Sapori e Delizie
Photo credit by Geeky Explorer via trover.com
Cosmopolitan travelers understand Rome through its pasta. Your need to arrive understanding there is magic in flour and water is second only to identifying a hotel in Rome for lodging. Here are several major pasta dishes you are certain to experience in Rome with just a little effort.
Spaghetti Alle Vongole
This is a clean and simple dish filled with garlic and chile pepper in olive oil. It does not seem possible that so few ingredients could produce so much joy in your mouth. Italians know to not burn the garlic before adding the clams, clam juice, and splash of wine. Cheese is not added to this dish in Italy.
Strozzapreti al Lardo di Colonnata e Pecorino di Fossa
Epicurious described this pasta dish as “a supremely light tomato sauce … enriched with softened ribbons of cured fatback, then tossed with strozzapreti, twisted strands of a simple flour and water pasta.” Do not leave italy without trying this dish.
Spaghetti Alle Carbonara
Spaghetti is likely the pasta you know from childhood. However, a true carbonara is made with eggs, cheese, bacon, and black pepper. Once you have tasted a true carbonara made with these ingredients, you will not be able to eat carbonara from a jar or can. Although any pasta can be cooked with this sauce, spaghetti is the most common.
Cacio e Pepe
Cacio e Pepe is homemade pasta strands tossed with black pepper and either pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano cheese, depending upon one’s preference or what is available. Urban legends claim unfaithful wives who’d spent the day out of the house cooked this quick pasta for their unsuspecting husbands.
Gnocchi alla Matriciana
Potato Gnocchi with butter and cheese is familiar, but Potato Gnocchi alla Matriciana may be new to you. In Italy, gnocchi is cooked with fresh tomato sauce, then Pecorino and strips of guanciale are added , giving the dish a light touch.
Lasagna
The best lasagna is cooked in a wood oven, so search for a pizzeria or a restaurant that has one. Typically a good lasagna is cooked with bechamel and meat sauce in a wood fire oven, and while lasagna perhaps may not be as sexy sounding as some of the above dishes, it rarely fails to satisfy.
Pasta al Burro con Formaggiano
In Italy they call this Rigatoni con Burro and Parmagiano.Think pasta with butter and cheese. This is butter, cream and plain old parmesan cheese. Can you imagine this with Italian sweet sausage?
As you eat these pasta dishes, you will understand how versatile pasta is and why it is so difficult to just pick one favorite. The estimate is that Italians eat more than 60 pounds of pasta per year and that there are more than 350 varieties. This confirms there is no shortage of types of pasta or possible sauces to put them in–you will come home understanding that homemade pasta is a treat.
It’s Pasta Love all over Rome and the entire country. No excuses.
Brandi says
Oh man! You’ve given me a new activity! I have to go through this list and make every single one of these dishes. I’ve always wondered what made each one different. Thanks for the breakdown!
Patricia A Patton says
Great. Sometimes I get into a pasta frenzy. Writing this post gave me some additional ideas as well. The magic ingredient besides flour and water however is excellent CHEESE. Don’t forget the cheese. Thanks for reading and sharing.