About salentine traditional dishes

The cuisine of Salento is based on poor kitchen: historically dishes derived from the land ingredients. A land rich in vegetables, durum wheat, and olives.

First Course

A very traditional dish is “Sagne Ncannulate”, twisted noodles with tomato sauce, ricotta cheese and basil. Another typical dish is named: “ciceri e tria”, a kind of hand-made mixed with chickpeas and seasoned with Salento olive oil. Orecchiette and little macaroni (minchiareddhi) are a genuine dish, very tasty when served with vegetable or meat.

Fish dishes

There are fish dishes such as “lu purpu alla pignata” (stewed Octopus cooked in a typical terracotta container).

Another fish dish is “taieddhra” consisting of mussels stuffed and fried black, then put in the oven with potatoes; such as the ‘rape nfucate’ (stewed broccoli with the addition of chilli), beans, chickpeas, homemade pasta such as the ‘sagne ncannulate’, ‘minchiareddhi’, and ‘ricchiteddhe’ accompanied by fresh ricotta cheese.

Meat dishes

A very traditional dish is stewed horsemeat and “turcinieddi” which are the heart, liver, lungs, and spleen seasoned with salt, pepper, & parsley, then wrapped together with its intestines and grilled. Bombette are more suited for those who shy away from the offal bits. it is a roll pounded veal around breadcrumbs, seasoning, cheese and possibly some type of cured meat.

Baked goods

Among the baked goods are the “pizzi leccesi” or “pizzionguli”, which is a variant scèblasti typical of Greek Salento and a soft round bun called “puccia” : it contains tomatoes, onions and Leccese olives,but there is the version with only olives. Typical of the Salento is also the focaccia stuffed potatoes, Pitta .

Dessert

The dessert of Salento is the “pasticciotto”. A shortbread crust, typically made with lard instead of butter, encases pastry cream. Sometimes amarena cherries are added to the cream. It’s delicious ! The spumone is a house specialty:it’s a mix of vanilla and chocolate gelato with a thin layer of crumbled chocolate cookie between them.