Browse Techniques

Blanched wild chicory (cicoria di campo) sautéed in olive oil with garlic and dried chilli — one of the essential side dishes of Roman cucina povera. The cicoria is first boiled until tender, then drained and pressed, and finally 'ripassata' (passed through the pan again) with generous olive oil, crushed garlic, and peperoncino. The double-cooking method mellows the bitterness of raw chicory while the final sauté concentrates flavour and adds richness. Served at room temperature as a contorno or as a topping for bruschetta.

Roman lamb chop cooked directly on a wood-fire or charcoal grill — so called 'scottadito' (burnt fingers) because the tradition is to eat them immediately off the grill, too hot to hold without scorching. Young milk lamb (abbacchio) ribs are pounded thin, seasoned with salt and rosemary, and grilled over very high heat for 1–2 minutes per side, no more. The chops should be charred on the outside and pink-to-rare at the bone. This dish requires neither sauce nor accompaniment — the lamb's quality and the grill's fire are the entire flavour

The angry pasta from Rome — a supremely simple tomato sauce made furious with dried Lazio peperoncino. The classic arrabbiata has four ingredients: olive oil, garlic, San Marzano tomatoes, and peperoncino. No onion, no basil during cooking, no herbs except the optional parsley at service. The violence of the peperoncino is not background heat but the primary flavour — arrabbiata should genuinely challenge the palate. Mezze maniche or rigatoni are the traditional pasta shapes; smooth pasta is incorrect as the sauce must enter the tube.

Rome's most theatrical veal preparation: thin veal escalope topped with a sage leaf and a slice of prosciutto crudo, pan-fried in butter until the prosciutto crisps and the veal is just cooked, then deglazed with white wine for a brief, glossy pan sauce. 'Saltimbocca' means 'jump in the mouth' — referring to the way the three flavour layers (butter, prosciutto salt, sage perfume) immediately engage. The escalope must be pounded very thin and the cooking time is brief (90 seconds per side maximum); the prosciutto finishes the dish with its rendered fat.

The canonical Amatriciana from Amatrice — using guanciale (cured jowl), Pecorino Romano, San Marzano tomato, white wine, and dried chilli on tonnarelli or spaghetti. The Amatriciana originale uses no onion (contentious but documented in Amatrice's municipal recipe), and guanciale must be cured with black pepper and not substituted with pancetta. The guanciale is rendered slowly until the fat is translucent and the meat bronzed but not crisp, then white wine deglazes the pan before the crushed tomatoes are added. Pecorino is added only at service, not cooked into the sauce.