easter recipes from abruzzo

Easter recipes from Abruzzo

Easter time is wonderful in Abruzzo. Shops fill up with chocolate bunnies and enormous Easter eggs, orders for selected lamb pieces are being placed in local butchers’, pasta makers are rolling and cutting fresh pasta all’uovo for loyal customers and nonnas prepare gargantuan feasts for their families. Easter has always a big celebration even in poor rural households. Nowadays, many city dwelling Abruzzesi go to shops to buy baked Easter goodies but dye-hard traditionalists make everything from scratch, several days before the families gather at the table. Over the years of living in Abruzzo, I have tried many Easter dishes and have my favourites. Here is a quick round-up of the Easter recipes from Abruzzo that I love. If you want to learn secrets of Abruzzese cuisine book our Cooking with locals classes.

photo by annalachiccosa/Instagram

Fiadoni

The recipe arrived to Abruzzo from the aristocratic kitchens of Ferrara (some historians say it might have been the Medici court’s cooks who invented it) in the 1500s. Back then, these delicious cheese puffs were made with saffron harvested in the Navelli plains. As centuries passed, the precious spice was eliminated from the recipe and adapted to more humble kitchens. Today, to my delight, fiadoni can be found in many bakeries throughout the year.

Fiadoni abruzzesi recipe in English.

Soffioni abruzzesi

This sweet version of the traditional cheesy goodness calls for ricotta. It is light like a cloud, with a crumbly thin dough wrapped around a moist bright yellow filling. As with all traditional recipes, there are variations: il soffione can be one big cake or small muffin-likes creations called soffioni. Sometimes they are called fiadoni dolci but a savoury version also exists. Confusing, I know, but don’t try to figure out which one it is, if you see one, grab it and enjoy. As with most baked goodies in Abruzzo, the dough is made with olive oil, which makes it lighter. Check out this video below for a soffione cake recipe.

photo by ilaryys/Instagram

Pupa and cavallo cookies

In the 1800s, families of an engaged couple gave each other the cakes shaped as a doll and horse. Nowadays, the elaborately decorated cookies are made on Holy Thursday and given to kids: pupa dolls to girls, horses to boys. The most traditional versions always have an egg attached with two strips of dough. They are more difficult to find in shops but can be ordered in some local bakeries. The famous restaurant Brancaleone, for instance, takes orders a few weeks before Easter for their stunning pupa and cavallo and delivers the cakes to their café in Pescara.

easter recipes from abruzzo

Source: Ristorante Brancaleone/Facebook

Check out this simple pupa and cavallo abruzzesi recipe and unleash your inner Abruzzese child decorating them. Watch the video below for an easy to follow recipe.

Oreste, the deer of Villetta Barrea

Driving in a small village of Villetta Barrea in the Abruzzo National Park I saw a large deer standing beside the road and graciously accepting gentle strokes and pats from two adults and a child. I slowed down to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. The deer was real. As it turned  out, it was Oreste, the stag that frequents Villetta Barrea in search of rubs and treats. The first time he arrived to the village after a heavy snowfall in 2012. The deer liked the locals’ hospitality and continues to visit them on a regular basis.

Villetta barrea abruzzo

A few years back, Oreste caused some commotion in the village: he jumped on a police car and tried to chase someone. After the incident, he ran to the village park in hope to sit it out munching on juicy grass. However, local authorities, concerned about public safety, surrounded and apprehended the troublemaker. Oreste was placed in a fenced area nearby to make sure that nothing like that happened again. However, the locals immediately organised a protest: they painted a sign on the fence where the deer was kept that read “Oreste captured: he was only returning home”; a petition was signed by every villager demanding to let the animal go. They won, Oreste was returned to the woods in the mountains.

When the magnificent 200- kilos deer with a splendid rack of horns visits Villetta Barrea he strolls down the streets without fear. Locals think of him as the village mascot and an honorary citizen. A few times he stopped by the post office and everyone laughed joking that the deer came to pay the bills for the services rendered. The villagers say that seeing him walking around the village before Christmas makes the atmosphere especially magic.

However, he is not the only one who loves dropping by Villetta Barrea. The village is often called “the deer kingdom” because they are always wondering around here. Next time you visit the charming Villetta Barrea, take a walk in the areas where are the deer are often spotted: the Villa Comunale park, the pedestrian path along the Sangro River, the shores of the lake and local camping site.

Check out this short video of Oreste clopping on peacefully past cars in the village centre.

Featured photo by Guglielmo D’Arezzo.

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