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The dishes most typicalof the region are very simple country
receipes; wheat flour, maize flour, bread, oil, beans, milk and good
wine, are the principle ingredients. The most renown local dish are
Pici: a pasta of flour and water from which the cook forms the thin
threads with the palms of the hands.
With the same pasta (but with the addition of egg) both maccheroni
and tagliatini are made. With stale bread Panzanella is made a type
of salad dressed with an abundance of oil and enriched with the
aromas of onion, basil and mint or alternatively Rebollita in which
slices of bread are soaked in bean soup. Rivoltolo consists of flour
dough cooked in oil. Until recently a type of Schiacciata was still
made from maize dough, in which the rolled out dough was cooked
between two cabbage leaves.
Similarly between two leaves, but this time fern fronds a local soft
sheeps cheese (called Ravaggiolo) is presented. Again, with bread
toasted on the open fire, rubbed with garlic and anointed with new
olive oil, bruschetta is made. Chickens spit roasted, duck, goose,
Porchetta: pork prepared with salt, garlic and rosemary, roast capon,
pheasant and rabbit are the meats which have immigrated from the
countryside to the city restaurants. To these we must add the
typical Antipasti starters such as crostini of spleen or liver,
mixed dishes comprising game and mushrooms, Pansanto: slices of
bread with boiled cauliflower, vinegar and oil.
The much celebrated beefsteak Chianina accompanied by Ciaccia (a
flat bread dressed with oil) or the typical saltless Tuscan bread
(so as not to offend the other flavours). Another important aspect
of our gastronomy are the sweets and puddings such as Cantucci
biscuits with almonds, to dip in local Vin Santo. Il Castagnaccio
and La Ciaccia dei Morti: seasonal sweets for the November
celebrations, and I Crogetti: typical sweets forn Carnival time.
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