Abruzzo, a treasure chest of flavours and knowledge from mountain to sea
3 minutes
Be not surprised if the strong and gentle Abruzzo offers you both mountain and sea dishes in one day. At its heart, indeed, lies a polyhedric soul that expresses itself in high peaks, vast national parks, high plains and lowlands, gentle hills, and plenty of sea.
Want an example? During the morning, you can reach one of the villages near the Gran Sasso d'Italia, enjoy arrosticini (sheep meat skewers), or pecora alla "callara" (in the Aquilan area, "pecora alla cottora"), and in less than two hours, you can reach the coast and dip into a fish soup. In Giulianova they call it vrudott, in Pescarese vrudett, in Vasto vrudàtte, but in all cases, it is the same universal language of deliciousness.
This is the hallmark of an all-embracing region, which alongside mountain dishes such as sheep meat, soups, cheeses and aromatic herbs, combines the seafood caught out of its 130 kilometres long coastline, with various "urban" interludes: one above all, Teramo, capable of transforming simple products into five-star delights: "scrippelle 'mbusse", "mazzarelle", "virtù".
In the province of L'Aquila you will find one of the region's most precious products, L'Aquila DOP saffron: Abruzzo's red gold. Consider that to produce one kilogram of dry product it takes about 200,000 flowers, picked in the morning, generally by late October, before the sun opens them.
An emotionally charged product, like the wine champion, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, with its dark color, distributed throughout the region and subject to precise regulations. There is also Montepulciano in the rosé version, obtained from the same grape with a short and delicate contact between the grape must and skins. That's called Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, a wine that goes well with land and sea cuisine: a fluid synthesis of Abruzzo's multifaceted soul (like its mussels with saffron). And the whites, you might say? Here is Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, with a straw-yellow and fruity bouquet color, which has found, in the region, its highest expression.
Small villages, great products in the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga Park
On the Aquilean side of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, you can taste regional delicacies, born out of the millennial experience of the agro-pastoral tradition.
About one hour from the regional capital, is the kingdom of the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil, a tiny and extremely tasty creature that grows at an altitude of over one thousand metres only on the mountain slopes of the Gran Sasso. Consider that it is a very ancient variety of cultivation, referred to in monastic documents dating back to 998. These delicious beans are harvested in August, but are consumed dried, so you can find them all year round. And remember that they do not need soaking before cooking.
In fifteen minutes you are in Castel del Monte with its Pecorino Canestrato, the cheese of the transhumance, whose intense flavour gives way to scents of hay and pastures. You can identify it by the crust that bears the marks of the basket (hence the name 'canestrato'), traditionally used for moulding.
Also in this area, you can taste caciocavalli, black pork salami, artisanal yoghurt and, for the more sophisticated palates in search of powerful experiences, "cacio marcetto", a creamy spreadable cheese, white or darker, depending on the sheep's milk from which it is made, and with a strong, penetrating smell.
Another typical product can be found in Castelvecchio Calvisio: it is called cicerchia and is a very tasty legume halfway between the chickpea and the lentil that is suitable for cooking in various ways. Get to work immediately.
Typical dishes
Timballo alla Teramana
A must on special occasions, Timballo alla Teramana is the king of Abruzzo's dishes. It is prepared with very fine layers of scrippelle (very thin discs of water, flour, and eggs) and is filled with meat "pallottine" (small balls), eggs, diced cheese or mozzarella, and artichokes. A mountain of tastiness.
Pennese-style tripe
A typical dish of the municipality of Penne and the Vestino area (Pe), tripe alla pennese is a single dish flavoured with parsley, bay leaves, mint, marjoram and chilli pepper, to be served warm with pecorino or grated Parmesan cheese.
