PASTA DISH YOUR GUESTS WILL THINK WAS COOKED BY A CHEF IN ROME

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'Secret' pasta dish that guests will think was cooked by a chef in Rome

This 'secret pasta' combines best of 4 Roman favorites, says YouTube chef

By Christine Rousselle Fox News

Published October 17, 2024 5:00am EDT

 

Rome is famous for its four classic pastas: cacio e pepe, gricia, amatriciana and carbonara.

 

But there's actually a fifth pasta that combines the best elements of these four — and, according to one chef, it's the best tasting of them all.

 

Meet pasta alla zozzona. Although its name directly translates to "filthy pasta," Stephen Cusato, host of "Not Another Cooking Show" on YouTube, believes that is a bit of a misnomer.

 

"It's like a kitchen sink sort-of-situation," Cusato told Fox New Digital in a Zoom interview from Yonkers, New York. (See the video at the top of this article.)

 

"But the 'kitchen sink,' in this regard, is all of the ingredients that Rome is known for that you might see throughout all of the four Roman pastas."

 

Cusato, who uses his YouTube channel and show to teach people about cooking techniques, was initially unfamiliar with pasta alla zozzona, he said.

 

"It looked delicious," he said. "So I thought that was a suitable thing to teach."

 

Pasta alla zozzona, he said, is "sort of like a secret pasta, but it's absolutely the best of all of those pastas."

 

"It's kind of a real mash-up of all of the four Roman pastas," he said. "To me, visually, it resembled a cream sauce, sort of like a vodka sauce, because the egg lightens the color."

 

When making pasta alla zozzona, Cusato recommends plating the meal on a warm plate, otherwise it will "seize up immediately."

 

"And once it's plated, eat it immediately," he said.

 

Below, his recipe, as shared with Fox News Digital.

 

Stephen Cusato's Pasta Alla Zozzona Recipe

 

Ingredients (serves 2)

 

½-pound rigatoni

 

8 ounces guanciale, cubed

 

8 ounces hot Italian sausage

 

2-3 garlic, sliced thin

 

2 cups tomato passata

 

2 egg yolks

 

1 cup of pecorino Romano, grated

 

1 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper

 

Salt

 

Pasta alla zozzona on a white bowl.

 

Directions

 

1. Dice the guanciale into large chunks. Slice the garlic and finely grate cheese. Separate two egg yolks and add them to a large heat-proof bowl.

 

2. To the egg, add the fresh cracked black pepper and about 3/4 of pecorino Romano cheese and stir to combine to form a carbonara paste.

 

3. On the stove, set up a medium-sized pot with boiling salted water and next to that, a large pan to make part of the sauce. Add the guanciale to the cold pan, then turn the heat on and cook the guanciale on medium heat. Once it’s nicely browned, fish out the crisp guanciale and pour out half the guanciale fat to allow it to cool.

 

4. Put the pan back on medium high heat and add the sausage to the remaining guanciale fat. Using a flat-bottomed wooden spoon to break up the sausage into smaller pieces. About two minutes before it's fully browned, toss in the sliced garlic and begin to toast those slices. Season with a little salt. Once they begin to brown, add in the tomato passata. Throw some water in the container to clean out the rest of the passata and add that to the sauce. Season with a touch of salt and bring it up to a simmer.

 

5. While the sauce simmers, add the rigatoni to the salted water. Cook for two minutes less than what the package suggests for al dente.

 

"In a warm, shallow bowl, spoon in a nice mound of the pasta, then some of those nice crispy chunks of guanciale, then finally some more pecorino."

 

6. While the pasta and the sauce cook, add the cooled guanciale fat to the egg mixture and a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to thin out the mixture and begin to temper it.

 

7. Two minutes before the pasta reaches al dente, fish out the pasta and add it directly to the sauce. Simmer the pasta for another three to four minutes so it finishes cooking in the sauce. While that cooks, turn the heat off on the pasta water. Place the bowl with the carbonara mix on top of the pasta water. Using the steam from the pasta water, start to heat up the carbonara sauce.

 

8. Once the pasta is coated in sauce and is al dente, pour it all directly into the large bowl with the carbonara sauce and gently stir with a spatula to combine both sauces. If it's a little thick, you can add a touch of pasta water once it all comes together and the sauce is clinging to the pasta.

 

9. In a warm, shallow bowl, spoon in a nice mound of the pasta, then some of those nice crispy chunks of guanciale, then finally some more pecorino. Eat immediately.

 

This original recipe is owned by Stephen Cusato and was shared with Fox News Digital.