Wanna eat something coming back from the beach or at the end of a party night? Or maybe during a day trip, as Anna is doing in the picture above? The most common street stalls along the Riviera Romagnola sell Piadina. Piadina is a flat bread traditionally made with pork lard, which you can fill in with anything. A little bit like a crepe, it can be the base for savory dishes, sweet desserts, or suggestive fusions. The most common combination being “stracchino e rucola” (spread cheese and rocket), “erba e salsiccia” (pot herb and sausage), “fontina e prosciutto” (cheese and ham), “verdure gratinate” (veggie gratin) …. and “nuttella”!
INGREDIENTS (10/12 piadinas) 1 kg of flour 200 g of pork lard (or 100 g of olive oil) 1 handful of salt 150 mL of water 100 mL of milk
DIRECTIONS
Create a well with 900 g of flour, add the salt and start kneading the fatty part. Work the dough, adding lukewarm water and milk, little by little. Cover the dough with a container or a towel and let it rest for about 0.5h. Then, divide it in 10/12 balls the size of a kiwi and flat them to a 25 cm disc. Help yourself in handling the dough with the remaining 100 g of flour. Cook it on a hot plate (pancake pen or similar) about 2 minute per side making holes with the tips of a fork to avoid the formation of bubbles.
TIPS TO OTHER LONGITUDES
At the origin, piadina was consumed as bread, alike to the Indian Chapati. Nowadays, it is eaten filled with anything you please. The best combination on our opinion is to put together something fresh (salad, rocket, stir-fried spinach), some melting cheese (fontina or mozzarella, to put in touch with hot piadina), and a protein-rich and tasty part (sausage, cold cuts, ecc...). Sobstituting lard with veggie oil makes it perfectly fitting a vegetarian diet.
