Five classic roman dishes that are neither pasta nor pizza

This post is for all those return visitors who at least once during their stay had the feeling of eating the same things over and over again when staying in Rome. It is probably a consequence of the huge number of foreign tourists currently in town: lots of mouths to feed, lots of places that don’t bother with a curated menu and stick to the classics: cacio e pepe, gricia, amatriciana, carbonara. So many times we hear people just walking by, complaining “it’s all pasta and pizza here… I can’t take it anymore!”. Well guess what? There is so much more to be tasted in Rome. It’s just a matter of choosing the right restaurants and exploring the menus a little bit further down the “primi” section!

There is more than just pasta and pizza in Roman restaurants!

To demonstrate how unusually varied the local cuisine is (it’s not at all a standard, given how many regional offerings tend to only focus on meats or seafood) in this post we tell the story of five specialties that are quintessentially Roman and yet are vastly ignored by travellers wanting to taste authentic dishes with a strong cultural bond to the history of Rome. To make things more interesting, we decided to play with… a “handicap”: no “quinto quarto” (offal) dishes will be allowed on this list, as well as none made with lamb, the easiest meat-based specialty in Rome!

Stracciatella in brodo (Stracciatella soup)

… Where by stracciatella we do not, of course, mean ice cream. A dish with a name that does not fail to confuse foreigners passing through Rome, it serves almost the same purpose as the North American “chicken broth”: people used to cook this type of soup, which features both meat and a whisked egg, as a form of homemade cure when there was a sick person in the house. The reason is simple: double the proteins, double the strength!
Where to eat it: at Checchino’s dal 1887 in Testaccio, for example!

Puntarelle salad

Despite what the name suggests, this is not a vegan dish, because of the presence of an anchovy-based sauce. It is significant that once again, in a city with a history like Rome’s, that has turned leftovers into culinary classics, a delicacy was born that uses the sprouts of a vegetable instead of throwing them away (in this case, Catalonian chicory).
Where to eat it: when in season, literally anywhere, and this is happening thanks to a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

Minestra di arzilla (Arzilla soup)

Technically this is a dish that at least in one of its versions contains pasta, albeit in small quantities. In fact, here you find broken spaghetti or other small shapes dipped in a rich tomato-based broth from which delicious morsels of fish (arzilla is a type of ray) and Romanesco broccoli are scooped. A dish with very ancient origins, it was a classic in Roman cuisine as early as the advent of Christianity because it allowed vegetables and fish to be eaten together on Fridays.
Where to eat it: not many places offer this dish. We saw it at least at Cesare’s at Casaletto and at Flavio’s two locations at Velavevodetto (Prati/Testaccio).

Aliciotti con l’indivia (Endive and anchovies)

Instead of artichokes, a dish that symbolizes the contamination between Jewish and Roman cuisine, we are opting to point out a lesser-known, but equally ancient dish: in the city where the Jewish community was prohibited (among others) from cooking fish larger than a certain size, this sort of pie (layer of endive, layer of anchovies, and so on) made it possible to comply with the rules and feed entire families with a single dish. Today it is often served as an appetizer.
Where to eat them: in the Ghetto, of course!

Picchiapò (pronounced (peeh-key-ah-poh)

The name of the recipe is still a mystery, but its origins are not: in order not to throw away the meat left over after preparing the stock, people used to “recycle” it by turning it into bollito meatballs (another dish you should try!) or into this stew, re-cooked in a pan with tomatoes and plenty of onion.
Where to eat it: we like it in sandwich form at Mordi e Vai, in Testaccio Market. But you can easily find plated too!

Did you enjoy this post? Let us know, and we might turn it into a sort of regular column!

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