PRODOTTI E PIATTI TIPICI
L’alimentazione nelle valli del Parco Naturale Dolomiti Friulane si basava sostanzialmente su quello che veniva offerto dalla terra, vista comunque la limitata disponibilità di risorse agricole e di strutture produttive.
I pasti tradizionali pertanto comprendevano: polenta, legumi, derivati del latte, carne e uova.
Molto diffusa era anche la pratica della caccia, dalla quale si traeva doppio beneficio: la vendita delle pelli dei capi e l’utilizzo della carne come alimento.
Oggi possiamo trovare diversi locali che preparano e offrono i piatti e prodotti di “una volta”, piatti e prodotti tipici tradizionali, come per esempio:
FRICO
Fried cheese, browned in a pan until boiling along with four or five potatoes (cut into pieces) and an onion. At the end of cooking some fresh cheese is added to obtain a crust on both sides.
You can also find the version without potatoes, with more mature cheese and eggs. Essential to savor its perfect taste is eating it with polenta.
DANDELION AND LARD SALAD
The lard in this case is used as seasoning for the radicchio. Radicchio can be of any variety, but usually for the typical dish is used the dandelion.
The lard must be of a leathery and stiff collar type to prevent it wither; it is browned in little oil until it becomes crispy, then “turned off” with vinegar and then added to the raw dandelion, possibly to be seasoned with salt, pepper and oil.
NETTLE SOUP
Fry an onion in a pot. Add grated potato and fresh nettle leaves.
Dilute with broth and salt. Bake in a covered pot and, if necessary, dilute with boiling water.
RISOTTO WITH “MAIDENSTEARS” (SILENE VULGARIS)
Boil a little water with a generous handful of maidenstears’ leaves, putting aside some tufts for the garnish. Add rice and cook adding broth from time to time and eventually a drop of white wine.
PUMPKINS WITH FLOUR
Cook in salted water the pumpkin and the beans. Blend the pumpkin with the beans, obtaining a puree. Put the puree in the pot, if necessary, add water and salt and bring to the boil. Then add the flour, stirring until you get the consistency of polenta. Cook, allow to stand for a few minutes and enjoy pouring over milk.
OMELETTE WITH HERBS
Famous Friulian omelette. It is a mix of eggs with different types of herbs such as Silene vulgaris, shoots of butcher’s broom, dandelion, nettle tips.
SWEET BREAD
Slices of bread soaked in beaten eggs and then fried in oil and eaten after being sprinkled with sugar.
‘SUF
Boil water with a little milk. Then add the polenta flour and a bit of the wheat one, stir and cook until you get a polenta more liquid than normal, with the consistency of a pudding.
PETÙT
Pour into a bowl cornmeal and a handful of wheat flour. Mix adding some water. Melt the lard in a pan and add the mixture. Bake. When it takes on the reddish color Petùt is ready.
SÒPA
Cook the beef broth and add it in boiling soup plates where there are slices of stale bread sprinkled with parmesan cheese.
SCOT OF POLENTA AND SAUSAGE
Boil the water. Add flour for polenta. Mix. Just cooked collect the flour with a little water and put it into another pot. Allow to boil. Fry the sausage pieces in a separate pan. Add to the Scot a little vinegar and then subsequently the sausage. It is normally eaten with polenta.
PESTÌTH
Collect the white turnips several months before, blanch in salted water and let them macerate in a wooden tub with its own water, until they take on a sour taste. Then they are minced and poured in a pan, after having browned onion in olive oil and garlic. Add water and cook. Halfway through cooking, add the slices of local salami just browned in butter and towards the end add a bit of “Scot polenta” (water blended with polenta flour). It is eaten with polenta.
PETUCCIA
Typical product that depending on the area takes different names: Peta (in Andreis and Barcis) or petuccia (Claut) and Pitina (Val Tramontina). Originally it was a way to preserve meat, in autumn and winter months. At the time, it was mostly made of sheep or goat meat or high-mountain game.
The meat was finely chopped with a knife inside a hollowed wooden stump. Then were added salt, pepper, garlic and natural spices such as fennel or other aromatic herbs. From the mixture were obtained meatballs, that were rolled in corn meal and then placed in the chimney to dry for about a week. Even today you can enjoy it in different villages of the Park.