeoni says, to the growing popularity of wines from the region, including Tocai and Pinot Grigio varieties.

"At the beginning it was a little difficult because people were not used to this kind of food," Simeoni notes. Now "people want to try something different," he says. "Friulian cuisine is simple, flavorful and not heavy."

This mountainous region of Italy is known primarily for its bounty of natural products and its rustic cooking style. San Daniele prosciutto, or salt-cured pork, is a delicacy of Friuli, as is Montasio, a semihard cow's milk cheese. Other regional food products include venison, rabbit and small game. Porcini mushrooms, asparagus and wild herbs accent many dishes. Further south, nearer to the Adriatic Sea, branzino, or sea bass, and baby octopus are common.

Lidia Bastianich, the renowned television chef and restaurateur who hails from Northern Italy, has helped introduce many American diners to Friulian and other Northern Italian cuisines through her many restaurant concepts, cookbooks and cooking shows. According to Fortunato Nicotra, executive chef at Felidia, one of Bastianich's New York restaurants: "Ten years ago all people knew was Tuscan and Italian-American dishes." More recently, however, as diners increasingly have sought out new taste experiences, Italian restaurateurs have responded by offering regional specialties that break out of the pasta-and-red-sauce mold, he says.

Examples of Friulian dishes at Felidia include stinco, a beef shank braised in prune sauce and served with roasted potatoes and mushrooms, and mosaico di maiale, a terrine made from boiled pig's head, served with pickled turnips, horseradish-mustard-chive sauce and candied fruit chutney. Another Friulian offering is white-wine-braised frog's legs over Parmigiano-Reggiano risotto with wild herbs.

One of Felidia's most popular side dishes is frico, a typical afternoon snack in Friuli that often is enjoyed with a plate of San Daniele prosciutto and a glass of Tocai or another Friulian wine. Frico is a mashed-potato pan cake surrounded by an outer layer of crisp, pan-fried Montasio cheese, which can be stuffed with sauteed mushrooms, broccoli raab, pancetta or other savory fillings. "We do one version of frico stuffed with lobster that people seem to love," Nicotra says.

Friulian desserts often reflect the Austro-Hungarian heritage of the region. Typical offerings include fruit dumplings rolled in cinnamon sugar, butter and bread crumbs, and strudels filled with fruits and nuts. Felidia offers a Granny Smith apple strudel made with raisins and pine nuts and served with cinnamon ice cream and palacinche, Eastern European-style crepes filled with fruit and jam. At Felidia the palacinche are filled with rosehip jam and topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

Becco, another of Bastianich's restaurants in New York, features Friulian-influenced dishes, such as pan-seared pork loin with polenta, braised and pickled ramps, artichokes, Montasio cheese and ramp oil and osso buco--a braised veal shank that, at that restaurant, is paired with Friulian spaetzle, fava beans and peas.

New York's Babbo, owned by Lidia Bastianich's son Joe and celebrity chef Mario Batali, also prominently features Friulian dishes, such as an appetizer of prosciutto San Daniele served with sliced figs, nettle pappardelle with wild-boar ragu, and braised beef with porcini mushrooms and Marsala wine. Joe Bastianich also owns a 150-acre vineyard and winery in Friuli called Azienda Agricola Bastianich.

At Genoa, a fine-dining restaurant in Portland, Ore., executive chef Jerry Huisinga oversees a rotating selection of Northern Italian dishes that are served in a four- or seven-course tasting-menu format. Recent dishes have included a warm salad of chanterelle mushrooms, caramelized shallots, garlic, organic greens and buffalo mozzarella dressed with a Cabernet vinegar reduction, and squab flamed with grappa and then braised in Pinot Grigio, chicken broth, parsley and verjus and accompanied by red kabocha squash pureed with sage-infused cream.

Among the pasta dishes are ravioli stuffed with organic purple beets, caramelized Hermiston onions and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, which is tossed with brown butter and toasted English walnuts.

At Trattoria Tre Venezie in Pasadena, Calif., chef Gianfranco Minuz serves traditional Friulian specialties, such as cjalson, ravioli filled with ricotta cheese, spices, fruit and cocoa powder. They are sauteed in butter and served with grated, smoked ricotta. Occasionally, Minuz serves jota, a thick smoked pork and sauerkraut soup typical of the region that sometimes features barley, beans, corn or squash.