
Spoja Lorda | Photo taken by www.illavorodeicontadini.org
The cuisine of Ravenna, and of Romagna in general, finds its greatest expression right in the first courses. In broth or not, they are the key elements of the local food and drink tradition and there is no way to resist their tastiness.
They are made with housemade egg pasta and, according to the recipe, they are served with rich meat sauces, delicious broths, cheese fillings and oceans of parmesan cheese and nutmeg. There is a wide range of pasta types: tagliatelle, but also strozzapreti, with ragu according to the Romagna recipe, filled pasta in broth, also known with the dialect term spoja lorda, cappelletti filled with cheese and the compulsive passatelli.
Moreover, there are the typical maltagliati (literally badly cut ones), which are usually served with beans and legumes and the curzul, another type of long ribbon pasta like tagliolini that are usually served with shallot and cubes of bacon.