First off, from Marie-Charlotte Piro, producer with her brother Romain of Olio Piro, that very high-intensity Tuscan oil from the slopes of Monte Amiata:
The local olive variety, olivastro seggianese, makes up about 20% of the blend that goes into Olio Piro; the rest are typical Tuscan cultivars, moraiolo, frantoio, etc. The Piro team emphasizes that long shelf life and long persistence of flavors in their oil is primarily the result of very careful handling, from harvest to milling to bottling to marketing. Their aim is to preserve all the polyphenols present in the oil from the tree to the consumer. And a reminder: you can order the oil at www.olio-piro.com.
And secondly, a message from Salvatore Denaro, one of the most knowledgeable chefs and food authorities in all of Italy, with his roots firmly grounded in his native Sicily (he comes from Piazza Armerina in the heart of the heart of the island): I mentioned the Sicilian combination of spring vegetables, similar to Rome’s vignarola, called la fritedda, often made with the very Sicilian addition of a sweet-sour (agrodolce) combination of vinegar and sugar (sort of a springtime version of summer’s caponata). Salvatore confirmed that not every cook adds the agrodolce, in fact, I gather it’s considered a bit old-fashioned. But most important, he advised, are the spring ingredients, artichokes, fava beans, spring onions (scallions), peas and, above all, finochietto, the fennel that grows in wild abundance in fields and meadows and along roadside and graces the fritedda with its haunting fragrance and flavor.
I had la fritedda as a pasta dish in Palermo last month. (it was called frittelle on the menu, made with busiate and ricotta. No agrodolce, but I am intrigued by that version. Here in Venice I might just be able to get the last gasp of the ingredients and try it.