Macaroni or pasta? What is the difference and the subtleties of cooking. history of pasta origin history of pasta origin

  • Date of: 20.01.2022

September 30, 2018

Pasta is the basis for the preparation of many dishes of Italian national cuisine, popular all over the world. Italian pasta is a generalized name for pasta, which includes many varieties classified according to the shape, size and ingredients of which they are composed.

The history of a national product such as pasta has evolved over many centuries. In each region of Italy, its variety and methods of preparation are different, the dishes of the northern and southern cuisines can differ to a large extent.

Magna Graecia(lat. Magna Graecia)

- a historical region that existed in the VIII-VII centuries BC, which included the territories of the southern part of modern Italy. It included Greek colonies located in Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Apulia.

Etruria(lat. Hetruria)

- a historical area that belonged to the most ancient civilization - the Etruscans. It was located in the central and northwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula in the XII-VI centuries BC.

Pasta has been known since antiquity, when Sicily and the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula were inhabited by ancient Greek colonies, and the territories of central and northern Italy were inhabited by the Etruscans. However, in those days, the currently popular gastronomic product was called differently. For example, the Etruscan word "makaria", which later entered the Latin language in a slightly modified form, is still used and corresponds to the modern "macari", common in Sicily and in some southern provinces. It also came from him "maccaruni-maccaroni" used in Italian dialects. Another word of Greek origin "laganon" denoted a product made from dough based on flour and water, rolled out and cut into strips. Presumably, the name of the famous Italian dish "lasagna" came from this word.

During excavations in the central part of Italy - in Lazio, on one of the tombs dated to the 10th century BC, a bas-relief was discovered depicting some tools and devices that Italian seniors still use to make homemade pasta. For example, a pastry board, rolling pin, spaghetti cutting wheel, etc.


In some works of ancient authors, Greek and Latin names were encountered more than once, such as "laganon" And "laganum", used to refer to a thin dough rolled out and cut into long strips, made from flour and water. The first cookbook, written by the "philosopher of gastronomy" Marco Gavio Apicio, tells about many detailed recipes for preparing dough and spices for pasta, which indicates the widespread use of this dish in the first half of the 1st century AD.

The word "paste", which has a more general meaning, comes from the Greek "pasta-ein", which in translation means "flour with sauce or seasoning." This name of pasta in the modern sound began to be used in Italy approximately from the 10th-11th centuries. However, if you delve into the history of the origin of this word, you can reach the period of deep antiquity, when people only learned to grind grain and master the first steps in cooking.


Why do Italians call our pasta pasta? What is the difference? And are they different at all? Many people ask similar questions, but the answer is often the same: pasta is an independent dish, very tasty and healthy. But pasta ... it's just useless calories and an incomprehensible taste. What is true here and what is not, let's try to figure it out together with the site Delishis.ru.


A bit of history


I will not go into the intricacies of the origin of the words "pasta" and "pasta" - a lot has been written on this topic. Let me just say that for the first time thin tubes of rice flour came to Europe from China, from where they were brought by the notorious Venetian Marco Polo. But, nevertheless, today many consider Italy to be the birthplace of pasta, and pasta itself is the national dish of Italians. You can't argue with the latter. After all, no other country has such a rich culture of consumption and such a number of recipes for preparing this dish.


Now let's figure out how pasta differs from pasta. In most countries of the world, including Italy, the term “pasta” (from Italian pasta - “dough”) is used to refer to ANY pasta. But "pasta" is just a type of pasta. More precisely - thin and long hollow tubes of dry dough. However, a much more important difference between pasta and pasta, which is familiar to us, is the composition of these products. Italian dry pasta is made exclusively from durum wheat and water. Therefore, it is easily digestible, and fiber, active carbohydrates and useful minerals only improve digestion and metabolism, and therefore have the best effect on health. But “our” pasta is most often made from soft wheat varieties, so they are completely useless and are the main culprits of the well-known myth that pasta spoils the figure. Yes, pasta spoils. Pasta - no. And slender Italians are a vivid proof of this.


By the way, to avoid confusion, I also note that, in addition to hard pasta, there is also the so-called fresh pasta, which is made from soft flour with the addition of eggs. Such a paste is not dried, but boiled immediately, therefore it has a more delicate taste. In any case, pasta, as a rule, is really an independent dish, which is served with sauce. And pasta is just a side dish.


Types of pasta


To dwell on the varieties of pasta in detail is a laborious and somewhat meaningless task. After all, the Italians themselves distinguish more than 500 varieties of pasta, while assuring that "pasta is the architecture of taste." And it is really impossible to know all the subtleties of working with this creative material in an instant. After all, each individual type of pasta requires a special approach to cooking and a specific sauce that emphasizes all the nuances of taste. So, for example, a long pasta (lunga) needs to be cooked in plenty of water so that for every 225 grams of pasta there is 1.7 liters of water, half a teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of olive oil. But leafy pasta (lasagna or cannelloni) does not require boiling in boiling water at all before filling with filling. Such pasta is saturated with sauce already in the process of baking, so the sauce for it should be more liquid. So, perhaps, the only universal rule for combining sauces with pasta is that the thicker and shorter the product, the thicker the sauce should be.


As for the cooking time of the pasta, it is important to take into account the varieties of wheat that were used to make it. In particular, flour from the South of Italy gives the pasta softness, so it cooks quickly - in 5-7 minutes. On the contrary, wheat pasta from the North of Italy gives the dough elasticity, and such pasta is cooked longer - up to 17 minutes. But much more often, different types of flour are used to make pasta, and in order not to be mistaken with the exact cooking time, you just need to carefully read the label on the package. The finished paste should remain elastic inside. And, to avoid sticking, during cooking, you need to add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil (preferably olive oil). And never rinse with cold water.


Sauce Recipes


Now about the main thing - sauces. After all, it is these irreplaceable helpers that turn pasta into a masterpiece of gastronomic art. First, a few general rules. 1. You need to add components when preparing the sauce, depending on the time of their heat treatment. That is, first, more solid foods, and at the very end - herbs, spices and thickeners. 2. The sauce does not need to be brought to a boil. And you can't reheat. 3. To make the dish perfectly salty, the sauce should seem a bit salty. And one more thing: there are certain products that are used to make almost all pasta sauces. These are: olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, finely chopped garlic (it is not advisable to crush it) and spices: black and chili peppers, nutmeg, basil and oregano.


Creamy mushroom sauce

Ideal for foam - short, obliquely cut pasta


Option 1: Pour 50 g of olive oil into the pan and fry 100 g of chopped champignons or porcini mushrooms in it for 5 minutes with the addition of a clove of garlic. Then add 150 g of cream and 50 g of dry wine. Salt and pepper - to taste. Add grated cheese to the finished pasta with sauce.


Option 2: 200 gr. dried champignons should be poured with a glass of CLEAN boiled water for five minutes, and then put on low heat and cook for 5-7 minutes. After that, the water must be drained and add 3 tbsp to it. tablespoons of thick sour cream and mayonnaise, as well as salt and pepper. Cooked mushrooms should be mixed with chopped garlic and herbs and put in a dry frying pan, where add 50 g of cognac. All this should be boiled over low heat for 7-10 minutes. Then the mushrooms are mixed with sauce and pasta, sprinkled with cheese and herbs.


Broccoli sauce

Suitable for oriketti - products in the form of "ears".

While the pasta (150 grams) is being cooked, fry the onions (50 grams) and carrots (60 grams) in a deep frying pan in olive oil (50 grams). After 5 minutes, add broccoli rosettes (200 g), 1 beef cube and a glass of decoction from the pan with pasta. Salt, pepper - to taste. The sauce is stewed for 15 minutes over low heat under the lid. Then mixed with ready-made pasta and cheese.


Sauce with eggplant

It is ideally combined with fusilli - products twisted in the form of a spiral.

Grind 2 fresh tomatoes in a blender to a puree consistency and transfer to a saucepan. We add there 40 gr of tomato paste, 50 gr. butter, salt and pepper to taste. We cover everything with a lid and cook for 15 minutes on low heat. We cook eggplant separately. Cut into cubes, roll in flour and deep-fry. Put the finished pasta in a pan, add the sauce, eggplant and cheese. We fry for exactly one minute.


Carbonara sauce

Pairs well with long spaghetti.

200 g of brisket or bacon, cut into strips and fried until golden brown in a small amount of olive oil. At the very end, add finely chopped garlic to the meat - 2 cloves. While the pasta is cooking, beat 6 egg yolks and add 4 tbsp. spoons of 10% cream. Drain the cooked pasta into a colander and return to the pot. Immediately pour the yolk with cream there - the eggs should curl up. Then add the sauce and sprinkle generously with pepper and parmesan.


Bolognese sauce

This thick ground beef and tomato sauce is also served with spaghetti.

8 fresh tomatoes cut into cubes (previously scalded with boiling water and peeled). Separately, fry 250 g of ground beef in olive oil with the addition of 100 g of red wine. After the liquid evaporates, mix the minced meat with tomatoes, salt and simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes. At the end, add pepper, crushed garlic (2 large cloves), oregano and basil. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Mix with pasta and cheese.


What thoughts come to your mind when you hear the phrase "Italian cuisine"? Pizza, pasta, ice cream… already salivating. Today in our article we want to talk about the types of Italian pasta, the history of the creation of this dish and its first recipe, as well as much more.

Have you tried real Italian pasta yet? Everyone should try this dish and get real pleasure from eating it. To accomplish this task, there are several solutions, one of which is to go to Italy and visit a local restaurant, and the second, less expensive one, is to cook this dish on your own using information from our article.

What is Italian pasta: a dish or a type of pasta? Yes, actually it's both. Italian pasta is a dish traditionally served in Italy, consisting of two main irreplaceable components: any pasta and sauce.

Looking ahead, we can say that Italian pasta can be of different types - dry pasta or Pasta secca and raw pasta or Pasta fresca. A distinction is also made between long pasta or Lunga and short pasta or Corta.

The basic rule of pasta is that it is made strictly from durum wheat, as a result of which it does not boil soft and is perfectly absorbed by the body.

Want to learn about an extreme culinary masterpiece? - one of the types of Italian cheeses is waiting for you.

Visit the culinary capital of Italy? Easily! - a magnificent city of culinary and science.

In Genoa, there are also many places worthy of your attention. there is a list of the main attractions of this city.

A Brief History of Italian Pasta

Many legends, myths and historical facts are associated with the origin of pasta. According to one version, Italy is considered the first country to have invented this product. According to another, the famous traveler Marco Polo brought the pasta from China in 1292. Disputes among culinary experts and historians have not subsided so far. However, Italy is currently the largest producer and supplier of this product worldwide. Initially, this dish was popular locally in Italy, but already in the 12th century it began to be exported from the coast of Italy. At first, the export rates were not great, but after just a few centuries, all of Europe knew about this dish.

Surprisingly, even in ancient Greece there was a word "pasta", which meant "flour mixed with sauce."

The distribution of Italian pasta conditionally took place in 5 distinct stages:

The first mention of Italian pasta was on the island of Sicily in the 12th century. There, this product was produced by the Arabs living there at that time.

In the XIII century, they came up with a way to extend the shelf life of pasta - drying it. This made it possible to export it as a product of long-term storage on ships and transport it to other regions, such as Pisa, Venice, Genoa, Naples and others.

In the 15th century, the first climbing recipe was invented. At the same time, the first mention of the hollow and long form of pasta appeared. At that time, Italian pasta was still a very expensive product, since durum wheat was grown only in the regions of Sicily and in fairly small quantities.

In the 16th-17th centuries, an event takes place in Europe that revolutionizes culinary - tomatoes are imported from America. During this time, durum wheat is grown and distributed throughout southern Italy. Then the production of special machines for cutting and drying products began. This makes it possible to reduce the cost of the production process of Italian pasta and distribute it beyond the territory of modern Italy.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, pasta production was improved and simplified and became global. It becomes one of the most popular dishes in Italy and beyond, and also becomes one of the most international dishes in the world.

In Italy, namely in Rome, there is even a pasta museum. It presents a huge variety of types of Italian pasta, popular recipes, and you can even see the machines for making this flour product.

Pasta vs pasta, what's the difference?

Italians call our pasta pasta but they are different. Let's see what exactly is the difference?

In Italy and some other countries, the term "pasta" is used to refer to any pasta. This word came from Italian and means "dough". Actually the word pasta is just a kind of pasta, namely dry dough tubes: thin and wide, of different lengths.

The composition of the pasta is slightly different from our usual pasta. Italian dry pasta is made from durum wheat and water. Thanks to this, it is easily digested, improves digestion and metabolism, as it contains fiber, complex carbohydrates and other useful substances. This product does not spoil the figure, because it does not contain fast carbohydrates.

Pasta can be hard or so-called fresh, consisting of soft flour with the addition of eggs. Fresh pasta is not dried, but boiled immediately, has a delicate taste.

Pasta is used as an independent dish. As an addition to it, various sauces and, of course, cheese are used. Macaroni is used as a common side dish. There are an incredible number of recipes. In Italy itself, there are more than 500 culinary masterpieces from this flour product. Each recipe has a certain approach and special ingredients for preparation, but in different regions of Italy the same pasta recipes may differ in taste.

Types of Italian pasta

Let's dwell on the types of Italian pasta in more detail. So, as it was written above, there are two types of pastes: dry and fresh.

dry pasta– dried products for the purpose of long-term storage. This type of pasta is made only from durum wheat and water. This rule is followed by all major manufacturers. But also dry pasta can be made from soft wheat varieties with the addition of eggs. The unusual taste of products can be determined by the secret ingredients, as well as the process of their extrusion and drying method. In order to grab and hold the sauce on the surface, most tubular products have grooves created during the extrusion of the dough. First, the dough is squeezed out through the nozzle. After extrusion and cutting, the paste is dried in special ovens at a certain temperature. Pasta cooked in the classic Italian way has the best taste. Unfortunately, industrial drying often takes place at very high temperatures to reduce production times. If you dry the pasta according to the traditional recipe, then this process will take about 50 hours. Well, at the end of the preparation of dry pasta, it is packed in branded packaging.

Now a little about fresh Italian pasta.
Use fresh pasta on the day of manufacture so that it does not lose its taste. We are especially proud of cooked fresh pasta, as it requires more attention.

What is the best pasta? Actually it's a matter of taste. They are both beautiful, just used in different situations.

Now let's talk about the types (forms) of Italian pasta. There is an amazing variety of different shapes of pasta on the market today. There are more than 500 types of them. For pasta producers, sometimes any significant event in the world can suggest a new form. You can read more about the various forms of Italian pasta.

How to choose and cook pasta?


When choosing a classic dry pasta, you should pay attention to what varieties of wheat it is made from. The ideal pasta will be products made from durum wheat. The sauce holds rough products best. An indicator of quality is a small volume of the product with a large mass. Good pasta is difficult to digest, as it does not boil well. When choosing fresh pasta, pay attention to the appearance and production date indicated on the package. Macaroni should be dense, with a pleasant texture and color. Fresh pasta can be purchased at the supermarket and in Italian bakeries that make their own pasta.

For those wishing to have a delicious lunch or dinner, we recommend purchasing products above the average cost.
When preparing pasta, there is one unspoken rule for combining sauce and pasta - the thicker and shorter the product, the thicker the sauce should be, since in this case the use of sauce and pasta will be uniform, it will not drain. Regarding the cooking time of the pasta, it is important to take into account the varieties of wheat used for its manufacture. The finished pasta should remain elastic inside and to avoid sticking together, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil are added during cooking. It is strictly forbidden to wash with cold water.

So, to prepare delicious pasta, we need a double-bottomed pan, plenty of water, olive oil, salt and the actual pasta with sauce. The amount of water is calculated at the rate of 1 liter per 100 g of dry products. You need to throw the pasta into boiling water, pre-salted to taste. You can add olive oil if you wish. The pasta is usually cooked with the lid open for 8 minutes, but it is still better to look at the cooking time on the package, as it may differ due to the type of product and the quality of the flour used in the manufacture. Pasta is considered ready when the pasta is slightly undercooked. After draining the water, transfer the pasta to a pre-prepared dish and add the sauce. Sauces can be different - with salmon in a creamy sauce, with shrimp, with seafood, and others, at your discretion. This dish is also perfectly used with vegetables and vegetable salads. Without sauce, in its purest form, Italian pasta will not be as tasty.

The very first pasta recipe

Surprisingly, the very first documented recipes for Italian pasta were records that indicated that this product was boiled in water with the addition of almond milk, and then seasoned with a special sauce made from sweet roots. So the very first pasta recipe was actually a dessert.

One of the first traditional pasta recipes was published in the book The Art of Sicilian Pasta and Vermicelli by chef Martin Corno in 1000.

In the city of Pontedassio, there is a document that for the first time indicates the dish "macaronis", which is modern pasta with sauce.

Spaghetti got its name relatively recently thanks to Antonio Viviani, who named it that way in 1842 because of the similarity with twine (twine sounds like spago in Italian).

Calorie content of pasta

The calorie content of classic pasta (paste) averages 350 Kcal per 100 grams of products. But pasta is not served without sauces, so it is extremely difficult to calculate the calorie content of the finished dish.

There is a misconception that pasta leads to weight gain. It's not like that at all. Real durum wheat pasta consists of fiber, which is poorly digested, but perfectly saturates the body and satisfies the feeling of hunger. Also, fiber plays the role of a sorbent, which allows you to naturally remove toxins from the body. The calorie content of pasta includes mainly energy from carbohydrates, but 70% of them are healthy (containing a low glycemic index), which allows us to raise this product to the rank of dietary.

At the moment, Italy holds the record for eating pasta and the number of pasta recipes.

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Overview of the history of Italian pasta.

Note that the Italian pasta begins its victorious march across the territory that the Italian Republic occupies today, from the south, from ... the Arabs.

Despite the fact that even the ancient Romans came up with the word lagana for some noodles.

However, despite the ancient Romans, three hundred years ago, even the Neapolitans did not consider pasta their national dish, which even in modern Italy, which is now not indifferent to pasta (hence the nickname of the Italians “pasta”), is called “pasta eaters”.

In general, pasta spread widely to the north of Italy only after the unification of all of Italy in 1861. As pointed out by ok. 1860, before the attack on Naples (then the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Sardinia-Piedmont) Cavour, whose monarch is the king of Piedmont and a representative of the Savoy dynasty and united all of Italy around him: "" pasta (in the south of the country ) are ready and we will eat them.” All this can be learned from Italian publications, including which we quote below.

Our review of the history of Italian pasta was prepared from the publication of Italian authors "Italian Cuisine: The History of a Culture" (La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura, 1999).

We have supplemented these few pages with rather extensive site notes in parenthesis of the main text.

Neapolitan Pasta Eaters.

From an Italian painting, painted at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

"Pasta Eaters" in Naples (c. 1886)

Italian pasta: history in ancient times

Slovechko "paste" translated from Italian simply means "dough" (from lat. pasta), and is the collective name for pasta. Moreover, pasta also includes, for example, “lasagna”, which, like something long, does not look like pastabut, "lasagna" is just elongated sheets of dough, and filling between them.

The publication Italian Cuisine: The History of a Culture (La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura, 1999) writes the following about the early history of Italian pasta:

« Already the Romans knew how to knead the dough from flour with water, roll it into a wide thin plate, called lagana(what later became known as "lasagna"- wide noodles)- which was then cut into wide layers and cooked.

But the most important elements of the "modern" pasta were formed only in the Middle Ages - this is primarily a variety of forms - wide, narrow, short, long, perforated, stuffed inside.

Then the method of preparation changed fundamentally.

Roman lagana cooked in the oven along with a filler that acted as a liquid, and in the Middle Ages a new custom appeared that has come down to our days - to cook pasta in boiling water or in broth, and sometimes in milk».

Italian pasta: its history in the Middle Ages

A recent illustration from the Neapolitan newspaper Il Mattino shows the story of Italian pasta. Here is the production of the Neapolitan variety of pasta, namely pasta gragnano (gragnano) in past times.

Note that since December 2013, the European Commission has approved the status of an authentic protected mark for this pasta from the commune of Gragnano.

Recall that the municipality (town) of Gragnano is located near Vesuvius, and administratively belongs to the Campania region and its province of Naples.

“The next step was the invention of dry pasta with a long shelf life, that is, the transformation of a handicraft into an industrial product suitable for transportation and trade. We owe this last turning point in the history of pasta to the Arabs, who came up with a drying technique to ensure a supply of provisions for the duration of the transitions in the desert.

Dry pasta appears in Arabic cookbooks as early as the 9th century. This tradition is plausibly associated with the presence in Western Sicily, where the Arab culture dominated, of manufactories (productions using manual labor) for the manufacture of pasta. The Arabs ruled Sicily from 827 to 1091. Note. website).

In the XII century, the geographer Al-Idrisi reports the existence in Trebia, about thirty kilometers from the Sicilian city of Palermo, of a real industrial enterprise for the production of dry pasta ( itrija). In this area, he writes, “so much pasta is made that it is traded everywhere, sent to Calabria (a region in southern Italy Note ..

(Al-Idrisi (years of life: 1099-1165, or 1166) - a geographer, a native of a noble Arab family in Muslim Spain, later came to the Norman court in Sicily liberated from the Arabs, in particular visiting another Spanish Arab, Abu al-Sol, personal physician of the local Norman ruler Roger II of Sicily Al-Idrisi, at the request of Roger II, wrote his most famous geographical work.

The Arabs also distributed, in all likelihood, long pasta, as evidenced in Tacuina sanitatis XIV century. Italy, therefore, turned out to be a confluence of two gastronomic traditions, Roman and Arabic, in turn connected with other traditions and cultures..

(Tacuina sanitatis - Latin translation from an Arabic medical treatise of the 11th century (i.e. Taqwim al-sihha"Maintaining Health"). The Arabic treatise was written by the Baghdad Arab (who also periodically lived in Syria) Ibn Butlan (Ibn Butlan, years of life: 1001 - 1066), who professed Christianity in the Nestorian version. Nestorianism is a Christian movement founded ca. 400 AD in Byzantium, Archbishop Nestorius; later, in 431, by the Ecumenical Council at Ephesus, despite the initial support of the emperor, the Nestorian movement was condemned as a heresy, and Nestorius was exiled to a monastery in Egypt, then a province of Byzantium. Now only the Syro-Persian (Assyrian) Church, otherwise the Assyrian Church of the East, adheres to this current of Christianity.

The treatise was devoted to the effects on the human body of various plants and types of food. It is believed that at the beginning of the 12th century it was translated into New Persian, and the first Latin translation ( Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar medici de Baldath) was carried out in the middle of the XIII century by an Arab Christian commissioned by the Christian king of Sicily Manfred. One of the Latin copies Tacuina sanitatis now kept in the National Library of France. Note. website).

Some suggest that the homeland of the pasta was Persia, and from there it spread to the West and to the East, taking root mainly in China.

A number of circumstances, and not least the decisive role played by the Italian coastal cities in the economic system of the Middle Ages, contributed to the rooting of these different traditions on the peninsula, their gradually increasing processing and extraordinary enrichment. The forms of pasta multiplied as the ways of its use in gastronomic use diversified: it was consumed as a fresh product, made at home, and transported along the coasts and deep into the European continent in the form of an industrial product.

In the XII century, Genoese merchants were already the main intermediaries for the distribution of Sicilian pasta in the northern regions; soon Liguria (a region with the main city in Genoa. Approx. site) became a zone of paramount importance not only in the field of sales, but also in the field of production vermicelli and other types of pasta. Of course, it is no coincidence that the recipes presented in the cookbooks of the XIV century are designated as "Genoese".

In subsequent centuries and throughout the New Age, recipe collections continued to call this gastronomic product Genoese pasta. During the 15th century, other industrial areas (primarily Apulia) adopted the Sicilian and Ligurian tradition, while in the north (Emilia, Lombardy, Veneto) homemade fresh pasta is still more popular (Puglia is a region on the Adriatic coast of Italy, with city ​​in Bari; Veneto - the region around Venice, in which it acts as the main city; Emilia (Emilia-Romagna, the main city is Bologna) and Lombardy (the main city is Milan) - regions in the far north of Italy Note site) .

Meanwhile, documentary evidence of fresh pasta is multiplying. Lasagna, tortelli and some "grain paste" (possibly meaning pasta millefanti) appear at the meal of the Camaldoli hermits in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines in the 12th century: they were served on special occasions or on major holidays, according to the calendar, which accurately determined the charter of the community. (Camaldoli (camaldules) - a monastic order living according to the charter of St. Benedict. Note site)

Of all the cookbooks written in the 14th century, only the Neapolitan cookbook Liber de coquina explains in detail how to cook and how to season lasagna: take the leavened dough, roll it thinly, divide it into squares three fingers wide (it should be assumed that the same length). Boil in boiling water and season, alternating layers, with grated cheese ( caseum gratatum) and, to taste, crushed spices.

The last tip is to eat this dish with a pointed wooden tool ( uno punctorio ligneo) - makes us associate the popularity of various kinds of pastas, slippery and certainly very hot, with the rapid spread of the fork in Italian everyday life. This cutlery came into use, apparently, already in the 14th century, while in other European countries in the 17th-18th centuries many people preferred to eat with their hands.

In the same way as lasagna continues Liber, croseti are made, round or oblong, which should be crushed with a finger to give them a sunken shape. We are talking, obviously, about the Genoese and Provencal corzzetti, not too different from Apulian catatelli(types of pasta-horns).

The long pasta is probably the one that Liber hides under the name ancia alexandrina, a dish made from Apulian bran and probably boiled in almond milk; ancia(in modern Italian: mouthpiece) is a tube, tube, worm.

(Liber de coquina is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. The two surviving copies in Latin in the National Library of France consist of two independent parts - a treatise on cooking, compiled by an unknown French author, and the actual Liber de coquina, which is believed to be written by an unknown author from the Naples region. We note that, as the book La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura, which we cite in this review about the history of Italian pasta, writes in another part: “until the middle of the 15th century, cookbooks in Christian Italy were written exclusively in Latin, and as for Liber de coquina, then it was apparently written at the court of Charles II of Anjou, king of the Kingdom of Naples. Note. website).

First of all, the term refers to the long paste. tria in written and ancient drawings.

First technical instructions for manufacturing vermicelli(lit.: worms - the name of one of the types of pasta) contain in the culinary book of Maestro Martino of the 15th century: "Spread the dough ... and stretch it thinly, and then tear it into small pieces like worms with your fingers and lay it to dry in the sun."

Besides, Martino reports a recipe for Sicilian pasta, in which for the first time the term "pasta" designates exactly the product that we still know by this name, that is, a short, through-hole paste.

Martino writes:

“Take the best flour and mix it with egg white and rose or ordinary water ... and knead a stiff dough; Then divide it into pieces as long as a palm and thin as straws. Take an iron wire that is a palm long or more and thin as a dagger, put it on the indicated piece of dough and with both hands roll it over the table; after you remove the wire, you get pasta drilled in the middle.

Roman pasta looks different, which in reality is not pasta (except in the sense of pasta in general), but rather tagliatelli (homemade noodles). “Take the best flour, knead it and make the dough a little fatter than lasagna dough” and wrap it around a stick: this operation in this case does not serve to create an internal cavity, but to ensure that at the moment of cutting the noodles have a certain uniform length . "And then take out the stick and cut the dough into strips the width of your little finger, and it will come out in strips."

(Martino da Como, also known as Maestro (master) Martino (Maestro Martino da Como, years of life: exact dates of life are unknown, was born in the Ticino region, now in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland) - an Italian chef of the 15th century, who served most of his career under court of the Italian Cardinal Ludovic Trevisan, compiled the first detailed cookbook in the history of Christian Italy Il Libro de Arte Coquinaria. Note. website).

Approximately the same techniques lead Messisbugo and Scappi.

Messisbugo (Cristoforo di Messisbugo) was an Italian chef of the 15th century who served for most of his career as a steward and master of ceremonies at the court of the Dukes of Este, who ruled in the provinces of Ferrara and Modena (Emilia-Romagna region). In turn, Bartolomeo Scappi (Bartolomeo Scappi, years of life: c. 1500-1577, by origin, apparently, a native of Lombardy) - was a cook at the courts of several cardinals, and then moved to the Papal cuisine. Entered the Papal kitchen under Pope Pius IV, and under Pius V became his personal papal chef. In 1570 he published his cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare. Martineau books Il Libro de Arte Coquinaria and Scappi Opera dell'arte del cucinare and cited by the authors of La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura and its chapter on the history of Italian pasta cited by us Prim. website).

If the pasta described in the texts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is to some extent familiar and familiar to us, then the methods of their preparation, sauces and the order of use differ quite strongly.

Compared to today's Italian taste, which tends to be pastas aldente i.e. slightly undercooked(Even though pasta gradually “softens” as it rises from south to north), pasta would have seemed definitely overcooked to us five or six centuries ago. “This and similar pasta should be boiled in boiling water for two hours in a row,” writes Maestro Martino about "Sicilian pasta".

When, then, did the addiction to harder pasta appear? It’s hard to say: Scappi’s recipes (1570) are still far from this, but already at the beginning of the 17th century (the figure of that time) Giovanni Del Turco considered it “appropriate” not to cook pasta for too long, moreover, he advises dousing them with cold water, which “will make their more frozen and solid.

However, the tendency to overcooked pasta persists for a long time and to this day exists outside of Italy, for example in Germany, where we find another “archaic” feature of the use of pasta - their use as a side dish for other dishes, primarily meat.

Liber de coquina XIV century advises to serve "Genoese pasta" (tria ianuensi)"with meat-fed capon roosters, eggs and any kind of meat". This rule is still valid two centuries later, as far as one can judge from the instructions of Bartolomeo Scappi: “boiled capons covered with lasagna”, “boiled domestic ducks covered with Roman pasta”, “chickens from our lands, boiled and covered with Neapolitan pasta”, “ boiled roast geese stuffed in Lombard style, covered with annolini" and so on.

This does not preclude the simpler tradition of eating pasta.: since the 13th century, literature offers expressive portraits of companions greedily eating steaming pasta. Let us recall, for example, Brother Giovanni da Ravenna, about whom Salimbene da Parma writes: “I have never seen a man who would eat lasagna with cheese so willingly”; and a certain Noddo de Andrea, described in Franco Sacchetti's short story, known for his ability to devour "boiling pasta", to the displeasure of the one who shared the device with him and was constantly hungry.

(Salimbene da Parma, Salimbene Parma (Fra Salimbene de Adam da Parma, years of life: 1221 - c. 1288) - Italian Franciscan monk, author of the Latin Chronicle, describing both events from the life of the monks of the Order, and Italian events of that time ; Franco Sacchetti (Franco Sacchetti, years of life: 1335 - 1400), Italian poet and writer, comes from a merchant family Note site).

Probably, two socially determined types of consumption can be identified: pasta as a side dish - in the aristocratic court kitchen; pasta as an independent dish - in the cuisine of the people and bourgeois.

As for seasonings, from the very beginning, pasta has always been combined with cheese, better supplemented with spices - this tradition is still relevant today. Should know, claims Liber de coquina, as in lasagna, and in corzzetti it is necessary to put a large amount of grated cheese. Cheese can be gratatum- grated and incisum, that is, cut into pieces; this alternative is offered by the same collection of recipes for Genoese cuisine.

But the first option was practiced incomparably longer and immediately became a symbol of the inseparable unity of pasta cheese, especially parmesan(“Parma cheese”, in the modern Italian province of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region. Note site), or piacentirno(“Piacenza cheese”, in the modern Italian province of Piacenza in the Emilia-Romagna region. Note .. Italian province of Lodi in the Lombardy region. Note website). Tried at the end of the 18th century and finally accepted in the twenties of the 19th century, the union of pasta with tomato sauce could not destroy it.

Cheese and tomato, together or separately, are a more accessible and popular condiment compared to gravy and stew in the eyes of Neapolitan and Parisian haute cuisine.

Since the 15th century, butter has been added to cheese (instead of lard, which appeared from time to time in recipes from the 14th century).

The spices sprinkled on the pasta were meant to be "sweet". “Put them on plates with a good amount of grated cheese, fresh butter and sweet spices,” writes Maestro Martino in the Sicilian Pasta recipe. Throughout modern times, sugar and cinnamon are at least as obligatory as cheese: virtually all pasta dishes in the Scappi cookbook are served "sprinkled with cheese, sugar, and cinnamon."

The extraordinarily long shelf life of this product (pasta and vermicelli dried in the sun last up to “two or three years,” writes Maestro Martino) contributed to the increasing commercial and gastronomic success of the pasta, especially in urban markets.

Little is known about pasta consumption in villages, but it is significant that Maccheronee The author Teofilo Folengo attributes to rustic cuisine all types of pasta: pasta and lasagne, tagliatelle And tortelli.

Here we are talking, most likely, about fresh pasta, produced as needed: the industrial production of pasta did not concern the villages , in most of Italy, the climate did not favor experiments on drying it at home. Be that as it may, for rural residents, pasta on the table was a holiday: in 1694, the city dweller Girolamo Cirelli writes with a touch of superiority: "they (peasants) consider it a great luxury to invite a friend to dinner, serve lasagna or pasta on the table" .

(Teofilo Folengo (Teofilo Folengo, years of life: 1491-1544) - Italian poet, one of his works is a satirical poem Maccheronee related to the genre of the so-called. pasta poetry - on a mixture of languages ​​and dialects. Note. website).

In cookbooks, pasta is often referred to as a "lean" dish.. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that we find one of the most complete descriptions of different types of pastas in the minestra recipe (a type of liquid first course Note site) from pasta on the pages Il vitto quaresimale(which, translated from it., means "lean dishes". Note. website) by Paolo Zacchii, who writes:

“They differ among themselves in whether the pastas are dried or fresher; and also according to whether they are thicker or thinner; and whether they are made from wheat flour or from some other substance.

Also, they have many different shapes, because some of them are round, like what we call pasta or vermicelli, and of these the latter, some are empty inside, and some are not, others are wide and stretched, like lasagna, others are small and round. like the ones we call millefanti, some are flat, but narrow, like ribbons, and are usually called tagliolini, others are short and plump, they are called agnolini(lit. from Italian - "lambs" Note website), some are longer and thicker, called gnocco, and a thousand more ways, and there is not much difference between them in terms of health benefits, ”Paolo Zacchia quotes the publication “Italian cuisine: The history of one culture” (La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura, 1999) . Note that Il vitto quaresimale(“Lenten Cuisine”) is just one of the works of the Italian physician Paolo Zacchia (Paolo Zacchia: years of life: 1584 −1659), who actually wrote works on medicine and for some time served as the chief papal physician.

Italian pasta has not been a national dish for a long time

Italian pasta - history. A pasta factory in Torre Annunziata, a southern suburb of Naples. On ill. the paste is dried.

From a photograph by German photographer Giorgio Sommer (1834-1914), who owned a photo studio in Naples from 1857 until his death.

On how Italian pasta became the national dish in Italy, La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura (1999) notes the following:

“For a long time, pasta remains not the most common dish (meaning: not a national special dish in any way), it was among others. Back in the 16th century, it could only be considered a whim, a delicacy that one could — and even had to — do without in a period of need: in Naples (where, apparently, they began to import pasta from Sicily only towards the end of the 15th century), a decree of 1509 prohibited produce "taralli, susamelli, ceppule, macaroni, vermicelli" and any other "types of pasta" during periods when flour rose in price "because of war, or crop failure, or adverse weather."

It is obvious that pasta was not then the main dish of the population, who ate bread and minestra stews, vegetables and meat.

Even in Sicily, pasta was an expensive commodity: it would not be until 1501 that it was included in the necessities for which fixed prices were set, and even in the middle of the century, the price of pasta or lasagna was about three times the price of bread.

It was not until the 17th century that pasta began to play a new role in nutrition. The turning point took place in Naples, where in the middle of the century urban overpopulation and a political and economic crisis led to interruptions in the supply of food, especially meat. Soon a small technological revolution (namely, the almost ubiquitous distribution of dough mixers and mechanical presses) made it possible to produce cheaper pasta and other types of pasta.

At that time, pasta became the main dish in the diet of the poor urban classes, and in the 18th century it was the Neapolitans who earned the nickname "pasta", which was previously reserved for the Sicilians and. In 1787, (German writer) Wolfgang Goethe visited Naples and noted that "pasta of all kinds ... is sold there everywhere at a reasonable price."

The method of their preparation remains the same as in the Middle Ages: "they are boiled in water, and the grated cheese serves as both fat and seasoning."

The image of a Neapolitan devouring pasta, which was also established at the picture level, was not slow to become a stereotype. When the political unification of the peninsula was completed in 1860, the annexation of Naples by Piedmont could be symbolically represented as eating pasta: "The pasta is ready and we will eat it," writes Cavour Costantino Nigro, Piedmont's ambassador in Paris, alluding to Garibaldi's entry into the capital of the Kingdom.

(Recall that Cavour (Camillo Benso conte di Cavour, years of life 1810-1861) is the prime minister of the Sardinian kingdom (Sardinia-Piedmont), whose monarch, namely Victor Emmanuel II, is the king of Piedmont and a representative of the Savoy dynasty and united around himself in 1861 year all of Italy, thus founding, for the first time since ancient Roman times, a single state on the Apennine Peninsula.Naples, then the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was conquered by the pro-Piedmontese rebels Garibaldi, and annexed to Italy in 1860. Approx. site).

Italian pasta - history: Neapolitan pasta makers - pastai.

Italian pasta - history: Neapolitan pasta makers - pastai. The paste is drying.

From a photograph of 1890.

The "national revolution" in Italy, insofar as it means "the acceptance of the South by the North", is also a revolution in the gastronomic image of the country, which, as (modern Italian researcher) Franco La Checla writes, "is increasingly pulling the Mediterranean blanket northward, a significant part of which is pasta.

However, outside of Italy, the passion for pasta was already perceived as a hallmark of the Italian in general, in French it sounds like italiano tout courtm,without distinction to the South and North of the united country.

Already around the end of the 18th century, the character of the Goldoni Theater (the Goldini Theater is one of the oldest Italian opera houses, located in Venice, note site), invited to dinner in Paris by the “most kind lady”, hears with amazement how a certain La Cloche reproaches her: “ Do you serve soup to an Italian? But Italians only eat pasta, more pasta, and more pasta,” notes La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura (1999).

The site was prepared on the basis of the chapter on the history of Italian pasta by Italian authors “Italian Cuisine: The History of a Culture” (La cucina italiana: Storia di una cultura), published in Italy in 1999 . Authors: Alberto Cappati and Massimo Montanari, a Russian translation has also been released..

However, not all Italians (and not always) are happy that they are considered the people of pasta...

Video:The Italian is trying to get rid of addiction to pasta:

Below are comedic footage from the Italian feature film An American in Rome (Un americano a Roma, (released in 1954). The young middle-class Italian hero of the film, played by Alberto Sordi, dreams of going to America, but for now (among other things) tries to kick his pasta habit and switch to real American food, but without success, he cannot give up pasta.Note that in post-war Italy, transitioning to democracy, the American way of life was becoming very popular.Italian national television Rai recently called the image this "pasta eater" created by Sordi, "unforgettable".

Alternative view.

Durum wheat pasta is suitable for making classic pasta. Pasta can also be supplemented with delicious and fragrant sauces.

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To prepare the traditional carbonara sauce, pancetta or guanciale is used, as well as fragrant pecorino romano cheese made from sheep's milk. In our area, meat products can be replaced with fatty bacon, and Italian cheese with parmesan. And remember: no cream in carbonara!

Ingredients

  • 450 g spaghetti;
  • salt - to taste;
  • 200 g bacon;
  • 100 g finely grated parmesan;

Cooking

Cook spaghetti in salted water according to package directions until al dente. Meanwhile, cut the bacon into small strips and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Beat the yolks and mix them with half of the grated cheese and a pinch of pepper.

Drain spaghetti in a colander and leave about a glass of water in which they were boiled. Immediately put them in the pan with bacon, stir and remove from heat. Add some spaghetti water, season with pepper and pour in the egg sauce. Mix well and add a little more water if necessary to achieve a creamy consistency.

Transfer the pasta to a serving platter and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.


nonnabox.com

Tomato-meat bolognese sauce is known, perhaps, all over the world. Most often it is combined with spaghetti, but it perfectly complements other types of pasta.

Ingredients

  • 1 carrot;
  • 1 celery stalk;
  • 1 onion;
  • 1 clove of garlic;
  • a few sprigs of rosemary;
  • 200 g minced pork;
  • 200 g ground beef;
  • 500 g of tomatoes in their own juice;
  • 4 tablespoons of tomato paste;
  • 100 ml of red wine;
  • salt - to taste;
  • a few sprigs of basil;
  • 500 g spaghetti;
  • a little grated parmesan.

Cooking

Cut the vegetables into small cubes and chop the rosemary. Fry these ingredients in hot oil until the vegetables soften.

Put in another pan and fry it until golden brown. Add vegetables, tomatoes, tomato paste and wine to the meat. Stir, season with spices and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and cook for another 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chopped basil and stir.

Boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. Drain, put the pasta on a dish, put the bolognese sauce on top and garnish with basil leaves and grated cheese.

3. Fettuccine Alfredo


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In the classic version, the pasta is mixed only with the most delicate creamy sauce, which is prepared from just three ingredients. Later, the sauce began to be made more creamy and mushrooms or shrimp were added to it.

Ingredients

  • 250 g fettuccine;
  • salt - to taste;
  • 50 g butter;
  • 100 ml cream - optional;
  • 100 g of grated parmesan;
  • ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking

Cook fettuccine in salted water until al dente according to package instructions. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over low heat and then remove from heat.

For a creamy sauce, add cream to the butter. Do not remove from heat until pasta is cooked and stir constantly.

Place the fettuccine in a saucepan using tongs. The paste should not be dry, so don't try to shake off all the liquid from it. Turn on medium heat and stir the pasta. Add half the cheese and mix very well again. If necessary, add a little more water in which the fettuccine was cooked. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and stir again.

Transfer the pasta to a serving platter and sprinkle with ground pepper.

4. Pasta with chicken and broccoli in a creamy sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts;
  • salt - to taste;
  • ground black pepper - to taste;
  • 350 g farfalle (butterfly-shaped pasta);
  • 1 head of broccoli;
  • 240 ml of milk;
  • 50 g of grated parmesan;
  • 180 g;
  • 3 cloves of garlic.

Cooking

Heat oil over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts to the pan, season with spices and fry for 8 minutes on each side until golden brown. Cool slightly and cut into small pieces.

Place farfalle in boiling salted water. 2 minutes before they are al dente, add the broccoli florets to the pan. Then drain the water.

In a saucepan, combine milk, parmesan, cream cheese, minced garlic and spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Pour the farfalle, broccoli and chicken into the sauce and mix well.


jamieoliver.com

To prepare this pasta, you can use both fresh tomatoes and tomatoes in their own juice. And in addition to basil, you can take spinach, arugula or green peas.

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch of basil;
  • 1 onion;
  • 2 cloves of garlic;
  • 1 kg of ripe tomatoes or 800 g of tomatoes in their own juice;
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil;
  • 1 tablespoon red wine or balsamic vinegar
  • salt - to taste;
  • ground black pepper - to taste;
  • 500 g spaghetti;
  • a little grated parmesan.

Cooking

Separately chop the basil stems and leaves, reserving a few leaves for garnish. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel the tomatoes and cut into small cubes. As for tomatoes in their own juice, sometimes they are chopped, so you don’t have to cut them.

Heat the oil over medium heat and fry the onion in it for about 7 minutes, until it softens and browns. Throw in the garlic and basil stalks. After a couple of minutes, add the tomatoes and vinegar, season with spices and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add basil leaves and reduce heat to low.

Meanwhile, boil in salted water until al dente. Drain the water into a separate container, put the spaghetti in the tomato sauce and mix well. If the pasta is dry, add a little spaghetti water.

Put the pasta on a dish, sprinkle with parmesan and garnish with basil leaves.


simplyrecipes.com

Choose any mushrooms to your taste: champignons, porcini or any other.

Ingredients

  • 300 g curly paste;
  • salt - to taste;
  • 2 tablespoons of butter;
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil;
  • 600 g mushrooms;
  • ground black pepper - to taste;
  • 150 g spinach;
  • 1 lemon;
  • a little grated parmesan;
  • a few sprigs of parsley.

Ingredients

Cook pasta in salted water until al dente according to instructions. Drain the water, reserving one glass of the liquid for later.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook it, stirring constantly, until it becomes slightly brown. Remove from fire. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and put the sliced ​​\u200b\u200bin there. Fry, stirring occasionally, until they are browned. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the pasta, half the chopped spinach, and ¼ cup pasta water to the mushrooms. Stir and cook until the spinach is slightly cooked through. Throw in the remaining spinach and cook for a few more minutes. If the paste seems dry, add more water.

Then add the butter, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the zest of a whole lemon. Stir, put on a dish and sprinkle with cheese and chopped parsley.


simplyrecipes.com

Pasta primavera is good to cook in the summer with fresh seasonal vegetables that can be found in the kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 200 g fusilli (spiral-shaped pasta);
  • salt - to taste;
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil;
  • 1 carrot;
  • ½ red onion;
  • 1 zucchini;
  • ½ eggplant;
  • ½ Bulgarian;
  • 1 clove of garlic;
  • 100 g of tomato paste;
  • 1 teaspoon Italian herbs seasoning;
  • a few cherry tomatoes;
  • a few basil leaves;
  • a little grated parmesan.

Cooking

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente.

Heat the oil over medium heat and fry the carrots, cut into small strips, and onion half rings for 5 minutes. Add zucchini and eggplant cubes and peppers cut into strips. Cook for 3-4 more minutes. Salt, put the chopped garlic, mix well and remove from heat.

Add the tomato paste, seasoning and some pasta water. Then add cooked pasta, halved tomatoes and chopped basil.


stockfresh.com

This pasta is very tasty and fragrant. King prawns are the best.

Ingredients

  • 200 g linguine or spaghetti;
  • salt - to taste;
  • 25 g butter;
  • 200 g of peeled shrimp;
  • 1 clove of garlic;
  • 100 ml of white wine;
  • ground black pepper - to taste;
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice;
  • ¼ bunch of parsley.

Cooking

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. In the meantime, melt half the butter over medium heat and fry until they are lightly browned on both sides. Add minced garlic and cook for another minute.

Pour in the wine, stir and bring to a boil. Add remaining oil, spices, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Remove from heat, add pasta and mix well.


www.philips.com

Fragrant pasta alla norma is very popular in Sicily. It is prepared with tomato sauce.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggplants;
  • salt - to taste;
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano;
  • ground black pepper - to taste;
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil;
  • 3 cloves of garlic;
  • 1 bunch of basil;
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar;
  • 800 g of tomatoes in their own juice;
  • 500 g spaghetti;
  • a little grated parmesan.

Cooking

Cut the eggplant into small cubes, sprinkle with salt and leave for 20 minutes to remove the bitterness from them. Then rinse them and dry them with a paper towel. Toss eggplant with oregano, salt, pepper and half the olive oil.

Heat the remaining oil over medium heat and fry the eggplant in batches. Cook them for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned. Add minced garlic and chopped basil stalks and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add vinegar and tomatoes, chop them with a spatula and simmer for 15-20 minutes over low heat. You can also use peeled fresh tomatoes, but they will take longer to cook. The sauce should be quite thick.

Boil spaghetti until al dente in salted water. Drain the liquid into a separate container and add a little to the sauce along with chopped basil leaves. Pour the spaghetti into the sauce, stir and add more water if necessary.

Put the pasta on a dish and sprinkle with cheese.


jamieoliver.com

This is another classic Italian dish with capers, anchovies and chili. Pasta is hearty, spicy and incredibly fragrant.

Ingredients

  • 400 g spaghetti;
  • salt - to taste;
  • a few tablespoons of olive oil;
  • 4 cloves;
  • 2 red chili peppers;
  • 3 anchovy fillets;
  • 100 g olives;
  • 100 g capers;
  • 200 g ripe cherry tomatoes;
  • ½ bunch of basil;
  • a little grated parmesan.

Cooking

Boil spaghetti until al dente in salted water. Heat oil over medium heat and add minced garlic, thin chilli strips, finely chopped anchovy fillets, olives and chopped capers. Roast for a few minutes.

Add halved tomatoes and some spaghetti water. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes begin to soften. Add the pasta and basil leaves to the sauce. Stir and salt.

Put the pasta on a dish and sprinkle with parmesan.