Italian Food
While in Rome I joked to Michelle, "what do you want to eat for dinner tonight, Italian?" Being married almost 20 years and I think of the stupidest things. I wanted to eat Italian foods.
CACIO E PEPE
One famous Italian dish is cacio e pepe which translates to cheese and pepper pasta. Even the description on the menu says cheese and pepper. If you read the blogs (which I do), its a must try here in Rome. Our first meal was at Restaruant Tattoria. Michelle wanted to sit at the overpriced, hyped up restaurant, near the Pantheon where it was really busy and overwhelming, but she was right, it was great. The dish has two main ingredients pecorino cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Now I'm not sure what the sauce consist of, on youtube they do egg yolk and pasta water and it looked like that when I first ate the dish. The pasta noodle is tonnarelli pasta which appears to look like a thicker spaghetti pasta. Our waiter said the pasta is fresh, it makes a world of a difference in the texture. It taste more chewy. The dish lacked levels of flavor. The initial taste is good, but if the noodle had the chance to absorb the sauce I think the dish would have gotten to that level.
CARBONARA
Another great Italian pasta is Carbonara. Today we were in the food lab making pasta and one dish on the menu was Carbonara. We made the pasta at the food lab. The chef made the sauce. I'm not sure how he made it (I can't remember), but it involved pasta water and cheese and topped with freshly ground black pepper. It was super salty and guest did not like the taste. I thought it was salty too, but could handle the taste.
PIZZA
Pizza is what Italy is known for and wrongfully so. I'm not sure many real Italians make pizza at home. I think they make pasta. I just wanted to try the basic Italian pizza. This was your basic salami and cheese pizza. My critique is that the dough was amazing. It was soft and chewy just how I like it. Next, the mozzarella, salami, and pasta sauce were tasty, but it didn't told. Part of the problem was that they took it right out of the oven and gave it to me. What I've learned is that you have to give the product a minute to set and cool down to room temperature in order for it to taste good.
PROSCIUTTO AND MELON
You see these items on Italian restaurants in the United States and wonder if it actually exit in Italy. It does, but I'm not sure if it just exist in Rome or other places in Italy. If anything, I'm here to verify that it does exit somewhere in Italy. The saltiness of the prosciutto and the sweetness of the melon compliment each other very well and makes for a great appetizer. This portion was much bigger than we wanted since I was going to have pasta. One thing about Italy is that the quality of ingredients are top notch. I really wanted good ingredients and that is what we got in Italy.
Gelato and Cannoli
Gelato is kind of like an ice cream except more creamy. Italian gelato from Rome is sweet and creamy. Its exactly what you expect. In Rome its everywhere and cost over $2.50 a cone. Cannoli is another Italian dessert with a crunch outer shell and cream filling. I think the middle is filled with mascarpone and sugar. Both desserts were tasty and a nice treat.
