Umbria recipes | Salami | Wine | Travel | Italian Food
  Umbria Food
Photos © Saro di Bartolo
One of the smallest regions of Italy, Umbria is still unspoiled and peaceful, looking today just as it did when the Renaissance painters immortalized it. The cooking is based on family traditions with fresh and natural flavors that make Umbria food a household tasks experience.
The repertoire of pasta dishes is similar to that of neighboring regions. In the
Umbria food there are
three local specialties, however: strascinati and umbrici, both
long, thick spaghetti, and ciriole ternana. These are fairly thick tagliatelle made with a dough that contains water as well as eggs, and
dressed with oil, garlic and a soupcon of chili pepper.
In Umbria food, pasta is often flavored with a grating of the local black truffles, found around Norcia.
But most local restaurants now serve
the black truffles sliced on a plain risotto richly dressed with butter
and Parmesan, a dish borrowed from the cuisine of Lombardy for this purpose.
Not to forget in Umbria food is chocolate, that has made Perugia, the capital of the region, famous
all over the world.
Chocolate Crime in EU:
Italians defend their artisan made pure chocolate |
Specialty Umbria Food
 The
prized black
Norcia truffle is gathered from bases of oak, holm oak
and walnut trees in the hills and mountains around Norcia and Spoleto.
Covered by a black skin with small wart-like bumps, the truffle has a
purple-black flesh with distinctive white veins and a delicate scent.
Unlike white truffles, which can only be eaten raw, black truffles can
be heated (but never boiled) and added to sauces, pasta and pies without
losing their delectable flavor.
Cultivated since time immemorial in this part
of Italy, legumes deserve almost an entire page to themselves in Umbria
food. A good example is the wonderful lenticchie di Castelluccio, lentils
of Castelluccio, which are the most sought-after in Italy and in recent
years have become famous well beyond the borders of the country.
Small and green, they contain a large amount of protein and mineral salts,
and are so tender that they require no soaking. A visitor to Umbria might
encounter them among the ingredients of flavorful meat stews that feature
anything from rabbit to game to sausage.
Bread is an indispensable component of the
Umbria food
culinary tradition, and is available in all sorts of sizes and descriptions. We
urge visitors to try the pan nociato, a specialty made with pecorino
cheese, walnuts and pine nuts, and the local torta al testo con i ciccioli,
a typical focaccia bread baked on a stone disk and stuffed with the
little pieces of pork obtained when melting the fat to make lard. It’s one of
the tastiest, most intriguing delicacies found in this simple, wholesome corner
of the world. |
