Food&Wine - Recipe book

Page 6

Region of Novara, Lakes District, Ossola Valleys:

taste experiences

Our territory – the province of Novara, Lakes Maggiore, Orta and Mergozzo and the Ossola Valleys - offers not only the pleasure of environmental beauty but it also appeals to our taste! There are indeed so many food and wine traditions and a truly enviable variety of products, such as to attract every year tourists and enthusiasts who want to discover the most genuine flavours of these lands. Starting from the Novara plain we can find its main product, rice, here grown in multiple varieties: from the more traditional Carnaroli, Arborio, Roma, Baldo, Vialone Nano, to the more recent Nero Venere and Artemide, Rosso Ermes and the historical Razza77. Every year the ExpoRice event, which takes place in Novara and in the rice-growing towns, promotes local rice through meetings, entertainment events, cooking shows and markets. Due to the central role of the rice production, one of the most representative and well-loved dishes from the cuisine of the Bassa Novarese region is the paniscia, made with rice enriched with vegetables from the kitchen garden (cabbage and beans are indispensable) and the salam d’la duja, a typical salami that is matured in fat in earthenware containers. Another tasty cold cut from the Novara area is the fidighina, a soft and flavourful mortadella made from liver. From the plains to the mountain, where as for first courses worth mentioning are the gnocchetti all’ossolana: home-made dumplings prepared with potatoes, chestnut flour and pumpkin flavoured with butter or local Ossola cheese cream and small dice of lard. Ossola mountain region is also known for its unique or even rare cured meats, such as the violino di capra (whole air-dried leg of goat shaped like a violin), the raw ham of the Vigezzo Valley (a real treat reminiscent of the resinous scent of the forest), the Brisaula Val d’Ossola (especially lean meat steeped in wine, then seasoned with spices and air dried) and the lard seasoned with herbs and spices. A great variety of cheese are also produced here: while Novara area is the centre of excellence for the production of Gorgonzola DOP (in Novara there is the homonymous consortium), in the Ossola Valleys let’s find the Ossolano DOP, the unique Bettelmat PAT produced exclusively in seven pastures of the Antigorio Valley or the Toma of Mottarone produced up among the tallest peaks between Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. Why not savour then such specialities accompanied by local honey? In the Novara hills and around the lakes, it is produced in different varieties such as acacia, chestnut, rhododendron, linden and honeydew. There is also precious wildflower honey produced amongst the Ossola mountains by only high-altitude blooms. In the Medio Novarese region, we must point out the Slow Food Presidium Cipolla Bionda from Cureggio and Fontaneto, a yellow onion that is extremely sweet and keeps for months after harvesting.

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Food&Wine - Recipe book by AGENZIA TURISTICA LOCALE Terre dell'Alto Piemonte - Novara - Issuu