In Abruzzo, a typical recipe of the most deeply rooted tradition is prepared on May 1: the Virtù teramane.
Legend has it that the dish is so named because it had to be prepared by 7 virgins, using 7 legumes, 7 flavorings, 7 meats, 7 seasonal vegetables, 7 kinds of pasta, cooked in 7 hours–just as 7 are the Christian virtues.
According to some, however, the name comes from the legumes and vegetables that soldiers in Roman times carried in sacks, called precisely “Virtutes,” the fruits of the farmers’ field labor.
However, the legend closest to the truth tells that the virtues represent the goodwill, wisdom and imagination of the “virtuous” women who, after a long winter, were able to prepare a delicious dish to celebrate the arrival of spring with the leftovers from the larder, new crops and gastronomic scraps of various kinds.
They are neither a minestrone nor a soup, but a single dish prepared with fresh ingredients that, once upon a time, were the poorest and simplest products that the earth donated to the peasants: legumes, vegetables and first fruits of the incoming good season harvested together with smells, herbs and spices, wisely combined with the winter leftovers. The quantities and ingredients of Teramo’s Virtues are very subjective, in fact each family prepares its own version jealously guarding the recipe and handing it down from generation to generation.
The aspect that is not transcended, however, is its preparation, because it follows a long, meticulous ritual related to the search for the raw materials to be used, with a precise timeline to be respected:
- on the evening of April 29, soak the dried legumes separately and in plenty of water;
- the morning of April 30, you need to wash all the leafy vegetables and finely chop them, wilt them with a drizzle of evo oil and the onion without overcooking them, then go on to clean the fresh legumes and cook them;
- the afternoon of April 30 , egg pasta and meat “pallottine” are prepared;
- the morning of May 1, we move on to the actual preparation of the dish by assembling the ingredients.
This is not a simple recipe, but a tradition that makes Teramanians relive the taste of the emotions experienced in the family, the division of tasks, the waiting, the conviviality, the flavors of childhood. It is a dish that is cooked in abundance, to be eaten with several families and offered as a sign of peace to friends, neighbors or simple acquaintances.
For the recipe and preparation you can consult the following links:
