Ready for our gourmet tour?
We start from Frosinone and Ciociaria, a historic rural area where recipes have been developed that include succulent pasta, including rigatoni with pajata, a typical Sunday dish, cecapreti and fine-fine, all seasoned with tasty sauces in which it is traditional to make the “scarpetta” with ciriola, a local bread which, when stale, is also used for the traditional soup with bread underneath with beans, oil and seasonal vegetables .
In Ciociaria you will discover a truly historic dish: it is the timbale of tagliatelle al ragu wrapped in raw ham, which seems to have been the favorite of Pope Boniface VIII. Papal or not, all these dishes are generously washed down with the most Lazio of cheeses: pecorino. .
For generations, the Ciociaria companies have been producing sheep and goat cheeses, grazing animals, farm animal rennet. Among the most delicious are Caciofiore, Pecorino di Picinisco, Conciato di San Vittore, the Marzolina slow food presidium. To accompany a “pecorinoso” dish, nothing better than a glass of the vigorous cabernet produced by Masseria Barone, in the heart of Ciociaria, both the gold Atina “Ricucc” and the Riserva “Marcon”, with their hand-painted label, are perfect companions. journey of Lazio dairy excellence.
Michelin Star restaurants
La Trota, Rivodutri
Danilo Ciavattini Viterbo
La Parolina Trevinano
Casa Iozzìa Vitorchiano
Colline Ciociare, Acuto
Acqua Pazza, Ponza
Essenza Terracina
Antonello Colonna, Labico
Aminta Resort Genazzano
We arrived in the province of Rieti, where we discover the ‘recipes of the past’ such as fregnacce alla Rieti, rough and callous homemade pasta served with a tasty meat and vegetable sauces and the historic pencarelli, short egg spaghetti born in medieval monasteries of the Poor Clares of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Leonessa. Orvinio is famous for its pesto made with garlic, coarse salt and chilli, chopped in a mortar and softened with a little Sabina oil.
Great Taverns
Nu’ Trattoria italiana dal 1960, Acuto
Lo stuzzichino, Campodimele
Trattoria del cimino, Caprarola
La piazzetta del sole, Farnese
L’oste della Bon’Ora, Grottaferrata
Sora Maria e Arcangelo, Olevano Romano.
La puledrara, Paliano
Osteria del vicolo fatato, Piglio
Il casaletto, Viterbo.
Fattoria Patrizi, Bellegra
La Locanda del Poeta, Collato Sabino
La Caciosteria di Casa Lawrence, Picinisco
Lots of “green”
The Lazio province offers an infinite number of vegetables: chicory, broad beans, beans, peas, zucchini and courgette flowers, artichokes, excellent Jewish preparations, broccoli, considered sacred by Greeks and Romans, due to their healing properties, chicory flavored with anchovies, vignarola, traditional spring vegetable stew flavored with bacon. Natural and tasty ingredients such as lentils and carrots from Viterbo, served in sweet and sour, following an ancient Etruscan recipe.
That s why the Association I love Fruit and Veg from Europe, has chosen the capital of Lazio to kick off the international campaign that promotes the consumption of the many Italian fruit and vegetable excellences such as the Roccadaspide chestnut, the rocket of the Piana del Sele, the artichoke of Paestum, the prickly pears of Etna, the Leonforte peach, the Sicilian blood orange and many others.
These fruit and vegetable excellences can be offered in a thousand ways: in cocktails, finger food, first courses, second courses and desserts. An example of this was the menu created for the occasion by chefs Marco Scarallo and Alessandro Frassica and served in the splendid Terrazza Monti of The Glam Hotel in Rome, which stands out for its class, service and elegance.
Soups! in Sperlonga they cook sardine soup, in Sezze, in the Lepini Mountains, rich peasant soups arrive on the table, such as the sezzese with homemade loaf and cannellini beans, the one with chestnuts and chickpeas and the bazzoffia, nicknamed ‘soup of love ‘because according to popular belief it has aphrodisiac powers … It is a poor dish where stale bread is soaked with different vegetables such as artichokes, broad beans, peas, chard, lettuce and fresh onion, and finally the typical sweets, including cu the donuts with wine, the delicious ricotta tarts and the sour cherry tarts. .
The delights of Tuscia
Here we are in Viterbo, a jewel of Tuscia where we find a traditional poor cuisine that knew how to feed families, farmers and shepherds, with dishes based on stale bread, meats, legumes, cheeses and native vegetables such as mint and field chicory, hazelnuts and the chestnuts of the Cimini Mountains.
n Tuscania they become “stracci”, in Montefiascone “fricciolose”, in Civita Castellana “frittelloni” in Bomarzo “cappellacce”. of course, a sprinkling of local pecorino cheese.At the end of the meal, donuts with aniseed, yellow bread and Vescovo’s bread await us.
With all of Rome at my feet, on the fantastic terrace of The Glam Hotel, I meet Chef Marco Scarallo, at the helm of the restaurant Terrazza Monti
Good morning Marco Your first memory in the kitchen? I was a 10 year old boy and I was often in the kitchen with Grandma Assunta, I liked to browse and … soak the bread in that ” eternal ‘tomato sauce that boiled for hours and hours. You must know that unfortunately my mother left us at a young age and therefore grandmother became our guide, in life and … in the kitchen.
If you hadn’t been a cook … I would have become a doctor, already as a boy I took nursing courses to assist grandmother. I find it wonderful to take care of others, both in the kitchen and in private life.
I thought of a simple simple recipe in keeping with your piece on Lazio cuisine: panzanella in my version with mullets. Enjoy your meal!
Ingredients x 1 serving
50 grams of stale homemade bread
50 gr of pachino tomatoes
2 basil leaves
20 gr tomato puree
8 gr Tropea red onion
50 gr of filleted mullet
5 ml white vinegar
10 ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cut the bread into squares and toast in the oven for 5 minutes, then season with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, cooked tomato puree and finely chopped Tropea onion Once all the flavors have been balanced, sear the mullet fillets separately and place them on top of the panzanella previously served with a cylindrical pastry cutter and finally add the drops of basil extract.
