Colline Emiliane (Via degli Avignonesi 22, Rome, tel : +39 06 481 7538) is a small and cosy family run restaurant just parallel to the main street where Piazza Barberini is. The location of this atmospherically warm trattoria was seemingly very near a popular spot, yet off the beaten road. Reservations are highly recommended if one does not wish to be turned away from this small capacity venue that seems to be known and appreciated by both locals and foreigners alike.
We had a shared Culatello di Zibello which was a prosciutto cured in red wine. Zibello as I've discovered is a province of Parma. The curing was apparently done in house for 14 days and is supposed to impart the flavour of the wine into the meat. I said 'supposed' because I couldn't really taste any of that red wine flavor (not a universal opinion on that apparently) in the meat, but instead had gotten a fragrant and almost char like aroma around the edges of the thinly sliced prosciutto. Very tasty ham there.
One of the recommended items from Colline Emiliane was their tortellini di zucca. These dumplings looked and tasted home made. For for some strange reasons, there was a certain sweetness which I couldn't associate with pumpkins in the filling. It reminded me strongly of lemon cakes which totally threw me off the flavour train.
Their tagliatelle alla bolognese was hands down the most memorable bolognese pasta I've had. Ever. What I liked about the ragu was the minimal amount of tomatoes that were used. The robustness of the flavour were bolstered mostly by red wine and meat. There's more. Those home made tagliatelle were done al dente and were so springy that the only word I could think of to describe their amazing textures was 'lively'. This item as simple as it was is definitely good for returns.
There was also a fegato alla veneta which was both robust and rich in flavour of the liver, balanced off by the sweetness of the onions and the tart of vinegar. Great stuff.
We ordered a baked dish of fresh ceps with Taleggio cheese because the mushrooms were in season. The mushrooms were very good.
Dessert was a lemon meringue tart which we had ordered because almost every other table was having one. I'm normally more than wary of meringues because the local renditions are more often than not, excessively sugared. This one had a pleasant moderated sweetness which paired off nicely with their lemon curd.
Am marking this place for returns. Service was excellent, prices very reasonable and the food was delicious in a down to earth manner without frills.
I'm not sure if you tasted lemon cakes in the tortellini, but I suspect it could have been crushed amaretti cookies in there. Most recipes add amaretti to the pumpkin filling I have no idea why. I had the same problem too when I ate this at Garibaldi.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's right! Amaretti cookies inside. The assorted mushrooms, plain and seemingly pricey, were really really good too! The culatello we had were full of wine flavor, the best in Rome we had. Mushroom risotto was really good... we ate there several times on our trip and think it's our favorite. Dessert was brûlée pear with a kind of mousse cake which was popular with the locals. So far, you are spot on with your food choices (we loved loved loved Pizzarium!).
ReplyDeleteNoted and thanks though in that moment, I was quite sure it didn't taste quite like Amaretti to me. The combination of the fillings wasn't something I was expecting out of something that was just described with pumpkin fillings.
ReplyDeleteStill, lesson learnt.