The Minimalist/ Rich, Luxurious, French (Not to Mention Vegetarian)/ By MARK BITTMAN

August 6, 2008
The Minimalist/ Rich, Luxurious, French (Not to Mention Vegetarian)/ By MARK BITTMAN
NICE, France
FROM the outside, there is nothing very unusual about La Zucca Magica, a restaurant by the harbor here. At most, you might notice the words on the awning: “restaurant au légumes, oeufs et fromages” (vegetables, eggs and cheeses).
But once you enter, its unusual character begins to become evident. The restaurant is decorated almost exclusively with gourds and artwork made from them: sculptures, bowls and other containers, masks, puppets and toys. Gourds are featured in paintings, photographs, tapestries and posters, and on mirrors. They hang from the ceiling like salamis at Zabar’s.
This is not a gourd restaurant, but the décor and the name (“zucca” may refer generically to any squash or gourd, though in Italy the word is also used specifically for a small, pumpkin-like squash) are tied to the cuisine. The cooking at La Zucca Magica is vegetarian.
In itself this is not so extraordinary, but there is the matter of its location. (The French can be quite hostile to vegetarianism.)
Most unusual of all are the quality and the consistency of the food. Zucca has few equals among well-known Western restaurants serving no meat or fish. Nor are there many that can so readily satisfy omnivores, because Zucca’s owners, Marco Folicaldi and Rossella Bolmida, believe in sizable portions, many of them, and extremely rich food. If you associate “vegetarian” with “meager,” this place will change your mind.
Ms. Bolmida is from Turin, and her husband, Mr. Folicaldi, is from Rome, where they met. Their vegetarianism evolved slowly. “When I was growing up,” Mr. Folicaldi said to me, in a combination of French, English and Italian, “we ate meat, meat and more meat.” To hear him tell it, he first became tired of eating it. Then he met Ms. Bolmida, and the two became self-described animal lovers. Finally, he says, “We said ‘basta!’ to trying to pretend the slices did not come from a nice little pig.”
They decided to open a restaurant, whose vegetarian nature and location — the quality of vegetables in southern France and nearby Italy is unsurpassed — followed naturally. The name, as they said in an e-mail, “is evocative, that of a vegetable but something more, a touch of magic. The zucca brings nourishment to the limited winter table, and is even useful when dry — you can use gourds for water, utensils, containers, even musical instruments.” (There are some of those hanging in the restaurant as well.)
What is really magic is the daily evolution of ever-changing five-course meals. Mr. Folicaldi believes in using “too much” garlic, and he’s not shy about large quantities of olive oil or cheese either, so the food is consistently strong-flavored and rich.
But the vegetables never stop changing. And the flavors of just about everything, from cabbage to olives to basil to tomatoes, are just stunning, with the intensity for which the region is justifiably known.
In midwinter, I ate orange slices topped with crushed olives, oil, and fennel seeds — that simple — and they nearly took my breath away. I ate cabbage and beans with garlic and oil, and even that was mesmerizing.
There are dishes more complex as well: the risotto- and mozzarella-stuffed chard leaves, not that difficult to make but gorgeously scented and flavored; a variation of the locally famous fougasse, this one essentially a sandwich of thin pastry, loads of soft cheese, and pitted local taggiasca olives; stuffed vegetables, a classic of Provence, made in seemingly infinite ways; artichoke lasagna, also laced with cheese; fresh pasta (or almost anything else) featuring Mr. Folicaldi’s genuine pistou, a blend of not only basil but also at least a touch of whatever wild herbs are growing in the nearby hills. (“My pistou can be yours,” he said to me. “It’s a little different every time I make it.”)
In fact, if you’re accustomed to eating in this region’s good restaurants, the food at Zucca is in some ways unremarkable: there is creativity here, but it’s hardly trendsetting. The food contains top-notch ingredients prepared well and traditionally.
The results are delicious, and you leave completely stuffed. It is true that fish and meat are not served, but neither is there much fuss about their absence. And the abundance of local cheese, eggs and cream — this is no more a vegan-friendly restaurant than any of its neighbors — is a constant reminder that vegetarianism is far from synonymous with asceticism.



August 6, 2008
Recipe
Chard Stuffed With Risotto and Mozzarella
Adapted from La Zucca Magica, Nice
Time: About an hour
6 cups vegetable broth, more if needed
1 cup arborio rice
Large pinch of saffron
2 lemons, zested
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, more for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 big chard leaves
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling.
1. Cook rice in vegetable broth, starting with one cup; add broth in stages, using about 3 cups total, until rice is barely tender. Reserve unused broth. Dissolve saffron in juice of one lemon. Add to rice, along with butter, Parmesan, zest of one lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Allow rice to cool a bit. Recipe can be made up to an hour in advance at this point, but do not refrigerate rice.
2. Poach chard leaves in about 2 cups remaining broth for about 30 seconds. Take out, drain on a dishcloth, and cut out the hardest part of central stem. Reserve cooking broth.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With wet hands, form 6 balls of rice 2 to 3 inches across. Dig a hole in ball and insert a piece of mozzarella. Wrap each ball in a chard leaf.
4. Put balls in a close-fitting oven pan, with enough reserved broth to come about a half-inch up sides of balls; bake 15 minutes. Serve balls topped with a little more broth, more lemon zest, Parmesan and olive oil.
Yield: 6 servings.




August 6, 2008
Recipe
Tomatoes Stuffed With Pasta Salad
Adapted from La Zucca Magica, Nice
Time: About 45 minutes
4 large tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 yellow pepper, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, more for baking dish
2 cloves garlic, minced
Scant 1/4 pound spaghetti
3 tablespoons small black olives (niçoise), pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon capers, preferably salt-packed (rinsed with warm water)
12 basil leaves, chopped
2 or 3 marjoram or oregano leaves, or a pinch of dried
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped.
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove top third of each tomato. Scoop out some flesh and chop it, along with the top third. Salt inside of tomatoes and turn them upside down while you proceed.
2. Cook yellow pepper in a tablespoon of oil with half the garlic, until soft. Break spaghetti into little bits and cook in salted boiling water just until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water.
3. Mix together the chopped tomato, cooked pepper, spaghetti and all other ingredients except mozzarella. Stuff tomatoes, first with cheese, then with tomato mixture. Put in an oiled baking dish and bake for about 15 minutes, or until hot. Serve hot or warm.
Yield: 4 servings.



August 6, 2008
Recipe
Sage Frittata
Adapted from La Zucca Magica, Nice
Time: 20 minutes
6 eggs
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons day-old bread crumbs soaked in 1/2 cup whole milk
12 sage leaves
Salt
2 tablespoons olive oil.
1. In a bowl, beat eggs with a fork. Add cheese, bread crumbs and sage and beat well, along with a pinch of salt.
2. Put oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat; add egg mixture and cook until sides are browned and top almost firm, about 8 minutes. Turn; slide frittata onto a plate, cover it with another plate, invert plates, and slide frittata back into pan. Turn off heat immediately and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.