Ziti lardiati

At first glance, the iconic Neapolitan dish called ziti lardiati looks like a fairly ordinary pasta al pomodoro. But looks can be deceiving, and in this case they’re most definitely are.

As the name implies, lardo, a kind of cured pork fat back, is the defining ingredient of the sauce. It’s minced together with onion and garlic, then slowly rendered until it is meltingly soft and transparent. Fresh cherry tomatoes, are added, perhaps with a splash of passata, to simmer briefly, just until they melt into a chunky yet silky sauce.

After such a short cook time, the sauce still tastes of fresh tomato, but it has surprising depth and complexity, with a beguiling blend of flavors and textures. It’s savory and sweet at the same time, with a hint of heat if you add the optional pinch of hot pepper. And the mouth feel combines a slightly chunky texture from the cherry tomatoes with a velvety richness from the lardo. You would never expect such rich complexity from a dish with only a handful of ingredients and such a short cook tme.

I think it’s defintely a dish you’ll want to try at least once. And with fresh tomatoes finally beginning to appear in our markets, this is a lovely way to celebrate the arrival of summer’s bounty.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 500g (1 lb) ziti
• salt

For the soffritto:

• 1 onion, peeled and cut into small dice
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 250g (8 oz) lardo, trimmed of its skin and cut into small dice
• olive oil or lard (optional)

For the sauce:

• 500g (1 lb) cherry tomatoes, split in half
• 100-200ml (1/2 – 1 cup) tomato passata, preferably homemade
• a handful of fresh basil leaves, with larger leaves torn up
• salt
• a small pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

For topping the pasta:

• pecorino-romano cheese, freshly grated

Directions

Mix the diced lardo and onion on a cutting board, then mince them together into a fine paste with a knife or, even better, a mezzaluna.

Place the resulting mince in a saucier, sauté pan or flat bottomed wok, along with a drizzle of olive oil or a dollop of lard if using. Sauté the mince very gently until the lardo has rendered its fat and turned transparent, and the onion is soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the ingredients; if need be, add a few drops of water to stop it browning.

Add the cherry tomatoes, passata, a good pinch of salt and, if you like, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have melted into a velvety, glossy sauce but still a little chunky. Add the fresh basil leaves towards the end of cooking.

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. If using traditional long ziti (see Notes below), break them into lengths. Boil the ziti until just slightly underdone.

Transfer the ziti to the pan with the sauce, along with a ladleful of the pasta water. Simmer for another minute or two, until the pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if things get too thick or dry.

Serve right away, topped with the grated cheese.

Notes on ziti lardiati

This is a quick and simple dish. You just need to take your time with the soffritto, so the lardo can render its richness into the sauce and the onion to develop its natural sweetness.

Otherwise, as always, the choice of ingredients is key:

On lardo

The name lardo is something of a false friend for Anglophones. It doesn’t mean lard (rendered pork fat) but rather unrendered pork fat back, which has been cured with salt, rosemary, garlic, and other spices, and aged for several months.

Besides its use in cooking, lardo is also served, sliced paper-thin as a kind of salume (charcuterie), often on still-warm toasted bread, which ever so slightly melts the lardo and gives it a lovely silky nouthfeel. You may know it in that form as it has become fairly trendy as of late.

Perhaps the best known variety is the prized lardo di Colonnata from the eponymous Tuscan village near Carrara. although Campania, where this dish is from, also produces its own fine lardo.

Since lardo is basically pure fat, you can add it directly to a dry pan and let it render slowly on its own. But adding a drizzle of olive oil or, better yet, a dollop of actual lard, does help things move along.

On ziti

Ziti is the pasta for this dish—it’s right in the name! It is a tubular pasta, not quite as thick as rigatoni but rather thicker than most penne. And perhaps most importantly, it is smooth, which gives it a slippery quality that pairs perfectly with this velvety sauce.

Back in the day, ziti was typically sold in long tubes, which you would break up into your preferred lengths, usually either 3 or 4 per zito. You will seeziti lardiati made with rather longer lengths than standard cut ziti from a box, which makes the dish fun—if a little messy—to eat. Here in North America, you can buy long ziti at a well stocked Italian delis or online. That said, boxed cut ziti will work just fine.

These days, despite the popularity of Italian-American dishes like Baked Ziti, sometimes even cut ziti can be a challenge to find here in North America. You should seek it out, as nothing quite replicates its mouth feel which pairs perfectly with this velvety sauce. But in a pinch, you could substitute another tubular pasta like penne or rigatoni or paccheri. Truth be told this tasty sauce goes with just about any shape.

On the tomatoes

The tomatoes, of course, bring everything together. Most recipes for ziti lardiati call for fresh cherry tomatoes, sometimes alone or sometimes supplemented as here with some (or a lot of) passata.

But there are recipes that simply call for pelati (canned tomatoes). If you go this route, just break them up a bit with your hands before adding them to the saucepan or add them whole and break them up with a fork in the pan. This produces a more interesting texture than milling or blending. In some recipes you add some tomato concentrate to the sauce, something I personally don’t care for as it produces a heavier sauce. And too tomato-y, so to speak. But if your tomatoes lack flavor, it can help.

The amount of sauce can vary, which is why I’ve given a range for the passata. You could also increase the cherry tomatoes. Be aware, however, that drowning your pasta in sauce is not the Italian way.

A word to the wise about the hot pepper

It’s optional but a nice extra layer of flavor, provided you don’t overdo it. I just add a small pinch to provide an almost imperceptible aftertaste. Too much hot pepper would throw the other flavors off balance. Like most Italian dishes, ziti lardiati isn’t meant to be super hot and spicy.

Variations

In some recipes, you skip the step where you mince the lardo together with the alliums. You simply render the lardo, then add the onion and garlic to gently sauté in the rendered fat. This saves some effort, but I find the mince really helps the lardo and onions to better infuse into the sauce for maximum depth of flavor.

Speaking of alliums, you will note the inclusion of both garlic and onion here. That gives lie to the notion that Italians never use both in the same dish. That said, some recipes do omit the garlic so feel free to do so if you prefer. The onion, on the other hand, is a must!

For a more savory but less fresh tasting sauce, add a bay leaf or two instead of the basil. Some recipes have you add white wine to the soffritto and cook it off before adding the tomatoes, which adds a touch of acidity that helps cut the richness of the sauce. For me, though, the richness is the main point of this sauce.

If you prefer a milder flavor, you can top your ziti lardiati with a mix of pecorino and parmigiano-reggiano. Or even just the latter. Personally, though, I think this robust sauce needs the more assertive pecorino.

Making ziti lardiati ahead and leftovers

You can make the sauce ahead of time, more or less as far ahead as you like. It will last several days in the fridge. The sauce even freezes fairly well. Of course, you need to boil and dress the pasta right before serving.

Any leftover ziti lardiati make a fine frittata di maccheroni avanzati.

Print Recipe

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Ziti lardiati

Ziti pasta dressed with a lardo, onion and tomato sauce

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Primo

Cuisine: Campania

Keyword: pasta, quick

Servings: 6

Calories: 690.2kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g ziti
• salt

For the sauce:

• 1 onion peeled and cut into small dice
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 250 g lardo trimmed of its rind and cut into small dice
• 500 g cherry tomatoes split in half
• 100 ml tomato passata preferably homemade
• a handful of fresh basil leaves with larger leaves torn up
• a small pinch of red pepper flakes optional
• salt

For topping the pasta:

• pecorino-romano cheese freshly grated

Metric – US

Instructions

• Mix the diced lardo and onion on a cutting board, then mince them together into a fine paste with a knife or, even better, a mezzaluna.
• Place the resulting mince in a saucier, sauté pan or flat bottomed wok, along with a drizzle of olive oil or a dollop of lard if using. Sauté the mince very gently until the lardo has rendered its fat and the onion is soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the ingredients.
• Add the cherry tomatoes, passata, a good pinch of salt and, if you like, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have melted into a velvety, glossy sauce but still a little chunky. Add the fresh basil leaves towards the end of cooking.
• While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. If using traditional long ziti (see Notes below), break them into lengths. Boil the ziti until just slightly underdone.
• Transfer the ziti to the pan with the sauce, along with a ladleful of the pasta water. Simmer for another minute or two, until the pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if things get too thick or dry.
• Serve right away, topped with the grated cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 690.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 69.1g | Protein: 14.5g | Fat: 39.3g | Saturated Fat: 14.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17.9g | Cholesterol: 27.2mg | Sodium: 2390mg | Potassium: 504mg | Fiber: 3.9g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 517.8IU | Vitamin C: 22.4mg | Calcium: 72.7mg | Iron: 2.1mg

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