Strangolino of Ponti sul Mincio

The cuisine of Ponti sul Mincio, while drawing on the rich tradition of Mantua and Verona, has been embellished with typically local dishes such as strangolini, a gastronomic product created using grated stale bread.
For the age-old series “nothing is thrown away”, what was an expedient would have risen in tone to the point of becoming a specialty on the table, as is the case with the Ponti sul Mincio strangolino.

Background

We can calmly consider it the first cousin of the strangolapreti, strozzapreti, strangozzi present in the food of South Tyrol, Alto Adige, Trentino and then, further down, Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo and as far as Calabria, without neglecting the struzzapret of Corsica. At the very least, the strangolini become gentler in the diminutive and do not attack the clergy, remaining in the generic category of possible victims of (pleasant) overreach.
It seems that the strangolino and the capunsèl came from Tyrol, but as a stop on a journey that started further away.
Tyrolean noble families brought in nurses and maids from Bohemia, who prepared Servietteknὅdel in their homes, a bread dough reduced to a sausage and wrapped in a towel to keep it in shape.
Terrified, she improvised what she had: old bread, onion, eggs, a little speck, herbs picked from the garden and cut thinly. He reduced the dough into balls, cooked and served to those soldiers who ate so many that they later fell asleep.
In more recent history, strangolino was used as a side dish served to accompany a meat dish.
They are currently presented as a first course seasoned with melted butter flavored with sage leaves.

Recipe

Doses for 10 people: – 500 g of grated bread (slippers or rosettes) – 150 g of butter – 150 g of grated Grana Padano DOP – 6 whole eggs – 400 ml of vegetable broth – 1 whole nutmeg

Method

Place the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and grate all the nutmeg into it. In the meantime, melt the butter over medium heat until it becomes hazelnut coloured, remove it from the heat and add it to the breadcrumbs. Mix with the help of a spoon and when the butter is well mixed with the bread, add the hot broth little at a time. Once this is done, add the Grana Padano and immediately after the whole eggs. Knead with your hands until you obtain a homogeneous mixture that is neither too soft nor too firm. Now remove small pieces of dough and with the palm of your hand form small oval balls about 5 centimeters long.
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Cooking and serving

Bring a pot of broth to the boil and dip them in (they will be ready as soon as they come back to the surface), drain them and serve them sprinkled with melted butter flavored with sage leaves.
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