Tag: Romagna

Cantarelle, Romagna pancakes – Italian Cuisine

Are you a fan of pancakes? Then you will love the cantarelle, the soft focaccias typical of Romagna! For a breakfast in the name of authenticity

Of course pancakes! Even before these American sweets, ideal for breakfast, broke through in Italy, in Romagna there were (and still are) the cantarelle, a similar preparation, but much more genuine and true.
Typical of Rimini, the cantarelle – "al Cantareli" in Romagna – are soft sweet scones, obtained from a batter cooked on the Romagna text, the pan used for cooking the mythological wraps.
Are you curious to try them? Make them at home, it's simple. Don't have the Romagnolo text? No problem, a classic non-stick pan will do just fine. Below the original recipe with the various steps, in the gallery the possible greedy fillings for an awakening or a mouth-watering snack!

How to make Romagna cantarelle

Ingredients

To make Romagna cantarelle at home, you need: 500 g of water, 250 g of yellow flour, 250 g of white flour, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt, bicarbonate and sugar to taste.

Method

In a saucepan, pour together the warm water, a pinch of salt, baking soda, oil, yellow flour and then slowly, sprinkle the white flour, stirring constantly so as not to form lumps. You need to get a homogeneous and thick batter. Let it rest for an hour. If you have the Romagna text, it's time to put it to heat on the stove: with a small ladle pour the mixture over it (or onto a hot pan), making small discs, to be cooked on both sides, without burning them. Once cooked, put them to cool on a serving dish, season them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle the sugar.

Cantarelle, the Romagna version of pancakes – Italian Cuisine

Cantarelle, an ancient dessert characterized by poor and genuine ingredients and a simple recipe, are the Romagna version of pancakes

The scent of cantarelle hot, freshly made and covered with a light sprinkling of sugar, they represent a pleasant childhood memory for many people from Emilia. For those who do not know the Romagna cantarelle, sweet of the tradition of old Romagna made with flour, water and salt, they are the regional version of the most popular and international pancakes.

How to prepare the cantarelle according to the Romagna tradition

Cantarelle, like any other poor recipe of peasant origin, have always been prepared with simple ingredients, inexpensive and always present in our pantries. To cook them, according to the original recipe, pour some flour in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and gradually pour somecold water (slightly more than the weight of the flour), mixing with a whisk; once the flour came directly from the mill, nowadays 00 flour can be used or, as we will see later, you can opt for a mix of different flours. Unlike pancakes, therefore, the cantarelle contain neither yeast nor eggs.
Once a smooth, soft and rather dense batter is obtained, it is poured with a ladle on a hot plate (today a non-stick pan is also fine), so as to form discs of about 10 centimeters in diameter. The cooking process is similar to that of crêpes, and requires that the pancake is cooked well on both sides. Meanwhile, pour it into a large plate or a large bowl drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little granulated sugar, on which a first layer of cantarelle will be placed. Then continue with the cooking, going from time to time to add several layers of seasoning between the pancakes. What we got was a sweet poor, but tasty, genuine and fragrant, perfect for a quick and abundant snack.

The many modern variations of this sweet from Romagna

There is no Italian dish of peasant origin that has not undergone changes, also based on the ingredients available from time to time, giving rise to personalized recipes, kept and handed down from family to family. For example, many people from Romagna love to add a pinch of bicarbonate or replace the milk, so as to obtain even softer pancakes. The introduction of the yellow corn flour, which is often mixed with the white one. What over time deviates more and more from the traditional recipe is above all the final filling; in modern times, in fact, many replace icing sugar with granulated sugar or butter with extra virgin olive oil. Then there are those who, like pancakes, like to pour honey or maple syrup on hot cantarelle, or serve with homemade jams and preserves such as, for example, fig or berry jam. To give this dessert an original touch but still faithful to the Emilian culinary tradition, it can be garnished with a few teaspoons of savor, or a sort of jam of Modena origin made with grape must and with the addition of autumn fruit.

In short, this sweet from Emilia is really quick and easy to cook and can be adapted to your tastes; all that remains is to choose whether to opt for the peasant recipe or to try some imaginative experiment.

Photos from Instagram @ nadina.serravezza, Valverde, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (https://www.instagram.com/p/B47cd8aFfNU/).

Bustrengo, sweet Romagna "empty pantry" – Italian Cuisine

Bustrengo is a traditional Romagna cake, famous for being a poor recipe, but at the same time rich in many ingredients

Bustrengo is a traditional dessert from Emilia Romagna, in particular in the area of Cesena, Forlì and Rimini, and also widespread in the Marche region. This homemade cake has distant and poor origins and is famous, among other things, for the large amount of ingredients it contains. There is no real recipe, but only an indicative basic preparation, to be modified at will based on your tastes, your imagination and above all the ingredients you have in the pantry.

History and tradition of bustrengo

The origin of bustrengo is unclear, just as the origin of the name is uncertain, which is pronounced in dialect bustreng and that seems to be attributable to the barbarians and to the time when they invaded Emilia Romagna. What is certain is that it is a ancient dessert that has its roots in the peasant traditions of lower Romagna and that, today as then, is prepared with poor ingredients and mostly during the autumn and winter period. This cake has always been designed to "empty the pantry", a culinary recycling that is at the same time simple, greedy and substantial. It is believed that at the beginning it was cooked mainly to use advanced stale bread; this, in fact, was soaked in milk, then beaten with eggs, sugar and lard, and finally cooked together with the seasonal ingredients that were available.

One cake, many variations

Like many other poor dishes of peasant origin, there is no official version of bustrengo, as the recipe varies from family to family and from city to city. One of the best known variants is that of the town of Borghi, a village located on the hills of Cesena, where every year it is celebrated with a festival held on the second Sunday of May. The typical recipe of Borghi even involves the use of 32 ingredients, of which 12 are a gastronomic secret jealously guarded by the locals. Among basic ingredients white and yellow flour (i.e. the modern equivalent of stale bread), milk, eggs, honey and dried fruit (e.g. walnuts, almonds, pine nuts or figs) are never missing from bustrengo, while among those optional we find the breadcrumbs, butter, peeled apple, raisins, grated zest of lemon or orange and wine. In addition, there are also spiced, cocoa or made with different types of flour, such as that of chestnuts.

Photo: bustrengo torta 32 ingredients_Basswulf_Flickr.jpg

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