Umbria is the luscious ‘green heart of Italy’, a postcard-worthy region in the centre of the country renowned for deep forests, picturesque medieval towns, and of course, a feast of authentic Italian gastronomy.
But while many famed Italian dishes are tied to holiday hotspots like Tuscany and Sicily, the valleys of Umbria offer plenty of regional delights to the budding chefs looking to recreate the flavours of il bel paese.
Here, we’ll round up our top three classic Umbrian recipes for you to try at home. Let’s tuck in.
1. Braised Umbrian lentils with sausage and kale
When emulating traditional fare from around the globe, you don’t need to be an expert chef. In fact, most of the heavy lifting is done for you so long as you source quality, authentic ingredients — just like the locals use. This classic Umbrian meal, for example, calls for salsiccia di Norcia.
Italian cuisine experts from Pasta Evangelists explain that “made with the highest quality cuts of pork, the sausage is a prevalent ingredient in cooking across Italy. If you can’t quite manage to get your hands on some salsiccia di Norcia, be sure to use another high-quality sausage in your dish.” They offer up a sausage tagliatelle as an alternative recipe using salsiccia di Norcia.
Here, lentils star alongside the sausage. Simple yet tasty, this Umbrian recipe is a great one-pot meal that will fill you up, without weighing you down.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 400g dried Umbrian lentils
- 4 salsiccia di Norcia links, meat removed and crumbled
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 400ml chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1tsp dried thyme
- 1 handful chopped kale leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- In a large saucepan, heat a glug of olive oil over medium heat. Add the crumbled sausage and cook until browned, then set aside.
- In the same pan, fry the onion, garlic and celery until soft.
- Rinse lentils with cold water and add to the pan with the sausage. Stir to combine.
- Pour in the broth until covered and add the bay leaves and thyme.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Cover the pan and let the lentils cook for 20-25 minutes, or until tender.
- Once the lentils are cooked, stir in the chopped kale leaves. Cover the pan again and cook for an additional 5 minutes to allow the kale to wilt.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove the bay leaves and serve, drizzled with a little extra olive oil if desired.
2. Stringozzi with rabbit ragù and fava beans
If you’re in the mood for a delicious, hearty pasta dish, Umbrian cuisine has you adequately covered. Stringozzi is a type of Umbrian pasta with its name derived from the Italian word ‘stringhe’ — meaning strings. Stringozzi is similar to spaghetti but made slightly thicker, and with a rougher texture. As a result, the noodles grab nicely onto the tender, chunky sauce of rabbit ragù.
This isn’t your standard ragù — according to The Salt Box, “wild rabbit is a lean source of protein and lower in fat with a greater nutritional value than farmed meat”, making it a worthy and authentic substitute for other ragù meats like beef, chicken or pork.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 500g boneless rabbit meat, chopped into chunks
- 150g stringozzi
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 200g fava beans
- 200ml chicken broth
- 1tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1tsp dried rosemary
- Grated pecorino romano cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- In a large saucepan, heat a glug of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft.
- Add the rabbit meat pieces and cook until browned on all sides, then pour over the chopped tomatoes and broth. Stir through the dried thyme, rosemary and chilli flakes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Let the ragu simmer for 1-1.5 hours until rabbit meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Once the ragù sauce is ready, add the stringozzi to a pan of boiling salted water and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta and reserve a little of the water.
- Meanwhile, bring a separate saucepan of salted water to a boil and add the fava beans. Cook for 3-5 minutes until tender, then drain and set aside.
- Add the pasta and beans to the sauce and stir to combine. Pour in a little of the pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
- Serve and grate over pecorino romano cheese as desired
3. Umbrian apple cinnamon cake
Taking our cues from the Italians, we couldn’t let you go without dessert. And what better Umbrian delicacy to cleanse the palate than an apple cinnamon cake? This classic combination is iterated and reiterated the gastronomic world over, but few meld sugar and spice as well as this tasty recipe.
Cinnamon is purported to have many benefits, chief among them the potential to reduce inflammation and help lower blood sugar levels. And while there are countless bold fruit flavours that pair delectably with the aromatic spice, apples are second to none. For a taste of the central Italian orchards, be sure to source tasty and tart apples for this creation.
Ingredients
Serves 8
- 350g all-purpose flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2tsp ground cinnamon
- 150g unsalted butter, softened
- 200g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 110ml whole milk
- 300g apples, peeled and diced
- 55g brown sugar (for topping)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1tsp of ground cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, cream the softened butter and granulated sugar together until fluffy and light in texture.
- Beat the eggs into your mixture one by one, then add the vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Gradually add the dry flour mixture to the wet ingredients and gently stir in the milk, avoiding overmixing.
- Fold in the diced apples until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter, then pour the mix into a greased 9-inch cake pan.
- Using a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and remaining cinnamon for the topping.
- Sprinkle the blend evenly over the top of the cake batter.
- Bake the cake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Once the cake is done baking, allow it to stand for 10 minutes or so before transferring it to a wire rack to cool down completely.
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