A highly recommended stop for those in the Teramo area: the views are splendid, as the name implies, the food is excellent, and the welcome and service are marked by a rustic kindness that immediately makes home. Iolanda Maggio tells us aboutAgriturismo Panorama Teramo.
The name already says it, the view is breathtaking. Just above Teramo, this agri-restaurant looks on one side toward the city and on the other toward the sea, which seems a stone’s throw away, the Gran Sasso is behind. We find ourselves in a agritourism center with a refreshment and accommodation point, nestled in the green hills of Teramo where you can taste typical local dishes with 0 km products.
Panorama farmhouse, history
Open since 1991, it is family-run. An all-female management where vegetables are grown, animals are raised, there are chickens, wild herbs are gathered, and traditions are jealously preserved. The combination of simplicity and frank flavors are the watchwords and the common thread in both the dining room and the kitchen. The portions are lavish and the prices-especially for those accustomed by now to the crazy ones in big cities-are “humane.”
Upon arrival at the table we are greeted by a plate of fresh fava beans and bread topped with an extraordinary drizzle of oil. Then begins the endless roundup of appetizers. A hot pancake that accompanies the local cured meats and cheeses, spinach frittata, rustic pie stuffed with vegetables, a fried cheese that comes to the table hot and stringy with every bite. A triumph! Everything is no less than delicious.
The Teramo Virtues
Then the main course: the Teramo Virtues. An ancient dish which is prepared for the first of May. Tradition says that you would open the cupboards and put all the legumes and vegetables that were left over from the winter to cook, and to these you would add the new vegetables, field herbs, some pork rind, some guanciale, spices… the cookbooks mention about 53/55 ingredients.
There is no recipe preciselya, each family had the special ingredient that made this soup the best. First fruits and precious leftovers of canned goods came together in this very hearty dish linked to the ancient practices of Earth worship celebrated by peasant civilizations. We could consider it a one-pot dish and stop here because of how rich and flavorful it is with the broken pasta inside…but we will continue.
Coming to the table are steaming pans of Teramo guitar. A handmade pasta, similar to tagliolini, topped with meat sauce and meatballs. The closest thing to the “spaghetti with meatballs” that Americans so much associate with Italian cuisine but which you don’t actually eat anywhere. Here the meatballs are tiny, that just to see them you think how much patience it must take to prepare them by the hundreds like that each time.
To end on a high note
Not satiated, lunch continued with the mixed grill and roast veal. All accompanied by baked potatoes. And I see diners still complacently drawing on the hearty and convivial dishes placed in the center of the table.
We close on a sweet note with the pizza dolce teramana. A kind of diplomatic cake, also now unobtainable but so reminiscent of good homemade cakes. Very well executed, with the layers of pandispagna soaked just right with a drizzle of alchermes. Chocolate and custard cream, plain and simple…. Excellent.
As it is clearly stated on the menu: in this establishment, cover charge, bread, coffee, ammazzacaffè and water are included in the price. Kindness of the real kind and never forced, ìplain but genuine gestures and lots of taste make this agriturismo a must for those who love good food and are in the Teramo area.
