GOURMET ITINERARIES from Good Earth to Good Food
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GOURMET ITINERARIES from good earth to good food Romans grew wheat and grapes in this fertile fairs offer gourmets an ideal opportunity to enjoy the food The land, but in the early middle ages Bassa and wine in the social and cultural context that generated Romagna was covered in woods and marshes; rare documents them; on those occasions, town centres become a collective from the 7th century refer to this land as Magnum Forestum. celebration of authentic and genuine produce. It is hard to It took centuries to return these lands to agriculture and find a fast-food restaurant here; visitors are much more likely they became the most fertile fields of the House of Este and to bump into one of the numerous striped and colourful of the Papal States; today, they are still the backbone of the piadina kiosks dotted around the area. flourishing farming industry of Bassa Romagna. Here the {142} rural culture of bread (or piadina) and wine have evolved over the centuries and have resulted in top quality gastronomy. The area's cuisine keeps tradition alive, but at the same time it is also open to modern trends. Traditional local produce is carefully prepared by artisans who believe in an ancient bond between men and earth; this way of thinking is also observed by farmers who sell directly to consumers. Anyone who visits will enjoy the wonderful local gastronomy in one of the many restaurants, taverns or trattoria in town centres or in the countryside; everywhere they go, they will be delighted by the food as well as by the warm hospitality that characterises this part of Romagna. Throughout the year, several traditional · GOURMET ITINERARIES · treasures of romagna Juicy roasts are more likely to be made with chicken, rabbit or guinea fowl; they will often be served with a side ofradicchio on the table e bruciatini, which is a sauté of wild radicchio and pancetta Bassa Romagna is a land full of culture, traditions, labour, seasoned with balsamic vinegar. Freshly made piadina is the creativity and warmth. There is a centuries-long tradition of local bread substitute; piadina is a round flatbread made good food and good wine here, and the taste of its delicious with flour, water, salt and lard and baked on a terracotta produce goes hand in hand with freshness and quality. pan. This used to be associated with the poor, but today Visitors always feel like guests of honour when they sit at a it's highly appreciated for its unique taste. A more calorific table here; expect to be served the best food. The start of the speciality bread is pizza fritta, a fried flatbread which is a meal will be primi; pasta is often called minestra here. Local delicious match for both savoury and sweet flavours, like pasta is hand-made and prepared with a rolling pin by expert piadina. The choice of traditional desserts is broad too: hands. You will be spoiled for choice: cappelletti stuffed zuppa inglese (a sort of trifle),sabadoni (cakes with a chestnut {143} with cheese, tagliatelle, tagliolini (a thin type of tagliatelle), stuffing, dipped intosaba , grape must syrup), sugali (cakes strichetti (hand made bow-tie egg pasta), strozzapreti made with must) and mistochine (cakes made with chestnut (literally "priest choker", short pasta with an intricate shape flour). In Bassa Romagna a good meal will always include a best eaten with a rich meat sauce; in Villanova they even good glass of wine, which is called "e' ven" in the local dialect. make witty "strozzasindaci", "mayor choker"), velvety potato Nothing can beat a great glass of Bursôn, a full-bodied red wine gnocchi, ravioli stuffed with herbs,passatelli with broth (with produced with a local variety of grapes; Bursôn is an excellent a delicious smell of parmesan cheese and nutmeg). Local match for a naughty snack such as traditional caramelised secondi feature a wide variety of excellent meat: pork, beef, figs withsquaquerone (a soft cheese made from cow's milk), barbecued mutton, sausages, ham, salami and coppa (a type or delicious cured meat made with Mora Romagnola (a local of cured meat made with pork and spices). The exquisite beef breed of pigs). Let's not forget that in Romagna if you say of the regional breed Razza Romagnola is also excellent if that you are thirsty, you are most likely to be handed a glass of barbecued. wine to quench your thirst. · GOURMET ITINERARIES · traditional recipes PIADINA ROMAGNOLA This is the most famous speciality of Romagna and needs no introduction. Ingredients: 1 kg of flour, 4 g of baking soda, 300 g of lard, salt. Method: mix all the ingredients and add enough water or milk in order to achieve a firm dough. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin until you get a circular shape, make sure it's not too thin; regularly dust the rolling pin and the work surface {144} with flour. Bake the flatbread in the terracotta pan (known as testo) on high heat. Baking takes just a few moments; make sure you prick any bubbles with a fork. SPOIA In the local dialect, spoia is literally the thin sheet of pasta, ready for creating any pasta shape. Careful use of the rolling pin makes it smooth and elastic. Pasta making is almost one millennium old in Romagna and every year, at the end of August, Massa Lombarda holds a traditional popular feast which celebrates the skill of rolling pasta dough. · TRADITIONAL RECIPES · Ingredients: (serves 4), 4 eggs, 500 g of flour of the kind '00'. dumplings. They are traditionally eaten with capon broth, Method: the indispensable tools for making pasta are e' tulìr but they are excellent also with a meat sauce. (the board) and s-ciadùr (the rolling pin). Place the flour on the board, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into Passatelli IN Brodo it. Using the tip of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, This delicious pasta is a traditional speciality from Romagna. incorporating little at a time; knead the dough together with Ingredients: (serves 6), 250 g of bread crumbs, 250 g of the alternated pressure of both hands. Make sure you regularly grated parmesan, 6 eggs, a small amount of nutmeg, 1.5 litres dust the work surface with flour and smooth out any lumps. of meat stock, a pinch of salt. The dough is ready when tiny bubbles start to appear. Roll Method: mix the bread crumbs, the grated parmesan, the out vigorously till you achieve a large and thin sheet of spoia. eggs, the nutmeg and the salt in a bowl. Press the dough through the traditional kitchen utensil specifically used to I CAPLE` T make passatelli; this is a round metal tool with holes and The spoia can be the starting point for cappelletti, which handles (a sort of large scale grater) which can be purchased {145} are traditionally from Romagna. They are characteristically in any kitchen utensils shop in Romagna. Passatelli should stuffed with parmesan cheese, eggs and nutmeg. They used be cut around 2-3 cm long. Bring the stock to the boil and to be the pasta of choice for the main feasts throughout cook the passatelli; they will be ready when they raise to the the year; women used to prepare them once home from surface. Serve with the stock. the early morning mass, or more rarely the evening before. During difficult financial times, people mixed a small MISTOCHINE amount of parmesan to some cheaper raviggiolo cheese. The recipe of these cakes is very old; they used to be sold by Ingredients: for the stuffing, 1 egg, 400 g ofparmigiano street vendors in winter. They are ideal for dunking in sweet reggiano, a small amount of nutmeg. wines such as passito or vin santo. Method: cut the pasta into 5x5 cm squares, place a little Ingredients: 250 g of chestnut flour, few drops of anise bit of stuffing in the middle and fold into ring-shaped essence, water, a pinch of salt. · traditional RECIPES · Method: Mix the flour, the anise essence and the salt, add zest of half a lemon, savoiardi biscuits, liquor alchermes or enough water to obtain a firm dough. Knead the dough and rosolio. roll it out, it should be about 0.5 cm thick. Cut the mistochine Method: mix egg yolks, sugar, flour, milk and grated lemon in round shapes, with a glass or a biscuit cutter. Leave them to zest in a bowl for about ten minutes. Pour the mix in a pan dry. Bake them on a metal tray and turn them until they look and cook it over a gentle heat. dry on both sides. Serve warm. Stir continuously and stop cooking when the custard starts thickening; divide it into two parts and carefully mix one SABADONI with the cocoa powder. These traditional cakes take their name fromsaba , a grape Dip the savoiardi in the liquor and lay them in a bowl; layer must syrup. custard and savoiardi and make sure you save some chocolate Ingredients: for the stuffing, 1 kg of chestnuts, 300 g of custard for the top layer. Leave the trifle to rest for a little, chestnut flour, 250 g ofmostarda (sweet fruit pickles), then place it in the fridge and eat chilled. {146} grated zest of one lemon, saba; for the dough, 1 kg of flour, 250 g of sugar, 100 g of butter, baking powder, 4 eggs. Method: boil the chestnuts, blend them in a food processor and mix them with all the rest of the ingredients for the stuffing.