ABSOLUTELY AWESOME
FOOD FROM BOLOGNA
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| The ingredients to make tagliatelle, simple isn't? |
I
just LOVE travel and food, and when I am not travelling (or eating!) I do admit
to spending a large amount of time on the internet reading about other peoples’
travel and food experiences. Just
recently I stumbled upon the most enticing article on lifeshinyprettythings all about the food and wine
of Bologna, Italy, written by Gabriele from Emilia Delizia (a company who specialize in food and wine tours of
the region) and felt I just had to add a few comments from my own experience …
For
the uninitiated Bologna is just another town in Italy, famous only for the
Bolognese sauce they buy in a jar and pour over their pasta once a week. (By
the way, this form of Bolognese sauce bears little resemblance to the wonderful
versions you will find here, but more about that a little later). For
those of us in the know, however, the city and region is one of the most
important “foodie” destinations in the country.
Bologna is the capital city of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and,
as such, is the home of many iconic Italian foods that are famous all over the
world – Parma Ham, Mortadella, Parmesan cheese and Balsamic vinegar to mention
just a few. Italians love their food,
and here you can still find food being produced using age-old traditional
methods that have been handed down from generation to generation, using the
very best fresh locally sourced ingredients, and a large helping of love!
The
pasta is wonderful and you will never go back to “dry” pasta once you have
tasted the fabulous fresh egg pasta of this region – It’s not that hard to make
your own – why not go for a lesson while you are there so that you can
re-create some of the tastes of your holiday when you get home? To go with the pasta you need to learn how to
make Bolognese sauce, the REAL thing!
This can get tricky; there are as
many recipes for Bolognese sauce as there are Italian Mamas in Italy and no two
will ever taste exactly alike. For a
pretty good authentic recipe visit: www.antonio-carluccio.com/tagliatelle_al_Ragu_Bolognese
Of
course the region is just the best place for a committed carnivore to head to,
particularly if Pork is your favourite meat.
Here, Pork is king and is the base of almost all the cured meats you
will find from Proscuittos to Salamis and Mortadella, (which is actually
sometimes known as Bologna in America).
Many delicious lunches were based on these fabulous meats served on the
traditional Crescentine – (small round flat breads; perfect if you are travelling on a budget but
still want to try all the local foods.
If
you are not a meat lover, don’t worry! We
had some really special meat-free meals here too, mainly vegetarian pastas such
as pumpkin Tortellini served with a butter and sage or Tagliatelle with fresh
porcini and truffle. Also look out for
stuffed Courgette flowers – absolutely yummy!
