Cherry Soup!

Dinning at Antico Ristorante agli Schioppi, this creature just had to try the angel hair with black truffle from the mountains surrounding Vicenza (Monte Berici). She hesitated to order them not sure when black truffle season was (a fanatic about white truffles from Alba, season Oct – Jan), but she had a hankering for them and thus, threw her thoughts of doubt to the wind. This dish of heaven was the best pasta she had had in such a long time in fact, Golden Piglet just about fell over telling her how outstanding the flavor of the truffle really was. This restaurant served lots of polenta with the various dishes, not in quantity but just the fact that it accompanied many of the dishes (no kidding, polenta is synonymous with Vicenza)!

They brought an antipasto of baccalà mousse with white grilled polenta that was incredible, sort of reminded her of the fish mousse served on the terrace on the lake at Isola Madre. There was the classic Vincentian veal liver with glazed onions on a bed of polenta and sauce that was worth every bite particularly for liver lovers and for those who are not (moi), it was fantastic; She was so sure she would have hated it, ha! Veal liver is divine; tender and light in flavor and not as dense as beef liver and definitely lacking the heady heavy liver flavor. If anyone hates the taste of beef liver, then you should give this a try just to put your taste buds right with the world. ;-)

Finishing off the meal with a dessert, which she truly had no room for, was definitely one of the smarter choices made in her life one she would not soon forget. This simple and light little offering was called “cherry soup.” These were hand-pitted local grown cherries (Marostica, and Vicenza are famous for their cherries) swimming in their own cherry juice with a dash of a secret spice topped with a tiny ball of spearmint green gelato and cherry liqueur. The soup was served cold with giant soup spoons to ensure you did not miss a drop of the luscious juice. She dreams of picking some cherries from those trees in the garden or buying some in Marostica and making up her own batch of this mix to save and serve on those hot lazy summer evenings…guess she needs to figure out how they made the mint gelato; did they mash and “Cuisinart” the leaves or did they make a very concentrated tisane?

A bottle of Amarone, one of the other famous wines from the Veneto region accompanied this meal and, never having tasted a good glass of it, this little angel was impressed even with 15% alcohol. After a bottle she was far from tipsy because good wine (not that cheap 2-buck Chuck) does not give you headaches, does not turn you tipsy even after a bottle and it is usually consumed over a longer period of time and slowly (slow meals, slow eating). Unfortunately, the Amarone expert Golden Piglet will have to fill you in on the beauty of this wine, this is truly out of Snow White’s league

Rosa Solis

The other night at Antico Ristorante agli Schioppi (ski-yop-pi) she finished off her meal with a rosolio never having heard of it before she let them recommend this little sweet after dinner drink. Rosolio, also known as Rosoli used to be made from the herb called "sundew" (Drosera rotundifolia), or "Rosa Solis" and, it was made completely from the juice of this herb. The Sundew plant (carnivorous, Lat. Drosera rotundifolia L.) was used to make a bright yellow cordial water that was somewhat strong in alcohol content. This water seems to have originated in Renaissance Turin and was redeemed as a medicine and an aphrodisiac before becoming a popular drink.


The very first arrival of these waters to England in the late 1400’s, was strictly for medicinal use as alcoholic medicinals, which were prescribed in small doses to lift the spirits and strengthen the heart. By 1700, these precursors to modern liqueurs were used for their intoxicating effects as well as supposed medicinal virtues, most of them becoming recreational drinks. Many cordials were made with precious ingredients such as, gold and pearls thought to renew the natural heat, recreate and revive the spirits and free the body from the bad diseases. Some of these forgotten concoctions were Royal Usquebaugh, a spicy liqueur laced with flakes of gold leaf, which actually had an origin from the Aureum potabile or drinkable gold of the alchemists. Many early varieties of “waters” were flavored with spices and herbs thought to settle the stomach after excessive eating, which lead to the name of surfeit waters.

The fact that many cordials were considered aphrodisiacs, contributed to the consumption in social settings instead of in a medical context and this is how we believe Rosa Solis originated. This was distilled over large quantities of the sundew plant while including hot provocative spices like cubebs, grains of paradise and galingale. Supposedly, the sundew plant stirred up lust and when distilled, reflected a glittering yellow color like gold and silver rendering the whole concoction “golden” thus imparting it’s golden warmth within once ingested. During the time of Salmon, rosa solis was used in England at the end of a banquet to wash down other revered food items such as, kissing comfits and candied eryngo roots (sounds truly wicked if you ask me). Today, rosolio is produced in Italy and Spain although no longer a distillate of the sundew plant.


Today, Rosolio is a generic name for any sweet, syrupy, aromatic cordial or liqueur (with low alcohol content) frequently homemade. When rosolio is made from a fruit, the syrupy liquid is extracted then mixed with grain alcohol and in some instances, the addition of specific herbs and or spices occurs. When the drink is made from fresh red rose petals, it is usually called Rosolio di Rose. This version is red or pink in color and has an alcohol content between 22% and 24%.

Take of the hearbe Rosa-Solis, gathered in Iulie one gallon, pick out all the black moats from the leaues, dates halfe a pound, Cinamon, Ginger, Cloues of each one ounce, grains halfe an ounce, fine sugar a pound and a halfe, red rose leaues, greene or dried foure handfuls, steepe all these in a gallon of good Aqua Composita in a glasse close stopped with wax, during twenty dayes, shake it well together once euerie two dayes. Your sugar mutt be powdred, your spices brused onely or grosselie beaten, your dates cut in long slices the stones taken away. If you add two or three graines of Ambergreece, and as much muske in your glasse amongst the rest of the Ingredients , it will have a pleasant smell. Some adde the gum amber with coral and pearle finely poudred , and fine leafe golde. Some vse to boyle Ferdinando bucke in Rosewater, till they haue purchased a faire deepe crimson colour, and when the same is cold, they colour their Rosa solis and Aqua Rubea therewith.

From Sir Hugh Platt, Delightes for Ladies (London: 1600)