Bombetti in porchetta are a traditional seafood dish from Ancona, made with small Adriatic sea snails slowly cooked with garlic, tomato, white wine, chilli and wild fennel. This bombetti in porchetta recipe is a rustic, flavourful speciality, often served as a hot starter or a shared dish in local trattorias along the Conero coast.
What are bombetti, crocette, raguse and “baci di mare”?
Along the Ancona coast, different types of sea snails are known by local names such as bombetti or bombarelli, crocette, raguse and “baci di mare”. All of them are small molluscs that live on the rocks and are part of the traditional “poor” seafood used by fishermen in home-style recipes. In many homes and restaurants around Ancona these sea snails are prepared “in porchetta”, following a typical Marche way of cooking with herbs and spices.
Ingredients for bombetti in porchetta
For a simple bombetti in porchetta recipe you usually need:
- Adriatic sea snails (bombetti, crocette or similar), well cleaned and purged
- Garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Dry white wine
- Tomato passata or chopped tomatoes
- Fresh or dried chilli pepper
- Wild fennel (or fennel seeds if you cannot find it)
- Parsley, salt and black pepper
- Bread, preferably rustic, to serve
How to cook bombetti in porchetta
To prepare bombetti in porchetta, first clean the sea snails carefully and rinse them several times. In a wide pan, gently fry garlic and chilli in olive oil, then add the sea snails and toast them for a few minutes over medium heat. Deglaze with white wine, let the alcohol evaporate, then add tomato, wild fennel, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook slowly until the bombetti open and become tender, allowing the sauce to thicken and concentrate its flavour. Serve the bombetti in porchetta very hot, in bowls or small dishes, with plenty of bread to soak up the spicy, aromatic sauce.
Where to taste sea snails “in porchetta” in Ancona
In Ancona and along the Conero Riviera you can find bombetti in porchetta and other sea snails dishes in traditional seafood restaurants and simple taverns. They are part of the “flavours of the sea of Ancona”, together with moscioli, brodetto and other typical recipes that locals love to share with friends over a glass of local wine.