Flavours of Puglia: an Apulian menu to copy at home

Whether you came in summer or in winter, a holiday in Puglia always ends up as a plunge into its flavours. You probably took home the memory of honest, familiar food and of the atmosphere around the table. Maybe today you feel like going back there for a moment, in your mind and on your plate. So let’s put together a small menu of Apulian flavours, ready to copy.

Puglia, or the Puglias?

When we talk about the flavours of Puglia we are talking about a wide and genuinely interesting range of tastes. It is no accident: think about it, and Puglia is not one place. Ask an elderly Apulian what the region used to be called until not long ago, and the answer will be “le Puglie”, the Puglias, in the plural. Not one, but many, just like the food traditions a visitor meets travelling from Foggia in the north down to Lecce in the south. (If you are wondering about the name in English too, we explain it in Puglia or Apulia?)

A long history that left its mark on the local food

This is a region with more than 800 km of coastline, whose size and position have given it many firsts over the centuries. It drew peoples from the Middle East; it was a natural stopping point for pilgrims on the Via Francigena and for those sailing to the Holy Land; it was a place of trade and of cultural exchange; and it was the adopted homeland of the Puer Apuliae, “the boy of Puglia”, as Emperor Frederick II of Swabia was called. Puglia has always been culturally rich and lively.

That richness could only show up in its food, and in the extraordinary range of Apulian flavours we love to write about in this magazine. So here is a small menu idea, all to copy.

An Apulian menu for any occasion

Do not forget the wines

Here is the menu, in all its simplicity. Not every dish can be made all year round, so always follow the seasons of the ingredients. Essential: a good brut sparkling wine to open (from Puglia, naturally), a full-bodied red for the pasta and the main course (a Primitivo will be perfect) and a sweet fortified wine to close.

Apulian antipasti

• figs with capocollo from Martina Franca, the region’s famous cured pork neck
• lampascioni in oil, the small, slightly bitter wild bulbs Apulians adore
• little friselline, the twice-baked bread rings, with organic extra virgin Apulian olive oil

Apulian first courses

• ciceri e tria, chickpeas with ribbon pasta (but only if you feel up to cutting the pasta by hand)
• orecchiette with cime di rapa, the leafy turnip tops of the Apulian winter (when in season)
• strascinati, a hand-dragged fresh pasta, with pork stew

Apulian main courses

• roast lamb with potatoes
• salsiccia a punta di coltello, sausage made from meat chopped by knife rather than minced
• horse meat stewed in tomato sauce

Traditional Apulian desserts

• almond paste sweets (you can also buy them ready-made)
• pasticciotto cake, the large version of the pasticciotto, the custard-filled shortcrust pastry of Lecce