Served up – Lombardy in three courses

Our excursion into the art of Lombard cuisine takes place at the small farmstead Locanda Al Carrobbio about 3.5 kilometers outside Cremona. Since some calories await us this afternoon, we took the precaution of cycling the route. Here in one of the flattest areas of Italy, the Po River is only a few kilometers away, cycling is a real pleasure. Passing wide fields, lonely cottages and pretty lemon trees, we reach our scene for the afternoon in no time. Locanda Al Carrobbio (Via Castelverde 54) is both a restaurant and a hostel and has been family-run for over 20 years.

Welcome to Salame di Cremona

Today, food is not simply served to us, but our active cooperation is encouraged. But Monica, the owner, doesn’t want to send us into the kitchen with a growling stomach. Before we have to prove our skills in chopping vegetables, we have homemade bruschetta (with tomatoes from the garden) and the aromatic Salame di Cremona to get us in the mood. After the welcome refreshment, however, it’s time to get to work. We lace up our kitchen aprons and follow Monica into the kitchen.

Appetizers – Pumpkin tortelli

As an appetizer, pumpkin ravioli is on the menu, a well-known dish that originated in the area around Mantua. Before passing the puff pastry through the pasta machine several times so that it becomes thin, we must prepare the filling. The pre-cooked pumpkin is mashed into a paste in a bowl with a fork and refined with the fruity-sweet Mostarda Cremona (a well-known local product) and a little amaretti. This is followed by the parade discipline – the folding of the tortelli. Monica’s hands are fabulously nimble. While I proudly look at my first homemade tortelli from all sides, she has already half filled the tray. I still have to practice diligently until I can score with Italian housewife qualities.

Hearty cuisine – Salsiccia stew as a main course

For the main course, we first go to the large garden behind the restaurant. Here, different types of cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli and other vegetables grow in a colorful mix. The nutrient-rich soils around the Po Valley are ideal for growing cabbage. Since cabbage is one of the few vegetables that is also frost-resistant, it has been used as a winter vegetable for many generations. We cut the cabbage and onions into fine strips and put them in a large pan. There they stew for 1.5 hours together with a homemade tomato sauce and the delicious Salsiccia di Cremona. As a side dish to the stew, Monica serves us mashed potatoes refined with rosemary. Of course, we peeled the potatoes ourselves (also from the garden) and pressed them through the potato ricer with full muscle effort.

Sweet ending – Bombonini di Cremona

In the end, I’m amazed once again at what you can’t conjure up from flour, eggs, sugar and butter. Add crema, zabaglione (eggnog) and amaretti to the mixture and then roll flat with a lot of flour (so that it doesn’t stick) to a dough about 1cm thick. The bombonini are then cut out with different shapes and placed on a baking tray. The origin of the different shapes comes from the time when not every household had an oven and the goods were brought to central ovens. At that time, each household used its own moulds. The bombonini taste particularly good when served with a small bowl with a mascarpone-like mixture. Forgive me if I forgot the specific name, but after almost four hours of cooking and eating, I found myself in a food coma towards the end. You get me, don’t you?

In Lombardy, people like to drink a red wine Frizzante with such a lunch. Cheers meal!

Note: My trip through Lombardy took place as part of the #blogville project and was supported by the Regione Lombardia – thank you very much for this. As always, my readers can be sure that I always represent my views and enthusiasm here.