Trentino Alto Adige’s recipes reflect its unique blend of Italian and Austrian influences, with hearty meals like speck, dumplings, and apple strudel that warm the soul.

Traditional Alpine Recipes from Trentino Alto Adige

It is a tasty cuisine based on popular peasant cooking, which however has German influences and for the desserts draws heavily on Hungarian recipes for the use of dried fruit and spices.

Apples and cheeses are two well-known typical Trentino products. Mushrooms are also widely used in various recipes, especially in Trento. Smoked speck is another speciality of this region with which both mushrooms and polenta are often associated to make truly unique recipes.

Let's start with the appetisers by proposing the speck salad and roast meat pate.

Bacon salad

Typical recipes from Trentino Alto Adige

What you need for the bacon salad

one cabbage
250 g diced bacon
half a glass of wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of the bacon salad

Finely chop the cabbage and place it in a large bowl. Meanwhile, brown the diced bacon with the wine vinegar. Adjust the salt and pepper and pour this mixture over the chopped cabbage. Stir carefully and serve.

Roast meat pate

Ingredients for the roast meat pate

600 g veal meat
120 g sliced mixed mushrooms
250 g cooking cream
half a glass of white wine
2 cloves of garlic
grams 40 of butter
fish jelly to taste
olive oil and salt to taste
thinly sliced pickled cucumbers and peppers for garnishing

Preparation of the roast meat pate

In a saucepan put the butter and a few tablespoons of oil and the garlic cloves (to be removed at the end of cooking) and brown the meat on all sides. Add the cream, white wine and mushrooms and cook with the lid on for about an hour and a half.

As soon as it is cooked, pass everything through the mincer several times to obtain a kind of cream. To this cream add the fish gelatine, dissolved in a little water. Mix everything well, pour into a metal mould and refrigerate for about 3 hours. Once removed from the mould garnish with slices of cucumber and pickled peppers.

Let us now move on to the first courses and we could not start without talking about the famous canederli, which are cooked in many variations. I have chosen the most traditional one, dumplings in broth.

Dumplings in broth

Needed for the dumplings in broth

80 grams of softened butter
3 eggs
grams 80 grated Parmesan cheese
grams 250 of breadcrumbs
1.500 litres meat stock
nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of the dumplings in broth

In a large bowl, mix the butter with the beaten eggs, add the grated cheese, breadcrumbs and a pinch of nutmeg. Adjust salt and pepper and knead for a long time to obtain a homogeneous mixture that is not too soft. With this mixture form many balls that are cooked in the boiling broth for about ten minutes. Serve hot.

Ravioli trentini

Ingredients for the Trentino ravioli

For the dough

grams 300 rye flour
grams 400 of white flour
3 eggs
a tablespoon of olive oil
a pinch of salt

for the filling and seasoning

1 kg spinach
2 glasses of warm milk
1 onion
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
grams 180 butter
2 spoons of flour
grams 80 of grated grana padano cheese
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of Trentino ravioli

Mix the two flours on a pastry board and start kneading the dough by adding the beaten eggs, the tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and adding hot water until a smooth and compact dough is obtained.

This dough should be left to rest in a bowl covered with cling film for at least an hour.

Now prepare the filling.

Boil the spinach in a little salted water, squeeze it out as soon as it is cooked and chop it with the parsley.

In a large frying pan fry the finely chopped onion in a third of the butter, sprinkle with flour, pour in the very hot milk and, stirring constantly, add the spinach, with pepper and nutmeg. Add the grated cheese and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

While the filling is cooling, take the dough and make a fairly thin sheet with a rolling pin. From this pastry, cut out disks with a diameter of about 6 centimetres using moulds or a glass,

In the centre of each disc place a spoonful of filling and close the pastry by pinching the edges together.

The ravioli are now ready to be cooked in plenty of salted water. Remove them from the water once they have risen to the surface and season with melted butter and plenty of grated cheese. Serve hot.

Now to the main courses

Venison in blueberry sauce

Ingredients for venison in blueberry sauce

1,200 grams of chopped venison
grams 200 diced bacon
grams 250 fresh or frozen blueberries
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery rib
grams 150 of cooking cream
3 or 4 bay leaves
a few juniper berries
a pinch of marjoram
1 bottle of red wine
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Preparation of venison in blueberry sauce

First the venison must be marinated for at least 24 hours. We then prepare the marinade.

In a very large bowl we put the chamois pieces, the carrot, onion and celery, cut into small pieces, the bay leaves, juniper berries and marjoram. We cover everything with red wine and leave to rest.

In a saucepan, possibly earthenware, fry the diced bacon in a few tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes. Then add the floured meat stew and brown the pieces. Add the vegetables and the marinade wine, season with salt and pepper and cook with the lid on for at least one and a half hours.

Remove the meat from the sauce and set aside. Put the blueberries in the sauce and boil for 5 minutes. Mash or chop the sauce to form a kind of cream into which you put the pieces of meat and finally add the cream. Leave to cook for a couple of minutes and serve hot.

Rabbit in goat cheese sauce

What you need for rabbit in goat's cheese sauce

a not very large rabbit cut into pieces
a bunch of tarragon
grams 250 of cooking cream
grams 100 of fresh goat cheese
salt, pepper and olive oil to taste

Preparation of rabbit in goat cheese sauce

Cook the rabbit pieces with a little olive oil and the bunch of tarragon until cooked through, adding a little water if necessary.

Now prepare the dressing by melting the fresh goat cheese in the cooking cream. Place the rabbit pieces on a serving dish with the cheese sauce on top. Serve hot.

Now to the desserts

KRAPFEN

Ingredients for the KRAPFEN

For the dough

grams 500 white flour
grams 30 of brewer's yeast
grams 60 of sugar
2 egg yolks
grams 60 of butter
a glass of milk

for the filling

grams 250 of jam
a little milk

For baking

frying oil and icing sugar

Preparation of the KRAPFEN

Dissolve the yeast in a little warm milk, add 150 grams of flour and leave to rise for about half an hour covered with a cloth.

After this time, mix the eggs with the sugar, add it to the risen dough and, working with your hands, slowly add the milk and remaining flour, the softened butter and a pinch of salt. Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes. After that form balls with the dough and let them rise again until they double in volume.

Heat the frying oil and cook the dough balls until golden brown on all sides.

Remove from the oil, place them in blotting paper and once cooled, use a kitchen syringe to fill the inside with jam. Dust with icing sugar.

Chestnut cake

Needed for the chestnut cake

700 grams of chestnuts
5 eggs
grams 350 sugar
whipped cream for garnishing

Preparation of the chestnut cake

Boil the chestnuts in boiling water, shell and sieve them to obtain a kind of puree. To this puree, add the egg yolks whipped with sugar. The beaten egg whites are added last.

Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Once cold and removed from the cake tin, cut the cake horizontally into two parts and fill with whipped cream.