The Best Food I Ate in Piedmont and the Italian Lakes

Despite my intense love of Italian food, I was a little apprehensive about getting stuck into a food rut during our time in the Piedmont region of Italy.

Now that I don’t eat meat, I was worried about quickly running out of options and ending up eating the same pizza and pasta dishes for days. Piedmont is well-known for its hearty meat dishes, braised beef and boiled offcuts, all of which pair perfectly with the region’s bold red wines. But plant-heavy meals never seem to get a mention.

Of course, I needn’t have worried (I guess you’d already figured that out from the title though, hadn’t you?) and my time was filled with mouthwatering dishes and memorable moments. Without further ado, here’s some of the best food I ate at the Italian Lakes in the Piedmont (Piemonte) region of Italy.

Bagna Cauda and Chocolate Salami

Found at: Al Bouec, Orta San Giulio

Bagna Cauda is a typical Piedmontese dip, similar to fondue, which combines garlic, anchovies, olive oil and butter. It’s not for the faint of heart, and is always served with some crunchy raw vegetables for dipping, as well as being kept hot by a small candle underneath the pot. If I could swim in bagna cauda, I would. I guess that’s the highest praise I can give any dish, so you can tell how much I enjoyed it. (The several glasses of wine beforehand may also have aided my enjoyment).

Chocolate Salami is a lot similar to something we call “refrigerator cake” or “tiffin” in the UK, without the addition of any dried fruit. It is essentially broken cookies and hazelnuts (because Piedmont is the hazelnut-producing region of Italy and the birthplace of Nutella!) covered in dark chocolate and left to set. Because of its log shape and speckled appearance, it earned itself the quirky salami name. This was great, although it didn’t quite compare to my Grandma’s similar version from my childhood.

Rosemary Focaccia

Found at: Pizzeria Weekend, Moncalvo

Unlike the typical fluffy focaccia bread that is usually found in Italian restaurants, this was more like a crunchy, crispy flatbread, topped with oil and rosemary. If you love rosemary in your bread, as I do, then this is a perfect appetizer.

Anchovy Calzone and White Cod with Tuna Roe Tagliatelle

Found at: Venus Restaurant, Orta San Giulio

Back to the humble anchovy (I honestly ate anchovies for three or four nights in a row before I got salt overload and swore off them for the rest of the trip), this calzone was unlike any I’ve had before (i.e. usually smothered with tomato sauce and cheese). All of the pizza toppings were cooked inside the calzone – sauce included – and although this was supposed to contain ground beef, I swapped it out for roasted green pepper. A decision I didn’t regret, although did pay extra for. Scott’s pasta dish, which I shared, was delicately flavoured with fleshy chunks of fish and a light broth.

Amberjack Tartare Panzanella and Tomato, Basil and Burrata Risotto

Found at: Ristorante Il Vicoletto, Stresa

The tartare appetizer was more of a deconstructed panzanella, with a sliced of toasted bread sat on top of the chunky tomatoes, as opposed to being mixed with it. The dish was light and a perfect complement to the hot weather, but the star of the show was the risotto that followed it. As Vercelli in Piedmont houses a huge number of rice paddies and harvests some of the best rice in the country, I’d been dying to get my chops around a risotto and this one was rich, creamy delicious.

Organic Hazelnut and Chocolate Gelato

Found at AgriGelateria, Orta San Guilio

I’m not a huge gelato or ice cream fan, preferring instead to get my sweet fix from cakes and chocolate, but if I do indulge, it’s got to be good quality. And it doesn’t get much better than homemade gelato made with organic milk straight from a farm. I opted for hazelnut (again because of the regional tie) and chocolate and they were both wonderfully creamy and decadent. My only regret was that I didn’t get another scoop.

Risotto with Fried Zucchini Flowers and a Parmesan Crisp

Found at: Ristorante Sottosopra, Baveno

I’m sad to admit that I haven’t eaten zucchini flowers since we left Mexico. This is partly because I never see them at the markets here and I also don’t really like going down the deep-frying route at home. But the crunch of the flowers and the Parmesan crisp in this dish worked perfectly with the creamy risotto inside and reminded me that I need to seek these little beauties out whenever I can.

Torta di Nocciole (Piemonte Hazelnut Cake) and Regional Cheeses

Found at: Cascina Rosa B&B, Grazzano Badoglio

If you didn’t know by now that Piedmont is the home of the hazelnut, then you probably haven’t read any of this post at all. I’m not judging – I can only assume you’ve been too engrossed in the mouthwatering photos. But no trip to the Italian Lakes would be complete with sampling a slice of hazelnut cake – a crumbly, mealy cake that sticks to the roof of your mouth and is sometimes topped with chocolate. We were served up a slice of this at breakfast time in our B&B, along with several cheeses that blew any we’d previously eaten out of the water, including a Toma Biellese that was tangy and creamy in equal measure.