I Love Italian Regional Cuisine – Pairing Umbria Cuisine With Red Wine
Posted onUmbria lies smack dab in the middle of Italy. Even though it doesn’t border the sea, the Tiber River and Lake Trasimeno provide a fine choice of fish and eels. Local specialties include truffles. You won’t go hungry here.
Lepre alla Cacciatora (Cacciatora Style Hare) is a popular, traditional dish. It calls for white wine, cured ham, capers, and several other ingredients. Enjoy it with a Chianti Classico DOCG or a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG, both from the neighboring region of Tuscany.
Another hunter’s style dish is Pollo alla Cacciatora (Cacciatora Style Chicken) whose central ingredient is easier to find and prepare. The classic preparation calls for salted anchovies and capers. Suggested wine pairings include Chianti DOC or Chianti Classico DOCG or a Nebbiolo-based wine from Piedmont.
Truffles are really popular in this part of the woods. Enjoy a Spaghetti all Nursina (Spaghetti Norcia Style) in which a local pasta is accompanied by these delicious fungi are heated in olive oil with a touch of anchovy and garlic. Barbaresco DOCG from Piedmont is the recommended food pairing.
Don’t think about the park when you’re enjoying Piccioni allo Spiedo (Pigeons roasted on the spit) with the rest of that Barbaresco, a Barbera d’Alba DOC, a Barbera d’Asti DOC also from Piedmont, or an Italian Pinot Nero.
Agnello arrosto (Roast Baby Lamb) is traditionally roasted in the dying embers that remain after bread is baked in a wood oven. You may have to make amends but this dish can still be excellent. Especially if you accompany it by a Barolo DOCG from Piedmont or a Brunello di Montalcino DOCG from Tuscany.
Our final dish Anitra Selvatica con pappardelle (Wild Duck with Broad Noodles) highlights what is perhaps the region’s finest red wine, Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG. You may have to substitute a farm-raised duck for the wild duck, other pasta for the Pappardelle, regular ham for the prosciutto, and other wine for this pricey suggestion. It won’t be the same.