Velvety mousse of mortadella at Trattoria Gianni in Bologna

Bologna is featured in my copy of "52 Week-ends en Europe" (Editions Assouline), therefore, it must be doable over a weekend. That's exactly what we managed to organise at fairly short notice. Of course, it has a lovely square (Piazza Maggiore) and one of the oldest universities in Europe. But it is also located in the Po Valley and within easy reach of Parma (raw ham), Moderna (vinegar) and loads of other places that form the food bowl of Italy.

Never mind the scenery, we cut to the chase and focused on munching our
way through this perfectly sized city.

Trattoria Gianni was the first
eating place we went to. It was along a dark alley way (early evening)
off Via Clavature. At 7:30pm, it was fairly empty. But after my
utterance of "siamo quottro", the waiters frowned a little, discussed a
little, and eventually decided to sit us at a table by the door. Our
scepticism was soon proved unfounded when our food arrived - a lovely
velvety mousse of mortadella (that famous sausage usually served in
sugar-cube size and incorrectly dished out in thin slices abroad) was
followed by a fine selection of cured ham. The pasta with ragu al
Bolognese was delectable. I had roast turkey as a secondo piato - though it had so much flavour you couldn't tell it was turkey! In fact, everything was so delicious we
simply forgot how much we ate until the end of the evening ... burp...

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