Geo e geo: Monte Isola documentary

Wow, it was 23 June 2021 when we shot the documentary 'The Island Lake' with the director Gioacchino Castiglione for Geo and Geo (or is it just called Geo?) on Rai 3. I admit that by now I had - almost - forgotten about it... so imagine my pleasure to find out that it was going to be aired on 15 September at 5pm (very much so!)! I must say it was great to watch it and I also found the length perfect: 16 minutes is perfect to make you fall in love with our wonderful Monte Isolaof its landscapes, products and traditions.

Well, the backstage footage was great and we did a ton more footage than the final cut, which I have to say I loved! I also loved the voice-over which narrated everything in an engaging way (and above all, it concealed my usual shyness, even though I know you wouldn't know it!). It was absolutely challenging for me: if you follow me you'll see that I practically never make videos on social media because I don't like to be the centre of attention and prefer a bottle of wine, food or my book to 'speak for me'. So I considered participating in this documentary a first step to overcome my limitations. And then the director of Geo e Geo and the whole crew was so lovely!

For those who don't know it, Geo e Geo is a television programme in the documentary genre that is a year older than me: the first episode dates back to 1984! The programme currently has two presenters, Sveva Sagramola and Emanuele Biggi, and is broadcast on Rai 3 from 17:10 to 18:55. Obviously I didn't get it and connected at 16:00 as I had been told... well I admit that the previous documentary didn't thrill me, but since I was preparing book shipments the time passed anyway! 😅

Before inviting you to see L'isola del lago, or Monte Isola, I want to say: help! I will have prepared I don't know how much fresh pasta in my life... and closed - without exaggeration - thousands of cappelletti... but the television times are all different! I had prepared some before and I say: thank goodness! Or we would have had cappelletti... ops casoncelli alla sardina/agon of a completely different make! All this to say "Bravissimi!" to all those who cook on TV! I promise that from now on when I watch Masterchef I will only have words of appreciation for you! 😄

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The recipe I created for this episode of Geo e Geo is really easy and delicious: casoncelli with fresh and dried mutton with mascarpone and saffron butter. Specifically, I made a mascarpone cream and fresh mutton for the filling and sautéed the casoncelli in saffron butter flavoured with dried mutton as seasoning. To find out more about the Monte Isola sardine and in particular the agone, this particular and delicious lake fish, see this article.

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Click here or on the photo below to watch the documentary directly on the Rai Play website! 🤩

I hope you enjoyed this documentary and my beautiful island! If you want to try making my casoncelli (or should I say cappelletti? 😄) you can try your hand at my recipe by reading this article.

Cheers 🍷

Chiara