One of Rome’s best-known young chefs,Sarah Cicolini,is known for her rule-breaking pasta and her ever-packed 35-seat trattoria Santo Palato.
Cicolini ups the ante on traditional Roman cuisine with clever twists aimed at a new generation of pasta lovers. And at the top of the must-try list is her take on one of the most classic recipes of all,pasta carbonara.
“For me,pasta is something like magic,” says Cicolini. “[Italian filmmaker Federico] Fellini once said,‘life is a combination of magic and pasta’,and I would have to agree.”
Cicolini has enlisted friends from Melbourne pasta destinationTipo 00 and wine guy Giorgio De Maria to recreate the Santo Palato experience down under as part of theMelbourne Food and Wine Festival.
She has two sold-out nights at Carlton coffee roaster Seven Seeds on March 15 and 16 before switching to the Kelvin Club for the rest of the festival. Tickets are selling fast.
“Perhaps what makes my pasta so special is that I cook pasta ‘al chiodo’,which means firmer than al dente,” she says.
This way of cooking pasta,growing in popularity among young Italians,gives the pasta a hint of crunch because the dough remains slightly raw in the middle.
Here is what home cooks can learn from her lauded carbonara recipe.