Every little corner of Italy has a pasta that it calls its own, and if you’re lucky it comes along with a bit of history or a nice story. The best I’ve heard so far is Le Marche’s very own strozzapreti. Not only does it have a clever little twist in it that means sauces (like the ubiquitous wild boar ragù) stick to it in gooey lumps, but best of all, its name means ‘priest choker’.
Prep Time 30 Minutes
Serves 4
Cook Time 30 Minutes
Difficulty Easy
It is said that this goes back to the time when the church was a big landowner in Le Marche. The farmers’ wives would make this pasta to grease the palms, or rather fill the bellies, of the local clergymen. But the farmers would go wild with jealousy (eating your wife’s pasta is tantamount to bedding her we told) and so wish for the pasta to choke the gluttonous priests to death. Anyway, we’ve had fun making our own strozzapreti at home. It’s just a shame we have no priest friends to invite round for dinner.
Ingredients
- Plain flour – 300g/10.6oz
- Eggs – 4
- Lemon olive oil – 1.5 tablespoons
- Salt and pepper (optional)
- Butter – 40g/1.4oz
Method
- Make the pasta according to the instructions for ravioli. Lay the thin dough on a floury board and cut into long strips about 3cm wide. Take two wooden barbecue skewers and roll a length of dough around first one skewer then the next.
- How to make Strozzapreti pasta 9 (link deactivated)