Pasta of the Week - Strozzapreti: “Priest stranglers!’

Some pasta shapes’ names have no meaning, they’re just names. Some have very literal translations, as in the case: ‘Strozza' = strangle, ‘Preti’- priests, so ‘Priest Stranglers'!

As with many Italian dishes and ingredients, many myths exist around the naming of this pasta. Some say it refers to the twisting motion you use to make them, some that priests guzzled them down to such an extent that they started choking on them! There are even stories about plots from local villagers in some faraway village, to kill the local priests using the dish. Whatever the truth is, they’re damn tasty.

Stretched out dough is cut into strips (about the width of Pappardelle), before they are twisted between your hands, and pinched into smaller ‘strangled’ pieces.

They seem to go gorgeously with spicy sauces - try them with the hot sausage nduja. A cheesy mushroom sauce goes great too, the pasta traps all that rich sauce in its centre! If all you’ve got is a jar of pesto, that’s a good match too :)