Our Favorite Foods on Bike Across Italy
Bike Across Italy is more than a bike tour, it’s a food journey. On this trip, we travel through four distinct Central Italian regions and taste a fantastic variety of new flavors, local dishes, and unknown wines. It’s not only a discovery of places—amazing historical and cultural sites––it’s an extravaganza of interesting foods that will resonate more than you could ever imagine. Let’s have a look at a few of the special dishes we’ll be tasting on this fabulous foodie adventure.
This dish of stuffed olive ascolane serves 6 people and requires a strong cycling heart. Olive ascolane—with their soft and savory meat stuffing surrounded by a crisp, breaded crust—are a specialty of Ascoli Piceno in the region of Le Marche, but they have become a staple on the tables of pizzerias and just about everywhere in Italy. They are perfect for nibbling on, washed down with the house white wine. Olive ascolane are so popular, in fact, that they are sold ready-made in specialty shops and even frozen in supermarkets throughout Italy. We sample these tasty morsels in several places on our Bike Across Italy trip and they come from the area where the trip actually begins!
Ascoli Style Olives
Ingredients:
60 large green olives
1 cup flour
3 eggs
5.3 ounces pork loin
1/2 cup minced beef
3 spoons grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
5 ounces grated bread or breadcrumbs
2 lemons
2 spoons tomato paste
2 slices stale bread
Olive oil
3.5 ounces chicken livers
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Salt & pepper
Brown all the meat, except for liver, in a pan of oil olive for around 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the livers and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan and finely chop the lot. Once done, place it back into the pan, adding the bread which has been softened with a little water and bathed in a mixture of egg, cheese, salt, pepper, and a touch of nutmeg. Mix all the ingredients and with the paste fill the olives which have had the nuts removed. Finally, roll the olives in the flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs. Fry the lot in a pan until a golden color and shake off the excess oil. Serve with lemon slices.
Grechetto – Grape Variety
The wine production in the area tends to value both the Umbrian local grape varieties (Grechetto) and those disseminated nationally and internationally. This wine, although quantitatively limited, is extremely articulated from a qualitative point of view and is therefore able to offer the most suitable wine for every kind of dish, thus satisfying the most demanding palates.
The rules of production of wines with denomination of origin (DOC) Assisi, includes the following types of products: Bianco, Grechetto, Rosso, Rosato, Novello, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Reserve Cabernet, Merlot, Reserve Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Noir Reserve.The area of production of the wines DOC “Assisi” lies, in large part, on the grounds of the municipalities of Assisi and Spello.The Canticle Wine Road which is one of four of the Wine Roads in Umbria, is one of the specially marked routes through places of great historical and cultural interest and strong vocation with regard to wine production, and also includes within it vineyards and wine cellars open to the public.
Farro – Spelt
We can’t talk about Umbria or central Italian regions without mention of one of our favorite cycling superfoods: farro, otherwise known as spelt in English. Spelt is an ancient grain that has an important nutritional value. In fact, it contains more than 50% of carbohydrates, a good percentage of protein and 3% fat, as well as minerals and vitamins. Spelt promotes blood clotting and at the same time, stimulates the immune system. It’s great for keeping the pounds off because its eating spelt brings on a feeling of satiety, faster. Spelt is sown in the autumn and harvested in the summer and the cultivation technique is similar to that of grain.
Chickpeas and Spelt Soup
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups of chickpeas
1 1/4 cups of spelt
1 small onion
1 carrot
a stalk of celery
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Soak the spelt in water for at least a couple of hours and the chickpeas overnight. Boil the chickpeas in salted water. Meanwhile, chop and saute the vegetables in olive oil. Then add the chickpeas with two liters of their cooking broth and add the spelt. Cook for another 40 minutes, stirring and adding salt. Serve accompanied with olive oil and pepper.
Tartufi – Truffles
The tartufo or truffle is a fungus belonging to the Tuberaceae family, class of Ascomycetes. Truffles have a fruiting body that has a variable shape up to 40-50 cm in depth and grow in the soil next to the roots of trees like oaks, live oaks, and hornbeams. In the regions of Umbria and Tuscany, both included in our Bike Across Italy trip, there are various species of truffles: white truffle, black truffle, the summer and the winter scorzone, the winter white truffle and black truffle and the muscat truffle.
It’s important to know that the penetrating aroma occurs only when the truffle is ripe. The harvest is done with the help of dog, specifically trained to sniff out the tasty fungus. But, this is serious business. For example, inside the Protected Natural Area in the Mount Subasio Park—near Assisi—there is an enforced regulation for issuing the tuber harvesting permit. This would be the same for all reserves or areas protected and dedicated to truffle hunting throughout Italy.
Beef Tenderloin with Black Truffles
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds tenderloin beef
Butter – extra virgin olive oil – balsamic vinegar
Black truffle shavings, salt and pepper
Heat a pan suitable for cooking meat and sear the tenderloin. Then brush with butter and finish cooking on the grill (should remain red inside). Put olive oil, salt, pepper, and drops of balsamic vinegar into a dish, emulsify everything with a fork, and add the truffle shavings. After cooking the tenderloin, cut it into many slices, dip in the prepared sauce, put them on a dish and serve hot.
Zuppa di Ceci & Castagne – Lake Bolsena Soup
One of our most favorite spots on the Bike Across Italy trip is Lake Bolsena–located right on the border between Lazio, Umbria, and Tuscany. In this area, otherwise known as Tuscia, we enjoy wonderful meats (like lamb), fish from the lake (eel), and of course, soups. Here is an ancient recipe for:
Bolsena Chickpea and Chestnut Soup
1 1/2 cups of chickpeas
6 tablespoons of fat of ham
1 1/2 cups of chestnut
4 peeled tomatoes
1 liter of broth
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig of rosemary
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
salt
Chickpeas must soak in cold water for about 24 hours. Then drain and pour into a pot with water and let them cook and soften, remembering to add the salt. Chop together with garlic, rosemary, and fat of the ham. Drain the chickpeas and blend half, setting aside a few tablespoons of the cooking water. Fry the garlic and ham mixture in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add in the chickpeas with a bit of the water they were cooked in. Add in the chopped chestnuts. After flavoring the mix for 5 minutes, add the diced tomatoes and the bay leaf. After a few minute,s add the broth, stirring well, and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
Est Est Est – Wine
And when it comes to wine, Lazio is known for Est Est Est from Montefiascone, produced in the area near Lake Bolsena, and Falerno. This wine was also loved by the Roman emperors!
Join us on this spectacular 11-day coast-to-coast bike tour and taste the distinctive wines and delicious dishes of Italy’s fabled heartland.
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