Typical dishes of our villages

Easter cake

Also called Easter Pizza, it is actually a very soft and leavened bread, whose dough is enriched with eggs, cheese and lard. It is traditionally consumed during the very abundant Easter breakfast, served with capocollo, boiled eggs and perhaps accompanied by a glass of red wine. Once upon a time, its preparation involved the whole family, both due to the quantity of cakes to be prepared and the methodology which involved the use of sourdough. In the past, it was customary to take the leavened cake in molds to bake in the village oven, both as a sharing ritual and to ensure the best possible cooking. The tradition was to make many cakes, at least 10 or 15, so the eggs were set aside during Lent.

The Strangozzi, also called “Strozzapreti“

Long pasta with a rough surface, with a poor dough made only of water and flour, which testifies to the simplicity of the Umbrian cuisine of the past. It is generally accompanied by meatless sauces: truffle, tomato, chilli pepper, asparagus and mushrooms. It seems that their name is due to the resemblance to the shoe laces with which the anticlerical rioters strangled passing priests at the time of the rule of the Papal State. Umbria, in fact, was under papal rule for centuries, so a strong anti-clerical sentiment was highly developed.
There is a legend surrounding the origin of this dish: It seems that Barbarossa stopped on the Campello Alto hill (above the sources of the Clitunno), in the nearby castle of Pissignano, before destroying Spoleto. The castle cook probably prepared strangozzi for the emperor so good as to convince him to change his original idea of ​​destroying Umbria.

Picchiarelli

Piccarelli are a typical type of pasta, rough and consistent, versatile in preparation and exquisite in flavour. The piccarello sauce, in general, must be simple but tasty.

Black celery parmigiana, the typical dish of Trevi

The month of October in Trevi is dedicated to black celery. You can buy it at the Celery Festival which takes place this month in the village and you can taste it in local restaurants cooked in various ways. The outer rib is used for the preparation of vegetable soups; the internal part, softer, is eaten with dips. The leaves, on the other hand, are dried, transformed into powder and used to flavor desserts and bread.
However, the typical Trevi dish is black celery parmigiana. To prepare it, you must clean the celery stalks without breaking them and boil them in salted water. After letting them cool and drain, fill the stems with a mixture of: minced meat, sausage, egg, grated parmesan and season everything with salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil (another excellent product of the Umbria region), and spices to taste. Then, dip the stems in the egg, then in the flour and fry them. After frying, place them on a baking tray and season with ragù and parmesan. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees and enjoy this delicious dish together with a glass of Montefalco red.
It is a typical dish of the autumn period, perhaps to be enjoyed in the second half of October directly in Trevi during the Black Celery Market Exhibition, or to be prepared at home after purchasing the vegetable. A single dish, substantial and rich in flavour, filled with minced meat and sausage and with a light crust topped with tomato and parmesan: the recipe is a bit laborious, but its taste will win you over.

Sagrantino gnocchi

Typical recipe from the Montefalco area, from which the fine wine produced in the hills surrounding this small and splendid village comes. 

The Fojata

Its recipe has ancient origins. It was once cooked under the embers, in large copper pans or in ancient wood-fired ovens. It is a savory pie made up of a very thin sheet of rolled crunchy pastry, containing a tasty filling of wild herbs such as chard or chicory, extra virgin olive oil and chilli pepper. It is served warm or cold and is ideal for a practical second course or a tasty aperitif

Rocciata, Attorta o ‘ntorta 

Rocciata is a filled dessert of medieval origin characterized by a thin sheet of wheat flour dough rolled on itself in the shape of a spiral and filled with apples cut into pieces, chopped walnuts, bitter cocoa or grated dark chocolate, lemon zest and alkermes. In the past, Rocciata was typical of the cold months, from late autumn to the end of winter, both for the availability of fresh walnuts on the market, which are the basic ingredient, and for the caloric content of the dessert, but today we can find it and enjoy it all the year.

La Nociata di Massa Martana

Nociata is the Umbrian version of the most famous nougat. Its preparation involved the entire family around the home: the children began to mix the still liquid dough and then passed it on to the women, until they saw the involvement of the men, when the dough became harder, to complete cooking.
The essential ingredients of nociata are honey, walnuts, egg white, flavored with orange peel and garnished with bay leaf. As tradition dictates, it is necessary to cook the honey and egg white in a copper cauldron, stirring them for about 4 hours. When the mixture becomes white and creamy, add the finely chopped orange peel and walnuts. Once everything is mixed, the cake is spread out on a wooden surface and worked quickly before it becomes solid in order to create the classic “pieces of nociata”. Finally, a bay leaf gives an unmistakable aroma to this original Massa specialty.

Tradition has it that the person who brought this dessert to Massa Martana was Sigismondo Ranucci (1848-1918) known as “Gismondo”, a “coffee maker” by profession who, after a period of work in Copenhagen, returned to Massa at the end of 1800, began to make and sell the Nociata in the family tavern, which in 1873 was located on the corner of Piazza Umberto I°, in front of the Municipal Theater and at the public oven (now the Pro Loco headquarters). Within a few years the dessert made with honey, walnuts and egg white was so successful that it became the typical Christmas dessert of Massa Martana. After Sigismondo’s death, the family business was carried on by his son Pompilio and his nephew Mario with the moving of the headquarters to the current one and the change of name to Caffè and then Bar Centrale.
Nociata was prepared in a copper cauldron heated by fire and with the mixture mixed by a wooden shovel moved by skilled and vigorous hands but not without effort; for this reason, at the beginning of the 1970s Mario Ranucci developed a machine that used wooden blades moved by an electric motor; this allowed him to produce greater quantities of Nociata to thus respond to the ever-increasing demand.
Over the years, Nociata was also produced with different nuances by various families from Massa; however, the secret of the original recipe was jealously handed down only within the Ranucci family, who continued to produce it even after Mario’s death (1985) until 1997, when due to the earthquake they were forced to suspend production.

The pastarelle and Panicocoli of San Nicolò of Bevagna

In December, in Bevagna, the entire population and in particular the children await the arrival of San Nicolò.
On the night between the 5th and the 6th, the latter receive gifts accompanied by pastarella and pinacocoli.
The pastarelle di San Nicolò are aniseed biscuits, without eggs, prepared with extra virgin olive oil and white wine, while the panici are wafers cooked with special irons, to be heated on the stove.

Crescionda

On the palate it is soft and velvety. The enveloping flavor of dark chocolate and the aroma of almond make Crescionda a typical dessert of these territories!
The basic ingredients of this delight are chocolate, milk, eggs, sugar, biscuits, lemon peel, oil and wheat flour (with the variant of corn flour and apple slices in the oldest recipes). Passed down in the family from generation to generation and recognized as a traditional Umbrian product, it is prepared only in the area from Spoleto to Castel Ritaldi, from Campello to the middle Valnerina.

Its name probably derives from “crescia unta”, that is, focaccia greased with fat, which in ancient times was that of chicken broth or lard, today replaced by extra virgin olive oil or milk. Its origins date back to the Middle Ages, when sweet and sour contrasts at the table were very popular. In fact, the original recipe put together products that were very different in taste, such as chicken broth, sugar and breadcrumbs, to which pecorino cheese, lemon peel, grated dark chocolate or bitter cocoa were added. Today the ingredients have been revised according to the most current and personal tastes and chocolate has become the dominant element. Among the variations there is the apple Crescionda, which however is rarely prepared, the “poretta” Crescionda and then the best known, the three-layer Crescionda, which is composed of a base of amaretti biscuits and flour, a central layer made with eggs and milk, which resembles a vanilla pudding, and finally a dark layer made almost exclusively with chocolate.
The dough ready to be baked has a rather liquid consistency which gives a creamy softness to the dessert. Characteristic of the Crescionda, given by the presence of a minimum quantity of flour, is a thin white streak below the darker crust and above the lighter chocolate layer.

Salted black pudding

An ancient yet tasty specialty! It is obtained from pig’s blood with the addition of salt, cubes of fat, homemade bread, pine nuts, raisins, cocoa, orange peel, sugar. Everything is mixed to avoid clots and is left to infuse for at least twelve hours. At the end of the time the mixture is stuffed into the pig casings.
As soon as they are stuffed, the blood sausages should be immersed in cold, slightly salted water and boiled for about thirty minutes over a moderate heat.
Once extracted, they must be hung and to use them they must be cut into small pieces and then dipped in oil or lard.

Sweet black pudding

Sweet black pudding is a cream based on bitter dark chocolate and pig’s blood, historically linked to the processing of its meat in the winter period. The hot blood, taken after killing the animal, is filtered and poured into a pot together with the cooked must and cooked, stirring constantly. The mixture must reach the consistency of a spreadable cream. Halfway through cooking, add the chopped walnuts and cinnamon. The flavor is sweet and fruity and the nuts give crunch to the cream.

Pizza with sizzles

It is a focaccia, the dough of which is enriched with lard, sfrizzoli and pecorino cheese. Frizzoli are obtained by cooking pork lard cut into cubes, the fat melts and is removed with a ladle, when it cools it has a white consistency and is called lard; what remains of the lard in the pan are fibrous residues, called sizzlings.
 

The Cicerchiata

It is a Carnival dessert, together with crescenda, frappe and strufoli. Its name originates from grass peas, the legumes that are the protagonists of peasant soups. Each dot of the cicerchiata resembles its shape and somewhat of its color, with the notable difference of being sweet, fried and covered in honey.

Frascarelli

This dish, especially known until the 1950s, was recommended, in all seasons, to women during the breastfeeding period. Frascarelli are prepared with egg, water, flour, salt, oil and pecorino cheese. The frascarelli should be cooked in salted water and seasoned with fresh extra virgin olive oil and pecorino cheese.

Acquacotta

It is a poor dish, very popular in the past in these areas. The soup, consumed hot or cold, was prepared with wild chicory from the countryside, cooked in salted water together with some aromatic herbs in an earthenware pine cone. Pour the chicory, cooking water, oil and pecorino cheese onto the stale bread, placed in an earthenware dish.

The Pancotto

It was the dish “recommended” for women who were breastfeeding, for children who were starting to wean, for the elderly who no longer had teeth suitable for correct chewing.

The stale bread was broken and boiled over a low heat in an earthenware pine cone with salted water and garlic cloves. Served hot, after removing the garlic, seasoning with plenty of extra virgin olive oil and pecorino.