When we first arrived in Italy, our program began with a month in the south of Italy. Lecce in the region of Puglia is a wonderful city, and the food was incredible. This was also the start of a beautiful friendship between myself and the one-and-only Ari Rudess. A few weeks in she invited me to help her write and photograph an article about Leccese specialties for Serious Eats. We could only pick a few photos for their slideshow so I decided to repost part of the article here with some food porn and additions by yours truly. Enjoy!
Here is a link to the article on Serious Eats.
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Italian cuisine is heavily regionalized, meaning that unless you find yourself sitting before a red and white checkered tablecloth reading from a conveniently multi-lingual "tourist menu," you'll be hard-pressed to find the same dishes in one city as you would in another. (Yes, that's right. For an authentic Italian experience, do not eat at a restaurant with a tourist menu. Or red and white checkered tablecloths, for that matter.)
Although Italy's food is well-represented around the world, many of the country's regional specialties remain relatively unknown outside their places of origin. Among them, a range of traditional dishes from Lecce that I've come to know and love. Though the city, located in the southern region of Puglia, is highly frequented by vacationing Italians, it has remained largely under the radar for American travelers. For this reason, Leccese dishes aren't easy to find on tourist-oriented menus or at Italian restaurants abroad.
Southern Italian cuisine generally differs from its northern counterpart in its use of olive oil instead of butter, the prominence of vegetable- versus meat-based dishes, and a greater emphasis on sweets and pastries. In Lecce, even the most unassuming of cafes serves impeccable homemade pastries, the most famous of which are pasticciotti—cream filled pasta frolla served warm for breakfast or as a snack. The most popular savory option takes the form of rustico, a croissant-like dough oozing with gooey béchamel, mozzarella, and tomato sauce. The abundance of almond trees in Puglia means that almond cookies, amaretto gelato, and iced espresso with sweet latte di mandorla are all popular treats. Later in the day, sandwiches called puccia make for a quick lunch, and by the time 8 o'clock rolls around, eggplant parmesan and orecchiette pasta dominate the dinner table.
Some eateries stand out more than others, like La Puccia, a small chain that takes its name from the sandwiches it serves, Gelateria Natale for artisanal gelato, Cafe Alvino for pastries and coffee, and Angiulino's for authentic leccese fare. That being said, a deeply-rooted culinary history and a strong emphasis on la bella vita makes it difficult to find bad food in Lecce.
Cappuccinos are a staple of the Italian breakfast, but only in Lecce can you find theespressino, a drink that is made with equal parts espresso and steamed milk.
In Lecce I made friends with the grumpy but attractive barista Giorgio, and he started making my cappuccinos with chocolate designs. I miss you Giorgio.
Picture the butteriest of pie crusts. The outermost edges are slightly crisp, and give way to a tender dough and warm interior bursting with fresh cream. That, my friends, is a pasticciotto.
If a croissant and a pizza had an even more delicious baby, it would be the rustico. The dough makes a flawless transition from light and flaky to soft and tender, and the filling—a mix of Béchamel cheese, mozzarella, and tomato—is perfectly gooey and judiciously seasoned. I had a dream about one of these last night. I can't remember if I was married to it or living inside of it...
You might get some weird looks if you ask for iced coffee in Italy, but this drink is an exception. the almond milk, often homemade, is sweet, creamy, almost syrup-like, and blends perfectly into the chilled espresso.
I think in some poor pasticciere's head this was supposed to be... a mango?
Paste di mandorle covers a broad range of sweets, most broadly described as almond cookies and marzipans. They come in all different shapes and textures, with an incredible range of decoration and subtle flavors. The one directly above is my personal favorite- an almond cookie covered in slivered almonds and confectioner's sugar. Slightly chewy on the outside, it gives way to sweet marzipan in the center.
Lecce has its neighbor Sicily to thank for the prominence of fresh gelato around the city. Not only do most Leccese gelaterias feature a ton of unique flavors, but they're also often cheaper than their northern counerparts. Pro-tip: at pretty much every gelateria in Lecce, all you have to do is ask and your server will shovel a healthy dollop of whipped cream onto your cone for free. The flavors above are amarena (black cherry), pistachio, and fondente (chocolate) and then mascarpone and caffé.
The article on Serious Eats has some more savory dishes, but I wanted to focus on the sweets here. Trust me when I tell you to head straight to Lecce to try these babies out for yourself, but in a pinch there's a great Leccese bakery right here in Bologna called Sapori della Taranta.
Special thanks to Ari Rudess for her wonderful writing and the massive amount of research she did for this. We will hopefully be writing many more food articles together in the future!
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