Here are a few Italian dishes we’d never heard of before reading this article. And we thought we knew pretty much everything there is to know about Italian cuisine!
(Horse Meat) Tartar
In Verona, the city of love, I went to an old-style trattoria and ate the plate pictured above. It looks like regular beef tartar, right? Wrong. It was horse meat tartar.
As horrifying as the idea of eating horse meat sounds, it wasn’t so bad. Once I got past the salty taste and thick consistency, I appreciated the tartar’s rich flavor. Warm crostini and juicy capers helped normalize the experience, and overall it was an interesting insight into more obscure Veronese culture.
Sweet Trout
Next, I tried another typical Veronese plate: trout marinated with sweet onions and raisins. The above picture makes it look like any regular plate of fish, but looks can be deceiving. The dish was served cold, so that the contrast between the salty fish and the saccharine onions and raisins put my taste buds, let’s just say, out of their comfort zone.
Raw Mushroom Salad
On a separate day of Italian taste-testing, I tried what translates to a raw mushroom salad. The chef sliced up raw mushroom (I know, sounds icky!), mixed them with parmesan cheese shavings, and drizzled the combination with olive oil and parsley.
I’ve always been revolted by the texture and smell of raw mushrooms, so it took me a little longer to warm up to this dish. However once I got past the first few bites, I was pleasantly surprised.
Wow!
Well, these rather obscure Italian dishes sound very, um…interesting! We’re not sure we’d want to try them, but we are pretty curious about what else Italian cuisine has to offer.
Would You Try These Out Yourself?
Source: recipestation.com
