All The Lake of Bolsena: Gastronomy

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VITERBO

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Gastronomy

Wine and food tasting around the Lake of Bolsena

It could seem anachronistic to speak about the local cooking in technological and mass tourism times, but we like to imagine that at least some ingredients of the traditional dishes of this area are the same used by our ancestors: the Etruscans. The hunting and fishing scenes on painted vases and in frescos of Etruscan tombs, suggest us abundance of meat and fish on their tables, where certainly also all the products of the Mediterranean area were present: vegetables, fruit (consumption of some kinds only for religious reasons), sheep's cheese and wine, sweetened with honey. When introducing the food tasting of this area it is necessary to start with two traditional main dishes: Sbroscia and Acquacotta. Sbroscia, taking its name from the local fishermen, is a tasty soup that they cooked and ate using spoilt and not marketable fish. Nowadays, it is prepared with fresh best quality fish and it can be tasted in some "trattorie" in the villages around the lake, marked as "typical Trattoria", or better with an obliging fisherman in his "capanno" (hut) along the lake shore. Acquacotta, another very rremarkable soup of this area, consists of fresh vegetables cooked in water (chicory, turnips, thistles, artichokes, tomatoes and potatoes) poured on stale bread slices. Once the main dish for poor people, now it is often seasoned with pecorino, poached eggs or stockfish all flavoured with raw extra virgin olive oil. It should be eaten in the traditional earthen bowl. Following the chronological order of courses, there is the antipasto all' Italiana, consisting of dressed pork products; it isn't very typical but allows us to taste the meat of the local pork-butchers such as the delicious cooked pressed neck of pork and the uncooked pork meat. Original, tasty and in demand are the traditional "bruschette" (toasted bread served with savouries) or the "crostini" (toasts roasted over charcoal) mainly seasoned with lake fish. Among the first courses, the "tagliolini in tench soup" (thin noodles) are excellent, but as it was for the Sbroscia they can be tasted only in some typical trattorie. Another typical dish is the wholemeal "Lombrichelli" prepared with water and flour (a sort of short handmade spaghetti) flavoured with a mushroom sauce. Other popular first courses in the trattorie, are "gnocchi di patate" (potato dumplings) and the different kinds of handmade pasta prepared with eggs: fettuccine (ribbon-shaped pasta), lasagne (broad flat noodle), ravioli, agnolotti (rounded ravioli filled with forcemeat) and cannelloni (tube of pasta stuffed with meat). Very spreadout but rarely proposed in restaurants are the soups with beans, chick peas and dried broad beans; the fresh broad beans are also the main ingredient of a very particular and tasty soup the so-called "Scafata". Regarding the second courses, freshwater fish dishes deserve the honour place. Among the wide variety of valuable fish found in the Lake of Bolsena: eels, coregoni, perchis, lake pikes, tenches and lattarini which are the main ingredients of many recipes offered from the restaurants. We suggest some delicious dishes such as the delicate Coregone roasted over wood fires or simply boiled and served with different sauces, among them the one called "martana", from the name of the lake village Marta, is the best. Excellent is also the fillet of perchis that can be fried or flavoured with sauces like the Coregoni. For their flavouring the eels of the Lake of Bolsena are famous since ancient times and even Dante mentioned them in the Purgatory where, referring to the gluttonous Pope Martin IV, he recites: "and he purges to starve/The Bolsena eels and the vernaccia wine" (XXIV canto - 23/24). In the last decade, owing to the large demand, many restaurants prefer sea fish dishes instead of those ones made with fresh fish, but this good proposal undermines the local typical cooking. In Alto Lazio, where the Lake of Bolsena area lies, are equally used lamb (cooked in the oven or in pans or roasted over wood fires) and pork meat. The excellent "Porchetta" flavoured with abundant pepper and dill (fennel shoot), according to the typical tradition of this zone. You can find it all over the place: butcher's, supermarkets and kiosks. Game, that since the times of Etruscans was abundant in this area, is now only proposed in some particular trattorie. In addition to fish and meat, legumes are used in the local cooking either in the main and in the second courses. Together with different kinds of meats cooked in pans you will often find beans, lentils and peas in the menu. Moreover, legumes are cooked in many ways and eaten as side dishes. During the summer the fresh vegetables of Bolsena are very valued , tasted with peeper and salt or flavoured only with the local olive oil. In this area according to the season, different very tasty wild herbs such as wall-rocket, chicory and borage can be found, often proposed as side dishes, together with several kinds of mushrooms, picked in the woods of the Province of Viterbo, such as the extraordinary and huge Forest of Lamone or in the natural Parks of Rufeno and Cimini Mounts. Among the different kinds of cheese, the typical Pecorino, renowned for its tang, can be tasted fresh or seasoned at the end of the meal accompained by broad beans or pears; the seasoned kind is widely used to flavour "spaghetti with cheese and pepper" or "spaghetti alla carbonara", potato dumplings , Lombrichelli, polenta, vegetable soups and so on. The traditional cakes of this area are linked to the celebration of the different feasts: at Christmas one can taste the Pangiallo, Maccheroni with walnuts, and "Baci delle Monache", at Easter the homonymous and very tasty Pizze, for the celebration of St. Giuseppe the Frittelle with rice, at Carnival the ricotta-ravioli , castagnole and frappe. You can always find tarts and hazel-nut cakes, best of all Tozzetti. Another gluttony, reserved to the friends of a local shepherd, is fresh ricotta served with homemade blackberry or plum jam. And at the end wines. In the territory around the lake excellent wines are produced, some DOC that you can buy at the wine cellars of Montefiascone and Gradoli. In the other towns around the lake, wine is produced in a traditional way for familiar use and they are not sold yet. An excellent and genuine wine can be tasted at one of these unknown producers. And now let us carefully examine the well known wines of this area.

Aleatico di Gradoli, DOC wine. It has a garnet red colour and a characteristic spicy smell. Its taste is pleasantly yield and sweet; alcoholic content 12° which goes up 17° in liqueur - like Aleatico wine. It is produced by the homonimous vineyard in Gradoli, Grotte di Castro, S. Lorenzo Nuovo and Latera.

Aleatico di Montefiascone, a kind of wine similar to that one produced in Gradoli.

Cannaiola di Marta, ruby red wine obtained from the black vineyard Canaiolo in Marta and Capodimonte. It has a yield and sweet taste. Local producers guarantee the best quality.

Castrense Bianco, white wine produced in Grotte di Castro obtained from Malvasia of Lazio, Malvasia of Candia, Greco and Trebbiano from Tuscany in different percentages.It is excellent when served fresh together with fish dishes.

Castrense Rosso, red wine produced in Grotte di Castro obtained from grapes Grechetto, Sangiovese and small percentages of Canaiolo and Aleatico. It is served together with meat dishes.

Colli Etruschi, white and red wine produced in Montefiascone.

Est!Est!!Est!!!, DOC white wine produced in the territories of Montefiascone, Bolsena, San Lorenzo Nuovo, Grotte di Castro, Gradoli, Capodimonte and Marta. It is obtained from Trebbiano grapes from Tuscany (65%), white Malvasia from Tuscany (20%), Rossetto (yellow Trebbiano: 15%). It has a very small alcoholic content 11°, straw yellow colour, dry or sweet taste. It is served fresh together with fish dishes.

Grechetto di Gradoli, ruby red wine produced in Gradoli from Grechetto and Sangiovese grapes. It has a dry taste and a delicate smell; alcoholic content 12°; it is right for ageing

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