#2719 pizza and pasta

Yes, of course there are many, many other foods to eat in Italy. Pizza and pasta are simply synonymous with the country, though, aren't they? Also, that is what I wanted to eat, so I did, and now I'm going to show you some photos and tell you a little about it. 

We were in Italy for six days: two days during the cruise, and four days in Rome. There was one day, the day we were in Florence, that we did not have pizza or pasta. For lunch that day we had a delicious sandwich from a little shop near Florence's cathedral. I will write about the sandwich in a separate post about salami and prosciutto. Truly, the meats require their own space.

Our focus here is pizza and pasta. I found that I alternated days with these foods. I don't think I consciously meant to do that, but it worked out well.

The first pasta we had was in Manarola, a village in the Cinque Terre. We didn't have a lot of time, and we weren't sure what to do or where to go, so we walked down by the water.

We turned around at this spot and there was an eating patio associated with a restaurant. There were a few open tables, and we saw several people from our tour that had just been seated, so we decided to go there, too. I will show photos of MT's food, but I won't talk much about it because we did not try each other's foods, mostly because neither of us was really turned on by what the other was having! He always had seafood in his pasta, and my pasta dishes were the classics, but not spaghetti and meatballs.

At this restaurant, I ordered the linguini with pesto, because pesto is a specialty of Liguria, this region of Italy. I was surprised to see little chunks of potato in the pasta, and I have since learned that the potato adds extra starch to the pasta water to help bind the sauce and it soaks up some of the oil from the pesto itself.

MT's pasta had shrimp and mussels. He said the sauce was very good, too. As you can see, we are having some white wine with our lunch. It was dry and lemon-y and super good.

My biggest regret here is that I didn't stand up to take a photo of our table with the water in the background. What the hell was I thinking? It didn't even occur to me that I missed this opportunity until the other day when I was looking through the photos. I mean, look at the top photo! That was our view!!

One thing I did notice as we left the restaurant was this:

My first Michelin-rated restaurant! How cool is that?

Our first day in Rome, we found a restaurant a couple of blocks from the Trevi Fountain that looked nice, was full of people, and had a table for us. We ordered a pizza to share. Here's the thing: I'm going to show you the photo of the pizza and you might think it looks big, and it kind of is, but it is also personal size. Pretty much everyone orders their own pizza. I did not see other people sharing their pizza, but MT thought it would be best to share, so we did. We had a salami pizza. There were two different kinds of salami on it. One salami was a little more spicy than the other.

Funny side note: MT thought it would be good to have a bruschetta as an appetizer. The English menu called his "toast with cream and olives." He thought it would be cream cheese spread on the toast and dotted with little sliced black olives. As you can see from the photo, he was completely wrong. It was more liked creamed olives, a tapenade, if you will. I tasted it, and since I don't like olives, I didn't care for it. My bruschetta had a bit of pesto on it. 

Let's talk about the pizza for a second because this pizza is pretty typical of the pizza we had. A single pizza on a plate with very simple toppings of a bit of sauce - not too much - some good cheese, and the meat topping. I didn't see anything that looked like a "combination" pizza like we have here in the States that has every meat and vegetable imaginable along with heavy tomato sauce and extra cheese. It's just not a thing. The crust is thin and crispy and the whole bite is fresh and flavorful.

That night, we went on the food tour in Trastevere. Our main meal was pasta amatriciana, which is a tomato-based sauce with fried pork cheek (in our case) or fried pancetta - a fatty pork product to give it some awesome flavor. I didn't get a photo of the pasta because we were eating outside (we almost always ate outside!) and it was dark, and I was feeling a little self-conscious about taking photos of every single thing. LOL That pasta, though, was delicious. Honestly, if I hadn't been so full from the previous five stops on that tour and the wine I'd been drinking at every stop, I might have had another spoonful or two. As with the pizza, the sauce did not overwhelm the pasta. It was flavor. So good.

The next day was the Colosseum tour. After the tour, we walked back to our neighborhood and had a late lunch at a restaurant right around the corner from the hotel. MT had a plate of lamb chops, and I had the classic cacio e pepe, which is cheese and black pepper. My dish is a little out of focus because MT's look of intensity caught my attention.

Yes, MT is having a HUGE stein of beer with his meal. I had the medium beer and it was still good-sized. I realize that my pasta doesn't look all that appetizing. It's pretty beige. You'll just have to trust me when I say it tasted very, very nice.

Two funny side notes about this meal. First, pasta dishes are usually a first course, followed by a main that has meat. I didn't want to have a two course meal, and neither did MT. (We did have an antipasto, which I will share in another post.) When I ordered the pasta, our waiter was concerned that I wouldn't have enough and he actually suggested I have some french fries with my pasta. I declined, but I giggled and thought to myself, "You want fries with that?" Also look where the fries are listed on their menu:

I love Italy!

The second funny story is about MT's lamb chops. There were four wee chops in the order, and as the waiter strode over to our table, one of the chops sort of slid off the plate and flew past my head. I started giggling, and the waiter blushed profusely and told us that had never happened to him before and that he would go in immediately and get another chop. MT, deep into his stein, didn't realize what had happened, or why I was giggling. and the waiter was blushing until I pointed out his sad little flying lamb chop by my chair. Another waiter, also giggling, came over and scooped up the sad chop with a napkin and assured me he was going to throw it away and not just wipe it off and put it on a plate to bring back to MT. That just made me laugh even harder. Yes, I was a little tired and had some beer, but it was freaking funny.

The next day was the Vatican tour, and for lunch that day, we wandered around until we found a cute little family-owned place that welcomed us right in. They only spoke Italian, which was fun. MT was over the sharing of the pizzas and we each had our own. He got prosciutto and mozzarella, and I had the quattro formaggi, which is four cheese pizza. Mine had a thin white sauce on it and was totally scrumptious.

Please notice that we are using our utensils like proper, civilized people. When in Rome, and all that, amIright? Except I just noticed in the top photo, MT has a slice all folded over, New York style. LOL This one was probably my favorite pizza. Maybe because it wasn't really in a touristic zone and was a little more authentic feeling. 

On our last day in Rome, we actually had pasta AND pizza! For lunch, we were in the Monti neighborhood, and we saw a cute restaurant where people were eating and there was a table for us. I am sad to say I do not know the names of any of these restaurants in Rome (except in Trastevere).  None of the places had big signs with their names. They were all kind of discreet. 

Anyway, for lunch I had pasta carbonara. It's a very simple dish made of eggs, cheese, pork, and black pepper. It is creamy, salty, peppery. So good! MT had spaghetti with seafood.

I know that you are eyeing that plate of salami and cheese sitting above my pasta there in the photo. Don't worry. Check back on Friday to see so many plates of salami it will make your head spin. 

That night, for our final dinner in Italy, we went back out to the area of the Trevi Fountain and found a little place that was bustling and got a little table for two. We both ordered pizza - one for each. MT had a prosciutto with mushrooms and I had a margherita pizza.

You can see in the top photo that MT totally has the hang of using the knife and fork to eat his pizza. My pizza looks a little forlorn. There are just two clumps of basil. I tore the basil up and scattered it over the pizza to make it look a little happier and boost the flavor just a little. 

Overall, my favorite pasta was the pesto in Manarola, with the amatriciana in Trastevere coming in a close second,  and my favorite pizza was the quattro formaggi near the Vatican. Don't get me wrong, though, I would have any of these meals any time.