If you’re a locavore in New England and a vegetarian without a lot of storage space, winter can be a tough time. Fortunately, I’m no more than a tourist in locavorism or vegetarianism, so I’m happy to indulge in the best of local winter produce: meat. (I also like beets and brussels sprouts, but those are topics for another day)
Following the rule of “if it’s fun to say, it’s got to be good to eat” I went in search of finocchiona, a salami made with fennel. I first noted finocchiono in Italy, and later at Dave’s Fresh Pasta in Davis Square. Suprisingly, I struck out at a handful of North End establishments, including DePasquales (which has some really nice sporessata) and Monica’s Mercato. This time, I discovered it at Central Bottle, a glorious emporium right here in Cambridge.
Central Bottle imports wine and food from all over the world, but the also feature some excellent local producers. Stretching local to New York, I was happy to choose Salumeria Biellese (who raise their pigs upstate) over some equally delicious-looking Italian imports.
The only bread I had on hand was the excellent but also fennel-laden pumpernickel from When Pigs Fly Bakery. I tried a sandwich based on that, but the finocchiona just didn’t shine through. Maybe some tomatoes would have helped, but those are months away. Second try, a somewhat unorthodox rollup with lots of peppery arugula (also a wintery green and also fun to say) and some sharp dry cheese. It was so good, I ate it before taking a picture. Oops.
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