Cuisine of Abruzzo

Ingredients

• Saffron, cultivated primarily in Navelli and L'Aquila
• Olive oil produced in Colline Teramane, marked by the quality level DOP and considered some of Italy's best
• Licorice, primarily produced in Abruzzo and Calabria
• Lamb and mutton, primarily in the mountains Sheep's milk is an important source of Abruzzese cheese, and lamb intestines are used as sausage casing or for stuffed meat rolls. Mountain goat meat is also common in Abruzzo.
• Truffles and mushrooms, particularly wild mushrooms from the forests and hills
• Garlic, especially red garlic
• Rosemary
• Hot chili pepper or peperoncini, regionally known as diavolilli or diavoletti, is common in Abruzzese cuisine and often used to add spice to dishes.
• Vegetables such as lentils, grasspeas and other legumes, artichoke, eggplant, and cauliflower

  Dishes

Starters

• Bruschetta: bread spread with salt and oil, sausage, or vegetables such as tomato or zucchini with mozzarella
• Antipasto di fegatini: appetizer from Teramo consisting of chicken livers, onion, peppers, vinegar, sugar, dry wine, pepper, salt and oil
• Mussels of Vasto: mussels stuffed with a mixture of breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, and tomato sauce
• Mussels with saffron: steamed mussels prepared with parsley, onion, bay leaf, white wine, olive oil, and saffron sauce
• Stockfish or salt cod: cod cooked in a pan with potatoes, tomatoes, oil, garlic, parsley, onion, red pepper, salt, and black olives
• Sauce all'aquilana: beef marrow with saffron, eggs, cream and butter

  Pasta

Main courses

• Arrosticini: skewered lamb or mutton
• Pecora al cotturo: lamb or mutton stuffed with mountain herbs and cooked in a copper pot
• Lamb cooked whole in a bread oven
• Agnello cacio e ovo: a lamb-based fricassee

• Mazzerella: lamb intestines stuffed with lamb, garlic, marjoram, lettuce, and spices
• Le virtù: a soup from Teramo with legumes, vegetables and pork, usually eaten in the spring at celebrations
• Timballo abruzzese: lasagna-like dish with pasta sheets layered with meat, vegetables and rice; often served for Christmas and Easter
• Porchetta abruzzese: moist boneless-pork roast, slow-roasted with rosemary, garlic, and pepper It was brought by Abruzzese immigrants to the northeastern United States, where it is known as "Italian roast pork" or "roast pork."
• Sagne e fagioli, handmade pasta with beans and tomato sauce

Breads and pizzas

• Pane di mais : primarily loaves and oval, an Easter variant adds boiled potatoes, olive oil, eggs and milk.
• Bread of Senator Cappelli: primarily in the province of Chieti, it has made a comeback.
• Bread ear, named for its ear-like appearance
• Scrippelle: a rustic pancake-like dish from Teramo, similar to a French-style crêpe and served mbusse or part of a soufflé with ragù and stuffed with chicken liver, meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese

• Easter Pizza , a rustic pizza with cheese and pepper from the Teramo area
• Pizza fritta, shallow-fried pizza
• Fiadoni from Chieti: a dough of risen eggs and cheese, baked in a thin pastry shell

  Salumi

Cheeses

• White cow cheese, a soft cheese made from cow's milk
• Caciocavallo abruzzese, a soft, slightly-elastic dairy product made from raw, whole cow's milk with rennet and salt
• Caciofiore Aquilano, made from raw whole sheep's milk, rennet, artichokes and saffron
• Caciotta vaccination frentana, a half-cooked, semi-hard cheese made from raw whole cow's milk, rennet and salt
• Canestrato of Castel del Monte, a hard cheese made from raw whole sheep's milk, with rennet and salt
• Caprino abruzzese, made from raw whole goat milk, curd, and salt
• Cheese and curd stazzo, cheese and byproducts obtained from the processing of raw milk from sheep, cattle and goats
• Junket vaccination or Abruzzo sprisciocca, a soft fresh cheese made from raw whole cow's milk, rennet, and salt
• Pecorino d'Abruzzo: one of Abruzzo's flagship products—a mild, semi-hard cheese with holes, made from raw whole sheep's milk, rennet, and salt
• Pecorino di Atri, a compact, semi-cooked cheese made from sheep's milk, rennet and salt
• Pecorino di Farindola, cheese made from sheep's milk and pork rennet
• Ricotta, made from the remnants of the coagulation of raw whole sheep's milk, heated after filtration
• Scamorza d'Abruzzo, a stretched curd cheese made from cow's milk, rennet and salt

Desserts and sweets

• Dragée : sugar-coated almonds from Sulmona
• Torrone Nurzia: chocolate nougat from L'Aquila
• Parrozzo: a cake-like treat made from crushed almonds and coated in chocolate
• Pizzelle : a waffle cookie, often flavored with anise
• Croccante, a type of nougat made from almonds and caramelized sugar, often flavored with lemon
• Calgionetti, cagionetti, caggiunitti, caviciunette: Christmas fritters, sometimes filled with chestnuts or chickpeas and flavored with chocolate or cocoa
• Bocconotti: stuffed sweets often served for Christmas
• Zeppole di San Giuseppe: fried or baked pastries made for Saint Joseph's Day
• , two layers of sponge cake filled with custard, produced in the town of Guardiagrele in the province of Chieti

  Fruits

• Agrumi della costa dei trabocchi: coastal citrus, used for jam and limoncello
• Castagna roscetta della Valle Roveto and Marrone di Valle Castellana: types of chestnut
• Ciliege di Raiano e di Giuliano Teatino: a local cherry
• Mandorle di Navelli: almonds from the town of Navelli
• Mela della Valle Giovenco: apples from the region
• Uva di Tollo e Ortona: table grapes, also used for jam

  Alcoholic drinks

• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
• Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo
• Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, the region's wine white. In 2012, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo topped 50 Italian wines. Other wines are Montonico, Pecorino, Passerina, and Controguerra.

• Genziana, a liqueur made from gentian root
• Centerba, an aromatic liqueur made from infused herbs
• Aurum: brandy-based Pescara liquor with a 40-percent alcohol content, infused with oranges
• Ratafià, black-cherry liqueur and wine