Dal Contadino Trattoria – Inspiration For A Ten Course Meal

It turns out one amazing dish from an authentic Italian trattoria was my inspiration for a ten course Italian meal!

Peepaw and I love to visit some of  our Snowbird neighborhood restaurants on what we call “Wine Wednesdays.” I tasted a fantastic dish at Dal Contadino Trattoria, one of our favorite eateries located only a block from our condo.

“Per” Pasta? (Who Knew!)

That cozy neighborhood Italian trattoria is like a trip to Italy without a passport. I think most of the servers are from Italy, and in fact that trattoria is SO authentic that the Happy Hour appetizer menu used to be hand written on sheets of paper by the Chef Giannino. (He sometimes even comes out of the kitchen to SING for his guests!)

I was intrigued for several consecutive weeks by a dish Chef had simply described as Per Pasta. So as I sipped a glass of Cabernet I finally asked the bartender to explain what Per Pasta might be.  She gave me a quizzical look as the wheels began to turn in her head. When she finally realized what the dish was she actually laughed out loud. “Oh NO! It’s not PER Pasta…it’s PEAR Pasta! Our chef sometimes has a hard time translating into English!” LOL! So NOW I was intrigued.

That “Per Pasta” was a dish I just had to taste! I had never heard of putting fruit inside pasta! So here is the dish that came out of that bustling kitchen…

That pasta was absolutely amazing, and a taste I’d never even imagined. Fresh pear stuffed inside a pasta “purse”. And floating in a creamy gorgonzola cheese sauce topped with toasted hazelnuts.

I immediately began to think about how I could create a “copy cat” dish to share with some foodie friends back home.

No Stranger To Pasta Making

I love making homemade pasta. I may be Irish and German…but I love pasta too! I’ve already taught some of our grandkids the joys of pasta making. (You can find my recipe for my pasta dough right HERE.)

Her smile in this photo in my kitchen still warms my heart!

Fresh IS best!

One Christmas morning our son Nick and I filled their house with homemade pasta which we served two ways for the huge family Christmas dinner later that day.

While Italian tenors sang in stereo in the background we created huge pans of lasagna…

And for our pescaterian grandgirl? Shrimp fettuccine. (LOTS of it!) With plenty of pasta left over to dry and freeze for later.

My Trattoria Copy Cat Success

The idea of recreating those amazing pear stuffed pasta purses was enough to get my creative juices flowing once again. And THAT idea is what lead to my interpretation of that unique dish.

Here it is…Meemaw’s version! (It would eventually become Course #3.)

Now…about the rest of that ten course dinner? Stay tuned!

The preparations are about to begin.