Fragrant cakes of San Biagio, the first sign of spring

January 28, 2018January 30, 2020Leave a comment

In Abruzzo they say “Per San Biagio, il Mitrato, il freddo è andato” meaning that for the feast of San Biagio, cold weather is finished and spring is around the corner. Apart from the sunshine and birds chirping there is another sure sign of the fast approaching spring: ciambella di San Biagio, small traditional ring-shaped cakes that are baked in Abruzzo this time of year.

The feast of San Biagio (or Saint Blaise) is celebrated on February 3 across Italy. The province of L’Aquila in Abruzzo has always had strong traditions connected to this saint with many chapels, churches and sanctuaries dedicated to him. In Lecce nei Marsi villagers have been bringing their baked ciambelle (“sciambelle” as they are called here) to be blessed in the local church of San Biagio on the day of the feast for many centuries. In old days, the blessed cakes were given to friends and family members as they were believed to protect the throat and cure goitre, the disease that used to be quite common in the province.

Nowadays, you can buy a ciambella di San Biagio in many bakeries and supermarkets across the region. While in the old days the cakes were made with lard, today it has been replaced with butter. The rest of ingiredients haven’t changed for centuries: flour, milk, yeast, sugar, eggs and anise or fennel seeds. You can see one in English here with a variation from L’Aquila where these cakes are richer and have candied cherries and raisins in them. Dolci Aveja bakery makes delicious ciambelle di San Biagio, so if you happen to be near L’Aquila make sure to buy a few there.

I love my ciambella washed down with the most delicious dessert wine – Moscatello from Castiglione a Casauria. On the photo you see a bottle from the Angelucci winery, which has been sold since and now is called Secolo IX.

Braiding Red Garlic of Sulmona

July 15, 2017March 28, 2019Leave a comment

Red Sulmona garlic (Aglio rosso di Sulmona) is one of Abruzzo’s treasures that is waiting to be discovered by the world. Its outside skin looks just like that of any other garlic, but the inside shell is a lovely purplish-red. Its this colour and a great mild sweet flavour that make Sulmona’s garlic so special.

Although it has been cultivated since the 18^th century, just a few connoisseurs and those who have relatives in Abruzzo know about it. It grows in a small area around the city of Sulmona (hence the name) and its production has been steadily increasing in the last few years. Although, there is some machinery involved in garlic cultivation, a lot of work is manual. Many families have been growing aglio rosso for generations and everyone has their own little tricks and secrets on how to do it better.

In June garlic scapes are picked and I have written about this divine traditional delicacy. The garlic itself is harvested at the start of July and left to dry for 10-15 days. After that, the bulbs are sorted by size and, as the old local tradition dictates, garlic braids are made. Unlike many other types of garlic, aglio rosso di Sulmona is never treated chemically after the harvest. For centuries, the only way to store it was in braids hung in a cool dry place. This method allows better air circulation and the garlic can last for up to 10 months.

I went to the house of Filippo Centofanti and Franca Allegra to see how garlic braids are made. Filippo proudly showed me the prize he has won: Mister Aglio Rosso. The local jury of experts picked his garlic as the best in the area. “They evaluate the shape, colour, uniformity and size, as well as the taste”, explained Filippo. “My garlic is pungent but not too much, with a hint of sweetness, just the way aglio rosso di Sulmona should be”. And he is certainly an expert: his grandfather and father cultivated the garlic and taught him a thing or two.

Franca and her son Alberto sat down to braid the bulbs. They didn’t talk much, and when I asked what is the key to making a good braid, Franca smiled and said: “A lot of practice”. This year Filippo, Franca and Alberto harvested 2 tons (weight after drying) of garlic, so they had a lot of practice with their braid-making. A braid of Sulmona red garlic is normally double, with 40-50 bulbs and weighs up to 3 kg. To see whether it was made by an expert, you have to look on the inside: the leaves are tightly wrapped in a neat even pattern.

Later, when I got home, my kitchen filled with the smell of fresh garlic that I brought back from Sulmona. The temptation was unbearable: I cut a thick slice of local bread, rubbed it with a few cloves, added a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled it with sea salt. Life is good in Abruzzo!

Sweet Christmas in Abruzzo: Parrozzo and Torcinelli

December 23, 2016March 28, 20192 Comments

Just imagine all those delicious cakes and pastries that have been prepared and baked in kitchens across Italy right now. Christmas is almost here and with it cheerful festivities and abundant feasts. In many families, traditional cakes and desserts (dolci di Natale) are made days in advance. This year I wanted to learn how to make a parrozzo, tipical Christmas cake from Pescara, so I went to the agriturismo Il Tholos. Its owners Paola and Gabriele moved to the Maiella National Park, near a pretty village of Roccamarice, from Pescara a long time ago. They are true custodians of Abruzzese traditions and their restaurant with its farm-to-table philosophy is certainly one of the best in the region.“I use my family recipe to make parrozzo but instead of semolina, we use our own solina flour,” says Paola. She is busy taking out several cake bases out of the domed forms and preparing them to be covered in chocolate. For a couple of weeks before Christmas Paola and her daughters make ten parrozzi a day to keep up with the demand. They sell them in the agriturismo and deliver to Pescara to loyal customers.Parrozzo is a relatively recent addition to Abruzzese cuisine. Luigi D’Amico, a pastry shop owner in Pescara, created the first parrozzo cake for his welathy customers in 1919. He was inspired by the ancient corn bread called “pan rozzo” with a distinctive semi-spheric shape, burnt black crust and bright yellow inside. D’Amico’s sweet luxirious version of the poor shepherds’ bread called for loads of eggs, almonds and dark chocolate. You can buy an industrial boxed version of D’Amico’s parrozzo but, naturally, the best ones are made in small bakeries across Pescara or agriturismi like Il Tholos.While we were talking, Paola and her daughter Dalila covered parrozzi with luscious chocolate and made a few small mountains of torcinelli abruzzesi, another traditional Christmas treat. Different versions and shapes of this deep-fried dessert exist across Italy. I love torcinelli because, like many other tipical dishes in Abruzzo, they remind about the region’s humble past when peasants came up with delicious recipes using simple local ingredients. “Torcinelli were made on Christmas Eve while fasting, so it was a torture for kids to see chests full of these treats and not being able to eat them till next day,” says Paola while turning torcinelli in a pot with bubbling hot oil.Torcinelli are made with a mix of flour, mashed boiled potatoes and a few optional raisins. They are deep-fried till golden and sprinkled with sugar, although, in older days, this touch of luxury was not available in every household. Torcinelli are the opposite of the parrozzo cake. You can grab a few torcinelli, preferably warm, still dripping with oil, and devour them without any formalities, on the go. A slice of parrozzo requires a more ceremonial atmosphere, with a cake stand, cup of coffee and dessert plate. Although, nowadays both desserts are often served together during Christmas gut-busting feasts in the region, they offer a glimpse of two different worlds: the poor traditional Abruzzese village and sophisticated moneyed city. The worlds that still exist in Abruzzo, if you care to look deeper.You can find a recipe for parrozzo on the lovely Adri Barr Crocetti’s blog and recipe for torcinelli here (in Italian).

Cheese with larvae? Yes, please!

March 31, 2016March 28, 20195 Comments

Have you tried an Italian cheese with larvae? When I tried marcetto for the first time in Abruzzo I kept looking for the little white wriggling creatures on my bread. However, to my disappointment, the man who served the food said the maggots are normally removed for aesthetic reasons.

Pecorino marcetto has become one of my favourite cheeses in Abruzzo. It is produced mainly in and around the mountain village of Castel del Monte, in the province of l’Aquila. Made from sheep milk, it has creamy texture and a strong taste. It is a cheese that by normal standards started going bad because a cheese fly (Piophila casei) deposited its larvae inside a crack that was made specially for it. The little maggots feed on the cheese, breaking down its protein and making the inside of the wheel soft and creamy. When marcetto is ready, it is transferred to a terracotta or glass jar and ready to be enjoyed. It is for real slow food connoisseurs and certainly not for faint-hearted: the smell is penetrating and pungent, the taste is quite spicy and gets stronger after a few days in the fridge. It is normally eaten generously spread on bread. Locals devour it in winter accompanied by oven-baked potatoes. They say it is good for your health and even call a “natural Viagra”!

You will not find pecorino marcetto in a supermarket, however it is on the menu in some restaurants around Abruzzo. But to get the real deal you should go to to the mountains of Gran Sasso. It is made there in small amounts and can be bought in Castel del Monte from local producers. You can find two of them in the village on Via S. Donato, 2 and 56. Or simply ask a friendly local where to find marcetto and they will show you a shop or cheese factory.

There are other similar types of “larvae” cheese in Friuli Venezia Giulia (called “saltarello”), Lombardy (”formai nis”) and Sardinia (”casu marzu”).

I can organise cheese tastings and visits to producers of marcetto in Castel del Monte for small groups. For more details contact me.

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The Best Among The Best: Sfogliatella di Lama dei Peligni

April 29, 2015March 28, 2019Leave a comment

On a grey wet afternoon, I arrived to Lama dei Peligni on a mission: to taste one of famous Abruzzo desserts the authentic local sfogliatella di Lama dei Peligni, or “sfuiatell” in the local dialect. There are many imitations of this delicious pastry in Abruzzo, but to find the real deal you have to go to the village.

Traditionally, sfogliatelle, shell-shaped pastries filled with cream, came from Napoli. However, at the end of the 19^th century Donna Anna Guglielmo-Tabassi, the baroness of Lama dei Peligni, decided to adapt the famous pastry using only the ingredients from the area with spectacular results. However, the recipe was kept secret for a long time and only about 50 years ago it became public. I love the delicate crunchy shell of the pastry and the rich filling made with grape jam, amarena cherries, grape must, walnuts and cacao. It is not a treat for vegetarians, though, as before baking the dough is often smothered generously in lard. It gives the pastry a beautiful golden colour and, I reckon, makes it more addictive. Eating one just never seems enough!

Every year the village organises a sfogliatella di Lama dei Peligni competition among the locals where the best among the best (“La più buona fra le buone”, as the festival’s posters declare) pastries is chosen and the winner gets a trophy, a silver sfogliatella.

There are a few bars, cafés and pasticcerie in the village and each of them makes their own version of the sfogliatella. I tried one in the bar Diamonds near the central piazza. It was generously dusted with icing sugar, tasty but sweeter than I expected. Then I bought another sfogliatella (one is never enough!) from a swanky pasticceria I Segreti di Donna Anna and it was perfect: crispy layered pastry, a delicious filling with a slightly sour note of the amarena cherries. Exactly the way I wanted it!

Rain didn’t stop the locals from celebrating the festival of sfogliatella: benches were lined up in the piazza, folk music was playing and a few men, well into their 80s, whirled a few young ladies around.

Where to buy sfogliatella di Lama dei Peligni:

I Segreti di Donna Anna, Via della Resistenza, 6

Pasticceria di Emilia Pasquale, Via Frentana, 120

Sweet Birds From The Province of Chieti

April 16, 2015March 28, 20192 Comments

The other day I bought some celli pieni, soft biscuits filled with rustic grape jam called “scrucchjata”, cocoa, lemon zest and almond. Their name derives from “uccelli ripieni” (“stuffed birds”) and in old days the biscuits were shaped as birds. Traditionally they were made for Christmas but nowadays you can find them in small traditional bakeries in the province of Chieti.

Until recently celli pieni were also made for young women who were getting married and leaving their family homes as symbols of fertility. Today it is hard to find them in elaborate bird shapes, more often they look like simple fat rings but they still taste delicious. The dough is very simple, with just a few ingredients: flour, sugar, olive oil and white wine. Here you will find a good recipe (in Italian) if you decide to make these sweet birds at home. If you are visiting Abruzzo, check out these small bakeries where fresh delicious celli pieni are every week:

Alla Chitarra Antica, Via Sulmona, 2, Pescara

Forno Zulli, Via Mazzini, 12, Rocca San Giovanni

L’arte del pane, Via Nazario Sauro, 31, San Vito Chietino

Pasticceria Lidia, Via Paolini, 31, San Vito Chietino

Abruzzo With Gusto

Eat Your Way Through Abruzzo

Tag: tradition