Buon Ricordo Plates!
January 9, 2009
One thing we sell piles of at Round Trip Imports are Buon Ricordo plates. Buon Ricordo, literally translated, means “good memory”. In other words, the plates are to serve as a good memory or souvenir of a delicious meal and good time at a particular restaurant. In 1964 the Buon Ricordo union of restaurants was founded in Italy. Every plate represents the culinary specialty of each member restaurant and today these plates are collected by people all over the world. They just happen to look fantastic covering a wall in a kitchen or dining area ceiling to floor.
I have my own personal pile of Buon Ricordo plates. I love them because they are whimsical and highlight various dish specialties in Italy. I am always curious about the dish and what it tastes like. One Buon Ricordo plate I have in particular is from the restaurant Manuelina. The dish is Lasagne al Corallo. The plate is very amusing. You can see in the photo that there is a fish coming out of water wearing a chef’s hat and holding a fork. There are what appear to be a few sheets of lasagna pasta in the air and a piece of coral coming out of the water as well. I have always assumed that this must be some kind of lasagna with seafood perhaps.
Well, on my recent buying trip to Italy, I happened to pick up this cookbook called La Cucina Ligure which means Ligurian cuisine. Liguria is a coastal region in Italy. One late night I was taking a look at the recipes when I noticed something that seemed familiar. Lasagne al corallo, Ricetta del ristorante Manuelina di Recco. My Buon Ricordo plate! The tomato and white wine based sauce in this recipe is just full of SHELL fish. This must be the reason the fish is the chef on the plate and not a shrimp. There is also butter and of course olive oil to make the sauce nice and rich. Some red pepper flakes for a little heat too. The ingredients for the pasta are listed as well because as the restaurant does, we should all be making our own! Now I am curious. I am going to have to give this specialty from Manuelina a try!