Tradition has it that crustaceans, octopuses, clams, truffles, and snails are enjoyed raw, while sea bass, tuna, and swordfish are prepared grilled, baked, or in “acqua pazza”. Mussels (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: such as orecchiette alle cime di rapa, strascinati with ragù, and other first courses with handmade pasta. Authentic aromas and flavors also come from the gardens: fresh fava beans to boil and turn into a puree, served with chicory (another pillar of poor peasant cuisine); chickpeas, lampascioni, zucchini flowers, and turnip tops, which flavor the indispensable handmade orecchiette. From the interior, countryside, and plateaus of the Murgia, goat kid and lamb meat cooked on the spit arrive, served with cardoncelli mushrooms and wild asparagus. To enrich everything, the unmistakable extra virgin olive oil from Puglia, rich and full-bodied.
In terms of 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, inland of Santa Maria di Leuca; Vesta, in Vieste on the Gargano (Foggia); Al Gatto Rosso and il Caffè, in Taranto.
