Ferraran Food (a little out of order)

We have been having a fantastic time in Italy, and one of the fun things we have been introduced to is the local food! In Italy, different regions have different specialties (e.g. Texas BBQ vs. Boston seafood)... and Ferrara has some delicious stuff!

For lunch today we had a great sampling of stuff...

From left to right: [top]soft buffalo cheese with herbs, local Cabernet Franc, 2 year old Parmesan cheese from Parma, Spek (smoked ham), [bottom] gnocco (puffy fried bread), and coppia (in dialect "ciupeta") little "bread horns"

The ciupeta bread sticks are neat and are often found on the table throughout a meal. The little gnocco, a puffy fried bread, is used as a mini sandwich, into which delicious proscutto, spek, mortadella from Bologna, salama, and other tasty meats are placed (there is a great pic here). There is also amazing Parmigiano Reggiano that is so tasty you can just eat chunks of it! Ferrara is also in wine country (let's be honest Italy IS ALL wine country), but the local vintages of choice are light sparkling whites (we're near Prosecco), and fresh, young reds, all of which are (of course) delicious. 

After the finger foods (all that comes before has so far been "appetizers"), comes the first course, and in Ferrara this means cappellacci de zucca (a large tortellini-like pasta filled with a "violin shaped pumpkin", probably a squash variety?) with a tasty dark meat sauce. These little pastas are absolutely delicious and I MUST get a recipe for the coming fall!

cappellacci de zucca (the picture is from here)

During our two traditional meals we had a sampling of three different dishes (oh man do the Italians know how to eat). One course was some delicious meatballs (not sure what they were... delicious though), another was Salama de Sugo with some amazingly cheesy mashed potatoes...

This pic is from here

Last but not least was a delicious donkey stew with polenta (A becco d'asino?). Yup.... donkey... Surprisingly delicious if you get a tender bit.

Anyhow, after this glut of food, there were the digestifs. The one we tried was a local Grappa (a grape derived liquor) with honey!

Italy, you are delicious!