Setting Sail Around the Med in search of shared culinary traditions
For a long time I’ve wanted to explore the pasta and other culinary traditions of countries sharing the Mediterranean sea with Italy. Recipes and cooking wisdom don’t stop at national borders, after all. So when Virgin Voyages invited Pasta Grannies on a cruise from Barcelona to Rome, I thought “ahah!” Never one to relax on a deckchair, how can I make this a challenge? So the idea of A Pasta Granny in Every Port was born: let’s see if we can film someone in every port the ship docks.
Time on land is 8 hours, so there was a pretty tight window of opportunity. Every morning, we’d be among the first off the ship, walking briskly down the gangway, laden with cameras and suntan cream, as our trip coincided with a heatwave. I say ‘we’ because the team came too. Livia, my Granny Finder and location manager, proved she’s amazing wherever she goes – not just Italy. Linda our social media manager was, as always, on hand with her iPhone capturing every moment. And husband Billy was my new (temporary) team member. Apart from being my chief cheerleader, he’s also a TV producer, so he happily took on the role of second camera operator (and of course, chief taste-tester; he loves pasta).
Day 1: Barcelona, Spain
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a stop but a starting point. The adventure started before we’d even set sail with a food tour I organised with Culinary Backstreets. Local guide Paola showed us around the working class neighbourhood of Sants. She showed us the best spots to drink vermut with the locals, and thanks to her in-depth knowledge of the area, we discovered food stalls we never would have come across on our own. I was completely enamoured of a specialist bean stall, where you could either buy them dried (there was one variety called a Thousand Nuns) or boiled and prepped for folks to take home and eat immediately. Who wants to turn on the stove when it’s 37C!
Stop 2: Santa Maria del Camí, Mallorca
Once we were on the water, our first stop was the Spanish Island of Mallorca, where we filmed Sally and husband Juan.
They used to run an osteria style bar in the port of Palma, with a clientele of fishermen and bank workers. It’s how I met them 25 years ago.
They made us fideus, a short spaghetti-like pasta cooked in soup; it’s similar to minestrone.
The basis of the soup is what is available in their vegetable garden so at this time of year it is a mix of borlotti beans, leeks, green beans and fresh tomatoes.
This pasta dish came into being after the second world war when there was a shortage of rice. Juan recalled farm workers making it al fresco, under the shade of a tree.
Day 3: A Day at Sea
A day of catching up with the admin, and sneaking in a bit of down time. The Scarlett Lady is full of things to do from pickle ball to trying out 20 different restaurants. I think the ship does a grand job of feeding 3000 people well. And yes, we managed to enjoy a lovely sundowner.
Day 4: Nice, France
We stopped at the port in Cannes, and took the train to Nice, listening to fellow travellers stories of how their train had been delayed by 5 hours, and crossing fingers it didn’t happen to us.
What is it about French markets? They are so pretty and the produce is extra-specially pert and perfect.
The vibrant yellow zucchini flowers were still standing to attention and could have had bees still buzzing in them, while the raspberries were pinkly plump. Our mission however, was to film a traditional dish of this area called Socca with Jean-Luc.
Socca is a type of thick unleavened chickpea flour pancake and the recipe came from his great-aunt Tereza who moved from Genova to Nice over 80 years ago and brought the recipe with her.
That’s why it’s very similar in flavour and texture to Ligurian farinata. But she added a secret ingredient to make it more crisp.
I’m hypothesising it’s a small amount of cornflour? And it’s thinner, so maybe Jean-Luc makes a less thick batter for the same size pan. What do you think? Anyway, Jean-Luc’s socca is finger licking good!
Day 5: Ajaccio, Corsica
Livia worked her magic and we filmed cannelloni! First things first: the wonderful thing about the port of Ajaccio is the town’s market is right in the port. We were greeted by a row of stalls selling sticky, savoury charcuterie, heavenly honey and sheep’s cheese.
Ajaccio is Corsica’s capital city. Everywhere is decorated with signs for Napoleon Bonaparte who was born here. It’s not just famous for naval officer history; its also renowned for charcuterie so we were right to be stopped in our tracks by the deliciousness of it! But our sampling had a purpose: we wanted some Corsican Brocciu cheese.
Brocciu is made from sheep’s whey and some whole milk, it has a soft texture and mild, milky flavour, similar to that of ricotta. And much like its Italian cousin, it’s incredibly versatile and can be used both in sweet and savoury dishes. In our case, 80 year old Antonietta used it as a filling for cannelloni, but in a Corsican way.
The cheese was flavoured with calamint (mentuccia in Italian), thyme and parsley. And what a lovely dish it was! She baked the pasta with her homemade tomato sauce, covered with grated Emmental. So a delicous example of a Italian-French fusion dish.
As she cooked, Antonietta told us about her life. She’s done many different jobs in her life, from chestnut collecting to waitressing, and now she runs a small workshop where she prepares beignets, a Corsican type of ‘frittelle’.
And she insisted on invited us for lunch: ‘I cannot have you returning to Italy saying we Corsicans don’t feed you well’.
The meal was a generous spread of prosciutto crudo and salame, served with chilled sliced melon. Pudding was crustoli – a brocciu filled fried pastry, similar to something one finds in Calabria.
Antonietta’s lovely 98-year old mother, Santa joined us for lunch too. It was a real family affair, and we were welcomed with open arms. In fact, we’d like to spend more time in Corsica.
Day 6: Livorno, Italy
And then it was back to our home turf; Italy! After an obligatory morning cappuccino break at the Mercato delle Vettovaglie (because we skipped breakfast on the boat), we purchased some shellfish for our dish of the day while browsing the juicy beef tomatoes and fruit on offer.
Livia bought a bag of cherries for us to share, and I bought mussels, clams, prawns, and langoustines for our dish of the day.
Given we were back in Italy, pasta was firmly back on the menu. We travelled with our goods to meet granny Laura and her charming grandson and they prepared spaghetti ai frutti di mare.
But our culinary adventures didn’t stop there, after our discussions in Nice about farinata, it had sparked something of savoury pancake calling in us all.
So, we headed to a shop called Seghieri to try something called a Torta di Livorno, which is another twist on the Ligurian farinata.
Day 7: Civitavecchia, Italy
We docked at Civitavecchia and went to meet Naletto, a retired fisherman turned florist who made us zuppa di pesce di Civitavecchia, a traditional fish stew. It’s sometimes called mazzumaia, which is the term for smaller, cheaper fish that historically, no one tended to buy but were just as tasty; making them the perfect ingredient for soups and stews.
I’m always impressed with how recipes change from port to port. In San Benedetto, Marche, the fish aren’t moved about in the pan; here in Civitavecchia, the very small fish are mashed into the cooking liquid creating a thicker soup before adding more fish. And it’s served with toasted bread to soak up the juices.
It was the perfect dish to round off our adventure, showcasing how recipes can be shared but still reflect the uniqueness of the place.
We’re now home, and busy editing the full videos and recipes from our trip, and we’ll be posting them as usual on Pasta Grannies YouTube channel Facebook and Instagram, so remember to look out for them.
And P.S. would you ever consider doing a Pasta Grannies dedicated cruise (on a much smaller ship) sailing around Italy? I envisage grandmothers visiting folks on board. There could be pasta making masterclasses, Italian and food themed cinema.. let me know if you would be interested and what you’d like to experience.
With huge thanks to Virgin Voyages for the invitation to board the ship, and a bigger thank you to all the men and women who invited us, complete strangers, into their homes and shared their recipes. We left as friends which is always humbling.
