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Monthly Archive: May 2023

women's hands stirring pots of Le Virtù 1

Cuisine

Le Virtù – the recipe

Gabriella shares with me her recipe for Le Virtù Teramane. It is neatly handwritten but I think I spot a mistake. It says the recipe serves 50. I’m assured it’s correct. Fifty, it seems, is a normal May Day lunch gathering around these parts. Several women take part in the preparation of a meal that will satisfy several families and a multitude of friends and hangers-on. Gabriella suggests I get in touch before making Le Virtù so she can give me some extra tips. I don’t tell her that the chances of me ever producing Le Virtù for 50 people are just marginally stronger than me winning the Eurovision...

legumes, ham and vegetables 0

Cuisine

Le Virtù

Back when spring cleaning was a thing, the women of Teramo would make a meal of it. At the end of April, they would clean out the pantry of all leftover vegetables and pulses and freshen up drawers and shelves in readiness for the summer fruits.  The wilting winter greens and various fresh and dried pulses – beans, chick peas, lentils – would then be combined, together with a ham bone or two and the new spring herbs foraged from the fields, in a hearty, flavoursome minestrone and served for lunch on May Day.    Origins Exhausting though spring cleaning may be, it can leave you feeling virtuous, which...