Since ever,  Marche region is a fertile and generous land that gives delicious food products.

Land’s gifts can make you discover Marche through a gastronomic specialties route of protected and recognized products that are still produced following ancient recipes elaborated by the farmers’ knowledge through the centuries.

Some of the most famous are: ‘Ciauscolo’,  soft salami to plaster on a portion of bread; cheeses produced from vacuumed cow’s,  sheep’ s or goat’s milk; high-quality oil; charcuterie and handmade pasta (seasoned by the few ingredients available). It is a tasty and delicious cuisine,  originally poor.

Macerata’s province is famous for its ‘Vincisgrassi’,  hoven-cooked lasagna seasoned with different ingredients and made with a thin flaky pastry that absorbs all the ingredients.

Among meats,  first place goes to Marche’ s bovine race and to typical lamb from ‘ Monti Sibillini’  and from towns near the mountains.  In Macerata’ s tradition is typical the yard animals husbandry,  rearing rabbits,  chickens,  gooses or turkeys; these animals have been enriching our culinary tradition since ever.

Finally,  the desserts: these too are made with few ingredients and measured doses,  but with a lot of creativity.  Every person from Macerata knows ‘ Ciambellone’ (sort of big bun),  delicious for every occasion,  and served with local liquors,  among whose ‘Varnelli’  sticks out,  with its special and secret recipe with a dose of anise.

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This book is the result of the first, exciting and funny English course, taken in Pollenza from October 2015 to June 2016.

These great pupils decided to show the learned skills through the creation of a book that would have collected all the typical recipes from our tradition. In this book, you would find all the kind of dishes, from the starters, to the desserts, with special tips too.

I want to thank all my special students for their enthusiasm and their collaboration, and I hope you would enjoy our work!

BON APPETIT!                                                                                                        Lucia Andreani

LAMB’S LIVER

For 6 people

1kg Lamb’s liver, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 celery, 1 chili pepper, 1 nutmeg, pepper, salt, olive oil, white whine, 1 lemon, 6 eggs and fresh garlic.

To start with, boil the liver. Brown carrots, onions, celery and chili pepper with olive oil. Put the cut liver together with the cooked vegetables. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and a half-lemon’s skin and its juice. Add some white wine. Cook for 10 minutes. After that, beat the eggs together with the liver and add some parsley and fresh garlic.

Deliana Agostinelli

LASAGNA PASTA

For 4 people

Ingredienti:

500g flaky pastry, 200g chicken and chicken’s offal, 100g bacon, 700g tomato sauce, 1 carrot, 2 onions, 1 celery, one glass of white wine, butter, salt, olive oil and 150 ml béchamel.

Cut the meat and separate the offal. Brown a carrot, two onions, celery and add the bacon with some olive oil. Once ready, add the meat (without offal) and wet it with some white wine. Add tomato sauce, salt and leave it cooking for at least 1 hour. After that, add the offal to the sauce and leave them cooking for 10 minutes. Boil the flaky pastry for few seconds into salted water, with some oil. Drain the pasta on a cloth. Butter the gratin dish, put a first stratus of flaky pastry, than the ragu sauce and béchamel sauce with a lot of dried Parmesan cheese. Keep on doing this for all the other stratus. In the last stratus put béchamel and Parmesan. Add some butter pieces on it, and put it in the hoven for 30 minutes at 180°. Take off the Vincisgrassi from the hoven and wait 15 minutes before serving them.

Alberto Fattobene

RAVIOLI PASTA WITH COTTAGE CHEESE

For 4 people

6 eggs, 400 g white flour, 300 g cottage cheese, A little brunch of marjoram, 800 g dried Parmesan cheese, 1 dried lemon’s skin, 500 ml tomato sauce, half carrot, half celery, half onion, olive oil and salt.

Mix the flour with 4 eggs. Add a spoon of oil and a spice of salt. Continue kneading the mix, until you make an homogenous paste. Leave it covered and prove for an hour. Meanwhile, wash and dry the lemon and the marjoram. Mix two eggs and the cottage cheese in a bowl, together with a lemon’s skin. Cut the marjoram’s leaves and add 500g of dried Parmesan cheese. Add as well a spice of salt. Brown the carrot, celery, onion, and some olive oil. Add tomato and make the sauce stiffened. Take the paste and rale it, until it gets thin.

Cut it into rectangles and put in its middle 2 little spoons of the mixed cottage cheese. Then, close it properly with a fork’s tines. Make the water boil and add salt. After that, put the Calcioni in the water and leave them cooking for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain the pasta into a colander. Put the Calcioni on a tray and add the sauce.

Mix and add some Parmesan cheese on it.

Daniela Scisciani

PORK’S PAWS

For 4 people

4 pork’s paws, 200g of peeled tomatoes, 1 stalk of celery, half onion, 2 new garlics, 2 sprigs marjoram, 100g of fresh wild fennel, half glass of extra virgin olive oil, chili pepper just enough, 1 glass of water, salt and pepper.

Clean well the pork’s paws and boil them in slightly salty water for an hour until they are cooked. Once boiled, cut them in 4 or 5 pieces. Pour the extra virgin olive oil on a large pan and brown celery, onion, garlic and marjoram (finely minced). Cook them for a while and add the minced wild fennel. As soon as the sautéed vegetables are ready, add the peeled tomatoes and cook everything for a quarter of hour. After that, put the paws in the pan, check the taste with pepper and chili pepper, pour a bit of water and cook for about 30 mins in a covered pan.Once ready, serve them hot with abundant bread cooked in a wood oven. It could be very useful for cleaning the dish after eating the delicious paws.

Lauro Crognoletti

ROASTED SUCKLING PIG

For 6 people

1 rabbit (with its liver), 200g wild fennel, 200g boiled pig’s skin, 50g sausage, 50g bacon, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 glass white wine, 50 ml olive oil and 1 kitchen’s twine.

Clean, wash and dry the rabbit. Knead it with salt and pepper. Clean the fennels and boil them into water with garlic. Boil the pig’s skin in a bowl. Meanwhile cook together sausage, liver and bacon. While they are cooking, add the boiled fennels and the pig’s skin. Leave them cooking for 10 minutes. Take back the rabbit, knead it inside and put the cooked filling inside it. Sew the rabbit with the twine. Put it on the gratin dish; add oil and a glass of white wine. Put the rabbit inside the hoven (hot, at 180°), turn it few times and add the fennel’s water for wetting it. Leave it cooking for 1 hour, more or less; check it while it is cooking.

Daniela Dignani

FRUSTINGO

For 8 people

500g dry fig, 50g honey, 50g sugar, 50g nuts, 60g walnut, 50g grated chocolate, 60g flour, 40g grated bread, 100 g mosto (fermented grape juice), 1 grated lemon’s skin, ½ spoon nutmeg, ½ spoon of cinnamon and 75g seeds oil.

Put the figs into a pan and add the mosto to them. Leave them cooking until they get soft. Drain and cut those, add honey, sugar, nus, cut nuts, chocolate and oil. Mix all the ingredients, add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon’s skin and grated bread. Pour the mosto, mix until you make a soft and homogenous paste. Put it on a gratin dish and put it in the hoven at 180° for 45 minutes, more or less. Serve it cold.

A little tip… add Varnelli or Vino Cotto for a better taste!

Veronica Luzi