Traditional Roman Cooking

Like all culinary traditions, Roman cooking has deep rooted customs in its ancient and varied origins: classic, regional, Jewish. We can even link the traditions to the banquets of Trimalcone in Petronio Arbitro’s Satyricon and to the recipes of the legendary Apicio in “De re coquinaria”. From those Romans to today’s Romans is a long and complicated jump. In between there are the Middle Ages, the age of the monastic dining halls, and famines, but also the banquet tables for the Jubilee years and the industry of taverns and of the Popes.

There is one event that was destined to bring new life to the table: the discovery of America and its new foodstuffs. The 1400s and the 1500s make cooking an art; in the 1600s (the Baroque period) even the banquets become Baroque, the 1700s are considered by many a transition period and finally in the 1800s the Roman culinary tradition, which would shortly become “romanesca”, becomes ever more important and even plays a part in the newly acquired liberty of the working class of this century.

The 1900s inherited these traditions, elevating them to the role of cultural and social values, and extended them to Europe and throughout the world.
  Bucatini all'amatriciana
Thick, hollow spaghetti with bacon, tomatoes and hot red pepper (4 servings)

Ingredients
400 grams bucatini (rigatoni, short tubular pasta, can also be used); 140 grams Italian pancetta or bacon; 6 tomatoes; hot red pepper; Pecorino Romano (a hard cheese, like Parmesan, made from sheep’s milk); salt, pepper, onion, white wine, olive oil.
Preparation time: 40/45 minutes
Suggested wine: Cerveteri rosé

Finely slice half an onion, dice the pancetta, wash and dry the tomatoes and then dice them.
Sauté the onion in a saucepan with some oil until it is pale gold. Add the pancetta and sauté for about a minute, until it is just warmed, add a small amount of white wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add the tomatoes, the hot pepper and salt. Cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.

Drop the bucatini into boiling salted water. Stop the cooking when al dente (firm, literally - to the tooth) and drain immediately.

Transfer the cooked bucatini to a warm serving bowl, add the sauce and the Pecorino Romano and mix well. Check for salt.
 
  Carbonara (4 servings)

Ingredients:
400 grams spaghetti or rigatoni (tube shaped pasta); 120 grams pancetta or bacon, oil, 3 eggs, salt, pepper, 100 grams pecorino romano.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Suggested wine: Frascati white

Dice the pancetta and set aside; beat the eggs and add salt, pepper and some grated pecorino and set aside.

Drop the pasta into boiling salted water. A few minutes before draining the pasta: Heat the oil in a saucepan and put the pancetta in to brown. Take the pan off the heat before adding the pasta.

Place the pasta in the saucepan with the bacon, immediately add the beaten egg and quickly toss, coating the pasta completely with the egg and bacon.

Serve on warmed plated and sprinkle more pecorino on top.
 
  Pasta e fagioli (4 servings)
Pasta with beans

Ingredients:
400 grams fresh beans, 200 grams “short” pasta the kind you would use for soup or minestrone, 100 grams pancetta or bacon, 250 grams ripe tomatoes, celery, onion, 50 grams prosciutto, oil, salt, pepper.
Preparation time: about 2 hours
Suggested wine: Colli Albani white

Boil the beans in abundant salted water for about an hour. Add the bacon (you can brown it first if you like) and cook for 15 minutes more.

In a saucepan, sauté the chopped onion and add the prosciutto, chopped celery and the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes over a low flame. Check for salt and pepper, then add to bean and pancetta mixture and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the uncooked pasta and let it cook in the bean mixture, until the pasta is done and the soup has thickened. Serve hot.

N.B. Grated Parmesan or Pecorino can be added, if desired.
 
 

Lamb (4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 Kg lamb, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, 500 grams potatoes, red wine
Preparation time: about 2 hours
Suggested wine: Acilia red

Oil a baking dish and sprinkle salt in it. Place the lamb in the baking dish, add a half glass of wine and 4 cloves of garlic that have not been peeled, but lightly crushed with your hand or the flat edge of a knife.

Peel and cut the potatoes into large pieces and place them around the meat. Add salt, pepper, oil and some sprigs of rosemary.

Cook in a hot oven for about 2 hours, until the meat is nicely browned (checking from time to time).
N.B. After about 1 hour turn the meat and the potatoes.
 
 

Roman style tripe (4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 kilogram tripe (precooked, if possible), onion, celery, carrot, fresh roman mint (more delicate than peppermint), oil, salt, pepper, grated pecorino romano, 300 grams meat sauce (?)
Preparation time: 40/45 minutes
Suggested wine: Zagarolo

Cut the cooked tripe into pieces. In a saucepan, sauté the chopped carrot, celery and onion until brown and add the tripe, browning it too for a few minutes.

Then add the meat sauce, check for salt and pepper. Cover and cook the mixture for about 30 minutes over a low flame.

N.B.: Serve warm with the fresh mint and grated pecorino
 
 

Salt cod Trastevere Style (4 servings)

Ingredients:
800 grams of pre-soaked dried cod, 200 grams flour, 400 grams sliced onion, 1 clove of garlic slightly crushed, 1 anchovy cleaned and de-salted, 1 Tbs capers rinsed, 1 Tbs raisins/sultanas, pre-soaked in warm water, 1 Tbs pine nuts, 1 Tbs minced parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper.
Preparation time: 30/40 minutes
suggested wine: White from Castelli Romani

Rinse the cod, dry it and cut it into pieces. Flour it well, shaking the pieces to rid them of the excess, then fry the pieces in a few spoons of oil. When they are crispy and brown on both sides, take them from the oil, drain them, and keep them warm. In the same pan, add some more oil and brown the clove of garlic, removing it before adding the onion to cook with a little salt in the covered pan.

Then add the capers, raisins, pine nuts. Remove from the flame and stir in the anchovy, breaking it up with a wooded sppon until it has “dissolved”. Use this mixture to cover the bottom of a baking dish, put the pieces of cod on top covering them with some of the oil from the onion mixture.
Bake in a hot oven, 220° for a few minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven, sprinkle the parsley on top, squeeze on the lemon juice and serve immediately.

N.B. This recipe is particularly good, even without the raisins and pine nuts.