Mortadella : tasty combinations and recipes

Cured meats: ladies and gentlemen, here's Mortadella

Good, perhaps very good, certainly tasty. Mortadella is a perfect addition to the cold cuts and cheese platter and is perfect for its many qualities: aroma, flavour, deliciousness. Its multifaceted nature allows it to obtain an exclusive place in a respectable kitchen, in fact, mortadella can be used for first courses, second courses, appetizers and quick-and-run sandwiches.

In short, discovering its thousand uses becomes a perfect moment to save dinner and be sure that you are enjoying one of the best cured meats. The preference for a DOP and IGP product becomes, for any Italian, a perfect starting point for discovering cured meats. Here are some ideas.

Mortadella and appetizers

One of the most classic uses is to use mortadella as a component of cured meat appetizers. Cut into cubes or sliced, it is perfect. However, there are other solutions:

• Savoury cake. The puff pastry includes mortadella and asparagus - or another vegetable - like parmesan on tomato pasta. A perfect match! Perfect for an afternoon party, a rich aperitif, a brunch-style lunch with cured meats.
• Bruschettas. Another truly ready & Go use is to use it with bruschetta, just add a little spreadable cheese and prefer sliced ​​salami.
• Delicious rolls. The appetizer you don't expect: slices of mortadella with blue cheese inside, here's how to fill the appetizer table with taste and color.

Mortadella and first courses

First courses loudly welcome the strong flavor of mortadella which, combined with other ingredients, lends itself to becoming an integral part of a delicious sauce. Here are some ideas:

• The cannelloni. Mushrooms are a companion for a snack - and for lunch! - for a delicious and tasty filling. The béchamel acts as a glue, or you can prefer buffalo ricotta , in short, various ingredients lend themselves to perfection!
• Lasagna. Interspersing the cooked ham - another protagonist of the cured meat platter - with slices of mortadella between one layer and another becomes a brilliant idea for bringing a dish to the table with an extra touch, a little is enough.
• Pasta. Baked pasta with peas and mortadella cubes is a dish capable of making everyone agree: adults and children. Easy to make without excessive preparation, it allows you to dedicate time to the family while the oven does its job!

Mortadella and second courses

Mortadella lends itself to second courses when accompanied by cheese or beef. Pork and poultry have too different characteristics to be accompanied by this ingredient and obtain the infamous extra touch. Among the ideas are:

• Rolls. Beef , or even better veal, allows the mortadella to increase the flavor, creating a rounded and complete flavour.
• Aosta Valley. Mortadella instead of cooked ham , and that's it, perhaps creating mini Valle d'Aosta and interspersing the filling. It doesn't take much and the variety is ready immediately!
• Meatballs . The great classic, grandmother's dish, the traditional note. Talking about meatballs means reliving that nostalgic emotion that each of us chooses to keep deep in our hearts.

Mortadella and take away

Street food with the most classic stuffed sandwich loudly welcomes mortadella. After all, one of the best ways to enjoy the authentic taste is to eat the product "as is". The refined palate and in search of that something extra, accompanies the sandwich with a taleggio cheese with pistachios or a ready-made sauce, you need to choose, it's worth - almost - everything.

DOP cured meats: mortadella and authentic version

In the refrigerated counter of the local butcher, as well as in the windows of the online butcher shop, today we are used to seeing two versions of mortadella : with and without pistachios, but which is the original version? Which came first? The origins of the cured meat date back to Roman times, today it is considered a poor food, while a long time ago it was destined for the tables of the richest, the nobles, in short for those who could afford to bring a refined cured meat to the table.

With vs without. What? Pistachios

Mortadella is divided into two schools of thought and has always been successful here or there. Pistachios represent the watershed par excellence. The presence or absence of added value is given by the history of the cured meat which begins in the Middle Ages, more precisely from Lazio, here it was born without pistachios and after a period of strong interest it began to see its decline.

Years later it reappears in Bologna, where today it is a peculiar product of the culinary tradition and represents one of the typical PGI cured meats of the area, just think of the name of the city. The specification that made the food product certified defines mortadella without pistachios, an element to be added at a later time or in other variations - to date the Roman version has been enriched with this ingredient. Therefore we can loudly affirm that real mortadella is natural, without pistachios which, however, do not clash but offer an alternative touch. In short, what matters is enjoying a good slice!