Travelling means discovering and expanding our knowledge, not only in terms of geography but also in terms of origins, traditions and tastes of the visited country.
Lake Como’s traditional food offers a variety of delicacies from lake to lands and mountains.
The flavours of the lake use the fish as basic ingredient with some famous recipes like:
Pesce in Carpione
It is a traditional method we use to preserve the fish without the need of a refrigerator.
It’s usually served cold and it’s amazing as both a starter and a main course. Gut, clean, scale and dry the fish; season it all over with salt and pepper and dust it with flour. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the fish on both sides until golden. Remove and set aside on a large plate. Mince together half onion, one garlic clove, some celery and one carrot, stir fry these vegetables in some olive oil and after 3-4 minutes add some thyme, one or two cloves and a spoonful of whole pepper grains. Lastly, add half glass of vinegar and half glass of dry white wine: bring to a boil, then pour this sauce over the fish, adding some parsley. Let it cool before eating.
From the valleys and the mountains comes instead the tradition of “polenta”
Polenta toc
Made using different types of flour with butter and cheese, it is cooked into a copper pot on fire. The tradition says no plates are needed! Everyone get a bite directly from the pot, in a friendly atmosphere.
Once it was prepared only at weddings and baptisms. In fact, given the large amount of butter and cheese required, Toc was a rich dish, suitable for celebrating special occasions.
Cook the polenta with local cornmeal. When it’s cooked, add the butter and then the cheese, cut into small pieces, mixing them little by little. It isn’t an easy preparation, and if you get one step wrong, the polenta releases the butter and it’s no longer edible.
If you want to dabble in cooking with our recipes, please share your photos with us and send us your comments.
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