THE MAIN COURSE
Description
In the Cansiglio plain in Belluno this dish has regained its rightfully prestigious place on the menu. The autochthonous breed of sheep had almost died out when a number of farmers came together in a Slow Food Presidium, thus creating strictly-controlled breeding norms and guaranteeing that the animals are fed exclusively on milk. Together with the fresh, pure local air and the care and attention of the farmers, these regulations mean that today Alpago lamb is much sought-after for its tender, lean, tasty meat. It can be found in many recipes, but the most popular remains the simply delicious oven-roasted lamb.Lamb is also one of the specialities of the East Tyrol. Particularly substantial - and absolutely delicious - is the lamb fillet served with vegetables, or lamb stew with a sauce, the ingredients of which vary from one valley to the next. This delicate, pinkish-coloured meat is also used in unusual, particularly sophisticated dishes such as lamb served on a bed of spring salad, walnut purée and Apfeltascherln, a mouth-watering sort of pancake filled with fried apples. [R.D.N.]
by the way
When visitors think of mountain cuisine in the Dolomites they usually imagine meat dishes, mushrooms and other rich, intense flavours; but in the restaurants in Belluno and in the East Tyrol you will also find fish. In Belluno, trout is the most commonly found on the menu; Misurina salmon trout is absolutely delicious, while the bullhead fish from the Piave River (called marsoni locally) are served fried with, of course, polenta; and from Santa Croce Lake come the tasty samperiol (a freshwater fish typical of the lake) and the bisata (eel in the local dialect). Over the border in the East Tyrol even the most discerning diner will be impressed by the dishes featuring filleted blue trout, pike, catfish and carp. Here in the mountains freshwater fish has a particularly noble, delicate flavour - perhaps because of the pure mountain stream water or the crystal clear lakes? Tasting is believing… Information
Comunità Montana dell’AlpagoSlow Food Presidium
Via Papa Luciani, 7 - Puos D’Alpago
Tel. +39 0437 454358
www.alpago.bl.it
Pro Loco Tourist Association, Chies d’Alpago
via Salita Castello, 231
Tel. +39 0437 470193
