Agriturismo Cascina Trapella

The summer evenings in Monferrato 's hills are magic and we cannot avoid to fall in love with its lights and landscape; while looking at it, sitting at our table by the wide glass window of the Agriturism Cascina Trapella, a breathtaking sunset enchants us. On our table there are some inviting tomatoes and olives focaccias. Laura, one of the cooks and owner, that serve us directly, recommend us a Barbera wine produced by the Cantina Cooperativa of Vinchio and Vaglio from the Alto Monferrato. Meanwhile we started picking at the focaccias, there to accompany the various courses of the dinner. We begin with some starters: garlic salami, rye and kamut bread fried with sage, fried Piopparelli mushroom (Agrocybe aegerita). Laura explain to us that this kind of mushroom grows only in a particular time of the year and they can be harvested only with a particular moon phase, and that 's the reason that this dish is not always in their menu, where you can find only dishes made with seasonal products. Then we taste a crepe with Aosta Valley Fontina cheese and a Caponata as the last starter. We are carried away by these flavors. furniture and the background music make us feel easy, creating a positive informal relaxed atmosphere, and never invasive. We can immediately experience how the owners of this place are so careful in choosing their supplier and welcoming in and receiving their guests. We are sitting here feeling like if we were at home. While we are immerse on the different tasting of the starters the cooks are preparing us a delicious risotto with Piopparelli mushrooms and sausages. They want to grant to their host the best fresh food, just prepared for them and never reheated, that 's why we have to book before coming. All portions are generous and we felt already satisfied, but we cannot resist the temptation to have the homemade tagliatelle with homemade Pesto sauce and hemp seeds. It has a lovely flavor that goes perfectly with this kind of pasta. The dinner course goes on delighting us: a delicate roast beef with lemon and arugula served with a salad of tomatoes and onions. The tomatoes are of two different qualities and have been harvested in two gardens: one located on the hills and one in the plain, allowing us to taste the two different flavors. To end the dinner we have a delicate chocolate mousse with Ricotta cheese cream, which is simply sublime, its softness make it easy to enjoy it even after such an abundant meal. Laura and Maria Laura are the cooks and owners. They are partners, but before all very good friends that three years ago decided to start this new enterprise together. Now that they finished to cook, they come to our tables tired, but happy to see us satisfied, and we start a lovely conversation. They told us they wanted to create a place where the food and drinks they offer meet the highest standards of quality: everything is organic and freshness and seasonality combines both modern-creative and traditional local styles of cooking. They cook simple dishes paying their best attention to the quality of the products they use. Maria Laura tell us how she is proud on being overall a farmer then a cook, and this makes her always looking for the best way to enhance the flavor of their harvest. Beside, the products that are not produced by them arrive from others organic farm in the area. We keep on talking until late in the night, and we understand we are not considered just customers, but very welcome friends. The cost for a dinner like the one we had is of EUR 25, but the nice genuine warm feeling we felt while staying here has no price and you can see Cascina Trapella website, available in four different languages. Photo by Elio Lussu