Arriving in Monterosso al Mare, Hiking to Soviore

We return to Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy for a week-long adventure of hiking, dining, relaxing, and enjoying the fabulous Mediterranean coast and climate.  It's a long trip over (but, well worth it), connecting in Heathrow to Milan, then taking four trains to Monterosso.  Normally, we take the Malpensa Express train from the Milan airport to Milano Centrale and catch a train direct to Monterosso (or the Leonardo Express train from Fiumicino Airport in Rome to Roma Termini and an express train up to La Spezia or Monterosso).  However, today is the day before a threatened major train strike, service is disrupted, trains are cancelled, and trains are late.  We take great advantage of the Trenitalia app to plan each leg of our rail journey as we work our way to Milan, to Genoa, across Genoa to another station, then (finally) on a train going to Monterosso.  We arrive to be greeted by the beautiful beach with its colorful umbrellas and the fresh flowers and fruit around the city.

Beach

Flowers and fruit in Monterosso

We check into our room in Hotel Villa Steno, overlooking the town, admire the view, and head down the street for a quick wine and anchovy sandwich dinner at Pan e Vino.

View across Monterosso from Hotel Villa Steno

The next morning we rise, enjoy a fabulous breakfast at the hotel, and start our first hike up to Soviore, just above Monterosso.  We enjoy this hike every trip as it give us great views, brings us to the beautiful Santuario Nostra Signora di Soviore, the oldest Marian Sanctuary in Liguria, and often serves as the start to longer hikes to Levanto, to other Cinque Terra villages, or further back into the mountains.  As with most hikes, we start by heading up from the sea.

Getting started

We quickly rise up above the lower trees and get great views of Monterosso and the surrounding area.

Views of Monterosso

Continuing up

At the top, we pause for a drink of water, admire the views across the hills, and then continue down the road from Soviore to the intersection at Colla di Gritta where, at the fork, we follow the road on the right down toward the Monterosso train station across from on the beach.  We find a new pedestrian path is being constructed alongside the road from Soviore to Colla di Gritta and appreciate that we will soon no longer have to walk in the road to travel this route.

Santuario Nostra Signora di Soviore

View toward Levanto

Descent to Colla di Gritta

Walking down from Colla di Gritta, we get views of the other side of Monterosso (we are staying in the old town and the train station and main beaches are in the new town, to which we are now descending).

Views descending

We enter town, head over to the train station on Via Fegina across from the beach, enjoy the flowers in bloom, then find our lunch at a small stand just outside the train station:  cones of fried fish (anchovies, shrimp, and whitefish) with small bottles of wine.

Flowers in bloom

Lunch

We're back for another great vacation in Monterosso al Mare!

Fusilli With Burst Grape Tomatoes

In addition to corn, there are great tomatoes and peaches in the market now.  We take advantage of this rich supply to make a burst tomato sauce for pasta, choosing grape tomatoes for a refreshing summer dish.  We first cook fusilli to just shy of al dente and set it aside while we gather our other ingredients:  pancetta, garlic, red pepper flakes, butter, ricotta cheese, scallions, and mint leaves.

Ingredients

In a large skillet, we sauté the pancetta in a little olive oil, then add garlic and red pepper flakes cooked until fragrant.  Next, the tomatoes are halved and cooked until the burst and slightly shriveled.

Preparing the tomato sauce

We then add the pasta with a little pasta cooking water, cook until the pasta is finished, then toss with butter to coat everything.

Add the pasta, then butter

We prepare a simple salad of sliced fresh peaches from the market drizzled with balsamic vinegar (from Modena of course).

Peach salad

The pasta is divided among warmed pasta bowls, garnished with dollops of ricotta, topped with torn fresh mint and sliced scallions, and drizzled with olive oil.

Ready to go

Dinner is served

What a delightful summer meal with fresh fruit and vegetables from the market.

Corn Risotto

Fresh corn is in season and the grocery stores are overflowing with ears of corn to bring home and make great meals.  We prepare corn grilled on the cob or grilled, removed from the cob, and used in a risotto or a vinaigrette, served with fish or beef.  After a meal of salmon with corn vinaigrette, the next day we try a new (to us) recipe for corn risotto.  This preparation starts by making corn stock with corn cobs (after removing the kernels for later use in the risotto), onion, carrot, celery, dark green leek leaves, garlic, salt, pepper, and six cups of water.   We bring this all to a boil, then simmer and strain through cheesecloth to get our stock

Corn stock

While the corn stock simmers, we melt butter in a pot, add finely chopped leeks (white and green parts), and stir until softened.  We then add arborio rice and blend until the grains are slightly translucent.  Next, white wine is added and stirred until absorbed, followed by ladles of the corn stock, each slowly added after the previous ladle is absorbed.  

Ingredients

Leeks, rice, stock

We then add the corn kernels and stir for about 1/2 hour until the corn is tender and the rice is creamy, at which time we add Parmesan cheese and a little more butter.

Getting closer

We whisk heavy cream in an electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks, fold the cream into the risotto, add minced chives, and serve.

Whipping cream

Adding to risotto

Serving

This is a great use for our corn and a new, interesting, tasty recipe for our files.