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Scauratielli or scauratieddi is a delicious dessert recipe that is a favorite among children and adults in the Campanian inland. All you need to do is watch Antonietta Rotondo, of the Terre di Conca agriturismo (working farm/culinary center/ongoing organic food extravaganza..yes an Italian Note coming soon). You’ll be hard pressed to see her with anything but a smile on her face as she prepares any regional dish of delicacy in general, and this recipe specifically:

Ingredients for 10 people:
1/2 liter of water
500 gr. flour
(This recipe can be made with more or less flour and water as long as they are used in equal amounts)
a pinch of salt
½ glass of marsala, port or strong wine
1 clove
1 stick of cinnamon
Grated rinds of 1/2 lemon and 1 orange
40 gr of sugar (optional)

Place all the liquid ingredients, sugar, citrus rinds, clove and cinnamon in a pan and bring to a boil for 2/3 minutes in order to fully release the flavours. Remove from the heat and slowly add the flour and salt, mix lightly and turn onto a wooden board. Mash out any lumps with a fork or pestle and then kneed the dough until soft.

Take a small amount of pastry and roll into lengths of 10cm and 1 cm in diameter. You might want to moisten your hands with a little oil to avoid the dough from sticking. Shape into the characteristic form (the two ends crossing over in the middle to form a loop…see fotos).

Fill a deep pan with oil and bring to a boil. Deep fry the raw scauratielli for 2/3 minutes and drain well on paper towels.

Fill a separate bowl with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon powder. Dip the hot pastry into this mixture and serve on a bed of lemon leaves.

Recipe by Antonietta Rotondo for Terre di Conca

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“Weeds”, wrote American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, “are plants whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

For those fortunate enough to live in Italy, many are already familiar with the oranoleptic virtues of wild asparagus, broccoletti, thistles, chickory, chives, wild fennel, mint, puntarelle and rucola.

But would you be able to recognize them growing in your garden? The Mediterranean region has some of the few surviving cultures that continue to scavenge for edible weeds. The tradition in Italy goes back to Roman times, but now it is mostly the older people (those who survived the famine of World War II) who can tell the difference between agretti and erba cipollina. Edible weeds, when picked in the wild, are tasty, uncontaminated and an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.

Here is your chance to learn more about the wonderful and healthy world of edible weeds! Antonietta Rotondo will take us into the fields at Terre di Conca to identify and pick edible weeds and learn how to prepare them.

For lunch, apart from this bounty of the fields, eco-chef Berardino Lombardo will also prepare a cornucopia of non-meat and organic dishes including frittate made from his the eggs of his chicken, duck and geese, pancotto, cheeses, soups, legumes and desserts. All served with freshly baked bread and excellent wine.

After lunch we will visit the nearby 15th century Convento dei Lattani, gloriously perched on top of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina. Of special interest are the church doors dating from 1508 with its 20 decorated wooden panels and the convent’s Spanish-gothic window.

Only an hour and a half from Rome, Terre di Conca is an easy drive and an undiscovered and still uncontaminated paradise.

Date: To be estabished (probably in June)

Time: 10am - 5pm

Cost: Adults: €50,00. Children 5-12: €25,00. Toddlers up to 5: free.

To participate register here no later than . Minimum 15 people.

Read what guests and food experts have to say about their experiences at Terre di Conca:

“We had a wonderful Saturday. Thank you for setting that up. It was like a mini holiday far from the business of Rome. The food was amazing, the setting spectacular and the company delightful. “

“We enjoyed the day so much ourselves. We were trying to decide on our way home what our favorite dish was and we all agreed, it was everything! For all of us it was a very memorable day.”

“We had a very nice time on Saturday. So thoughtful of you to order the lovely weather to go with the good food.”

Read what the food experts have to say about Berardino Lombardo:

Faith Willinger:
“Berardino’s organic farm supplies the restaurant with poultry, rabbits, pork, salumi and a garden of heirloom vegetables and fruits. The menu is pure tradition, with local just-made mozzarella, sheep’s milk ricotta, and polenta sauced with sausage, for starters”…”The bread is outstanding, baked in their wood-burning oven”…”There’s local pecorino aged in barrique casks, caciocavallo cheese aged six, twelve, or eighteen months, jam tarts (with homemade jam from organic heirloom fruit), conventuali butter cookies, spiraled with nuts and raisins, and scauratielli, or boiled cookies drenched with honey and orange zest. ”

Luciano Pignataro:
“This is one of those rare places that should be kept jealously secret and revealed sparingly only to those capable of appreciating the state of euphoria that comes when every pleasurable sense is fullfilled; like that offered by Berardino Lombardo, anthropological chef-turned-farmer-and-breeder who, with his wife Antonietta, have created a breath-taking restaurant, situated amidst ancient chestnut groves and the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina.”

Directions:

1. Take the A1 Highway south (towards Naples) and exit at San Vittore.

2. Follow the signs for Mignano Montelungo. After 2 km circa you will come to a large intersection with a stoplight. Turn right onto the Via Casilina and continue for 8.5 km. Turn right at signs for Mignano Montelungo.

3. Cross the railroad, go through Mignano and follow signs for Conca della Campania (or Conca), for another 8.5 kms. There are no signs for Terre di Conca which is on the left before reaching Frazione Piantoli.

by Stefano Polacchi, editor-in-chief of Gambero Rosso.

“How many chefs today can truly say they are eco-friendly? I try to be… but for me it comes more naturally because of where I live and the the choices I have made; if I did things any other way I could no longer make a living . My cuisine is inextricably tied to the land. But when you are far from the land, how ecological can you be?”

Berardino Lombardo is a troublemaker, most of all for himself. He has a good head on his shoulders and his feet are firmly planted on the ground, but his thoughts are, and have always been, totally focused towards utopia: so much so that a part of his dreams have already born fruit and he is looking to enlarge on them.

Berardino ran a successful and highly-awarded restaurant, La Caveja at Pietravairano (in the province of Caserta). Then he bought a farm where he could produce his own vegetables, fruits and herbs and raise farm animals (black pigs, capons and chickens) in semi-liberty… In the end he left the restaurant and retired to Conca della Campania where he is surrounded by 30 hectares of paradise and everything a man like him could possibly need. It is here that he produces his “treasures” such as the stringata - a monument to pork - which can be found in great gourmet restaurants and is revered like crowned jewels.

You can find him at the center of his dining hall, completely at ease, cooking for his customers as if they were guests at his home… It certainly doesn’t look like a model that can be easily exported. There are however, qualities that can be duplicated. In fact Berardino has a project he’s working on (it’s at an advanced stage of conception and will shortly be visible online): a Relais&Chateaux immersed in the woods, between heirloom fruit orchards and fields of wild herbs: bitter chicory, borage, thistles and cardoons, porcacchia and berries, Morello cherries and wild plums, sweet and sour apples, chickens and capons. There will be twenty rooms with a kitchen-laboratory totally dedicated to wild produce. a club with fifty members who will be owners and beneficiaries of the structure.

“I am already in contact with Italian and international professionals. Soon the project will be online, and subscriptions are already available… There are 20 hectares of incontaminated grazing land where one can live in tune with nature, where one can cook what one has picked in the field…” Simply put, a slice of utopia, a utopia directly cloned from Berardino’s farm; it’s not only a way to maintain physical health and mental wellbeing, but also a means of defending the environment and protecting hectares and hectares from cementification, contamination and fires.

This is an idea that could be repeated in a forgotten corner of Australia, England, or Japan. In the meantime Berardino lives and thrives here. People travel from far and wide to eat at his tables. Soon there will be a Relais… and a depressed area of southern Italy will find a new life, and many people will benefit, for a while at least.

Ingredients 300 gr. chestnuts, 200 gr. beans, 2 cloves of garlic.Salt and red pepper to taste.

Boil the chestnuts and beans separately. In a pan, heat the garlic, oil and peperoncino until the garlic is lightly browned, then add the chestnuts and beans. Salt and cook for 20 minutes. Serve hot. Serves 4.

Rugged, handsome and charismatic, Berardino Lombardo is the product of his native region, the Sannio. Ever since he can remember, the land, its people and the food have been a constant source of inspiration in every aspect of his work – both as a chef as well as a world-class breeder and producer of pork and cured meats.

Chef Lombardo is a man with a mission. Born and raised in the Sannio, he is passionate about maintaining the great culinary traditions of Southern Italy. He has spent years tracking down local recipes, cajoling mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers into sharing the cooking wisdom that has been handed down from mother to daughter. His philosophy is based on three basic principles: respect the land, follow the seasons and always keep in mind the history behind each recipe. His organic farm supplies the ingredients used in his recipes. He raises fruit, vegetables, geese, ducks, guinea hens, cows and the famous maiale nero casertano, once on the verge of extinction. He produces fine cured meats and salamis as well as a unique creation of his own invention, “la Stringata”, the result of tying together lard, bacon and loin of pork - hence the name - ’stringed’.

In the early 90’s Berardino launched and ran La Caveja, one of the region’s best-known restaurants. But such was his desire for perfection, he decided to create his own estate where he could grow the produce for his new restaurant according to his own strict guidelines. At Terre di Conca, with its 40 hectares of organically grown farmland, Berardino could finally dedicate time to accumulating a seed bank for local varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables, many of which are on the verge of exctinction. But he is best known for his selective breeding of the Casertan black pig (maiale nero Casertano), once on the verge of extinction, which roam in the woods on his estate.

Here is what the food critics say about Berardino Lombardo:

Faith Willinger, author of Adventures of an Italian Food Lover:
“Berardino’s organic farm supplies the restaurant with poultry, rabbits, pork, salumi and a garden of heirloom vegetables and fruits. The menu is pure tradition, with local just-made mozzarella, sheep’s milk ricotta, and polenta sauced with sausage, for starters”…”The bread is outstanding, baked in their wood-burning oven”…”There’s local pecorino aged in barrique casks, caciocavallo cheese aged six, twelve, or eighteen months, jam tarts (with homemade jam from organic heirloom fruit), conventuali butter cookies, spiraled with nuts and raisins, and scauratielli, or boiled cookies drenched with honey and orange zest. ”

Luciana Squadrilli (Gambero Rosso):
Berardino Lombardo has invented “La Stringata”, a monument to flavour and an extraordinary example of cured pork.”

Luciano Pignataro:
“This is one of those rare places that should be kept jealously secret and revealed sparingly only to those capable of appreciating the state of euphoria that comes when every pleasurable sense is fullfilled; like that offered by Berardino Lombardo, anthropological chef-turned-farmer-and-breeder who, with his wife Antonietta, have created a breath-taking restaurant, situated amidst ancient chestnut groves and the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina.”

Berardino Lombardo è animato da una grande passione per la sua terra d’origine e la applica da sempre in tutti gli aspetti della sua attività. Creando anni fa il ristorante La Caveja e basandone la cucina ed il successo su ricette e prodotti assolutamente locali e di qualità, ha sviluppato il suo interesse al punto di decidere di avviare la sua propria Azienda, Terre di Conca, su bellissime colline in vista del suo paese. Qui l’esperienza maturata in cucina e l’amore per la terra ed i suoi frutti stagionali si combinano; la profonda conoscenza delle varietà locali di ortaggi, frutta ed olive come pure l’allevamento di galline, faraone ed oche. Infine ed ancora più speciali i selezionatissimi maiali neri casertani allevati quasi in libertà: oltre agli ottimi salumi classici, Berardino ne ha creato uno suo da gustare solo qui. La stessa ricerca è applicata nelle ricette spesso recuperate nei giorni di mercato incontrando gli anziani della zona.