The Forgotten Table
of Molise

Tavoliere Molisano

Molise Artisan Board — Salumi, Scamorza di Agnone & Truffle Honey

Our journey begins where every proper Molise gathering does — with the land spread open on a board. Thin-sliced Ventricina del Vastese, a slow-cured, fennel-and-chili-kissed pork salume from the Trigno River valley, rests alongside paper-fine ribbons of Soppressata di Molise, dotted with whole black peppercorns. The cheese centerpiece is a hand-pulled Scamorza di Agnone, made by the Armenise dairy just outside Agnone in the upper Molise highlands — its mild, milky interior yielding to a firm smoked exterior that speaks of beech wood and mountain air. A wedge of aged Caciocavallo Silano DOP — stretched-curd, cave-aged for twelve months by the Colle dell'Angelo cooperative in Bojano — adds sharp, buttery complexity. Black truffle honey from the forests of Frosolone drizzled over the board ties every element together, with grilled slices of pane casereccio — rustic sourdough from a Campobasso wood-burning bakery — as the vehicle.

Wine Pairing: Biferno Bianco DOC — Di Majo Norante "Biblos" Falanghina, coastal Molise — bright acidity, white peach, mineral salinity to cut the rich salumi.

Cavatelli al Tartufo Nero di Frosolone

Hand-Rolled Cavatelli · Frosolone Black Truffle · Pecorino del Matese · Sage Brown Butter

No dish is more thoroughly Molise than cavatelli — the small, shell-curled pasta made from nothing more than semolina, water, and patience. Unlike the egg-rich pastas of Emilia-Romagna, Molise's cavatelli are humble, rustic, and structurally magnificent — their concave curl engineered over generations to hold precisely this kind of silky, truffle-laden sauce. Chef Robert hand-rolls each piece from stone-ground durum semolina sourced from the Molino Iafigliola mill in Campobasso.

The sauce is deliberate restraint: unsalted butter from the Caseificio La Molisana dairy coaxed to a nut-brown foam in a copper pan, then showered with hand-torn sage leaves from the on-site herb garden. Freshly shaved Tuber melanosporum — black Périgord truffle harvested from the oak forests surrounding Frosolone by local tartufaio Marco Colantuono's family — folds into the butter just off the heat, its volatile aromatics preserved, never cooked away. A cloud of aged Pecorino del Matese from the Agriturismo Il Vecchio Faggio near Capracotta finishes the plate: sharp, grassy, unmistakably of this mountain.

Wine Pairing: Tintilia del Molise DOC Rosso — Cipressi Winery, San Felice del Molise — earthy, violet, black cherry with a wild herbal note that mirrors the truffle.

Minestra Maritata alla Molisana

Molise Wedding Soup · Podolica Beef Broth · Escarole · Tiny Meatballs · Saffron

Minestra maritata — "married soup," a marriage of greens and meat — is one of southern Italy's oldest preparations, and Molise's version is arguably the most elemental. The foundation is an eight-hour broth drawn from the bones of Podolica cattle — a rare, semi-wild breed raised on the free ranges of the Matese plateau by the Azienda Agricola Colantuono outside Bojano. The Podolica, whose milk creates the region's finest Caciocavallo, produces beef of extraordinary depth: lean, mineral, and deeply aromatic.

Into this amber broth, Chef Robert adds hand-rolled meatballs no larger than a hazelnut, made from a mixture of Podolica beef and Agnello del Molise (local mountain lamb), bound with breadcrumbs soaked in the broth itself and seasoned with fresh marjoram and nutmeg. Wilted escarole from the Mercato Contadino di Campobasso — the regional farmers' market held every Saturday in the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II — adds bitterness and body. The finishing touch: a pinch of hand-harvested Zafferano di Capracotta saffron, dissolved in warm broth, painting the soup gold and lending its faint meadow sweetness to every spoonful.

Wine Pairing: Pentro di Isernia DOC Rosso — Borgo di Colloredo Estate — medium-bodied Montepulciano blend, red plum, dried herbs, gentle tannin for the rich broth.

Agnello al Forno con Patate e Peperoni Cruschi

Slow-Roasted Molise Mountain Lamb · Cruschi Peppers · Rosemary Potatoes · Broccoletti

The secondi piatti of Molise are built for the mountains — substantial, honest, and deeply rooted in the pastoral traditions of the transumanza. For this course, Chef Robert sources a whole bone-in shoulder of Agnello del Molise IGP from the Cooperativa degli Allevatori del Matese, a sheep-raisers' cooperative in the Matese highlands whose flocks graze free on wild herbs and grasses at altitude, resulting in meat of rare tenderness and aromatic complexity.

The lamb is marinated overnight in a paste of Molise extra-virgin olive oil — cold-pressed at the Frantoio Colavita near Larino, one of the region's oldest continuous olive presses — with crushed garlic, fresh rosemary from the hillside, and ground dried Peperoni Cruschi di Venafro: the legendary crispy dried sweet red peppers of southern Molise, fried brittle in olive oil until they shatter like edible glass. Baby potatoes from the Azienda Agricola Di Niro in Monteroduni roast in the pan drippings until golden. Wild broccoletti (broccoli rabe) blanched and sautéed with garlic and a splash of Tintilia wine complete the plate — bitter, green, alive.

Wine Pairing: Tintilia del Molise DOC Riserva — Di Majo Norante "Ramitello" — structured, dark fruit, tobacco, long finish; stands up to the slow-roasted lamb with authority.

Caggionetti con Ricotta e Vincotto

Fried Pasta Crescents · Sweet Ricotta & Chestnut Filling · Molise Vincotto · Candied Walnuts

Caggionetti are Molise's most beloved festive sweet — half-moon pasta parcels fried crisp in olive oil, their origins stretching back to the Samnite countryside. Traditionally prepared at Christmas and for village feast days, they represent the full poetry of Molise's cucina povera: humble ingredients, extraordinary results. Chef Robert's interpretation honors the tradition completely while sourcing each element from regional producers.

The dough — thin as parchment, made from Molino Iafigliola white flour, white wine, and Molise olive oil — wraps a filling of fresh ricotta di pecora (sheep's milk ricotta) from the Fattoria Sociale La Quercia near Frosolone, blended with roasted chestnut flour from the forests of Capracotta, raw organic honey from the Apicoltura Zilli in Pietrabbondante, a pinch of cinnamon, and finely chopped dark chocolate. Each parcel is sealed with a fork's edge and fried golden in Colavita olive oil.

Plated on a pool of warm vincotto di Molise — a slow-cooked grape must reduction from the Tintilia harvest at the Di Majo Norante estate — and scattered with candied walnuts from the Cooperativa Molise Tartufi in Frosolone, finished with powdered sugar and a single sprig of fresh mint from the garden. Sweet, earthy, ancient.

Wine Pairing: Molise Passito DOC — late-harvest Moscato from Borgo di Colloredo — apricot, orange blossom, honeyed sweetness that echoes the vincotto.