Fish-based dishes
From the coast come delicacies, such as brodetto alla vastese, grigliate, fritture di paranza, octopus salads and seafood, stuffed mussels and snails in stew; while the hinterland releases all the strength of a millenary tradition based on shepherding, breeding, viticulture (Trebbiano and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Cerasuolo and many other DOC wines), and horticulture.
Typical dishes of the Abruzzo inland
Starting with the pasta, often still homemade, one cannot fail to mention the maccheroni alla chitarra or the ceppe (a type of rustic fusilli) with lamb ragù. Characteristic for the maccheroni is the particular type of frame, called chitarra, over which the rolling pin is run, flattening the pasta dough and causing a cascade of golden-colored delicious vermicelli.
The chapter on cured meats 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 sheep meat salted, which shepherds carried with them during transhumance and cooked stewed with tomato.
Also a flagship dish are the arrosticini, very thin skewers on which cubes of sheep meat are threaded; roasted castrato; preparations based on meat from barnyard 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 addresses of good eateries, we mention: the 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 Pescara area.
