Strangozzi alla spoletina is a typical first course from the city of Spoleto, made with simple and genuine ingredients as tradition dictates.

Strangozzi alla spoletina is a typical first course from the city of Spoleto, made with simple and genuine ingredients as tradition dictates.

To make strangozzi alla spoletina, start by preparing the pasta: place the 00 flour and semolina flour in a bowl, then mix well and transfer to a pastry board. Form the classic fountain with a hole in the centre, add water, a little at a time, and begin to knead. Once the ingredients start to come together, add the oil and continue to knead the dough until smooth and soft.

Shape into a ball and wrap it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes, so that it becomes elastic.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce: take the tomatoes, clean them, wash them and cut them into quarters. In a non-stick frying pan, brown 2 cloves of garlic with 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil; as soon as the garlic has browned, remove it and add the tomatoes. Season with salt and, if you like, add a pinch of chilli pepper. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes over a gentle heat, or until the sauce has achieved a rather thick consistency.

While the sauce is on the heat, start preparing the strangozzi. Work the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out a 2 mm thick sheet with a rolling pin, flour the surface a little and roll it up.

Cut the roll thus obtained into strips of about 1 cm, which you will open and separate. According to an old saying from Spoleto, they must be 'nerte de pasta e fine de cortello'. Lightly flour the strangozzi thus obtained and cook them in boiling water for a few minutes. When they are al dente, drain them and add them to the sauce. Saute them for a couple of minutes in the pan, then add plenty of chopped parsley. Your strangozzi alla spoletina are ready: plate them and serve them hot.

Curiosity: The etymology of the name is said to derive from 'string', as the shape of the dough closely resembles leather shoelaces. During the rule of the Papal States, it is said that anti-clerical rioters strangled passing clergymen precisely with shoelaces. Thus, the word 'strangozzi' is said to be the result of a curious fusion of the words 'stringa' and 'gozzo'.