Typical Recipes from Abruzzo

Abruzzo, the land of the famous spaghetti alla chitarra, which must be eaten there, in Abruzzo, since making them requires special equipment that is difficult to find. There are imitations around, for those who do not have the chance to go there. Here, too, we find recipes with polenta, fish recipes, since one of its faces is on the sea, and meat recipes, sheep, pork and others.

But with its own way of cooking that distinguishes it from other regions. Starting with bread, which is made here with potatoes. An ancient mountain custom made to save flour. And then there are the typical Abruzzese arrosticini, but there are many recipes, each one better than the last. Let's start with the potato bread, soft and tasty.

Potato Bread

Needed for the potato bread

• grams 400 of white flour
• grams 150 boiled potatoes
• grams 8 of brewer's yeast
• 120 grams of semolina
• 10 grams of salt
• as much water as needed

Preparing the potato bread

Start preparing it the night before when you take white flour, if you can find it solina flour, which is a typical soft wheat flour from Abruzzo, and grams 4 of brewer's yeast dissolved in a little warm water. Work the dough on the pastry board until it is firm and elastic, adding a little water at a time. This mixture should be left to rest for at least 18 to 24 hours in a bowl covered with a cloth.

After this time, take the mixture and add the semolina, the remaining brewer's yeast, the boiled and mashed potatoes and the salt. Knead well until the mixture becomes firm and elastic and leave it to rest for another hour, covered with a cloth. Take the dough and form it into a kind of rectangle with your hands. Fold the dough over 3 times and leave it to rise again for about 60 minutes.

Once this time has also elapsed, take the dough and, working with your hands, give it the classic round shape: cut into the crust and bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees for about 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 200 and bake for a further 20 minutes. Lower again to 180 degrees and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.

Appetisers: Fried cheese

Ingredients for the fried cacio

• 500 grams of semi-matured pecorino cheese
• 4 eggs
• flour, salt, enough seed oil for frying

Preparation of the fried cacio

First cut the cheese into slices about 1 cm thick. Now prepare the batter with the beaten eggs, slowly add the flour until it becomes a thick batter, but not too thick, add a pinch of salt.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and when it is ready, fry the slices of cheese that have been dipped in the batter, turning them very well so that the slices are well coated with batter on all sides. Fry for about one and a half minutes, until the outside is lightly browned. Remove excess oil with paper towels and serve very hot.

Let us now move on to the first courses. To begin with a minestrone, which in Abruzzo is called Virtù. It is more than a minestrone, it is a very rich and very tasty soup. It is considered a single dish given the calories it provides.

It is a typical dish from Teramo where it is traditionally cooked on the first of May, but it is a very laborious dish. Its preparation begins several days before the first of May. The vegetables and other components have to be cooked separately from each other. The difficult thing is the mixing of all the ingredients, which must be done at the same temperature, i.e. never mix cold ingredients with hot ones.

The Virtue

Needed for the Virtù

• grams 500 of mixed pork (lard, bacon, ham, pork rind, etc.)
• grams 300 of dried pulses (beans, chickpeas, lentils)
• grams 250 fresh pulses (peas, pods)
• 700 grams of fresh vegetables of your choice (e.g. potatoes, carrots, courgette, endive, celery, chicory, spinach, chard, etc.)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• a bouquet of herbs consisting of mint, marjoram, wild fennel and thyme
• a few sage leaves
• 150 g raw ham, diced
• grams 40 of bacon fat
• a pinch of nutmeg
• pecorino cheese, salt, pepper and olive oil to taste

Preparation of the Virtù

Soak the dried pulses the night before, each on its own, with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda.

The fresh vegetables should be washed and cleaned and cut into fairly large pieces,

In a pot, boil the mixed pork meat for at least an hour.

Separately, boil the pulses soaked the night before in lightly salted water. Drain them and keep the water aside. Fresh pulses should also be boiled in lightly salted water. All the vegetables and cereals should then be put into the pot where you boiled the pork, together with their own cooking stock. Cook on a very low heat for about an hour.

Now in a saucepan, brown in a little olive oil the lard and diced ham, together with the bouquet of herbs, finely chopped garlic cloves, chopped parsley, onion, also very finely chopped, and sage leaves.

Adjust the salt and pepper and add a pinch of nutmeg. This sauté should be added to the vegetable and meat stock and brought to the boil again. Now put in the pasta, about 400 g of your favourite type, and cook. Serve sprinkling the dish with fresh pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and some grated pecorino cheese.

Le Patellette Another typical Abruzzo soup

Needed for the patellette

For the pasta

• grams 350 of white flour
• grams 250 of corn flour
• a pinch of salt
• enough water

For the seasoning

• 1 small onion
• 500 g peeled chopped tomatoes
• grams 300 of diced pork belly
• chopped chilli pepper, olive oil, salt and grated pecorino cheese to taste

Preparation of the patellette

Mix the two flours, add a pinch of salt and knead everything together, gradually adding water until a firm, smooth dough is obtained.

Leave it to rest for at least an hour under a cloth.

Take the dough and use a rolling pin to make a sheet, not too thin. Cut the sheet into strips and then into triangles.

In a saucepan, fry the finely chopped onion in a little olive oil. When it is golden brown, add the pork belly and when it too is golden brown, the peeled chopped tomatoes. Adjust the salt.

Meanwhile cook the pasta in plenty of salted water for about ten minutes. As soon as it is al dente, drain the pasta, leaving a couple of cups of cooking water. Add the pasta to the sauté and the 2 cups of water to form a brothy soup. Serve with a sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese and chilli pepper.

Now to the main courses and the famous arrosticini

The arrosticini

Needed for the arrosticini

• 700 grams of sheep meat cut into fairly small pieces
• olive oil, salt and rosemary to taste

Preparation of the arrosticini

Thread the pieces of sheep meat onto skewers, alternating pieces of very lean meat with those with fat. In this way, as the fat melts, it will tend to make the lean meat soft as well. Season with a sprinkling of salt, a drizzle of olive oil and a few rosemary leaves. Cook them on a charcoal grill or, failing that, on a grill pan.

Cook for a few minutes on each side and serve hot.

Lamb cacio e uova

Ingredients for lamb cacio e uova

• 900 g lamb meat cut into pieces
• 4 eggs
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 glass of dry white wine
• grams 60 of grated pecorino cheese
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• salt, pepper and olive oil to taste

Preparation of lamb cacio e uova

Brown the pieces of lamb meat in a few tablespoons of olive oil, together with the rosemary sprig and 3 whole crushed garlic cloves.

When the lamb meat is browned, remove the rosemary sprig and garlic cloves and add the glass of wine. Adjust the salt and pepper and cook until the sauce has thickened.

In a dish, beat the eggs and add the grated pecorino cheese. Put this mixture together with the meat and cook for a few minutes for the egg to set. Serve hot.

Now the typical desserts from Abruzzo.

Calcionetti abruzzesi

Ingredients for the calcionetti abruzzesi

For the dough

• grams 600 white flour
• half a sachet of baking powder
• 1 glass of white wine

For the filling

• grams 400 of boiled and peeled chestnuts
• grams 60 of almonds
• grams 100 of chocolate
• grams 170 sugar
• a pinch of cinnamon
• icing sugar
• seed oil for frying

Preparation of calcionetti abruzzesi

On a pastry board, prepare the dough for the pastry with the flour, half a sachet of baking powder and the glass of white wine. If the dough is too hard to knead, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Form a ball and leave to rest covered with a cloth for about an hour.

Now prepare the filling.

Cook the chestnuts, chopped almonds, chocolate, sugar and a pinch of cinnamon in a saucepan until you get a kind of jam.

Take the dough and make a very thin sheet with a rolling pin. With a glass, cut out circles in the middle of which place a spoonful of the mixture. Close the circles in a crescent shape and, with the help of a fork, seal the edges.

Fry the crescents in plenty of seed oil. Drained and dried of excess oil, garnish with icing sugar.

Sfogliatelle abruzzesi

What is needed for the sfogliatelle abruzzesi

For the pastry

• grams 500 white flour
• grams 60 of sugar
• 3 eggs
• a glass of dry white wine
• grams 60 of lard.

For the filling

• grape jam, chopped almonds, chocolate, cinnamon and the zest of half a lemon grated

as much as needed.

Preparation of the sfogliatelle abruzzesi

Prepare the pastry dough by adding the icing sugar, beaten eggs, glass of white wine and softened lard to the flour.

Make a firm, elastic dough and let it rest for an hour under a cloth.

In the meantime, prepare the filling by mixing the grape jam with the chopped almonds, chocolate chips, a pinch of cinnamon and grated lemon peel.

Now prepare the pastry. With a rolling pin, make a very thin sheet. Cut the whole sheet into strips of about 10 centimetres and overlap the strips, brushing between strip and strip with melted lard. Roll up all the strips thus obtained and let it rest for about an hour in the refrigerator enclosed in cling film.

After this time, take the roll and cut slices about 1 centimetre thick.

With a rolling pin flatten the slices until they are about 4 millimetres thick. Place a spoonful of filling on the slice and close in a crescent shape. Place the sfogliatelle on the oven tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve either hot or cold.