of Pescara valley '' of
Teramo '' of
Castel Frentano Abruzzo's cuisine is renowned for its variety and richness. Both the agricultural and coastal areas of Abruzzo have contributed to its cuisine. Due to the mountains, much of Abruzzo was relatively isolated until the 20th century. This has contributed to preserving local culinary traditions.
Ingredients In terms of common ingredients, cuisine in Abruzzo often includes: •
Lamb and mutton, primarily in the mountains. Sheep's milk (or
ricotta) is an important source of Abruzzese cheese, and lamb intestines are used as sausage
casing or for
stuffed meat rolls.
Mountain goat meat is also common in Abruzzo. •
Truffles and
mushrooms, particularly wild mushrooms from the forests and hills •
Garlic, especially
red garlic •
Rosemary • Hot
chili pepper or
peperoncini, regionally known as
diavolilli or
diavoletti, is common in Abruzzese cuisine and often used to add spice to dishes. Abruzzo residents are well known for frequently adding peperoncini, or hot peppers, to their meals. • Vegetables such as
lentils,
grasspeas and other
legumes,
artichoke,
eggplant, and
cauliflower Starter and main dishes •
Spaghetti alla chitarra which is made by pressing or cutting
pasta through a
chitarra, an implement to form long thin noodles similar to
spaghetti. The pasta is served with a tomato-based sauce, often flavored with
peppers,
pork,
goose, or
lamb. This dish is complemented by regional
side dishes, such as the bean and noodle soup
sagne e fagioli. This soup is traditionally flavored with
tomatoes, garlic, oil, and peperoncini. • '''', flavored with
bacon,
eggs, and
pecorino cheese •
Scrippelle, a rustic French-style
crêpe served either '''' (a type of soup) or used to form a sort of
soufflé with
ragù and stuffed with chicken liver,
meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese •
Pastuccia, a
polenta stew with sausage, eggs, and cheese •
Pasta allo sparone, a pasta roll filled with ricotta cheese and
spinach. The pasta roll is boiled in hot water and served with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. •
Pasta alla mugnaia, a long, uneven and thick type of pasta that is hand-pulled to a diameter of up to 6mm and is traditionally served with tomato sauce. Pasta alla mugnaia, also simply known as
mugnaia, is the flagship dish of the town of
Elice. •
Pallotte cacio e ovo, balls of
caciocavallo cheese and eggs, usually served as a starter in a rich tomato sauce.
Meat Across the region, roast lamb is enjoyed in several variations. Some of these variations include: •
Arrosticini, a skewered lamb dish •
Pecora al cotturo, lamb stuffed with a variety of mountain
herbs and cooked in a copper pot • Lamb cooked whole in a
bread oven •
Agnello cacio e ovo, a lamb-based
fricassee •
Mazzarella: lamb intestines stuffed with lamb, garlic,
marjoram, lettuce, and spices •
Le virtù: a soup from Teramo filled with legumes, vegetables and pork, made only on 1 May. •
Timballo abruzzese:
lasagna-like dish with pasta sheets (
scrippelle) layered with meat, vegetables and rice; often served for
Christmas and
Easter Seafood Seafood is also popular, especially in coastal areas. The variety of fish available locally resulted in several fish-based
brodetti ("broths"), coming from such places as
Vasto,
Giulianova, and
Pescara. These broths are often made by cooking fish, flavored with tomatoes, herbs, and peperoncino, in an earthenware pot. Other fish products are
scapece alla vastese,
baccalà all'abruzzese, and
coregone di Campotosto, typical lake fish.
Pizzas Rustic pizzas are also very common. Some of these are: •
Easter pizza, a rustic cake with cheese and pepper from the
Teramo area •
Fiadoni from Chieti, a dough of eggs and cheese well risen, cooked in the oven in a thin casing of pastry • A rustic tart pastry filled with everything imaginable: eggs, fresh cheeses, ricotta, vegetables, and all sorts of flavorings and spices. Also from Teramo are the spreadable sausages flavored with nutmeg, and liver sausages tasting of garlic and spices. Atri and
Rivisondoli are famous for cheeses.
Mozzarella, either fresh or seasoned, is made from ewe's milk, although a great number of lesser known varieties of these cheeses can be found all over Abruzzo and Molise.
Salumi Salumi (singular:
salume) is an Italian term describing the preparation of cured meat products made predominantly from pork. ''|alt= Mortadella Spreadable sausage flavored with nutmeg and liver sausage with garlic and spices are hallmarks of Teramo cuisine.
Ventricina from the Vasto area is made with large pieces of fat and lean pork, pressed and seasoned with powdered sweet peppers and
fennel, and encased in dried pig stomach.
Mortadella di Campotosto (well known in Abruzzo) is an oval, dark-red
mortadella with a white column of fat. They are generally sold in pairs, tied together. Another name for the mortadella is
coglioni di mulo (donkey's balls). It is made from shoulder and loin meat,
prosciutto trimmings, and fat. It is 80 percent lean meat; 25 percent is prosciutto (ham), and 20 percent is
pancetta. The meat is minced and mixed with salt, pepper and white wine.
Cheeses The region's principal cheeses are: •
White cow cheese, a soft cheese made from
cow's milk •
Caciocavallo abruzzese, a soft, slightly elastic dairy product made from raw, whole cow's milk with rennet and salt •
Caciofiore Aquilano, made from raw whole sheep's milk,
rennet, artichokes, and saffron (which gives it its characteristic yellow color) •
Caciotta vaccination frentana, a half-cooked, semi-hard cheese made from raw whole cow's milk, rennet and salt •
Canestrato of Castel del Monte, a hard cheese made from raw whole sheep's milk, with rennet and salt |alt=Slice of goat's-milk cheese •
Caprino abruzzese, made from raw whole goat milk (sometimes with sheep's milk), curd, and salt •
Cheese and curd stazzo, cheese and byproducts obtained from the processing of raw milk from sheep, cattle and goats •
Junket vaccination or Abruzzo sprisciocca, a soft fresh cheese made from raw whole cow's milk, rennet, and salt • ''
Pecorino d'Abruzzo'': one of Abruzzo's flagship products—a mild, semi-hard (or hard) cheese with holes, made from raw whole sheep's milk, rennet, and salt •
Pecorino di Atri, a compact, semi-cooked cheese made from sheep's milk, rennet and salt •
Pecorino di Farindola, cheese made from sheep's milk and pork rennet (a special type of rennet, made by filling a dried pork stomach with vinegar and white wine for forty days) •
Ricotta, made from the remnants of the coagulation of raw whole sheep's milk, heated after filtration • ''
Scamorza d'Abruzzo'', a stretched
curd cheese made from cow's milk, rennet (liquid or powder) and salt Atri and
Rivisondoli are known for their cheeses. Mozzarella (fresh or seasoned) is typically made from ewe's milk; many lesser-known cheeses are found throughout Abruzzo and
Molise.
Desserts and sweets '' are a typical Abruzzo sweet. Abruzzo's sweets are well known: •
Dragée (also known as confetti): sugar-coated almonds from
Sulmona •
Torrone Nurzia: chocolate
nougat from
L'Aquila •
Parrozzo: a cake-like treat made from crushed almonds and coated in chocolate •
Pizzelle (also known as
ferratelle): a
waffle cookie, often flavored with
anise •
Calgionetti, cagionetti, caggiunitti, caviciunette: Christmas
fritters, sometimes filled with chestnuts or chickpeas and flavored with chocolate or cocoa •
Bocconotti: stuffed sweets often served for Christmas •
Zeppole di San Giuseppe: fried or baked pastries made for
Saint Joseph's Day • '''', two layers of sponge cake filled with custard, produced in the town of
Guardiagrele in the province of
Chieti Fruits The region's principal fruits are: • : coastal citrus (particularly oranges), used for
jam and
Limoncello • and : types of
chestnut • : a local cherry • : almonds from the town of
Navelli • : apples from the region • :
table grapes, also used for jam
Olive oil The use of oil in regional mountain and sea dishes is important; among the most common oil products are the Aprutino Pescarese, the Pretuziano delle Colline Teramane, l'Olio extra vergine di oliva delle Valli Aquilane and Colline Teatine. The list of Abruzzo olive cultivars: • Castiglionese • Dritta • Gentile di Chieti • Intosso • Monicella • Carpinetana • Morella • Nebbio di Chieti • Raja • Toccolana • Tortiglione • Crognalegna • Gentile del L'Aquila (Rusticana del L'Aquila) The extra-virgin
olive oil produced in
Colline Teramane (
Teramo hills) is marked by the
DOP. The region has several cultivars that includes Carboncella, Dritta (Dritta Francavillese and Dritta di Moscufo), Gentile del Chieti, Nostrana (Nostrana di Brisighella), and Sargano olive cultivars.
Wines and liquors wine Renowned
wines such as
Montepulciano DOCG,
Trebbiano d'Abruzzo DOC and
Controguerra DOC are judged to be amongst the world's finest. In 2012, a bottle of Trebbiano d'Abruzzo ranked No. 1 in the top 50 Italian wine awards. In recent decades these wines have been joined, particularly, by wines from lesser known (heritage) white grapes, such as,
Pecorino,
Cococciola,
Passerina,
Montonico bianco and
Fiano.
IGT wines are
Alto Tirino, Colli Aprutini,
Colli del Sangro,
Colline Frentane,
Colline Pescaresi,
Colline Teatine, Del Vastese (or
Histonium),
Terre di Chieti, and
Valle Peligna. The region is also well known for the production of
liqueurs such as
Centerbe,
Limoncello,
Ratafia, and
Genziana. == Gallery ==