Category: Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna is the home of stuffed pasta and great cured meats and cheeses, including world-famous products such as Parma ham, mortadella, coppa and Parmesan.

Map of the Emilia-Romagna in Italy

Emilia-Romagna is part of the Po Valley, which, bordering the Alps, stretches from east to west in northern Italy.

As mentioned above, Emilia-Romagna is home to many specialties that are only produced authentically there. These include mortadella from Bologna, coppa from Piacenza, Parmesan and Parma ham from Parma and Aceto Balsamico – balsamic vinegar from the Modena area.

If you want to buy authentic Italian products from their regions of origin, look for the DOP seal, a certification that the product was produced exclusively in the place of origin from start to finish. The IGP seal is less strict. This only requires that a production step or ingredient comes from that place.

Since I don’t plan to explain to you how to cure Parma ham in your own cellar (wouldn’t be a real DOP Prosciutto di Parma then, unless you live in Parma 🙂), I’d rather focus here on the other specialties: homemade pasta! I will gradually introduce some of the following pastas on From zero to curry. Probably not all of them, I would like to give an insight into different regional cuisines. However, I don’t necessarily want to cook them in full here. More about the concept of From zero to curry can be found here.

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Homemade pasta

  • Lasagne: Baked large slabs of pasta layered with bechamel sauce, ragù alla bolognese and parmesan.

Lasagne verdi alla Bolognese in einer Auflaufform, ein Stück herausgeschnitten - Lasagne verdi alla Bolognese in a baking try, one piece cut out

  • Passatelli: Pasta made with a flour and parmesan dough. Are traditionally served in broth, popular for festive events.

Passattelli romagnola en brodo - in einer Suppenschüssel mit Löffel - in a soup bowl with a spoon

Stuffed pasta

Capelletti: Dumplings folded from a basic round shape into a little hat, often served in broth.

Fertig geformte Cappelletti - Finished, shaped Cappelletti

Anolini: 2-4 cm dumplings with the filling placed between 2 sheets of dough. The anolini are cut out with a round, usually serrated, shape, pressing the dough sheets together at the edge.

Tortelli: dumplings folded from a basic round shape into a semicircle or from a square shape.

Tortelli verdi reggiani con ricotta e spinaci - Tortelli filled with ricotta and spinach

Fillings: Well-known fillings are, for example, made of ricotta, often together with leafy vegetables or herbs, of parmesan or of meat. A very famous meat filling from Bologna is made of pork loin, prosciutto and mortadella.

Wines

Wine… I should probably write something about wines from the region here.

Difficult when you live in India and you are lucky to get affordable drinkable wines from Europe. Most are incredibly expensive or not necessarily wines I’d write about to recommend them.

What I actually know about wines from Emilia-Romagna is limited to Lambrusco. Which I don’t like… But I came across several references while researching the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna that apparently the well-known supermarket Lambrusco does not represent all Lambruscos. There are supposed to be a few quite good ones, too.

If you have any tips for good wines from Emilia-Romagna, leave me a comment. Here on the site or on Instagram: @fromzerotocurry

Recipes