When it comes to enjoyment of pasta, the subject can get a bit saucy. For every pasta, there is a sauce that is best suited to compliment its shape. Italy’s warm, Mediterranean climate is perfectly suited not only for growing the durum wheat from which pasta is made, but also fresh vegetables and herbs meaning an abundance of creativity when it comes to the variety of pasta sauces. From the onset, tomato-based sauces emerged as a favourite and continue to reign in popularity.
There are however numerous ways to enjoy a plate of pasta, at the most basic level, pasta e burro (pasta and butter). Fettuccine tossed in melted butter seems to be a childhood favourite which grew slightly more sophisticated when that butter was then browned and perfumed with fresh sage to create burro e salvia. This aromatic and woodsy sauce is typically paired best with gnocchi and ravioli.
Alternatively, to a butter-based sauce is an oil based one, the most popular one being aglio e olio (garlic and olive oil) which is a gloriously simply combination in which to toss your spaghetti. If you like heat the addition of chili flakes will give you aglio, olio e pepperoncino which is equally as divine. The particular beauty of this basic sauce is that it serves as the flavor base or the “mother sauce” if you will, of spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti coated in a sauce of garlic, white wine, chili flakes and clams) or spaghetti e alici (spaghetti tossed in garlic, olive oil and anchovies).
Anchovies also find themselves alongside capers, chilis, garlic, olives, and tomatoes for the wickedly good Puttanesca sauce (which translates to prostitute’s sauce). This spicy sauce is best ladled over spaghetti.
One of the most popular tomato-based sauces is the Amatriciana which originates from the town of Amatrice in the Lazio region. This sauce consists of guanciale (pork jowl), white wine, tomatoes, chili, and Pecorino cheese and is usually spooned over bucatini pasta.
Pecorino Romano becomes the star of the show in one of Italy’s most beloved sauces, the classic cacio e pepe (cheese and black pepper). The ingredients may seem basic, but its flavour is anything but. A generous amount of cracked black pepper is bloomed in olive oil to which water from a bot of boiling spaghetti is then added. Once the spaghetti is cooked it is tossed into the pan of oil and black pepper and finished with copious amounts of Pecorino cheese that transforms into a luxurious creamy sauce that is spicy and salty.
Black pepper and Pecorino Romano also appear in yet another popular pasta sauce, Carbonara. This sauce is made by rendering guanciale or pancetta in a pan to which spaghetti that have been cooked al dente (to the tooth) will be added before being removed from the heat and tossed with a combination whole egg yolks, Pecorino, Parmigiano and black pepper that have been beaten together. The trick to this sauce is to stir the ingredients together to get a silky sauce and not a scramble.
Another hugely popular sauce is the gloriously green Pesto alla Genovese. Usually enjoyed with linguini, this aromatic sauce hailing from the Ligurian city of Genova, is made by pounding basil, olive oil, pine nuts, cheese, garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle (or food processor).
Last, but certainly not least, is the ragù Bolognese. This sauce named for the city from which it originates (Bologna) can be considered the king of meat sauces. It is a basic sauce of slowly cooked ground meat, butter, onions, and carrots. It is a velvety thick sauce that is not intended to be tomato heavy. Bolognese can be served one of two ways: generously interwoven with ribbons of fresh tagliatelle or layered into lasagne Bolognese (alternating layers of fresh lasagne, ragù, béchamel (white sauce), and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
These are merely a few of the many delectable Italian sauces that span the entirety of the peninsula, the ones that make us want to boil a big pot of water in which to butta la pasta (an Italian expression that literally translates to drop the pasta or cook the pasta).