Recipe: The Sarchiapone di Atrani, the triumph of flavor on the Amalfi Coast

Each village has its typical dish. In Atrani, jewel of the Amalfi Coast, the spokesman of gastronomy is the Sarchiapone, which housewives since time immemorial prepare - mainly - in July, on the day of the anniversary of Santa Maria Maddalena. It is a typical summer dish but it is also cooked at the end of winter, when the desire for spring and vegetable-based delicacies prevails over the gargantuan tables of the Christmas holidays. It is a dish that has as main ingredient the long green pumpkin, emptied and stuffed with a delicious filling that will not leave indifferent lovers of good food.

Ingredients:

1 long green pumpkin
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 mozzarella
400 grams of minced meat
300 grams of ricotta
50 grams of stale bread
40 grams of Parmesan cheese
tomato sauce as required
salt as required
pepper enough
parsley as required
Olive oil as required
Flour as required
Grated bread 1 egg

Method:

Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, remove the skin and divide it into small cylinders of about 10 cm each. Dig inside each single cylinder, in order to obtain the hollows to be filled with the stuffing, then blanch the pumpkin pieces in abundant salted water, for a few minutes. At this point the filling is prepared: in a deep container mix the minced meat together with the minced parsley, the stale bread - previously softened in water or milk -, the hard-boiled eggs cut into cubes as well as the mozzarella, ricotta and a pinch of salt and pepper. Work all the ingredients until they are well blended and then stuff the pumpkin cylinders, previously blanched and left to dry on a kitchen towel, to remove excess water. Once stuffed all the pumpkin pieces, flour them, pass them in the beaten egg, then in the breadcrumbs and fry them in plenty of boiling oil. When the stuffed pumpkin pieces are cooked, place them in a baking dish, cover them with tomato sauce, a handful of Parmesan cheese, and bake at 180 degrees for a little over half an hour.

Main photo: www.lucianopignataro.it