Bordered by the Alps and Appenines to the south, west, and north as well as sharing a border with both France and Switzerland, Piedmont or Piemonte (Italian) is a fertile land, well situated for raising cattle and growing a wide variety of different specialty crops.
While most famous for its wine and hazelnuts, Piemonte also produces the widest variety and some of the best quality cheeses in Italy. And, as a mountainous region, the style of Piedmont food/cuisine in this region is richer and heavier than in many other regions of Italy.
Rich sauces with cheese, heavy meat dishes, and the region’s famous savory white truffles all play major roles on menus in Piemonte and pair well with the region’s Nebbiolo and Barbera wines, produced by the many fantastic family-owned wineries in and around Barbaresco, Barolo, and Alba.
1. Piedmont Food: Agnolotti del Plin
One of the most classic Piedmont dishes, Agnolotti del Plin takes its name from the Piemontese word for ‘pinch’. These little purse-like ravioli are made by pinching two sheets of pasta together to form a pouch, which is then filled with a meat mixture (this can be beef, pork, veal, rabbit, or a combination of any meats, it all depends on who is making it!).
The fillings people use vary, based on what they have leftover from dishes cooked earlier in the week and what is in season. Meat is normally mixed with some type of cooked vegetable filling (such as cabbage), but it doesn’t have to be. Some add nutmeg to the mixture. Some do not.
Agnolotti is normally topped with cheese and butter, sage and butter, or a roasted meat reduction sauce (like a jus).
2. Piedmont Food: Bagna cauda (also bagna caôda)
Bagna Cauda is a warm anchovie, garlic and olive oil dip, served in small terracotta pots. The compote is kept warm by little candles that sit underneath the pots, and served alongside seasonal vegetables such as artichokes, cabbage, potatoes, peppers, etc. which people dip into the bagna cauda before eating. Among the seasonal vegetables used for dipping, the Piemontese particularly favor a regionally unique vegetable (the cardoon), rarely found in the U.S. and referred to as a white thistle, thistle artichoke, or ‘cardo gobbo’ in Italian (hunchbacked cardoon). This stalky cardoon, of which only the interior white stalks are edible, is related to the globe artichoke.
The etiquette for consuming bagna cauda is not overly strict. However, double-dipping and/or using vegetables (such as cabbage leave) as ‘scoops’ to spoon out too-large portions of the dip is considered very poor form (think of George’s double dipping shame in Seinfeld…).
The Piemontese take their bagna cauda seriously enough that there is an entire day (or weekend) dedicated to it in late November, when a bagna cauda festival is held in the town of Asti.
3. Piedmont Food: Carne Cruda all’albese
Carne cruda, a very common dish in Piemonte, is simply the Italian version of steak tartare. Carne cruda all’albese simply means raw meat, Alba style. It is a dish of plain rare beef, served either ground or minced, and most often without any accouterment or dressings other than freshly squeezed lemon and olive oil. Though, it is common to be offered shavings of white truffles to top your carne cruda, if it is truffle season and this is a very nice way to enjoy the dish. While carne cruda is commonly served both ground (like hamburger meat) or minced, it is advised to seek out the establishments serving the minced version as they are typically using much higher quality beef (a filet cut of grass-fed beef), and the texture is more appetizing.
4. Piedmont Food: Fritto misto
Fritto misto is a Piemontese dish served primarily during the colder months of the year. It consists of a wide variety of foods, battered and fried in olive oil with butter. The types of items one might find in their fritto misto varies, from intestines and every other part of the animal (and any type of animal) to seasonal vegetables and even fruits, cookies or sweets!
The strange array of foods that can be used for fritto misto are tied to the origins of the dish which harks back to the days when most families in Piemonte raised and butchered their own animals, and could not afford to waste anything. During the cold winter months, families would use anything and everything available (including parts of the animal they might otherwise throw away), battering and frying items to enhance the flavor as well as to better line stomachs, economically.
Why or how items like sweet (semolina) fritters or amaretti biscuits (almond cookies that are a regional specialty) and fruit got added to the mix, is unclear, as they seem like strange items to fry, but nonetheless, even today, when a restaurant or family serve up a big batch of fritto misto the contents can vary wildly from table to table.
5. Piedmont Food: Gnocchi alla romana
Gnocchi alla romana, are a special kind of gnocchi which are made with semolina, milk, butter, cheese, and egg yolks and baked in the oven.
The dish consists of dough made from semolina, milk, and butter which is cut into circles which, when cooked, resemble the kinds of large bread ‘dumplings’ more often seen in Central European countries. These are not tiny buoyant dumplings like the gnocchi you find in most of the rest of Italy. However, this dish is traditional not only to Piemonte but also to Rome and Lazio and is said to be similar to the dumplings the Romans used to make (thus the name).
Gnocchi alla romana is generally topped with a butter and cheese sauce (yeah… more butter). Like some other dishes in Piemonte, this dish can surprise people who don’t think Italians eat heavy foods or use much butter. Remember, that the food and culture are different in this Northern region-which is bordered by the Alps and lies closer to France and Switzerland than much of the rest of Italy.
6. Piedmont Food: Gnocchi al Castelmagno
Gnocchi al Castelmagno is traditional potato gnocchi topped with Piemonte’s Castelmagno cheese. This is the potato-based gnocchi most people are familiar with from Italy. And, while gnocchi is traditional in multiple regions of Italy, it is only in Piemonte where it is topped with Castelmagno cheese!
Castelmagno is one of Piemonte’s most unique regional cheeses, a DOP cheese typical of the Cuneo region of Piemonte (but made in other regions as well) and traditionally hailing from the Valle Grana (Grana Valley). Castelmagno is a salty and dry, crumbly cheese that turns into a savory, creamy sauce when melted with milk and butter at low heat and is perfect with a light sprinkle of chopped walnuts or hazelnuts.
7. Piedmont Food: Tajarin Pasta with white truffles and sage
Tajarin (tie-yah-REEN) is a thin, bright yellow, egg yolk-laden pasta that is similar to tagliatelle (only thinner) and has been a specialty in the Piemonte region since the 15th century. The name tajarin is Piemontese dialect for tagliatelle. In the past, egg yolks were considered a very precious ingredient (and were enormously expensive) so tajarin was considered a decadent dish to be served on special occasions.
Tajarin incorporates an even larger ratio of egg yolks to flour, than the already egg-heavy tagliatelle (Piemontese pasta makers like to say that the amount of egg yolks used in tagliatelle is the minimum starting point for tajarin), and therefore is a very rich pasta. You will find tajarin on every menu in Piemonte and you can also purchase the pasta in package or fresh form all over the region in specialty food shops. The Piemontese love tajarin!
Tajarin is most often topped with butter and shaved white truffles (the famous Piemonte white truffles hailing from Alba) or a meat sugo or ragù (meat or porcini mushroom based).
8. Piedmont Food: Torta de nocciole
This simple cake is an iconically classic dessert in Piemonte, which is renowned for its naturally sweet and high-quality hazelnuts. Made with only four ingredients, torta de nocciole, may seem like a simple dessert to make, but the quality of the hazelnuts and how they are roasted and ground make a huge difference in the consistency of the dessert.
This ‘simple’ cake, which is made by mixing hazelnut flour (made from fresh, roasted and finely ground Piemonte hazelnuts which are naturally sweet), sugar, eggs, and butter this cake, in its purest form, is one of the few class Italian desserts that is naturally gluten-free. However, many restaurants in Piemonte do also add a little white flour to the cake when they make it so celiacs should always inquire as to the exact ingredients before ordering a slice of torta de nocciole.
Torta de nocciole is normally served with a dollop of fresh cream or zabaione sauce (a sugar, egg, and wine mixture) and paired with Moscato d’Asti, a slightly frizzante white dessert wine made in Piemonte’s Asti region.
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