You could practically fill an entire bookshop with cookbooks containing local Riminese recipes. Without prejudice to the piada or the piadina romagnola – both of which are always a hit, whatever the filling – there is such a range of local dishes to enjoy in the region and the local arzdore make delicious traditional meals every day (an arzdora is a cross between a hostess and an absolute queen of the kitchen in Rimini and Romagna dialect).
Certainly worth a mention are traditional puff pastry and fresh pasta dishes, which offer plenty of opportunities to indulge. From tagliatelle with ragù to lasagne, tagliolini with clams (or poveracce as they’re sometimes called!), ravioli stuffed with herbs and raviggiolo cheese and topped off with shavings of Sant’Agata Feltria white truffle, delicious passatelli and cappelletti in broth, a staple on most Rimini tables during the holidays. To sum up, when it comes to pasta, you’re truly spoilt for choice!
The local meat and fish dishes are also exquisite (such as “rustida” – a barbecued fish dish – or cuttlefish with peas), including roast chicken, Romagna grilled beef, fragrant Mora Romagnola cured meats and– for the more adventurous among you–delicious cannellini beans with pork and tripe.
And if you’ve still got room left you simply must try the local cheeses. First off is the famous squacquerone, a soft cheese with a delicate flavour that’s perfect for spreading on a piadina wrap, and second is fossa cheese, which is often grated on pasta and meat dishes. Finally, for the sake of brevity, we’ll quickly mention a few of our favourite puddings: bustreng (a raisin and dried fruit cake), pagnotta di Pasqua, piada dei morti (filled with walnuts, raisins and almonds and enjoyed in October and November) and –somewhat surprisingly – the famous zuppa inglese (literally meaning English soup…) which, despite its name, was invented right here in Romagna!
