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Le
Marche: Regional Food and Wine
The
food of Le Marche equally shares from the bounty of
the sea as well as the farm. Brodetto is the most
famous fish stew of the Adriatic coast and varies
in form from each coastal town. The Le Marche versions
of Brodetto include red and gray mullet, cuttlefish
or squid (or both), oil, garlic and saffron - served
on either fried or toasted bread. Other seafood favorites
include the port of Ancona's Stoccafisso (dried codfish,
which is not native to the Mediterranean), and local
varieties like sole, bream, clams and mussels, Vincisgrassi
is the lasagna of Le Marche made with ground pork,
mushrooms, tomato and béchamel sauce
and topped with local truffles. Favorite meats include
veal, rabbit, game birds (quail, pigeon), chicken
and goose. Both meats and fish are usually done either
in a porchetta style using fennel, garlic and rosemary
or potacchio (with onion, tomato, white wine and rosemary).
Pecorino, especially young Pecorino is the most favored
cheese of Le Marche but Casciotta d'Urbino (PDO) is
also popular. Le Marche desserts are not overwhelmingly
sweet and often use sweetened cheeses like Pecorino
or Ricotta as ingredients such as Calcioni and Piconi.
Other desserts include a Pizza Dolce, or sweet Pizza
and Frustenga, a cake made with raisins, figs and
walnuts.
The
wines of Le Marche include full bodied DOC reds like
Ancona's Rosso Conero, the popular Rosso Picenoand
and the sparkling Vernaccia di Serrapetrona (DOCG).
However the real standout of Le Marche is its white
wines, especially Verdicchio (dei Castelli di Iesi
or di Matelica - both DOC), considered by many to
be the absolute best wine to have with seafood. Bianchello
del Metauro (DOC) is a traditional straw colored white
that is excellent with Le Marche's shellfish. Spirits
of Le Marche include home made Grappa and other infused
liquors but the most popular is Mistra, an anise liqueur
used as a digestivo. read more on le Marche
cuisine...
The
traditional foods are porchetta (a whole pig stuffed
with flavouring and roasted on a spit), free-range
chickens, game, vegetables, olives, salamis, hams
and sausages (the tasty prosciutto is typical, and
becomes more and more rustic as you go inland; it
is cut not in slices, but into chunks). The dressing
used most is oil, but for some foods, also butter
and, above all, lard are used, even though this has
been all but abandoned in all the other areas of Italy;
here it is often used, intelligently and sparingly,
to be lighter on the stomach. In addition, the province
of Pesaro is the biggest truffle producer in Italy,
particularly of the prized white truffle in direct
competition with Alba: the ³capital² in
the Marches for truffles is Acqualagna, between Pesaro
and Urbino where the famous market is held. The highly
fragranced tubers (white, black, grey, purple, hazelnut-
and earth-coloured), therefore, enter into the local
gastronomy with a certain frequency, giving strength
and character to many dishes.
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