Traditional gastronomy

Typical dishes

The traditional cuisine is a simple one, tied to an agricultural world where beside pasta, definitely homemade, main dishes are polenta (boiled cornmeal), legumes and vegetables.

Polenta is prepared in two ways: the yellow one, dressed with tomato and mushrooms or oil, hot peppers and small pieces of pork meat; and the green one (“tordiglione”), dressed with minced cabbage, oil, garlic and hot peppers.

Homemade pasta is made with dark flour and water. The dough is spread to a relatively thick sheet (“pettola”) which is the cut in “sagne” (stripes about half an inch wide), or coarsely shredded in “taccunelle”. A more sophisticated variation are the “sagnette”: here the dough is enriched with eggs; sagnette are served with chickpeas or beans. Also common are the ravioli, stuffed with fresh cheese.

Best known among the traditional dishes is the “abbuoto”. It draws its origins from the necessity of using any part available from the slaughtered animal, in this case the kid (young goat). It is made with minced entrails wrapped in the smaller intestines, well seasoned with herbs and cooked in the oven.

The Easter omelette is also noteworthy. Large quantity of eggs are used (always an odd number), plus lamb entrails, cheese, asparagus and mint. Another Easter dish are “canescioni”: a calzone stuffed with sweet ricotta or some other cheese and minced sausage.

Some Christmas dishes: stockfish, cooked with peppers; “torcinelli”, made of deep fried dough; and “crespelle” (small pieces of apple, nuts or borage, wrapped in dough and fried).