Food & more
But a holiday in Abruzzo means also good food and authentic flavors.
Our region is the home of Pasta, of Montepulciano DOC and of a tasty olive oil. Discover Abruzzo through our typical dishes, taste them, enjoy them, to know their history means to live our land.
Parrozzo
It is the most famous cake of Abruzzo, even praised by G. D’Annunzio in some of his writings. Parrozzo was invented in 1919 by Luigi D’Amico, owner of a bakery in Pescara. D’Amico wanted to create a cake that resembled the traditional rough bread made by the local farmers with corn flour. Parrozzo has the same semispherical shape, contains eggs to mimic the yellow of the corn, and is covered with a layer of dark chocolate that reminds the burnt surface of the bread.
Cheese and egg balls
This is a tipical example of Abruzzo poor man’s cuisine. Traditional flavors and simple ingredients: stale bread, cheese and eggs.
According to popular tradition, this recipe was invented by shepherds during transhumance to appease their hunger.
After the recipe was consolidated in the homes, today thanks to Abruzzo housewives “pallotte cacio ed uovo” are served with a delicious tomato sauce. This simply delicious dish is one of our must in the Abruzzo dinner, that we offer to our Punta guests.
Fiadoni (Cheese-filled pastries)
Fiadoni were tipically made for Easter holidays wich replaced in the past the breakfast bread on Easter morning, but in fact today you can find and eat them in any period. But a great variation of sweet and salty recipes of fiadoni can be found across the region and they also differ in the variety of filling and shape.
The most common fiadoni are salty and have the shape of a ravioli, whose dough is prepared with a mixture of eggs, oil, white wine, flour, while the filling may vary, but it is based on cheese as the Rigatino and Pecorino, or ricotta. All the ingredients are mixed with eggs and several spices (nutmeg, pepper, and in L’Aquila even saffron).
Bocconotto
The “bocconotto” is a typical confectionery product of Castel Frentano, a town near Lanciano, in the province of Chieti. The bocconotto is a small, short pastry tart with a completely closed surface. Its peculiarity is the density of the crust, which is made without butter, as in all Abruzzo sweets. The extra virgin oil is the undisputed protagonist in the art of Abruzzo confectionery. The easy workability of the dough is due also to the exclusively use of egg yolks. The filling is made of a dense mixture of dark chocolate with chopped almonds and a hint of coffee.
Maccheroni alla chitarra e pallottine
A typical dish of Teramo and the Abruzzo tradition that embodies the beauty, the authenticity and the simplicity of our land: Maccheroni alla Chitarra, the region’s proudest pasta, derive their name from the instrument called “chitarra” (a wooden frame on which parallel strings are mounted) used to cut the pasta. The pasta is served with tomato sauce and very tiny meat balls.
This dish reminds us of family moments, it makes us think about Sunday mornings, a kitchen full of perfumes, hands that skilfully spread the dough on the “chitarra”, the smiles of children that eager to have the “pallottine” on their plates. This recipe can be prepared with a very simple tomato sauce with onion, garlic and tomato, or with a richer variant also adding to the sauce the meat balls.
Ferratelle
The recipe of “Pizzelle”and “Neole” is very simple: eggs, sugar, flour and extra virgin oil. They are waffels cooked with a special “iron”, slightly hollow and etched with squares on the inside, wich give the products its distinctive form. Certain differences exist between the leading production centers, particulary regarding the consistency of the dough and the ingredients used to flavour so that in the cities of the Adriatic coast you can taste the “neole” hard and crispy, while in the villages it is more common to find the “pizzelle”, soft and dewy.
Thanks to the genuine ingredients and the easy preparation, we find this traditional cake frequently in the Abruzzo households: a few eggs and a good waffle iron and the ferratelle are done.
Arrosticini
The real Arrosticini are only those made from mutton!
Arrosticini originate from the food consumed by shepards of the mountainous areas of the Grans Sasso during the transhumance.
Arrosticini are a class of traditional Abruzzese cuisine and are tipically made from mutton or lamb meat, cut in chunks and pierced by a skewer.
There are two main kinds of arrosticini: those made industrially and those made by hand. The hand made ones are cut with a knife in chunks of different sizes and they have a weight slightly higher than those found in supermarkets. But it is not only the weight but also the quality of the meat that makes the difference.
Pepper
Many are the typical products of our region from the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentils to the extraordinary Navelli saffron, from the Sulmona red garlic to the Farindola pecorino, from the Dop Colli Aprutine Pescaresi to the ventricina and many others. Among the tastiest and the funniest is the “li pipidign” pepper, the red one from Altino is a type of sweet pepper. It is usually used as an aroma in the local sausages (sausages, ventricina, etc.) or even as an ingredient in various traditional recipes such as pasta with garlic, oil and chilli, with “pizza and“ ffójje ”, with salted sardines, with eggs (peparuole and ove) with legumes.
Vastese fish soup
The “brodetto alla Vastese” is a symbol of Vasto dishes. The traditional recipe uses the whole fish and for cooking a crock pot. Another secret is that the fish is not stired, just the pot is shaked often so that the fish doesn’t stick.
