L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano I n P e t t o r a n o s u l Gizio, a small town n o t f a r f r o m S u l - mona, there is a dish that not many out- side of the area know. You don't find it on menus year- round, and it isn't some- thing you stumble on easily i f y o u a r r i v e t h e r e i n t h e wrong season, because it is especially associated with the colder months, which isn't that unusual, when you think about it, if you cook with what nature produces, when it produces it. More or less around Easter, it just disappears from local tables, only to return when the cold hits Abruzzo again, some eight months later. Mugnoli e chezzerièje – this is the name of our mysterious delicacy – looks quite plain: small, uneven pieces of pasta, a heap of dark greens, oil, garlic, a bit of anchovy, some chili. But believe me when I say it is e v e r y t h i n g b u t . N o t h i n g about the dish is haphazard, f r o m h o w t h e g r e e n s a r e cleaned to how the pasta is m a d e , b e c a u s e t h e r e i s a d e e p c o n n e c t i o n w i t h a whole set of habits that go well beyond what ends up on your plate. Pettorano itself, and its p r o x i m i t y t o t h e V a l l e Peligna, not far from the s l o p e s t h a t l e a d i n t o t h e Majella, can help us under- stand mugnoli e chezzerièje better: off the town center, the streets give way to small plots of land, stone walls, and mountain paths, near s m a l l v e g e t a b l e g a r d e n s where mugnoli grow, often in modest quantities. Then, they are not harvested in o n e g o ; r a t h e r , y o u c o m e b a c k t o t h e m a g a i n a n d again, cutting what is ready a n d l e a v i n g t h e r e s t . B u t over the weeks, the plant changes, because the cold sharpens it, and gives it that slightly bitter edge that peo- ple here expect. A mild win- ter produces something soft- er, but not quite the same when it comes to our recipe. U s u a l l y s o w n i n A u g u s t , after the heat peaks, some people will still be waiting for the waning moon to do i t , h a l f s e r i o u s l y , h a l f b e c a u s e t h a t ' s h o w t h e y learned it. By late fall, the first leaves are there, and from then on, mugnoli begin to circulate from garden to kitchen, from one household to another. As all things that grow in vegetable gardens following the true rhythm of nature, mugnoli are not an all-year- round green; in fact, a tradi- t i o n a l A b r u z z o s a y i n g explains how Dopo Pasqua, mugnoli e predicatori non sono più buoni, "after East- er, mugnoli and preachers – in Italy that's basically syn- onymous with priests – are n o l o n g e r g o o d . " P e o p l e smile when they say it, but a b o u t m u g n o l i , t h e y a l s o mean it because, around this time of the year, they grow tougher and lose their char- acter, so their season comes to an end. If you follow the story of m u g n o l i a b i t f u r t h e r , i t leads you away from Pet- torano, down toward Puglia, following the routes of tran- shumance. For centuries, shepherds moved between these two regions along the tratturi, taking their flocks s o u t h f o r t h e w i n t e r a n d back up again in the warmer m o n t h s , a n d t h e y d i d n ' t travel empty-handed: seeds, habits, and ways of cooking moved with them. Greens similar to c i m e d i r a p a were already common fur- ther south, and over time, they seem to have adapted t o t h e c o n d i t i o n s a r o u n d Pettorano, settling into the Abruzzese landscape, turn- ing into mugnoli. The pasta, chezzerièje, is very simply made with flour and water and quickly shaped in a way similar to potato gnocchi. But don't be fooled, no two pieces are exactly the same, because there is no attempt to stan- dardize them. This is the k i n d o f p a s t a y o u m a k e when you are cooking for yourself or for a small group, when you "throw something t o g e t h e r q u i c k l y " f o r t h e family. Now that we are familiar with the ingredients, you may be curious to know how to prepare the actual dish… well, it's not hard! The mug- noli are boiled briefly, then finished in a pan with oil, garlic, anchovies, and chili; the anchovies don't stand out on their own, but you notice when they're missing, because they deepen the fla- vor, tying the bitterness of t h e g r e e n s t o s o m e t h i n g rounder and punchier. The pasta goes in at the end, and everything comes together then and there. O l d e r r e s i d e n t s s t i l l r e m e m b e r a t i m e w h e n mugnoli were also a source of income, not just some- thing to eat at home, and they talk about early morn- ings, about walking to near- by towns with bundles of greens to sell, sometimes in the cold, sometimes in less- than-ideal conditions. Old stories of a world that no longer exists, perhaps, but close enough we can almost touch it still. Today, fewer people grow mugnoli, and rarely in large q u a n t i t i e s , b e c a u s e i t ' s a crop that requires attention and doesn't easily fit into modern agricultural rou - tines. That's part of the rea- s o n w h y l o c a l g r o u p s , including those linked to Slow Food, have tried to keep it visible, supporting the growers who continue to cultivate it and encouraging people not to let it fade out completely. Mugnoli e chezzerièj are what we can call a dish "off the beaten track," a dish it's difficult to replicate at home unless you live in Abruzzo, because of how deeply it is connected to its territory. It's a food that still follows its own timing, and there is l i t t l e m o d e r n i t y c a n d o about it, perhaps because locals themselves don't want it to become famous, ubiqui- tous, and always available. M u g n o l i e c h e z z e r i è j appears when it should, and t h e n , w h e n i t s s e a s o n i s over, it takes a long holiday until winter comes back, just as it always did. If you hap- pen to be in Abruzzo at the right time of the year, then you may have the chance to try a plate. If not, you'll have to wait for another twelve months. CHIARA D'ALESSIO Mugnoli e chezzerièje are a traditional dish from the Abruzzo region, difficult to find outside the winter and early spring periods (Photo: Bartosz Luczak/Dreamstime) LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES A brief Easter tradition from A b r u z z o ' s t a b l e : m u g n o l i e chezzerièje

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