Poor ingredients, therefore, are the basis of today’s more elaborate dishes, while they were exactly the basis of nutrition for the peasant population of yesterday.
The roundup of rustic flavors could begin with the unparalleled taste of the Galatina “Sieglinde” potato. The valuable organoleptic characteristics of the famous tuber that “holds the slice”, as they say, lend themselves to the composition of typical dishes such as “polpo alla pignata” (cooked in stew with sauce, takes its name from the ancient terracotta container) , the “taieddhra” (baked, completed with mussels and rice), the “panzerotti” (tasty croquettes), the “pitta” (flan seasoned with tuna, tomato and other delicious ingredients).
But there are so many children to get to know from this sun-kissed land in the far south of Italy. From “lampascioni” (brick red bulbs with a bittersweet flavor, to be eaten fried, in oil, in salads) to wild thistles (spontaneous spiny vegetables, similar to artichokes, whose leaves are often used in typical soups); from “mugnuli” (perhaps ancestors of green broccoli, to be savored “’ nfucati “) to” pastiddhre “(dried chestnuts without peel, previously very common on the tables, today remained on the stalls of village festivals). Still the “caruselle” (the young inflorescences of wild fennel, excellent as a side dish) and the spontaneous capers; the typical dish “chicory with broad bean purée” and red earth snails (the “municeddhe”) fried or roasted.
Before reviewing the exquisite derivatives of Salento flour, we present two other poor Salento dishes, although their cradle is not in the Salento gardens: the “scapece” (fried fish, boghe and zerri, marinated between layers of yellow crumb colored by saffron) and the “turcinieddhi” (rolls made from the entrails of animals). Among the starchy foods, that is, among the most energetic dishes of the tradition, we meet the poor, very poor “water and salt” (also called “ciardèdda”): based on stale durum wheat bread in small pieces, seasoned with oil, water, cherry tomatoes, onion, vinegar, oregano and salt.
A more “aristocratic” variant is the frisa: toasted wheat or barley bread, seasoned with tomato, oil and salt.
But here, to wear crown and scepter, is the famous “homemade pasta” in its various formats: orecchiette, minchiareddhi, sagne twisted (seasoned with sauce and strong ricotta, or with turnips and anchovies, again with seafood) and the tria (paired with chickpeas or “mugnuli”).
The last two items on the farinaceous menu are “pittule” (leavened dough pancakes) and “pucce” (the appetizing sandwiches with olives).
Everything, then, is washed down with excellent local wine, the result of the precious grapes of Salento: among the reds, Primitivo di Manduria and Salice Salentino; among the rosés the Negramaro, among the whites the Leverano.
A copious production, linked above all to the great distilleries of the past, is that of Salento liqueurs, deriving from the abundant quantity of agricultural by-products (grapes, dried figs) and ideal to accompany the typical sweets of this land. We conclude in “sweetness”, therefore, this excursus on Salento cuisine, starting with the king “pasticciotto”, made with shortcrust pastry and filled with custard. His palace includes the “cupeta” (bar of almonds covered with caramel), spumone (solidified ice cream with mixed flavors), mustazzoli (cinnamon flavored biscuits) and typically Christmas sweets (purceddhruzzi and ‘ncarteddhrate).
Here is a series of easy and tasty Salento typical recipes to prepare comfortably at home to amaze and delight your relatives and friends and bring to the table the good taste of Salento cuisine.