the feminine urge to eat a little bowl of spaghetti

what i've learned so far about Neapolitan pasta

Italy is known for pasta, but there is a depth and breadth to the pasta encyclopedia that might take me a lifetime to understand. Somedays I wish someone had just sat me down on day 1 with a little deck of flashcards and said, “memorize these staples”. When I first moved here, I couldn’t imagine eating pasta everyday. Now I am starting to embrace it and enjoy learning about the food production where I live. There’s something so romantic about preparing yourself a little bowl of pasta.

I had heard that Italians love local and regional food - but I truly wasn’t sure how strictly this ethos prevails. I am so used to living in the States and having a global food supply that I was shocked to see produce in the grocery story in Italy. There aren’t any oranges from Morocco or avocados from Mexico. Everything, not only in the fruit stands and farmers markets, but also in the big chain grocery stores, is from Italy.

The Campania region has lots of lemons, tomatoes, peaches, grapes, apricots, figs, zucchini, and eggplant - the key makings of a mediterranean diet. In terms of food production, we also have DOP Mozzarella and DOP burrata cheese, fior di latte, and ricotta. This is why we are known for pizza! I am quite certain the reason why we have the world’s best pizza is because we have the world’s best pizza ingredients. We also recently learned about scamorza - a smokey local cheese that Wayne loves. We tried it stuffed in a zucchini flower.

In terms of pasta, Campania is known for “la cucina povera” or peasant’s food. It also uses the local produce that we have here on the Costiera Amalfitana as well as the yummy seafood you can find on the coast. This type of food is known for having a high quality and a low cost.

When you travel to Italy, it’s important to think about the season as well as the region to help you understand what to taste and try on Italian menus. I have yet to explore the cuisine of other regions in Italy but I can help you out with Campania. If you come to eat at a restaurant in Naples or on the Amalfi Coast, in addition to the delicious pizza you will find, menus will likely have a version of these classic 5 staples!

Trofie al Limone - If the Amalfi Coast is known for one thing, it’s lemons! Trofie is a type of pasta I hadn’t seen back in the states. We learned how to make it in a pasta class. You take a small strip of linguini and quickly wrap and smush it around a skewer. This creates a cute little curly queue pasta. this is my favorite pasta I’ve had so far. I never would think to add lemon to pasta but this keeps things light and refreshing. It’s butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest on top, maybe a few springs of mint. I started adding zucchini in mine to get my veggies in, but it’s good just by itself!

Spaghetti alla vongole, or spaghetti con cozze - these dishes are so simple and so good. Spaghetti with clams or spaghetti with mussels. There is no cheese (I think this is a hard and fast rule in Italy - no cheese with seafood pasta) and just a little bit of butter and parsley. I love seeing little kids at the table with a huge bowl of spaghetti alla vongole in front of them. They are totally enraptured with it. Another common seafood you’ll see here other than clams and mussels is octopus. Be careful not to confuse “polpette” (meatball) with “polpo” which means octopus.

Penne alla genovese - this is really a trick question. If you order pasta alla geneovese in Genoa, you will get a green pesto pasta. If you order it in Naples, you will get pasta with caramelized onions and some small pieces of pork. We found that out the hard way but were rewarded with a something new and yummy.

Gnocchi alla sorrentina - this dish is named from it’s local roots in Sorrento :) A few simple ingredients of potato based gnocchi, dop mozzarella, tomato sauce, baked in a pan and then you add and pecorino on top :) Heaven in a little bowl.

Pasta patate e Provola - I actually have tried to order this twice and the trattoria’s have been out! I’ve seen kids eating this one too - it looks like a bowl of cheesy macaroni but it’s not! It’s is a little potatoes with pasta and provola cheese.

Pasta allo scarpariello - I had this rigatoni allo scarpariello during a solo dining night and it felt so cozy and comforting. It was so simple yet so good! This one had red pepper, oil, local datterini tomatoes, and local dop caciocavallo cheese. caciocavallo cheese is easy to spot in the grocery store - it’s tied up in a little ball with a hard rind around it.

Polpette al sugo - God, I love a good meatball. I’ve come a long way from a Wawa shortie meatball hoagie on a Tuesday night. This delicious ball of goodness is served in red sauce or “al sugo” (literally means “gravy”). The meatballs here are really, really good. I would try to figure out what’s in them so I can recreate them but it’s too easy to buy them at the bread store already prepared for only a few euros.

A little research into the local specialties will go a long way while traveling. And while you can’t order cacio e pepe in Napoli, it gives you even more reason to look forward to orecchiette in Puglia, tortellini in brodo in Emilia Romano, and carbonara in Rome.

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