Rome The Eternal City – A Culinary Tour of Italy

More Authentic Italian Food  and Wine From Rome

The next few days in Rome were spent on foot visiting the various Roman attractions. As we walked from one neighborhood to another hunger for Italian food would eventually take over our systems. We would then pop into the first trattoria with an open door, and in every trattoria we entered I was always on the lookout for the Italian food found in America’s Little Italy restaurants. Unfortunately, we never noted the names of the various trattorias that we ate in but the taste of the food never disappointed. Pastas were often the proprietor’s and the chef’s specialties and their secret Italian recipes. We did manage to enjoy Rome’s famous Spaghetti Carbonata and Rome’s Pasta Amatriciana that Betty prefers with rigatoni, two dishes that may be found in a New York Restaurant.

Cooking Spaghetti Carbonata

The eateries were absolutely masters at roasting and grilling food. Some chefs would cook the food to perfection with just the addition of salt and pepper. Other chefs would cook the food with their favorite herbs and spices. We were always presented with a healthy portion of the roasted item. The Romans cooked excellent seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, pork, veal and rabbit.

Side dishes were cooked to perfection, al dente, “with a little bite”, delicately and simply flavored. The flavoring may have been a bit of butter, salt and pepper or a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper or a squirt of lemon juice or vinegar. All dishes were quite delicate when they should be, and truly robust dishes when the dish was supposed to be hearty.

Spaghetti Carbonata e Finito

We generally finished the meal with fruit and/or cheese. The sweets were often flavorful, traditional Italian but most were French desserts.

Two Roman pasta dishes often listed on “little Italy” restaurant menus are Spaghetti Carbonata and Pasta alla Amatriciana. Below are our recipes for these dishes from Food Wine Italian. These dishes were not part of Camillo’s menu; however, whenever a customer requested one of these dishes the answer was YES!

Spaghetti Carbonata

This is an Italian gypsy recipe from the folks who roamed the mountains gathering carbon – coal.

Serves 4

• 1 lb. of spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon of regular olive oil
• 1/8 lb. chopped guanciale,  Pancetta ( Italian bacon)  or Prosciutto
• 1 medium onion chopped fine ( about 1/2 cup)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano the Roman’s choice
• Optional shaved black trufles to taste
• salt & pepper to taste

Cook the spaghetti in one gallon of boiling salted water until it is al dente-with a bite, and strain into a colander.

At the same time, place a skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil, not extra virgin, add the diced yellow onion an optional ingredient, and add diced pancetta or bacon or guanciale the Romans choice for this dish. Sauté the pork until it is crispy, turn the heat to low and add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the skillet. Then add the cooked drained spaghetti to the skillet. Top the spaghetti with 2/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano or a mixture of both (your choices), the eggs, fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly, and if you wish, shave black truffles over the top to represent the coal as we did in Camillo’s Restaurant. Serve immediately with a glass of Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone white.

Pasta alla Amatriciana

Cooking Pasta alla Amatriciana

Amatriciana is a shepherd’s dish. It originated in Amatrice, a small town near Rome. The pasta chosen for this pasta sauce is often the choice of the cook and whomever the cook is serving. Most folks that I know prefer bucatini the classic pasta for this dish, others folks prefer spaghetti, others prefer rigatoni. The cured meat sautéed is guanciale; a lean not smoked bacon style cured meat product. Guanciale is not readily available and often substituted.

• 1 pound of Pasta
• 1/2 pound diced Guanciale or Pancetta
• 2 tbs. olive oil for sautéing
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 can of peeled whole tomatoes drained and crushed
• 1 chili pepper or cherry hot pepper or dried hot pepper
•  Salt & Pepper to taste
• 4 ounces of fresh grated Pecorino Romano

Pasta alla Amatriciana Pronto

Put a pot of water on the fire to boil for the pasta.

At the same time, brown the guanciale in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil along with the minced chili pepper (hot

At the same time, brown the guanciale in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil along with the minced chili pepper (hot pepper) and the onion for 5 minutes over a medium flame. Add the white wine and simmer to evaporate by 1/2. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime have the pasta cooking in the boiling water. Strain it al dente and mix it with the tomato sauce and the Pecorino cheese. Serve with a premium Chianti.

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Tagged as: Italian food, Italian recipies, little Italy, pasta amatriciana, rome, spaghetti carbonata