A day of Salento flavours, from the rustico to iced coffee
A day in Lecce can be a journey through the flavours of the Salento, from breakfast to dinner. Begin with a pasticciotto, an oval tart of shortcrust pastry made with lard, filled with warm custard, eaten fresh from the oven, accompanied by a caffè in ghiaccio con latte di mandorla, espresso poured over ice and sweetened with almond milk, the typical drink of Salento summers. Mid-morning comes the rustico leccese, a puff pastry disc filled with béchamel, mozzarella and tomato, and the "pucce", soft bread rolls with olives.
At lunch, the pasta is homemade: orecchiette, the "little ears" of durum wheat, served with cime di rapa, turnip tops, anchovies and chilli, or with tomato sauce and ricotta forte, a fermented, pungent cheese; and the ciceri e tria, an ancient dish of chickpeas and pasta, part of it fried until crisp. Vegetables are central to Salento cuisine: fava bean purée with wild chicory, pittule, small fried dough balls, and grilled vegetables preserved in oil. In the evening you can taste meat on the grill, the "turcinieddhri", small rolls of lamb offal, accompanied by the robust red wines of the area, Negroamaro and Primitivo, and finish with the "cotognata", quince paste, or almond pastries.
Tip: many masserie and cooking schools in the Salento offer orecchiette-making classes; in the old town of Lecce, look for the bakeries for rustici and pucce.
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