A journey into pasta: this month strozzapreti
Ancient pasta shape from Central Italy, found especially in Lazio, Marche, and Umbria, whose tongue-in-cheek’s name refers to the priests’ supposed gluttony: in fact, strozzapreti means choke-priests.
Mention of this pasta shape is first found in a book written in 1524 by the cook Antonio Camuria, where they are called gnocchi, and not made with flour and breadcrumbs, but a mix of grated caciocavallo, ricotta, eggs, and almonds, then cooked in chicken broth and served with more caciocavallo or mozzarella, and then dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
This kind of preparation, as surprising as it sounds, was typical of the period (Middle-Ages to Renaissance), and it was called “Bianco Mangiare”, which means white eating: the philosophy behind this particular way of eating was that by consuming white coloured food, one would acquire the qualities attributed to that colour: purity, ascetism, and enlightment.
Today strozzapreti are made by working a dough with flour and water -although it’s not rare to find dough enriched with eggs and parmesan- and then by creating a rather thick pasta sheet, which is then cut in 1–2 cm wide stripes, rolled on themselves, and cut at about 5cm length (the name could also refer to the difficulty in eating this chunky pasta!).
The strozzapreti in the picture are made with garlic and parsley.
