Agnolotti
Piedmontese agnolotti are a stuffed pasta originally from Monferrato. The egg pasta is rolled around a filling of meat, a recipe known already in the twelfth century. The filling is made by the roast meat leftovers and sauce, and sometimes other ingredients found in the house that could be rice and vegetables. The Plin agnolotti have a different squared shape and their name refers to the nip (plin) you need to make to close the pasta. Today we can enjoy agnolotti with meat broth, with ragù sauce, with butter and sage. In some towns in the province of Asti, you can enjoy agnolotti stuffed with donkey meat.
Agnolotti, photo lorenzovinci
Boiled meat mix
The Boiled meat mix (bollito misto) is a dish consisting of several cuts of meat and cooked together with vegetables. The most used meat is the beef, but also you can find hen or pork. Among the farmer’s tables they used to use less noble cuts of meat and sometimes they put the leftovers together. However the boiled mix was also cooked for the tables of the nobles and was served in the most sumptuous banquets, in this case they used to choose seven beef cuts and cook them together, plus seven sauces served separately. It is known that Vittorio Emanuele II and Cavour were greedy of this delicious recipe.
Bagna caoda
Bagna caoda, is a Piedmontese recipe born in medieval age. It is a sauce served in a bowl and heated by a special stove to keep it warm. It is a dish they used to place in the centre of the table where diners could dip raw or cooked vegetables. Its basic ingredients are due to the influence of Provencal cuisine during the merchant travels. The sauce is prepared with garlic, anchovies, oil and butter. Today it is also prepared with the addition of cream or milk to make it more creamy. This delicious sauce has become one of the symbols of Piedmont cuisine.
Bagna Caoda
Green anchovies
Green anchovies are a typical appetizer of Piedmont. The anchovies came from France, and seemed to be used for smuggling salt that was hidden in the barrels. In this recipes the anchovies are cleaned, cut and seasoned with green sauce ( bagnet verd in Piedmont). The sauce is prepared with a chopped garlic and parsley, chili pepper, olive oil and bread crumbs in vinegar. All is finely chopped to get a homogeneous sauce. Then they keep the anchovies in the sauce to absorb the aromas and then serve as an appetizer.
Vegetable flan
The vegetable flan is a Piedmont recipe prepared with mixed vegetables, or spinach or thistles. It consists of mixing cooked vegetables with bechamel or eggs, putting them into a mould and cooking in a bain marie to dry the dough. Once ready, the flan is used with side dishes, for example with bagna cauda or fondue.
