Abruzzo is the region that lies at the center of Italy, just to the east of Lazio, and it offers a delicious mix of mountain and coastal cuisine. It is Italy’s main producer of saffron, is well known for its succulent lamb and also produces a tasty selection of cheeses and pork products like prosciuttos and salamis. Another local specialty is the area’s pasta, most famously its maccheroni alla chitarra, a square spaghetti type pasta normally eaten with a lamb or sausage ragù. Along the coast you can eat the area’s famous fish soup, brodetto, with many of the towns offering their own different version of this popular soup.
Traditional Dishes
Maccheroni alla chitarra col ragù di agnello: maccheroni with lamb ragù
Summary: Every traditional kitchen in Abruzzo has the pasta making implement called ‘chitarra’ or guitar, thanks to its series of tight strings over which sheets of pasta are pressed to produce strings of pasta. Naturally you can cut your pasta with a knife instead or substitute with fresh shop bought pasta.
Ingredients
- 700 g ‘00’ flour
- 6 eggs
- Olive oil
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 rib celery, finely chopped
- 500 g minced lamb
- ½ glass dry white wine
- Few fresh herbs (rosemary, marjoram etc.)
- 3 x 450 g tins tomatoes
- Salt and Pepper
- Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- To make the pasta, place the flour and the eggs in a mixer with a large pinch of salt and work for 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth pliable dough.
- Roll the pasta dough out to a medium thickness on a work surface and cut it into rectangles.
- Press these pasta rectangles over the chitarra strings and press with your rolling pin to obtain the strings of pasta.
- Spread over a clean tea towel and leave while you prepare the ragù.
- To make the ragù, heat a good drizzling of olive oil in a pan, and add the carrot, onion and celery and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Add the lamb and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated.
- Add the herbs and the tomatoes and cook over a low-medium heat for about an hour.
- Check seasoning.
- Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water, (time it to taste) after cooked, drain and remove all the water. (Remember fresh pasta needs only a couple of minutes to cook, unlike dry pasta which takes much longer.)
- Mix pasta with the lamb ragù and serve immediately with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan.
Number of servings (yield): 6
Scrippelle: crepes in chicken broth
Summary: Scrippelle are very thin-like crepes and can be enjoyed with a variety of fillings. Here we give the simplest way to enjoy them – with chicken broth and Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons flour
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Chicken broth, hot
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Whisk the eggs and the flour together with a little water to form a thin batter.
- Season lightly.
- Pour a tiny amount of olive oil into a small non-stick frying pan and heat.
- Add a little of the scrippelle batter, remembering that the end result should be very thin, almost transparent.
- Cook on both sides then remove from pan.
- Sprinkle each scrippella with grated Parmesan and roll it into a tube shape.
- Place two or three in each plate and cover with hot chicken broth.
- A little more grated Parmesan and they’re ready to eat!
Number of servings (yield): 4
Brodetto: fish soup
Summary: This delicious fish soup comes in many different versions, with each town and village thinking theirs is the best. You can substitute the suggested fish with other firm-fleshed white fish, but avoid oily fish like sardines and salmon. This is a version from Abruzzo.
Ingredients
- 1 kg mixed fish (cod, mullet, ray, scorpion fish, monk fish, scampi etc.)
- 300 g cuttlefish, cleaned and boned
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 glass dry white wine
- Pinch saffron
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 8 slices stale bread
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Clean the fish and chop into chunks, and make sure the external skin has been removed from the cuttlefish before cutting into pieces.
- Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan and cook the onion until it is soft and transparent.
- Add the cuttlefish and season with salt and pepper.
- Dissolve saffron in a glass of hot water and add to the pan.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- In a large terracotta pot, heat the other 4 tablespoons of oil and add the cooked cuttlefish and all the other fish.
- Pour in the cuttlefish cooking liquid, the white wine and enough extra water to completely cover the fish.
- Cook for 15 minutes and adjust seasoning.
- Meanwhile, toast the stale bread.
- Place a couple of slices in each plate and cover with the hot fish soup.
- Serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Agnello cacio e uova: lamb with pecorino cheese and egg
Ingredients
- 1 small leg lamb, de-boned
- 1 small onion and 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- Few sprigs rosemary
- 1 glass dry white wine
- 4 eggs
- 50 g grated pecorino cheese
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cut lamb into small pieces.
- Heat a generous drizzling of olive oil in a large terracotta pot and add the onion and garlic.
- Cook until transparent then add the lamb and the rosemary.
- Cook over a low-medium heat for about half an hour, stirring from time to time.
- Pour in the wine and allow to evaporate.
- In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, the pecorino cheese, the lemon juice and a pinch salt.
- Add to the lamb, stirring constantly and adding a little hot water if necessary.
- Toss for a minute or so and serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 6
Pepatelli Teramani: pepper cookies from Teramo
Summary: Some people also add a spoonful of dark cocoa powder to this recipe, but either way, this is a delicious peppery little cookie that will surprise you!
Ingredients
- 400 g flour
- 400 g honey
- 100g peeled almonds
- 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Pepper
Instructions
- Grind the almonds. Wash the orange and grate the peel, avoiding the bitter white pith.
- Sieve the flour into a bowl.
- Heat the honey in a large pan stirring continuously and as soon as it begins to bubble add the ground almonds and the grated orange peel.
- Pour the flour into the pan and add a good grating of black pepper.
- Mix ingredients well and remove from heat.
- Pour mixture into a rectangular pan or high sided baking sheet and smooth surface. (Mixture should be about 3-4 cm thick.)
- Leave to cool.
- Once completely cool, cut into long thin rectangles.
- Place pepatelli on a large buttered baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 320ºF.
- Allow to cool before eating.
Number of servings (yield): 6