Rome is a metropolis that offers a wide choice of Italian and international cuisine, as well as the opportunity to try a number of popular dishes from the local tradition, such as the famous spaghetti alla carbonara and bucatini all’amatriciana. These are humble dishes, made with readily available ingredients, yet they are famous all over the world.
Spaghetti alla carbonara is made with lightly fried pork cheek, which is similar to bacon, raw egg and pecorino romano, an age-old local cheese made from sheep’s milk.
Bucatini all’amatriciana, originally from Amatrice, in the Lazio region, but adopted by the Romans, is made with a kind of hollow spaghetti, served with a tomato and pork cheek sauce and always sprinkled with Pecorino cheese.
The most typical of Roman first courses, however, is rigatoni con la pajata. In the local dialect, pajata are the entrails of suckling calves or lambs, cooked in tomatoes or served with pasta.
You can find these dishes everywhere, but the most popular eateries are in the Trastevere neighborhood, where you might also like to try coda alla vaccinara, oxtail cooked in vegetables following the traditional recipe of the vaccinari, the herdsmen, and trippa alla romana, veal tripe cooked in tomato and flavored with Roman mint.
As for main courses, one very well-known specialty is saltimbocca alla romana: thin slices of veal wrapped in prosciutto and sage and cooked in butter or white wine.
Here in Rome you’re bound to come across supplì, large fried, breaded balls filled with risotto with a meat sauce and with a surprising mozzarella core. They’re a very popular snack with the locals, and you’ll even find them in the bakeries, where you also won’t want to miss the pinsa, or typical Roman focaccia, mentioned in the Aeneid, or the pizza romana, a thick, soft version with plenty of mozzarella.
An interesting fact: carciofi alla romana, artichokes cooked slowly with their stems facing upwards, are also known as carciofi alla giudia (Jewish artichokes), because the original recipe comes from the city’s large Jewish community.
What else can I say but… buon appetito!
Language: English