Tradition holds that crustaceans, octopuses, clams, truffles, and snails are enjoyed raw, while sea bass, tuna, and swordfish are prepared grilled, baked, or “in crazy water” style. Mussels (especially the famous Taranto mussels) are among the main ingredients of the quintessential dish of the Bari table: the tiella or tiedda, with rice and potatoes.
And then first courses: like orecchiette alle cime di rapa, strascinati with ragù, and other handmade pasta dishes. True scents and flavors also come from the gardens: fresh fava beans to boil and turn into purée, which accompanies chicory (another staple of humble peasant cooking); chickpeas, wild onions, zucchini flowers, and turnip tops, which flavor the indispensable handmade orecchiette. From the inland, countryside, and highlands of Murgia come kid and lamb meats cooked on a spit, served with cardoncelli mushrooms and wild asparagus. Enhancing everything, the unmistakable rich and full-bodied extra virgin olive oil from Puglia.
As for wines, Primitivo, Negroamaro, Salice Salentino, and other generous red nectars make an already rich table even more important.
Gourmet addresses, scattered throughout the region, are: Alberosole, Piccinni, Ai Due Ghiottoni, in Bari; Il Melograno, in Monopoli; Da Tuccino, in Polignano a Mare; Da Sergio and Peccato Divino, in Otranto; Bolina, in Tricase Porto (Lecce); Rua de li Travaj, in Patù, in the inland of Santa Maria di Leuca; Vesta, in Vieste on the Gargano (Foggia); Al Gatto Rosso and il Caffè, in Taranto.
