Typical recipes

Ingredients:
500g of flour, 30g lard, salt, baking soda, lukewarm water.

Preparation:
This is one of the most, if not THE most, typical of the recipes from Romagna. Traditionally it has to be cooked on a terracotta or cast iron pan – called “testo” – but a non-stick pan will do the job.
Mix flour and lard adding salt, baking soda and as much lukewarm water as you need to get a compact easy-to-knead dough.
Cut dough into balls and flatten them out with a rolling pin into 0.5cm thick circles with roughly a 15cm diameter.
Warm up the pan and when it’s hot cook the bread on each side, pricking the surface with a fork to avoid air-swellings in the dough. In a few minutes it will be ready to eat and you can fold it in two and fill it with cold cuts, cheese and/or vegetables to taste.

Ingredients:
A sandwich loaf, milk, one egg, 3 or 4 chicken livers, grated cheese, sage leaves, salt, oil.

Preparation:
Brown the chicken livers in oil and season them with sage leaves and salt. Once cooked chop them finely and put them in a bowl. Add cheese and egg and mix until you get a smooth mixture, then cook it on low for a few minutes, stirring well. Slice the loaf and quickly dunk the slices in milk, without soaking them, then fry them in hot oil until they are golden brown. Put them on a plate and spread them with the chicken liver mixture. Serve hot.

Ingredients for 6 people:
300g of flour, 3 eggs

Preparation:
Knead flour and eggs until you get a compact dough, then cut it into thick slices and let them dry out for about an hour. Whit a knife shred them into tiny pieces, as little as rice grains. Let them dry for at  least two more hours.
You can cook them in broth and add grated Parmesan cheese to taste, or in bean soup.

Ingredients for 4 people:
1 kg of razor clams (to be shelled), two spoonfuls of tomato paste, one small onion, three garlic cloves, parsley, oil, salt and pepper

Preparation:
Mince garlic and onion and brown them in a sauté pan with oil, then add the tomato paste which you will have thinned with a ladle of lukewarm water, pepper and salt to taste.
Cook for about ten minutes on low. Shell and clean the clams very well, then mince them too and add them to the sauce. Cook for 30 minutes longer, then take the sauce off the burner and add minced parsley.  
Cook the pasta (strozzapreti) in boiling water and dress with the sauce.

Ingredients:
Bacon fat, beef meat, celery, onion, carrot, tomato paste, fresh fava beans, salt and pepper.

Preparation:
Make a sauce with beef, celery, carrot, onion, bacon fat and tomato paste in a large casserole, adding some water. While the sauce is simmering, shell the
fava beans and add them to the sauce, then salt and pepper to taste. Chop some more beef and cook it with the rest.

Ingredients:
Herrings, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, some cloves of garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, orange juice, sage, bay leaves and onion. 

Preparation:
Fillet the fish – cut the head, open it on one side and take the bone out – and rinse it under flowing water. Put the fillets in deep dish and marinate them in good white wine vinegar and lemon juice for at  least half an hour.  Then discard that marinade and this time marinate the fish with olive oil, some more lemon juice, some white wine, a few crushed garlic cloves, minced parsley, oregano, ground pepper, orange juice, red hot chili pepper to taste, a few bay leaves and some salt. The second marinade allows you to preserve the fish for a long time. Marinated herrings can be served as a delicious hors-d’oeuvre or as a second course accompanied with hot croutons. 

Ingredients:
Two spoonfuls of rum, 200g of dry biscuits (crumbled), 100g of sugar, 100g of butter, 100g of cocoa, two eggs, chopped hazelnuts.

Preparation:
Melt the butter in a bowl over boiling water, then add sugar, biscuits and eggs. Mix well to get a smooth mixture, and little by little add cocoa and rum.  Pour mixture on greaseproof paper, shape it into a salami and sprinkle it with hazelnuts, then wrap it in the paper and refrigerate to harden. Serve it
sliced, just like an actual salami.

Typical Wines of Romagna :

Sangiovese (Red wine)
Trebbiano (White wine)
Pagadebit (White wine)
Albana secco (White wine)
Albana dolce (Sweet white wine)
Cagnina (Sweet red wine)