In our area you can find tasty traditional dishes coming from the rural culture based on the use of simple and genuine ingredients.
So, we would like to suggest some easy recipes and you will see that the result will be really good!
“PANZANELLA”
This summer dish is humble and noble using ‘poor’ but healthy ingredients.
Ingredients: stale Tuscan bread, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, fresh onion, basil, extra virgin oil, vinegar, salt, pepper.
Preparation: soak the bread in cold water until softened, squeeze it well, reduce it to crumbs and put it in a bowl. Add the chopped vegetables, oil, salt, vinegar and pepper. Stir the panzanella and put it in the fridge until it is cold.
“PICI”
In Celle sul Rigo, every year, on the last Sunday of May, the traditional “pici festival” takes place in honor of this truly delicious dish.
These are large hand-made spaghetti made one by one and therefore irregularly shaped. In ancient times only water and flour were used to prepare them, but for a good result needed a lot of work and the skilled hands of ours grandmothers and great-grandmothers. However, with the addition of a bit of egg, the result is guaranteed for us too!
Ingredients: 2 eggs, white flour, 4 ladles of warm water, salt, corn flour
Preparation: Mix the eggs with warm salted water and white flour. Mix the dough. Knead the dough by adding flour until it is smooth and not sticky. Cover and leave to rest for half an hour.
Cut a piece of dough and roll it out to get lots of strips to stretch with your hands to form many irregular big spaghetti. Put them in a tray after having dipped them in corn flour to keep them from sticking together. Continue like this until the dough is finished.
Cook in plenty of salted water for a few minutes stirring sometimes. Drain and season with ragù, or with grated pecorino and pepper, or with “sugo all’aglione”.
“SUGO ALL’AGLIONE”
There is no seasoning better than this for pici, but it can also be used for spaghetti and short pasta.
Ingredients: peeled tomatoes cut into small pieces, concentrated tomato puree, hot chili pepper, extra virgin olive oil, salt, a little pepper.
Preparation: Saute a lot of whole garlic cloves and the chili pepper in abundance. When the garlic is golden, add the tomato paste dissolved in a little water, the peeled tomatoes, salt and a little pepper. Allow the sauce to boil for a long time until it thickens and the oil appears on the surface.
“BUGLIONE”
This is also an ancient dish for which you can use lamb, wild boar, chicken or guinea fowl, based on personal tastes
Ingredients: chopped meat, tomato paste, rosemary, garlic, chilli, extra virgin olive oil, some bay leaves, little red wine.
Preparation: brown the meat in the oil together with rosemary, garlic bay leaf and chilli pepper. Season with pepper and when the meat is browned, pour in the wine. Allow to evaporate and then add the tomato paste dissolved in a little water. Close the pan with a lid and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally to complete cooking and to thicken and reduce the sauce.
“ZUCCHERINI”
The simplicity of the ingredients and the lack of eggs and animal fats make these biscuits a very light and digestible dessert. They are ideal to accompany wine and vinsanto.
Ingredients: 500g flour, 150g sugar, 1 glass of oil (half extra virgin olive oil and half sunflower seed), 1 glass of vinsanto, 1/2 sachet of yeast, 1 sachet of vanillin.
Preparation: mix all the ingredients and make a lot of finger biscuits with the dough. Pass the top of the cookies into the sugar and place them in a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 160 degrees for about 30 minutes until the biscuits appear golden brown.
GOOD WORK AND BUON APPETITO!!
