The Cilento region’s vascuotto rusks
Fresh and light
A simple yet delicious dish: We’re talking about the Cilento region’s “acquasale”, a quick recipe that’s primarily enjoyed during the summer months.
The month of June is the forerunner to summer and treats us to the first hot days of the year. Today, we’d like to introduce you to a dish that’s simple but extremely tasty and light – the perfect lunch on your glamping holidays in the Cilento region. Acquasale is one of the Cilento region’s traditional peasant’s dishes, and was once eaten for breakfast by the inhabitants of Castellabate – especially fisherfolk and farmers – in summer. The Cilento region’s fisherfolk used to prepare this dish by soaking hard rusks directly in seawater.
To prepare acquasale, immerse a rusk (pane biscottato in Italian or vascuotto in the local dialect) in water and leave it to soften for a few moments. Then, remove the water, break the bread into pieces, and put it on a plate. Garnish it with tomatoes, local olive oil, salt, and oregano. If you’ve never heard of rusks, they’re a type of crunchy, twice-baked bread made of wheat flour, which (in Italy) is baked in a wood-fired oven. We’ll tell you more about the Cilento region’s vascuotto rusks another time. In the meantime, why not give acquasale a try?
A simple yet delicious dish: We’re talking about the Cilento region’s “acquasale”, a quick recipe that’s primarily enjoyed during the summer months.
The month of June is the forerunner to summer and treats us to the first hot days of the year. Today, we’d like to introduce you to a dish that’s simple but extremely tasty and light – the perfect lunch on your glamping holidays in the Cilento region. Acquasale is one of the Cilento region’s traditional peasant’s dishes, and was once eaten for breakfast by the inhabitants of Castellabate – especially fisherfolk and farmers – in summer. The Cilento region’s fisherfolk used to prepare this dish by soaking hard rusks directly in seawater.
To prepare acquasale, immerse a rusk (pane biscottato in Italian or vascuotto in the local dialect) in water and leave it to soften for a few moments. Then, remove the water, break the bread into pieces, and put it on a plate. Garnish it with tomatoes, local olive oil, salt, and oregano. If you’ve never heard of rusks, they’re a type of crunchy, twice-baked bread made of wheat flour, which (in Italy) is baked in a wood-fired oven. We’ll tell you more about the Cilento region’s vascuotto rusks another time. In the meantime, why not give acquasale a try?
