Here’s the latest of Judith Schrut‘s edible adventures in Puglia: a lunch of seafood and tradition at Trattoria Il Brigante.
It was our first morning in the bright sunshine of Puglia– leaving snowbound Britain a few hours before on a crack-of-dawn budget flight from Stansted– so I was understandably eager to savour and set my teeth into the local cuisine.
Reader, my wildest fantasies were truly satisfied. Nothing says “Welcome to Puglia” better than the seafood lunch my companions and I were served at Il Brigante, a family-run trattoria in the picturesque port town of Monopoli.
Our feast of fresh fishness began with antipasti della casa, a veritable catwalk of seafood and vegetable starters. Enormous platters of lovingly arranged ricci di mare (urchins) and crudo di mare (raw seafood and shellfish) were joined by a variety of purées, salads and pillowsoft mini flans like crab-truffle and prawn-artichoke. More courses soon followed, all dressed to impress: ‘pulled ears’ strascinate pasta with seafood, succulent swordfish salad bathed in citrus vinaigrette, crevettes wrapped in toasted vermicelli, grilled cuttlefish and octopus. All went down easily with house rosé and sparkling water.
Somehow, we managed to find room for dessert, a splendid spumone of chocolate, hazelnut and nougat centre, along with lashings of Crema di Mandorle and Crema di Liquirizia– creamy house-made almond and liquorice liqueurs.
Trattoria Il Brigante, Via Cavaliere 17, 70043 Monopoli:
facebook.com/ilbrigantetrattoria
Stay tuned for more Eat Puglia posts to come.
