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Traditional recipes

Turtres, panicia, cajincí: Ladin specialities

Alta Badia's cuisine: Dolomite flavours in alpine sauce

The Ladin cuisine, of poor and agrarian origins, does not deny an authentic Italian culinary and gastronomic tradition, based on simple, genuine and seasonal ingredients. It is from these assumptions, handed down from generation to generation, that the dishes of our cuisine maintain a quality that is rooted in a knowledge that is preserved in all the homes of the people who live in our valley. Of course you can enjoy them in the restaurants of Alta Badia, but you can also prepare them at home by following a few simple rules. A tasty and genuine way of preserving a bit of Ladin culture in your own home.

The ingredients in the recipes are for 4 people.

Bun pro! Enjoy your meal!

Grandma's recipe

Panicia, barley soup

The barley soup, which is cooked a little differently in the whole of South Tyrol, is one of the most popular soups of the Ladin tradition. The rich soup, which is prepared with vegetables, cereals (barley) and meat, tastes particularly good on cold days.

Ingredients and preparation

100 g of barley,
100 g bacon or smoked pork shin-bone,
1.5 liters of water,
a small onion, a small carrot, a small potato, a celery stalk, a little salt, chives for seasoning.

Preparation

Boil the meat, the bacon and the barley in a large pot for about two hours. Later add the vegetables cut in cubes. Before serving, cut the meat in small pieces and add it to the soup.

Ladin cuisine's evergreen

Tutres, fried spinach pastries

The tutres, as the Ladins call the fried spinach pastries, are savoury pies filled with spinach and curd cheese or with sauerkraut and baked in hot oil.
For our grandparents, the tutres were usually served on Saturday, mostly with barley soup. Nowadays, you can taste this delicious specialty in farmhouse restaurants, in restaurants serving Ladin dishes and at the village festivals as "street food".

Ingredients and preparation

For the dough:

200 g of rye flour,
100 g of white flour,
1 egg,
some lukewarm water,
30 g of melted butter,
salt.

For the filling:

150 g of cooked and minced spinach,
150 g of ricotta cheese,
some butter,
1/2 small onion,
salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic.

Preparation

Filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the small chopped onion and fry over medium heat. Add the boiled and chopped spinach. Season with salt and pepper (to your taste, you can add garlic and / or nutmeg). Allow to cool and add the ricotta cheese.

Dough
Mix carefully all ingredients and you will obtain a farely elastic dough, let it sit (covered) for one hour. Use the dough to make thin circles 15cm in diameter. Fill half of the circles with the filling. The other circles serve as a cover.
Push carefully with your fingers along the edges of the filled and covered turtres. Deep fry the turtres on both sides in abundant boiling oil.

Tip
Sauerkraut also tastes great as a filling.

A tough, but extremely tasty dish

Cajincí arestis, fried potato donuts

The cajincí arestis are one of the most typical dishes of Val Badia’s cuisine. They are not easy to prepare, but they are really delicious. When at the time of our grandmothers it was “cajincí day", the countrywomen were busy for a long time. They made a relatively large number of donuts, usually with two different fillings, with spinach and curd cheese, and with sweet poppy seeds. The potato donuts were also eaten cold the following day.

Ingredients and preparation

For the dough:

500 g of flour,
500 g of boiled potatoes,
50 g of yeast,
1/2 l of milk,
2 eggs,
1 tablespoon of sugar,
a pinch of salt.

For the filling:

½ kg of spinach,
300 g of curd cheese,
1/2 onion,
some butter,
a pinch of salt, pepper (to taste, a pinch of nutmeg and garlic).

Preparation
Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm milk. Leave to rest in a warm place for approx. 10 minutes. Add half of the flour and prepare a dough. Let it rest for another half hour. Then add the other half of the flour, the boiled, mashed potatoes, eggs and salt. Knead with your hands until a soft dough is formed. Roll out the dough quite thin. Cut out rings of approx. 6 cm in diameter. Fill them with the spinach filling (see turtres recipe) and fold in half. Close tightly with your fingers and let rest again for approx. 40 minutes in a warm place.
Fry in hot oil.

Suggestion
The cajinci arestis also taste delicious with poppy seed filling. Boil the ground poppy seeds in water, refine with honey and some liqueur rum.

South Tyrolean speciality

Bales da cioce, speck dumplings

The bales da cioce, the delicious and varied specialty of South Tyrol, can be tasted in many ways. They are excellent as an appetizer, as a first course, as a side dish and even as a dessert. In Alta Badia we particularly love them with speck, our farmers ate one in consommé and the others with coleslaw salad or goulash. In our days you can try them served as an appetizer, perhaps seasoned with a chanterelle salad or with melted butter and of course as a side dish.

Ingredients and preparation (for 3 servings)

500 g of bread cut in small cubes,
150 g of speck ham cut in small cubes,
3 spoons of flour,
3 eggs,
half an onion, a cup of milk, some minced parsley, some chives, salt, some oil.

Preparation
Prepare a bowl of bread cut in small cubes and add onion and bacon slightly fried. Mix carefully milk, flour, eggs and salt, parsley and chives. Form round bales with wet hands and cook them in boiling water for approximately 15 minutes.

Tip
Instead of speck, you can also use other ingredients, such as cheese, spinach, beetroot, mushrooms and everything you like.

Childhood flavour

Cajincí te ega, spinach ravioli

The aroma of cajincí te ega brings back memories of childhood and family. And indeed, in most families, it is still the custom to serve the cajincí on a large serving dish, sprinkled with grated cheese and doused in plenty of melted butter. The room is then filled with the sweet smells of the butter and both young and old are eager to help themselves to this deliciousness. In restaurants and mountain huts, servings are usually brought to the table on individual plates but the taste and the aroma are just as enticing and special as in grandmother's time.

Ingredients and preparation

For the dough:

220 g of rye flour,
300 g of white flour,
3 eggs,
1 tablespoon olive oil, lukewarm water, salt.

For the filling:

400 g spinach,
400 g "Ricotta" cheese,
140 g butter,
a small onion, some grated cheese, salt and pepper, nutmeg (optional).

Preparation
Prepare the dough from the ingredients listed above, it should remain quite elastic. Allow it to rest for about 1 hour. In the meantime, wash the spinach and cook it in salted water. Drain the spinach, squeezing out as much water as you can, chop and season with salt and pepper (add some grated nutmeg if you like) and a handful of grated cheese (about 40 g). Fry the chopped onion in a little butter and add the spinach. Allow to cool and mix in the ricotta.
Roll out the dough in a thin layer. Work quickly ensuring the dough does not dry out. Use a cutter (or a glass) to cut out discs approx. 8 cm in diameter. Put some filling in each of the slices (do not overfill, because the slices have to be folded and sealed). Fold the filled slices in the middle (like a half-moon) and seal them carefully by pressing the edges together. Cook the cajincí in gently boiling salted water for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, melt the remaining butter in a small pan until it turns the colour of hazelnuts. Serve the cajincí on a large serving plate or distribute on individual plates. Sprinkle with grated cheese and pour over plenty of melted butter before serving. (The recipe comes from the book "Sapori delle Dolomiti" by Rosmarie Pescosta).

Tip
Also suitable as a filling are potatoes and spinach, beetroot, mushrooms or whatever your imagination suggests.

A dish from the kitchen of recycling

Grestl, potato fry-up

In former times, recycling was not only a fashion, it was a lifestyle, a lifestyle that was also used in cooking. A potato fry-up, that in Ladin language we call "grestl",was made from simple, savory ingredients. Our peasant women usually prepared “grestl” in the cold winter months by using advanced pork roast which they mixed with roast potatoes and onion directly in the pan. Nowadays in the refuges and restaurants in our valley the preparation is more elaborate and fancy.

Ingredients and preparation

250 g meat / roast,
500 g potatoes,
1 onion,
butter / oil,
salt and pepper,
fresh chives.

Preparation
Boil potatoes with peel. Allow to cool. Once cold, peel and slice. Cut the meat into pieces / slices and finely chop the onions. Add the potatoes in hot butter (if you prefer you can use oil instead of butter), season with salt and pepper. Add the onion and toss until golden brown. Add meat (with some sauce if available) and cook until the potatoes are crispy.
Arrange on the plates and sprinkle with chives before serving.

Tips
A variety of meats/roasts can be used such as beef, veal, pork, game or chicken. The “grestl” is excellent accompanied by a fresh coleslaw salad. If you like it more hearty, you can add some speck or put a fried egg or fried onion on top.

The ultimate hut dessert

Pössl da pom, apple pancake

Who does not know the Kaiserschmarrn, the popular dessert considered by many as the must have dessert when having a break in a Tyrolean mountain hut?
In South Tyrol we have a variant of this dessert, lighter and with a pleasant fruity taste. The preparation of the sweet apple pancake we prepare in Alta Badia is quick and easy. We use to eat the schmorn da pom also as a gluttonous single dish.

Ingredients and preparation

150 g flour,
100 ml milk,
100 ml cream,
6 egg yolks,
½ package vanilla sugar,
1 tbsp rum,
6 egg whites,
½ tsp salt,
40 g sugar,
200 g apples, cut into small slices,
oil for frying,
butter,
powdered sugar.

Preparation
Preheat oven to 200° C. Mix flour, milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla sugar and rum into a creamy dough. Beat egg whites with salt, and add sugar until peaked. Add the mixture to the egg-yolk dough. Heat the oil in a big pan, then pour in the dough, sprinkle in the apple slices and fry until brown on one side. Turn and fry on the other side. Bake for 3 to 5 minutes. Tear into pieces with a fork, sprinkle the powdered sugar over the pancake and then fry for a very short time in a pan so that the sugar caramelizes. Serve on hot dishes with some more powdered sugar.