Tonnarelli, with Cacio e Pepe!

The right pasta for a sauce can be a lengthy debate.

Many pasta shapes work great with certain styles of sauces, and many pasta shapes are traditional and regional specific to certain sauces.

But if there is such a thing as a perfect noodle for each sauce, this is surely an example of one. 

Tonnarelli, a big thick, chewy, square….. spaghetti, for lack of a better description, is THE PERFECT noodle for the classic Roman dish:

Cacio E Pepe, a simple sauce of black pepper, Pecorino cheese and olive oil.

The tooth, and texture of the noodle help buffer the spicy black pepper, and the big square sides have much more surface area than a traditional spaghetti, letting it carry more olive oil, which lets more cheese stick to it, which perfectly balances the flavors of the dish.

This is why Italians are so serious about specific pasta shapes with specific sauces!

Once you’ve had a pasta dish that is in perfect harmony with its sauce, it’s hard to image having it any other way…

Also today:

Lasagne Verdura, mushrooms, squash, rapini, and tomato

Pasta Misti, Alla Amatriciana