This is comfort food at its most comforting, one of the many humble but delicious dishes that typify popular cooking in the Eternal City: Roman-style braised oxtails. The Italian word vaccinara actually means “butcher style”. The tail is one of those cuts of meat that are known in Italian as … Read More
Aglio, olio e peperoncino (Pasta with Garlic, Oil and Hot Pepper)
Here’s another super simple pasta that I call the “mother of all pasta dishes” since its garlic and oil base forms the foundation for countless other pasta sauces. It’s also the quintessential impromptu snack the Italians call una spaghettata. I’m sure all the Italians and Italo-Americans out there have grown up … Read More
Fettuccine alla papalina (Fettuccine for the Pope)
Fettuccine alla papalina, or “Fettuccine for the Pope”, is an upscale reinterpretation of the earthy spaghetti alla carbonara. The story goes that the dish was prepared for a certain Cardinal Pacelli, soon to become Pope Pius XII, who had asked the owner of a restaurant in the Borgo (the area … Read More
Pollo coi peperoni (Chicken and Peppers)
This savory Roman chicken dish, also known as pollo alla romana, is enormously satisfying. Although you could precede it with a rustic pasta like an ajo e ojo if you’re really hungry, you can skip the primo, as we did tonight, but have lots of crusty bread on hand to … Read More
