16 Classic Italian Pasta Recipes Everyone Should Know How to Make (2024)

FAQs

What are 4 famous Italian pasta dishes? ›

There are four classic Roman pasta dishes: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, and alla Gricia. Each uses slightly different techniques and ingredients and has its own place in the canon of Italian food. Here is a brief breakdown of these iconic Italian pasta dishes. 1.

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There are four classic Roman pasta dishes: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, and alla gricia. Each one is a variation on the other — alla gricia is cacio e pepe plus guanciale, carbonara is gricia plus egg, and so on. These four dishes are famous in all of Italian cooking, not just in Rome.

Antipasto. This traditional Italian meal starts with something to nibble on before the main courses commence. These appetizers can include cold and hot dishes like cheese, soppressata, and bread.

Among the most popular types of pasta follow penne rigate and fusilli. The wooden medal goes to the rigatoni and the ranking also includes farfalle, linguine, bucatini and lasagna. In Southern Italy ziti and ditalini, orecchiette and mixed pasta also triumph, almost impossible to find in the North.

To be sure that your pasta is cooked correctly, it is enough to follow a few, simple rules. To begin with, you should keep in mind the right quantities. In Italy, the golden rule for cooking pasta is 1, 10, 100 or 1 liter of water, 10 grams of salt for every 100 grams of pasta.

The more egg white, the more pliable the dough; the more yolk, the richer the pasta will be. There are endless variations, but for a dough that works every time use: 1 whole egg plus 2 yolks for every 150g of flour.

As Italian American chef Lidia Bastianich advised, never add oil to your pasta water. While some people believe it keeps pasta from sticking together, oil can clog the pasta's starchy pores and make it slick, preventing sauce from sticking.

Why do Italians use cold water for pasta? ›

Because starch needs to be heated to gel properly, soaking pasta in cold water will allow you to hydrate it without worrying about it sticking together. Once it's fully hydrated, you've just got to finish it off in your sauce and you're ready to serve.

7) Don't rinse it

Drain the pasta, but never rinse it: you want to keep the starches on its surface, to help the sauce stick to it. Also, you don't want to stop the cooking process, which continues until the pasta is plated.