Pasta Dishes

Italy

Strascinati di grano saraceno

Sugo alla Genovese

Croatia

Šurlice sa škampima

Tagliatelle agli striduli

Tagliatelle alla boscaiola (lit. woodman&rsquo;s tagliatelle) is a delicious Italian pasta dish made with the king of the woods &ndash; porcini mushrooms. In different regions of Italy, it is made either in bianco version, with heavy cream, or in rosso, with tomatoes. The variations of this popular recipe are almost endless, so the dish is often additionally flavored with onions, shallots, pepper, salt, chopped parsley, white wine, sausages, or pancetta. Tagliatelle alla boscaiola are usually prepared in fall when the freshest porcini mushrooms are available, although dried porcini mushrooms (pre-soaked in water) can be used as well. They taste the best while still warm and creamy, served generously sprinkled with grated parmesan.

Tagliatelle alla boscaiola

Tagliatelle al ragù alla Bolognese

Tagliatelle al salmone

Tagliatelle col prosciutto

Tagliatelle con calamari e scampetti

Tajarin al burro

Tajarin al tartufo bianco d'Alba

Tarako Spaghetti

Tortellini di Valeggio is a special type of tortellini from Valeggio sul Mincio, a town near Verona in Italy&rsquo;s Veneto region. Known for its paper-thin pasta dough, these tortellini are filled with a mixture of meats&mdash;typically veal, pork, beef and chicken&mdash;and additional ingredients like Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano and herbs. The dough is so thin it&rsquo;s almost transparent, earning it the nickname &ldquo;love knot&rdquo; (nodo d&rsquo;amore) due to a local legend. The legend tells of a water nymph and a soldier who fell in love; before fleeing together, they tied a knot in a yellow silk handkerchief, symbolizing their love. In honor of this story, Valeggio&rsquo;s tortellini are often knotted or twisted in a way that resembles a small love knot. These tortellini are traditionally served in a simple broth or with melted butter and sage to highlight the flavor of the filling without overpowering it. Tortellini di Valeggio is highly regarded and celebrated each year at a festival in Valeggio sul Mincio, where long tables are set up across the town&rsquo;s Visconteo Bridge to serve this beloved dish.

Tortellini di Valeggio

Trenette al pesto

Trofie are short hand-rolled twists of flour and water, no egg, native to the stretch of Ligurian coast around Recco and Sori. They are rolled against a board with the side of the palm so each one tapers at both ends and carries a spiral groove down its length, which is the whole point: pesto is a loose, oily sauce with nothing to thicken it, and it needs a shape with grooves to cling to. Pesto genovese is basil, pine nuts, garlic, coarse salt, Ligurian olive oil and two cheeses rather than one, Parmigiano Reggiano together with a sheep's milk Fiore Sardo or pecorino. The basil that matters is the small-leafed Genovese variety, and the plants grown in the Prà district west of Genoa are the reference point, gentler and less minty than basil grown further south.

Pesto is never cooked. Heat turns basil grey and drives off the aromatics, so the sauce is made cold and the pasta is dressed off the flame with a spoonful of cooking water to loosen it. The traditional tool is a marble mortar and a wooden pestle, and the method is grinding rather than chopping: the garlic and salt go first, then the basil worked in a circular motion against the stone until it yields, then the pine nuts, then the cheese, with the oil poured in last. A blade blender bruises and oxidises the leaves and warms them, which is why machine pesto darkens within the hour. Chilling the bowl and pulsing in short bursts gets you closer. The full Ligurian plate also includes waxy potato cubes and green beans, cooked in the same water as the pasta.

Colour is the first check. It should be a bright green, sometimes with a faint yellow cast from the cheese, never olive or khaki, and never separated with a layer of oil standing on top. Taste for the garlic, which should be present but not burning the back of the throat; Ligurian recipes use less than most people expect. The pine nuts give body and a faint resinous sweetness, and cashews or walnuts standing in for them read immediately as a different sauce. The trofie themselves should be firm at the centre and slightly chewy, since a hand-rolled shape cooks unevenly by design. Grey pesto, a raw garlic burn, or trofie sitting in a pool of oil are all worth marking down.

Trofie al pesto

Greece

Tsouchti is a traditional pasta dish from Mani, a region in the southern Peloponnese of Greece. This dish is characterized by its simplicity and the use of ingredients that are readily available in local homes. Tsouchti is made with traditional chilopites pasta, olive oil, butter, dry grated myzithra cheese, eggs, and breadcrumbs. The eggs, a crucial element of the dish, are typically served with a runny yolk. The pasta is boiled, mixed with browned myzithra cheese, and served topped with fried egg and crispy breadcrumbs, seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper​.

Tsouchti

Tuoni e lampo is a traditional pasta dish originating from Italy. It&rsquo;s made with a simple combination of chickpeas and broken pasta pieces or mixed pasta. The chickpeas are soaked, covered with water, and slowly cooked for a few hours. The pasta is cooked separately in boiing water, drained, and it&rsquo;s then mixed with the chickpeas. In order to enrich the dish, people stir in grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve tuoni e lampo (thunder and lightning) with tomato sauce, butter, or oil. The dish is praised for its nutty flavors and the contrast between soft pasta and slightly hard chickpeas.

Tuoni e lampo

This Hungarian classic combines pasta, traditional t&uacute;r&oacute; cheese, and crispy bacon bits. It can be prepared with different pasta varieties, but the tradition suggests using rolled, flat egg pasta that is torn by hand into uneven pieces. Cottage cheese is occasionally blended with sour cream to create a smooth, velvety sauce, and the whole dish is easily adapted with additional ingredients and various spices. T&uacute;r&oacute;s csusza is a staple restaurant dish and a simple, budget-friendly homemade meal.

Túrós csusza

Vermicelli alla Siciliana

Vipere cieche