The heel of Italy, Puglia, is a bustling southern Italian state with a fascinating combination of history, culture and food. At Tandem we love this region, so much so that we’ve decided to bring a taste of Puglia to Bramley with the first of our Regional Tasting Evenings.
One of Italy’s finest exports, focaccia, is found everywhere in Puglia with a variety of different toppings. We’ve kept it traditional with tomatoes, olives and onions but serving a variety of whipped flavoured butters to accompany.
Puglia’s agricultural roots have led to the cuisine largely being based on what’s available from the harvest. This has led to the usual egg pasta recipe being abandoned in favour of durum wheat flour, water and salt. This pasta is commonly rolled into orecchiette – little ear shaped shells. We’ve used orecchiette in a starter with garlic, chilli, anchovy and purple sprouting broccoli – our seasonal spin on the traditional orechiette con cime di rapa.
To follow, we’ve gone for a modern touch on the famous Tagliata dish. We’re cooking a beautiful piece of bone-in sirloin in a water bath, then finishing on a screaming hot grill, with a sauce made from fresh herbs, world-beating Puglian olive oil and the resting juices. It’s almost unbelievable that on a steak dish, the olive oil used steals the limelight from the meat but that pays testament to the quality produce of Puglia.
Hopefully you know understand our love for Puglia, and if you want to taste our authentic recipes then tickets for the event go live on 1st December, available directly from our website.