Is the pasta with the bran peppers better than the cheese and pepper?

Is the pasta with cruschi peppers better than the cheese and pepper? According to the travel journalist Danielle Pergamement, who spoke a few years ago on the prestigious New York Timesat least the two dishes are equivalent.

She discovered the Lucanian specialty while working on a report on Basilicata, and then telling her like this: «A woman in home dress and sunglasses at Elvis went to us a few minutes away Foolwhere we found the Pizzeria restaurant Le Fiamme. It is perched on a hill, with the infinite vegetation of Basilicata who unfold in front of us. The overwhelmingness with breadcrumbs and cruschi peppers were crunchy, sweet, tasty and perfect … imagine Squares of paste folded in the shape of a tube by a lazy second elementary child and then flattened. These are the overwhelmingness. And these drawn were seasoned with bread crumbs, shiny of olive oil and served in a dome ordered with the chopped dry peppers above.

It was so simple: crunchy, rubbery, sweet, tasty, perfect in every way. The overhanging with crumbs and bran peppers are the cheese and pepper without a marketing campaign». Well, yes: it is a very good but not known recipe outside the region – based on the well -known, crunchy local peppers previously dry and therefore fried – moreover simple enough to prepare. And to cook it at the highest levels is just Giuseppina Deluca, who with this dish also triumphed at the Miss Chef Basilicata 2024 competition – of the Le Fiamme Restaurant, opened by the two children in 2003 to pay homage to Lucanian excellence.

Discovering Lucanian cuisine

“We specialize in the dishes of the Potenza area, where the gastronomic tradition is deeply linked to the mountain,” explains Felice Deluca. «Basilicata, in fact, has two souls: the coast one, where fish -based dishes prevail; And that of the interior, which enhances the flavors of the Earth with simple but rich in character. One of our strengths is the fresh handmade pasta. If the orecchiette dominate in Puglia, With us each format has its own story: cavatelli made with two fingers, platforms with three, and drawn with four fingers, the dish that represents us most. We also prepare ravioli and other traditional pastes, all based on flour and water, because the flour, here, has always been a precious resource. Also The sauces have a unique character, often based on pork. An example is the Pezzente sauce, protagonist of our Sant’Antonio festival in January. But above all: once, when the cheese was a luxury, in its place the stale bread was used: it was sautéed and added to the pasta, giving rise to the famous plate of the overwhelmingness with the breadcrumbs and cruschi peppers. Why Cruschi peppers are the real symbol of Lucanian cuisine: Today considered a delicacy, in the past they were simply a winter escort. Collected in summer, they were left to dry hanging in the house, ready to be fried in a few seconds and used to flavor the dishes. Their popularity has grown so much that even today they are used by starred chefs. But be careful: fry them is an art! A few moments are enough too much and they ruin. That’s why those who really know them prefer to prepare them carefully, one at a time ». Unfortunately, outside Basilicata, finding fresh cruschi peppers is difficult, if not impossible. “The humidity makes them mold quickly, for this reason they are already sold dried”, and this is how we advise you to choose them if you want to replicate the recipe to follow.

The menu of the Pignola restaurant

On the menu of the Pignola restaurant, in the province of Potenza, there is a rich proposal of seconds. «Our area is characterized by a great variety of meat, fromlamb that we cook on the grill with the arrosticiniwhich are typical of Abruzzo but here they are preparing in abundance », continues Felice Deluca. «Another excellence is the Podolico veal, An ancient breed that still lives today in the wild in the woods. These calves, with a characteristic white cloak, feed only of what they find in nature: in summer they graze on our mountains, while in winter they are moved to the hottest areas, such as Metaponto and Maratea, following the traditional transhumance. This shift lasts almost a month and is a real event for the shepherds. Podolico veal is more firm than those of intensive breeding, but its quality and authenticity are unparalleled: no feed, no stable, only natural nutrition and freedom. We prepare it strictly to the embers, to keep its authentic flavor intact.

The “Lucanica” sausage

And of course, The Lucanica sausage cannot be missinga true symbol of our cuisine ». Like pasta with cruschi peppers, of course, that at the Le Fiamme restaurant is always on paper. «It is one of the simplest dishes of tradition, made of a few ingredients, but each with a strong and unmistakable character. The key is to choose excellent raw materials: the Crusco pepper, a good fresh pasta, an extraordinary bread – because, let’s face it, outside Basilicata is not the same thing – rigorously of durum wheat, which already has a unique flavor in itself ». But it takes some precaution. “The secret lies in balance: No excess oil, otherwise the pasta and bread become heavy; Be careful to fry the pepper (if you don’t buy it ready), because a second too much is enough and it becomes bitter. One last recommendation: This dish does not want cheese. Never. The crunchy bread crumb replaces the cheese perfectly, giving the right flavor and crunchiness. The only addition we granted is a slight sprinkling of horseradish – the so -called “truffle of the poor” – for a spicy and aromatic ending “. Recommended wine? «Obviously a Aglianico del Vulture. In Basilicata we have many varieties of grapes that are rediscovered, but he is the king. Grows on a terroir Unique volcanic in the world, impossible to replicate elsewhere ».

Breakinated crumbs with cruschi peppers

The recipe of the Le Fiamme restaurant is a synthesis of the different versions prepared in the province of Potenza, where the crumb was historically used to recover the stale bread that families had at home replacing the cheese, which in the past was a luxury for many.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 400 grams of overhang
• 100 grams of already fried cruschi peppers
• 300 grams of stale breadcrumbs
• QB extra virgin olive oil
• QB garlic
• QB salt

Procedure:

1. First of all, the stale bread is stuck with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, garlic and dust of bran peppers. It can be kept left for days, to be used then if necessary.
2. The train are a fresh handmade pasta (it is also found online) based on semolina flour, salt and water. Once the dough is made of the braids and cut into small pieces and that point with the use of 4 fingers or one rasp (spatula suitable for function) Viane “train” on rumola (wooden agliere) with a sprinkling of semolina so as not to attack the dough.
3. Once made (or purchased, editor’s note) they immerse themselves in boiling and salted water for a few minutes.
4. When the pasta is ready, a little cooking water is combined with the crunchy crumb until you create a cream, mix with the pasta and ends with a crumbled crusco pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
5. The extra touch: a grated horseradish.

The other episodes of the “Italian traditional recipes”:

Traditional Italian recipes: saffron risotto

Traditional Italian recipes: the fat beans of carnival

Traditional Italian recipes: Spätzle, South Tyrolean Gnocchetti

Traditional Italian recipes: the orecchiette with the peaks of Apulian turnip

Traditional Italian recipes: Emilian fried dumplings

Traditional Italian recipes: Baked Cannelloni Campania

Traditional Italian recipes: the Tuscan Ribollita

Traditional Italian recipes: the Bagna Cauda Piedmontese

Traditional Italian recipes: the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Traditional Italian recipes: the Friuli Frico

Traditional Italian recipes: the Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

Traditional Italian recipes: Piedmontese mixed boiled meat

Traditional Italian recipes: Cacciucco alla Livornese

Traditional Italian recipes: Pasta with the five holes in Catania

Traditional Italian recipes: the Pasqualina cake of artichokes at the Ligurian

Traditional Italian recipes: the Mantuan sbrisolona

Italian traditional recipes: pasta with the Sicilian standard

Traditional Italian recipes: the anchovies stuffed with Ligurian

Traditional Italian recipes: the Macco di Fave Siciliano

Traditional Italian recipes: Sardinians in Venetian saor

Traditional Italian recipes: Ligurian Ceci Farinata

Traditional Italian recipes: Brandacujun, Mantacato alla Ligure cod

Traditional Italian recipes: the Neapolitan Genoese