The Food
Culinary Delights
Pasta
Pasta is the most popular main course in the world, symbol of the Italian culture and national pride. As pasta people well know, a pot of al dente noodles provides a canvas for unlimited worlds of flavor. Your options for saucing are anything but limited. Among the most common types of pasta in the Prosecco Hills we mention: Pasta e Fagioli, or Pasta and Beans... it may not sound terribly enticing, but we assure you that this Italian stew is truly irresistible, Bigoli, a thick, egg-based pasta variety whose size and texture make the perfect match for a rich duck ragú and Lasagne al Radicchio, a traditional local variety of lasagne made with radicchio di Treviso, with its long shape, as the key ingredient.
Meat and Cheese
The most widespread dishes in the Prosecco Hills include Assorted Meat on skewers, grilled meat, sliced steak with herbs, but even more unusual products such as baked goose and snail stew. Cold cuts cannot be left out, often served as antipasto: the most typical is Sopressa, a large flavorful salami made at home by those families lucky enough to have the one precious ingredient: pigs.
Another great product from these areas are cheeses: the soft, unripened Stracchino and Casatella come from the plains, while Montasio and Soligo and other specialties such as Bastardo del Grappa, smoked ricotta and "Drunk Cheese" (ripened on marc) come from the mountain area.
Vegetables
All restaurants in this area offer a wide choice of delicious seasonal vegetables in their menu. The most popular are Radicchio Rosso di Treviso, 'the winter flowers', a robust red-leaved vegetable characterized by its pleasantly bitter flavor that can be enjoyed raw, grilled, braised or roasted and Asparagus: the white has a bittersweet flavor and a mild aroma of ripe wheat, the green ones have a pronounced fruity to herbal aroma and quite a strong, sweet flavor lacking the typical bitter aftertaste.
Mushrooms are a typical autumn specialty, a true must on local tables. According to ancient traditions, mushrooms are offered, in a single dish, also with the typical white polenta.