Italian cooking is really full of fabulous recipes. Regional traditions, that are still alive in our territory, create a real foodie encyclopaedia, full of internal differences and potentialities. Abroad the knowledge of this huge variety is missing.

Italy means PIZZA, MOZZARELLA, PASTA, but we are not just that, we are also PIZZA, MOZZARELLA and PASTA. If I have to choose only one regional recipe among all the Italian ones, I say PASTICCIOTTO, which is the name of a hot sweet made with custard and shortcrust pastry.

Pasticciotto is the symbol of the Italian city Lecce, that is located in the south of Italy. It seems that it was born in 1745 thanks to the pastry chef Ascalone, with remained custard and shortcrust pastry, that weren’t enough for an entire cake. In general the most realistic data is that this sweet was surely born in the 18th century. If you go in Salento, you can eat it in every bakery.

It’s really tasty, it’s hot and full of custard or custard and black cherries. Within your pasticciotto you can find all the warmth and the profusion of southern regions. In addition there is the cake version, I have prepared it for my blog and you can see it in the picture.

Recently a pastry chef from Campi Salentina promoted a black pasticciotto made with chocolate and called Obama. We hope that also this promotional effort could be the prelude to “ITALY: pasta, pizza, mozzarella and more else!”

Thanks to La Mora in Cucina