What to Eat in Puglia
Orecchiette
The most traditional dishes with Orecchiette pasta you will see, just about everywhere in Puglia is the infamous Orecchiette Con Le Cime Di Rapa (orecchiette with broccoli rabe), a bitter form of broccoli common in Apulia. You can also find it with tomato sauce, a meat sauce, or with vegetables.
This fresh pasta's name comes from its shape: a concave little disk that resembles an ear. In Italian “Orecchiette” translates to "small ears”.
In Bari especially you will see this pasta integrated deeply into the culture of the older generation, as they sit on the streets hand making this pasta to sell.
Cavatelli
Cavatelli is another pasta shape, similar to the Orecchiette, but unopened.
Panzarotti
Panzerotti is a type of dough that is fried and stuffed, slightly resembling a smaller calzone. The classic is stuffed with tomato and mozzarella but it can also be stuffed with ham and mozzarella.
Focaccia Barese
Focaccia is the ultimate street food in Puglia that you have to try (maybe - every single day). Focaccia Barese is the second most famous Italian focaccia bread, and it comes from the town of Bari, following the fame of the Focaccia Genovese. Made with the most simple ingredients like semolina flour, cherry tomatoes and olives it's spectacular.
Friselle
Friselle resemble the shape of a thin bagel, but is FAR from that. The Apulian Friselle is a light and fresh, typically summer dish. It consists of crunchy Taralli prepared with durum wheat flour and cut horizontally in half and then baked until toasted. The traditional way to eat it is with tomato, garlic, oil and salt.
Sgagliozze
Sgagliozze are essentially fried polenta. It's an age-old tradition that you will find in Bari, dating back to ancient times when semolina wheat and olive oil made this decadent cake-like texture. You will find many women hand making this dish and selling it on the corners of the street as street food.
Featured both the burrata and Sgagliozze
Burrata
A typical cheese of Puglia is Burrata, an Italian cow milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains stracciatella and cream, giving it the most decadent, soft texture.
Seafood
You will find an abundance of fresh, locally caught seafood throughout the Pugliese cuisine, including local swordfish (pesce spada), sea bass (spigola and branzino), mullet (triglia), and bream (orata).
However, it's the sea urchins, octopus (polpo), cuttlefish, anchovies, mussels, scallops, clams, oysters, and squid that are the most popular. You'll even find these all served raw, known as "il crudo Barese"
Riso, Patate e Cozze or Tiella Barese
Linguine /Spaghetti Al Ricci
Ricci, or sea urchins, are a specialty of Puglia. Linguine al Ricci is typically served with sea urchins, garlic, parsley and a nice Apulian olive oil.
Bombette
Probably one of the most famous meat dishes in Puglia are the Bombette. These are pork rolls filled with cheese.
Fave e Cicorie
This dish is a staple meal of Puglia and is very simple, with rustic roots. Fave e Cicorie are made up of dried broad beans (fava beans) that are cooked and pureed and wild chicory, a bitter leafy green.
Food from Salento
Ciceri E Tria
A popular dish that you will find in Lecce is the Ciceri e Tria, which translates loosely to chickpeas and pasta. The chickpeas are soaked overnight to soften them and then simmered until tender with aromatic seasonal vegetables. The noodles for this dish are made by hand by mixing water, salt and local durum wheat which is a staple crop of the northern part of Apulia. Part of the pasta is fried, while the rest are simmered with the chickpeas, resulting with a delicious mix of fried pasta, soft, simmered pasta, and chickpeas.
Sagne 'ncannulate
Salento is home to another pasta shape, Sagne 'ncannulate, which are long twirled pasta strands. Traditionally it is paired with sugo schiattariciati, a simple, fresh tomato based sauce with olive oil, basil, a touch of garlic, and topped with crumbled cacioricotta cheese.
Pasticciotto
These little pastries, filled with a cream and usually a sour cherry, originally come from Salento and you will mainly find them in Lecce.
Pizza Rustica
Another pizza-like favorite of Puglia, though this one is a filled pie similar to the panzerotti and is a favorite street food in Lecce. If you are in Salento, try the Rustico Leccese, a puff pastry filled with tomato, cheese, and bechamel sauce.
Puccia
Puccia (singular) or Pucce (plural) are a type of bread used for street food sandwiches in the Salento region. You will find many with polpo or octopus!
Cafe Leccese
This coffee comes from Lecce and is essentially an iced coffee with almond milk. It's sweet and delicious to refresh you on a hot summer day.
Cheeses:
Burrata and Stracciatella
Puglia is one of Italy’s most famous cheese producing regions. They produce many different types including caciocavallo, burrata, stracciatella and cacioricotta (goat cheese) among others.
Where to Eat in Bari?
Bari was one of my favorite towns to eat in. If you're looking for where to eat in Bari check out this guide below!
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