Le Marche, someone described it as a neat mosaic of vineyards, olive groves, wheat fields and the sea. And in its typical cuisine we find all these genuine things. Let's start with the olive all'ascolana, a tasty starter of green olives stuffed with meat and then fried. Or the rice and walnut salad.
Moving on to the first courses, the best known is certainly the VINCISGRASSI, a typical recipe from the Macerata area, the STROZZAPRETI from the Marche and the brodetto, cooked all along the coast.
Second courses include stoccafisso all'anconetana, which is the gastronomic symbol of Ancona, and then rabbit in porchetta alla marchigiana.
There are many desserts, but the best known I think is the ciambellone alla marchigiana. There is also bostrengo, which is usually prepared at Christmas time, and calcioni, which are prepared at Easter.
Ascoli Olives
Ingredients for the Ascoli Olives
grams 500 of gentle Ascoli olives
grams 100 of finely minced veal pulp
a pinch of cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg
2 beaten eggs
flour, breadcrumbs, oil for frying as needed.
Preparation of the Ascoli Olives
First stone the olives and soak them in lightly salted water so they don't turn black.
In a bowl, mix the veal pulp, spices and beaten eggs. Shape them into small balls and, after dipping them in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs, fry them in plenty of oil. Once fried, place them in blotting paper to remove excess oil and serve hot.
This recipe has many variations because in some areas they put chopped parsley and garlic together with the meat, in others they use ham or sausage or mortadella instead of meat.
Rice and walnut salad
Ingredients for the rice and walnut salad
grams 300 of vialone nano rice
grams 70 finely chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
2 sliced hard-boiled eggs
chives, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
Preparation of the rice and walnut salad
This is a very simple and quick preparation. First cook the rice in plenty of salted water and drain when al dente.
Place the rice in a soup tureen, add the walnut kernels, parsley and a pinch of chives. Season with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and after mixing all the ingredients well, garnish with slices of boiled egg and serve.
Let's start with the first courses
The VINCISGRASSI
Ingredients for Vincisgrassi
For the pasta
grams 400 of flour
grams 80 of semolina
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of vinsanto
grams 40 of butter at room temperature
For the meat sauce
grams 200 of veal meat
grams 200 of chicken livers and giblets
grams 150 of veal sweetbreads
grams 100 of calf's brains
1 celery rib
2 small onions
2 small carrots
grams 100 of diced ham
1 glass of dry white wine
1 glass of milk
1 glass of meat stock or stock cube
half a glass of tomato puree
30 grams of dried porcini mushrooms
olive oil, salt, pepper, butter and parmesan cheese to taste
grams 200 of béchamel sauce.
Preparing the VINCISGRASSI
First prepare the dough. On a pastry board, mix the flour with the semolina and start kneading, slowly adding the beaten eggs, softened butter and vinsanto. Form a smooth, elastic ball of dough and in a saucepan covered with a cloth let it rest for at least an hour.
Now prepare the sweetbreads and brains, which must be cleaned and the membranes removed, then blanched for 5 minutes and cut into pieces. In a saucepan, melt some butter and two or three tablespoons of oil and sauté the carrots, onions and celery, which should be finely chopped.
Once the vegetables have browned, add the diced ham and porcini mushrooms, which must soak in water for about 10 minutes. Also add the minced veal meat and chopped chicken giblets. Brown everything and add a glass of dry white wine and let it evaporate.
Once the wine has evaporated add the tomato puree, milk and stock and leave to simmer with a lid on for about two hours, adding a little stock if it tends to dry out too much. After two hours add the brains and sweetbreads and cook for another twenty minutes or so.
Then add the chicken livers, adjust the salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. Now take the dough and make a thin sheet with a rolling pin. Divide the pastry into squares of 15-20 centimetres per side, boil the squares in plenty of salted water, drain and leave to dry on a cloth.
Now grease and flour an oven dish and make layers with the pasta, meat sauce, béchamel sauce and Parmesan cheese until all the ingredients are used up. On the last layer put some butter flakes on top of the grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes. Remove the baking tray from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Brodetto all'anconetana
Ingredients for the brodetto all'anconetana
grams 700 of cuttlefish
grams 1800 of mixed fish (mullet, sole, cod, sea bass, mackerel, eel, mullet, scorpion fish and other types of fish can be used)
1 kg peeled chopped tomatoes
1 glass of white wine
1 glass of wine vinegar
2 onions
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
slices of stale bread to taste
chilli, salt, pepper and olive oil to taste
For the broth
heads and offcuts of the fish used
one onion
one celery rib
parsley stalks
one clove of garlic
one ripe tomato
a few peppercorns
Preparation of brodetto all'anconetana
First clean the fish, wash it, dry it and let it rest covered with a thin layer of salt. Meanwhile, boil the fish waste, celery, onion, parsley stalks, tomato and a few peppercorns in a pot for about an hour. When cooked, strain the vegetables and fish through a sieve to form a thickened sauce.
In a large saucepan put the chopped onion, garlic and parsley leaves, pour in the vinegar and bring to the boil. Add 5 tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of chilli pepper, the chopped peeled tomatoes and the white wine and adjust the salt and pepper.
Put the reduced fish sauce and the cuttlefish into the saucepan and cook for 30 minutes. After that add the other fish and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.
Add the chopped garlic and leave to cook with a lid on for a further 10 minutes. Serve the brodetto on slices of stale bread and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Let us now move on to the main courses with a traditional dish from Frontone, rabbit in porchetta.
Rabbit in porchetta
Ingredients for the rabbit in porchetta
1 whole rabbit
300 grams of minced bacon
6 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, possibly wild
10 g butter
half a glass of white wine
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
Preparation of rabbit in porchetta
First clean and wash the rabbit, keeping the head, liver and leg ends aside.
With the liver, the head cut in half and the ends of the legs, brown everything together with the bacon in plenty of olive oil. Also add the fennel seeds and whole garlic cloves and leave to gain flavour for about twenty minutes.
Remove the bones from the sauce and with the remainder stuff the inside of the rabbit, closing it with kitchen string.
Place the rabbit in an oven dish with a little oil, salt and pepper and half a glass of white wine and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about an hour. Serve hot.
Stoccafisso all'anconetana
Ingredients for stockfish all'anconetana
grams 800 of stockfish, already soaked
grams 500 of ripe tomatoes
grams 500 of potatoes
grams 80 of salted anchovies
grams 70 of black olives
half a glass of dry white wine
a tablespoon of white wine vinegar
a small tuft of chopped parsley
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
rosemary, salt, pepper, olive oil and milk to taste
Preparation of stockfish all'anconetana
The stockfish, washed, dried and cut into pieces should be left to marinate in a little milk for about 3 hours. The potatoes should be cut into wedges. In the meantime, prepare the seasoning by putting the chopped garlic, parsley, onion, rosemary and the anchovies with their heads and bones removed into a bowl with a little olive oil.
In a cooking bowl, start the layers by placing pieces of stockfish on the bottom, a layer of potatoes on top and a few spoonfuls of seasoning, a few olives and pieces of tomato. Continue with the layers until all the ingredients are used up. Adjust the pepper and salt and simmer for about 3 hours with the lid on, never turning the stockfish. Add a little water if the sauce tends to dry out too much. Serve after letting the stockfish rest for about 15 minutes.
And now the desserts
The BOSTRENGO typical Christmas cake
Ingredients for the BOSTRENGO
grams 300 of white flour
grams 300 of yellow flour
grams 150 of chopped dried figs
60 grams of sultanas
grams 60 of walnut kernels
butter, breadcrumbs and olive oil to taste
Preparation of the BOSTRENGO
First soak the sultanas and dried figs in cold water.
Bring about 2 litres of water to the boil in a saucepan. As soon as it boils, pour in the two flours, stirring slowly to avoid lumps. A kind of soft polenta should form. Remove from the heat, add the figs, sultanas and walnuts, mixing everything well. Put the mixture into a buttered and floured cake tin lined with breadcrumbs. Put a little olive oil on the bottom of the cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm.
CALCIONI or CACIUNI typical Easter cake
Needed for the CALCIONI
grams 600 flour
grams 130 of softened butter
grams 70 of lard
grams 250 sugar
1 whole egg and 2 yolks
the grated rind of a lemon
For the filling
2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites
grams 600 of grated sweet pecorino cheese
grams 170 sugar
the zest of 1 lemon grated
Preparation of the CALCIONI
First prepare the dough by putting the flour with the sugar, the lard, the butter, the whole egg and the two egg yolks on a pastry board, season with grated lemon rind and form a smooth, elastic dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Beat the eggs until stiff and then add the grated pecorino cheese, sugar and the grated zest of a lemon.
Take the dough and with a rolling pin make a sheet, not too thin. Using a glass, form many small disks of about 8 centimetres in diameter in the centre of this pastry, and place a spoonful of filling in the centre. Fold the dough closing the edges, brush these ravioli with egg yolk and bake them in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes. They are best served cold.
