Treats from a Campana, Bottega & Cucina

After just two weeks here, I have a favorite place in Panzano. It’s the bottega that’s just off the Piazza Buccarelli, a Campana. Paula, the manager and fellow American from California, is a translator and navigator for the ways of Panzano. She greets me with a smile and a warm, “Hi, Jill”, when I cross the worn stone threshold into this haven.

On that rainy day it was here that I hung out and sipped my espresso. As I do on most days when I stop in, I ended up with an assortment of food. Some are a repeat of something I tried and liked- like the Compte cheese- creamy as butter ( “Try it with a drop of honey on top,” Paula had suggested) and the sauted chichory greens. Paula asks if I have tried the meatballs. “They’re beef and pork. We don’t bake them or fry them- we cook them in the sauce so they absorb all that flavor and they are really, really tender.” Sold!

I usually add something new that I want to try. Today its, an inviting cold mix of quinoa,farro and veggies and also some pesto made with arugula that Paula suggests tastes even better on a slice of bread than it does on warm pasta. I’m slowly doing a taste test of the many breads stacked on the shelves. This time I took home a slice of the whole wheat bread. Another customer bought three rosettes, rolls that look like rosettes, snuggled next to the whole wheat loaves. When she held two up that were stuchk together she laughed, “Gemelli!”. I smiled because I knew she meant twins!

My treasures from a Campana, Bottega & Cucina for E17