This is a guest post from Robin Locker Lacey, a travel consultant for Italy and France, freelance writer, photographer and foodie. Her blog, My Mélange, features info on her favorite European cities, travel essays, photos, restaurant and hotel recommendations, recipes and budget travel tips. You can follow her on Twitter @MyMelange or join her community on Facebook.
One of my favourite – and tastiest – ways to explore a new area when I travel is by sampling the local cuisine. It’s fun to hear stories about the culture and to try new ingredients. There is no shortage of stories or delicious, fresh ingredients in Italy.
Today I’d like to offer up some history on three delicious Italian pasta sauces, from three different regions of Italy, and where you can find them. And if you can’t get to Italy to sample them, perhaps you’ll be inspired to make them at home and have your own little trip to Italy in your very own cucina!
Pesto
Our first sauce hails from Italy’s Ligurian Coast, which is part of the scenic Italian Riviera. The verdant green sauce, called pesto, has also become very popular in the English speaking world in recent decades. The original, created in Genoa, and known as Genovese Pesto, is reportedly so good because the soil and microclimate are both perfect for growing its most essential ingredient – basil. Pesto is thought to be named for the Italian word pesta, meaning to crush or pound. Long before the invention of the food processor, authentic pestos were, and still are, prepared with a mortar and pestle, which allows all the ingredients to be mashed and pounded together.
The Genovese version is made with the freshest basil leaves, pignoli (pine nuts), crushed garlic, grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese and excellent quality olive oil. Creative variations often substitute mint or arugula for the basil, and almonds or walnuts for the pignoli.
Try this classic pesto recipe at home or the next time you are in Genoa order up a plate at Trattoria da Maria on Vico Testadoro.
Bolognese
This hearty and robust sauce, known as a ragù, originated in the city of Bologna, which is an often overlooked area for foodies in Northern Italy. Many, especially those who have eaten Spaghetti Bolognese in the United States, falsely think of it as a tomato-based sauce, but the authentic recipe is meat based, with only a tiny bit of tomato paste.
The sauce has been around for years, with family recipes containing variations, but the official recipe wasn’t actually registered in Bologna until 1982. The classic recipe contains soffritto, pancetta, beef, good wine, tomato paste and a splash of cream or milk, and is served with a wide noodle pasta like tagliatelle, pappardelle, lasagne or fettuccine. Most other combinations seem to vary the types and cuts of beef, veal and pork. But one thing the culinary world does agree on – Bolognese is not a quick sauce – the longer it simmers the better it gets.
If you happen to be in Bologna, stop into Trattoria Tony for delicious Pasta Bolognese at a reasonable price.
Puttanesca
Though there are various stories attributed to the origin of this spicy sauce which hails from the Naples region of Italy, my favorite matches the rather spicy level of the sauce itself. It seems that the name puttanesca, is a vulgar Neapolitan slang term for the word “prostitute”, making the literal translation of this sauce -served over pasta – ‘whore’s pasta’. Legend has it that when ‘ladies of the evening’ wanted to attract the attention of Italian men or sailors, they made this spicy pasta dish and put it in their window to lure in lovers. Other reports attribute the dish to nearby island of Ischia.
No matter its exact history, one can’t deny how delicious the salty sugo is and that its ingredients are typical for Southern Italian cuisine – tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers, anchovies and hot pepper flakes or red chilies. Though the traditional dish contains spaghetti, bucatini and penne also work well.
Puttanesca didn’t become popular until the 1960s and though you probably won’t find the dish on many Naples menus, you can still make it at home using this recipe.
Roaming Tales is publishing a series of guest posts from fellow bloggers, while I look after my newborn twins.
Photo credits: Three basil pesto; Slow-cooker bolognese; Pasta Puttanesca. Licensed under Creative Commons via Flickr.
You are making me HUNGRY. This looks delicious! Too bad our kitchen is bare and we’re flying out tomorrow. Hmm, might have to find somewhere that does carry-out Italian now…
I never tried puttanesca, I should try it to make at home.
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