Snack of the Summer
Panisses & Rosé Collection
by Tom Wolf
Tempier rosé and pétanque in Bandol
© Tom Wolf
Italy’s Mediterranean coast
© Gail Skoff
Fresh panisses
© David Lebovitz
With lots of flavor and depth, a panisse or slice of farinata invites crisper rosés, but also darker and more robust bottlings like Giovanni Montisci’s Sardinian Cannonau. Of course, Bandol rosé is a perfect pairing, too!
Tempier rosé and pétanque in Bandol
© Tom Wolf
Italy’s Mediterranean coast
© Gail Skoff
Fresh panisses
© David Lebovitz
With lots of flavor and depth, a panisse or slice of farinata invites crisper rosés, but also darker and more robust bottlings like Giovanni Montisci’s Sardinian Cannonau. Of course, Bandol rosé is a perfect pairing, too!
Snack of the Summer
Panisses & Rosé Collection
by Tom Wolf
If I say “panisse,” the first thing that likely pops into your head is Alice Waters’ beloved restaurant, Chez Panisse, about a thirty-minute walk from our shop in Berkeley. If you dig a little deeper, though, you’ll discover the name of her restaurant was originally inspired by the character Panisse, the sailmaker in Marcel Pagnol’s Marseille Trilogy, whose name was in turn no doubt inspired by Marseille’s—and possibly France’s—most delicious fried snack. Made from chickpea flour, olive oil, salt, and pepper, panisses are like chunky French fries, only more delicious—and nutritious, relatively speaking.
It should come as no surprise that Marseille’s iconic apéro-hour snack is made with the Mediterranean basin’s most important legume. Chickpeas have inspired countless dishes around the sea for millennia, from hummus to falafel, but in Provence and parts of Italy, you’ll find half a dozen variations of a recipe in which chickpeas are ground into flour and whisked into hot water, along with a splash of olive oil and salt, before being molded and fried or baked. Panisses represent the pinnacle of this family tree, but I stumbled upon a delicious crêpe- like variation called cade in a market in Sanary-sur-Mer last year. Farther east, in Nice, you’ll find a nearly identical snack called socca, and on the island of Corsica they have torta di cecci.
The lineage extends over the border, too, underscoring how intertwined Italian cuisine is with that of Provence. In Liguria, a similar version of socca goes by farinata, in Piemonte by bella calda, and in Tuscany by cecina. Across the Tyrrhenian Sea, Sicily has a version called panelle, and Sardinia a rendition called fainè.
These snacks pair beautifully with their regions’ rosés. With lots of flavor and depth, a panisse or slice of farinata invites crisper rosés, but also darker and more robust bottlings like Giovanni Montisci’s Sardinian Cannonau. Of course, Bandol rosé is a perfect pairing, too.
Find David Lebovitz’s recipe for panisses here. David is an author and pastry chef living in Paris, sharing sweet and savory recipes suited to home cooks, along with travel tips and humorous stories about life in France.
Wines In The Collection
Sesti Italy | Tuscany
Gentle and mouth-filling, this rosato is perked up by a touch of salinity imbued by the oceanic soil.
Giovanni Montisci Italy | Sardinia
It offers deep complexity and layers of flavor, like a nectar of crushed strawberries with a savory, stony finish.
I Pástini Italy | Puglia
A delicious aperitivo, it can seamlessly pair with anything you throw its way.
Masseria del Pino Italy | Sicily
A rosé made via ancient methods from ashy soils high on Mount Etna.
Italy | Tuscany
The Sestis’ craving for a wine to be drunk cool during the warm months led them to create this rosato. Gentle and mouth-filling, it’s perked up by a touch of salinity imbued by the oceanic soil.
Italy | Sardinia
It offers deep complexity and layers of flavor, like a nectar of crushed strawberries with a savory, stony finish.
Italy | Puglia
A delicious aperitivo, it can seamlessly pair with anything you throw its way.
Italy | Sicily
A rosé made via ancient methods from ashy soils high on Mount Etna.
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