According to an ancient legend of Carnia, in a very remote time, a Guriuz, belonging to the people of the gnomes, fantastic forest presences greedy for everything, who roamed the valleys of the Alps and the Dolomites, stealing from the houses, was surprised by a housewife a steal some cream surfaced from freshly milked milk. Caught in the act, Guriuz tried to ingratiate himself with the housewife by teaching her the recipe for cjarsòns, exquisite spicy ravioli which spread throughout Carnia. Most likely. the origin of this specialty can be traced back to the cramârs, the ancient itinerant spice sellers who, in the 700th century, they crossed the Alps on foot carrying on the shoulders the characteristic crassigne small wooden container in which they stored the merchandise and oriental spices purchased in Venice to be sold in Germanic countries. Back home, it was a big party and the women were preparing the cjarsons, Potato dough agnolotti filled with ricotta mixed with all the leftover spices combined with dried fruit, sultanas, aromatic herbs and chocolate brought from the north.
Defining them ravioli, however, is an understatement. Cjarsons are much more, they are a traditional dish that encompasses the history and attachment of Friulians to their land and roots. As always happens in poor food of peasant tradition there is never a unique and certain recipe. In fact, every family has its own traditional recipe which involves the use of herbs and spices different from the others. This happened because every family used the spices left in the pantry to avoid waste and not throw anything away, thus giving rise to many different recipes.
The Cjarsòns can be established from a soft wheat pasta or filled with potatoes, similar to agnolotti or ravioli, and are characterized by a contrast between sweet and salty taste. In fact, the filling (pistùm or pastùm), made in different variations according to the local recipe, can contain raisins, dark chocolate or cocoa, cinnamon, spinach, chives, ricotta, jam, rum, grappa, parsley, dry biscuits, eggs , milk.
Like ravioli, they are cooked in salted water then served with melted butter and smoked ricotta (scuete fumade). As an alternative to butter, ont can be used (foamed butter from which the water has been removed and thickened to facilitate its conservation in the summer months), which in the past was widely used in Carnic cuisine due to the impossibility of keeping butter for long periods. Traditional dish for large parties (for example for weddings), cjarsons have become a symbol of traditional Carnic cuisine.
A Collalto di Tarcento, a small town 20 km from Udine, in a landscape area between the Julian Pre-Alps and the morainic amphitheater of the Tagliamento, the hilly system that originated after the last glaciation, since 1988 the Costantini family runs a restaurant with a great tradition in a pleasant hilly area where once upon a time the Udinese nobility loved to stay in the summer and where since the Middle Ages merchants traveling between the countries beyond the Alps and the Adriatic Sea had stopped.
Three generations have taken turns cooking in the cult of hospitality. Originally the three brothers - Eligio, Costantino and Lino - then the reins of the restaurant passed to Pio, the current owner of the restaurant, assisted by Eligio's son who, to this day, helps in the kitchen
Since 1988 the menu included both meat and fish dishes and a rich choice of excellent local and non-local wines. Today, Pio Costantini defines his cuisine as 'traditional with innovation': "To keep traditional cuisine alive, as well as renew it with cooking techniques, the choice of lighter seasonings and so on, the raw place". He has been called for three years now chef Marco Furlano leads the kitchens, a strong passion for butchery as a child, passionate about the ritual with which the pig was killed at home then converted to catering, specialized at ALMA, the International School of Italian Cuisine founded in Colorno (Parma) on the teachings of Gualtiero Marchesi, a at the Giuda Ballerino restaurant in Rome one Michelin star, and then at the Berton restaurant, two Michelin stars, in Milan before landing at the Costantini restaurant. Of the Cjarsòns, Furlano is a great and passionate supporter. “In my spare time – he says – when I can take advantage of going to taste the cjarsòns in the various valleys of my region to delight and get inspired”.
The recipe for Cjarsons di Carnia by chef Marco Furlano of the Costantini Restaurant
Ingredients for people 4
250 gr.
Dough prepared with 150 gr. of mashed boiled potatoes, 50 gr. of flour 00,
50 g. of re-milled semolina, 1 egg
1 kg. of spinach
50 g. apples
15 g. dried apricots
20 g. toasted pistachios
80 g. Fresh ricotta cheese
Cinnamon salt and pepper to taste
80 gr. butter
40 g. grated smoked Taipana goat ricotta into strips
Preparation
roll out the dough with a rolling pin once the dough has been rolled out with a round mold with a diameter of 5 cm, cut the dough into circles.
Prepare the filling by passing the apples, apricots and spinach to the hazelnut butter. Once it has cooled, add the ricotta, the toasted pistachios and the cinnamon, salt and pepper, mixing everything together. Arrange in the center of the circle of dough closing it in a star. Immerse in boiling water, cook for 4/5 minutes, drain, put in the pan with the hazelnut butter, sauté.
Introduction
Put the cjarsons on the plates, grate the smoked ricotta and sprinkle a little toasted pistachio grains
Serve with a glass of Richenza di Ilde Petrussa di Prepotto
Costantini Restaurants Snc
Via Pontebbana, 12
33017 Collalto of Tarcento
Mobile 335 5204678
Tel. 0432 792372
