Seafood Dishes
From the coast come delicacies such as brodetto alla vastese, grilled dishes, fried paranza, octopus salads and seafood, stuffed mussels and snails in stew; while the inland reveals the full strength of an ancient tradition based on shepherding, farming, viticulture (Trebbiano and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Cerasuolo and many other DOC wines), and horticulture.
Typical Inland Abruzzo Dishes
Starting with pasta, often still homemade, one cannot fail to mention maccheroni alla chitarra or ceppe (a kind of rustic fusilli) with lamb ragù. A distinctive feature of the maccheroni is the particular type of frame, called chitarra, on which the rolling pin runs, pressing the pasta dough and producing a cascade of delicious golden vermicelli.
The chapter on cold cuts and meats is very rich, with sausages not only from pork (capocollo and Abruzzo ham and many others, also flavored with herbs or chili); but also from sheep, and a rarity: micischia, dried and salted mutton, which shepherds carried with them during transhumance and cooked in stew with tomatoes.
The star dish is also arrosticini, very thin skewers on which cubes of sheep meat are impaled; roasted castrato; preparations made from small farm animals. Typical of May Day are Le Virtù, a spring soup prepared with 40 different types of legumes and vegetables cooked separately.
Finally, not to be missed, are the cheeses, headed by Pecorino di Farindola and Canestrato di Castel del Monte, both Slow Food Presidium. Among the good eating spots, we recommend: Enoteca Centrale in Teramo; Borgo Spoltino in Mosciano Sant’Angelo, in the province of Teramo; Angolino da Filippo in San Vito Marina, in the province of Chieti; the restaurants New Evo and La Bilancia in Loreto Aprutino, in the province of Pescara.
