I though I'd post some more pasta images today, starting with the relatively well know Rigatoni. The name means something like "large striped ones", though "ridge" is probably a better, less literal translation of "riga". Rigatoni make me think of Roman cuisine. There are four pasta dishes that are associated with Rome above all: 1 - Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe: a deceptively simple dish that requires great technique. The pasta is Rome's version of spaghetti alla chitarra, with a square cross section, and usually shop bought rather than home made. The dish features plenty of black pepper, and the pasta is tossed with Pecorino cheese until the cheese becomes a creamy sauce. 2 - Bucatini alla Matriciana or all'Amatriciana - there is an ongoing debate about the name - where the bucatini, a long pasta like a thickish spaghetti with a hole in the middle, is dressed with a sauce of tomato and diced Guanciale (salt cured pig's cheek), and topped with Pecorino cheese. 3 - Spaghettii alla Carbonara: the internationally famous dish of uncertain origin, made with Guanciale, cheese and eggs, and absolutely no cream.4 - Rigatoni co' la pajata: a sublime combination of the tube shape pasta with similar size and shape tubes of the intestines of milk fed lamb in a tomato-less sauce. That sounds horrible but everyone loves the dish if they can overcome their prejudice. I have ordered it for friends without telling them what was in it and had comments like " Mmm, some of the pasta is particularly good, really nice texture." "Lovely creamy sauce, is it ricotta?". I rest my case. Try it if you can when you are next in Rome, I am sure you'll love it. And if you really really can't, then Rigatoni are great dressed with the sauce from cooking Roman Oxtail stew, for which there is a recipe right here!
