Maialata 2016 at Montinore Estate

In the mountain towns of Northern Italy, winter brings more than frost on the hillsides and a fire in the hearth. An age-old Italian celebration of the pig - “maiale” is Italian for pork - the feast is steeped in peasant traditions in accordance with folklore and biodynamic practices. All day the community would work together to butcher and prepare the local pigs, all night they would feast on the bounty of their labor.

In honor of this tradition Nostrana Chef and Owner Cathy Whims is partnering with Montinore Estate to bring the Italian festival of the pig to Oregon. Friends and pork aficionados will come together at Montinore Estate on March 13 to create an experience normally reserved for farmers, butchers, and Italian villagers.

Winter months afford the natural refrigeration necessary to process an entire 500 pound animal into sausages, salumi, prosciutti, steaks, ribs, behemoth roasts, and ragus. Cathy, Montinore Estate owner Rudy Marchesi and friends invite diners to participate in the entire process: stuffing sausage and making pasta alongside some of Portland’s best chefs while enjoying hand crafted cheese, charcuterie, and wine. Once we have prepared our meal, side by side, we will then gather in the wine cellar to indulge in a multi-course feast – the product of the days lessons and labors – accompanied by Montinore’s wines, of course.

When: Sunday, March 13 - schedule to follow
Where: Montinore Estate, 3663 Southwest Dilley Road, Forest Grove, OR 97116
Cost: $175 per person. Includes hands-on learning in butchering, sausage making, charcuterie, all things pork and wine, and gratuity.

Purchase tickets here: bit.ly/piggy2016

Arriva l’Olio Nuovo 2015

For the seventh year, Nostrana is celebrating the arrival of just-pressed extra virgin olive oil from Italy. Each year, we air freight in these newly pressed olive oils from some of our very favorite producers: Frescobaldi and Tenuta di Capezzana in Tuscany and Olio Verde in Sicily. 

Also each year, our good friend Jeff Bergman comes to educate our staff on the newly pressed oil and to act for an evening as your own personal olive oil sommelier. 

This year’s oils will be introduced on Thursday December, 10th. All night long, from 5–10 you can taste the new oils in a flight and enjoy them featured in many of our favorite dishes, including Ribollita Da Delfina—a Tuscan staple, a pancake of beans and bread soup; and a citrus-laden scallop crudo with fennel, cara cara oranges and satsuma tangerines. Jeff will be available to discuss the oils and will be grilling up olive oil toasts—fettunte—on our patio as a special treat.

No special seatings, just come and order what you’d like, enjoy and relax. Maybe pick up a bottle of oil or two for yourself or a friend. We hope you can make it.

Oils will be available at the restaurant while supplies last, typically featured on the menu through the end of the year.

Reservations are encouraged.

21 Nov: Sara Jenkins and The Four Seasons of Pasta, Saturday at Nostrana 🍝

We are very excited to host our friend Sara Jenkins, who along with her mother Nancy Harmon Jenkins, wrote a seminal new book on pasta, ‘The Four Seasons of Pasta’. We met Sara many years ago at her restaurant Porsena in New York and were completely blown away by the beauty and simplicity of her food.

This Saturday evening, November 21st, come and enjoy a menu of handmade and high quality dry pasta partnered with perfectly matched sauces. Everything will be available à la carte, featured on our dinner menu. Sara will be in the restaurant to sign books, the perfect holiday gift for those who might already dabble in pasta at home, and also for those who aspire to do so. As a special treat, you’ll have the opportunity to sample just-pressed olive oil from Sara and Nancy’s 150-year-old olive trees in Cortona, Tuscany, that Cathy and David helped harvest.

No set menu or special seatings, just come and order what you’d like, enjoy pasta and relax (maybe with a new cookbook signed by the author). A few of the dishes to be featured include: spaghetti alla chitarra with pomodoro sauce, gnudi di erbette, and the best selling dish from Sara’s restaurant, anelloni with spicy lamb and mustard greens ragu. We hope you can make it.

Reservations are encouraged. To make one, visit nostrana.com or call (503) 234-2427.