Top 5 Things to Eat in Romagna
How about we continue in this quest for the top 5 things to eat? 5 dishes you can’t miss, less than 2 days- and then you can move on and explore another place!
Being from Romagna means being spoiled beyond belief in terms of food. This small region nestled between the Apennines mountains and the Adriatic Sea delivers some of the most amazing flavors found around Italy. That, of course, needs to be filtered by the knowledge that if you ask an Italian where is the best food of the country, they will ALWAYS reply “In my region”! This time I will stay close to the sea, while featuring some of the region-wide amazing flavors. This land is a place of handmade pasta, either filled or in taglaitelle form, topped with delicious ragu’ or served in chicken stock… Don’t miss these!
- Piadina. Haven’t I talked enough about piadina? Among the staple foods of romagna, piadina is the “staplest”- a flatbread cooked over a stone or iron griddle, prepared to order steaming hot, and filled with prosciutto. Piadina kiosks are the quintessential street food venues- they are all over the place, making fresh piadina from scratch under your eyes. Anyone interested in creating a piadina taco truck, ping me!
- Squacquerone cheese. A cheese like you’ve never had before: freshly made, similar to crescenza somehow but creamier, more reminiscent of milk, and incredibly quick to spoil. It must be consumed within two days of production, so it can’t be exported nor tasted outside Romagna. Stop at a piadina kiosk and order one with squacquerone and arugula, and bask in the perfection of street food vending…
- Lasagne. Don’t be fooled by the imitations: the original lasagne (plural, not lasagna!) come from Romagna! Lasagne are a Sunday food- it’s a celebration to have them on the table, and the long preparation makes of it a special occasion dish. Hand rolled and boiled, the sheets of lasagna adhere perfectly to the bechamel sauce and ragu’ making for a delicious pile of what seems like endless flavors…
- Cannocchie. In English, I finally figured out they’re called gray mantis shrimps. These tasty crustaceans are typical of sandy bottoms, and basically unavailable outside the Mediterranean and very few other regions around the world. When cooked, they take on a pleasant pink shade, and they are incredibly flavorful! Enjoy them grilled, or boiled and served cold, or in any pasta dish- you will not be disappointed!
- Handmade pasta. Here it’s almost impossible to pick just one. You must have cappelletti, possibly in brodo, cooked in a chicken stock and served as a soup. You can’t possibly think of missing tagliatelle al ragu’, a staple of Romagna, and tagliolini with seafood are a must. Of course you can also have gnocchi, ravioli are delicious with a cheese and spinach filling, and you can’t really skip strozzapreti… That two days plan? Scratch that!
Filed under: Culinary Culture, Traditional Foods, italy
A piadina truck? Now, that’s an idea: I’d be immediately in line to get one – with prosciutto, please. I know raviggiolo, but not squacquerone (love the name!). I wonder if I can try making it at home. Delicious post!
Really nothing like items that can only be found a few miles from home. That Squacquerone cheese sounds fabulous… and not just because it’s one of those things you can’t ship across the universe.
And that idea for a piadina truck… just brilliant. Street food at its best!
Vanessa – what a great post, although how can one possibly select only five things from the range of choices in Romagna. Everything on your list looks great, although I had never even heard of “cannocchie” before (that sounds much better thatn “gray mantis shrimps”!). So many things remaining to try… Mike
Vanessa –
I am ashamed to say that the only one specific Romagna dish on this list is the lasagne. BUT I never had it hand made and rolled! Guess what I am doing next!
gabi @ Mamaliga.com
Vanessa – I meant to say “the only one specific Romagna dish on this list THAT I TRIED” – doh – sorry
Gab
Yes! We had squacuqerone when we were in Bologna, with fig paste. Pure heaven, and my idea of a perfect dessert. And yes, the lasagne was also particularly memorable.
I was just going to write about caramelised figs – another great Romagna product – with Squaqua cheese, as it’s called for short on Piadina when I saw that Sean beat me to it.
Sean was my guest on a Bologna cooking class and I am so pleased to see he remembers the things we tasted when touring the market!