PASTA RECIPES WITHOUT TOMATOES
I often get blog followers asking me about pasta recipes that don’t have tomatoes or tomato sauce in them. As delicious as tomatoes are, some people find them too acidic. Others are just looking for a change to the routine Sunday ragu recipes, which Italian Americans often refer to as Sunday sauce or Sunday gravy.
Many people think of tomatoes as being a staple in Italian pasta recipes but in reality, that’s only true in Southern Italian recipes, and even then, there are pasta recipes without tomatoes in the South. They just aren’t as well known.
Cacio e Pepe Recipe
THE HISTORY OF TOMATOES IN ITALY
The first tomato sauce pasta recipe was written in 1839! So, not long ago if you consider that pasta was made and eaten on the Italian peninsula by the Etruscans and Ancient Romans! Spaghetti is said to have been invented in Sicily during the Arab occupation in the 10th to 11th century. And, of course, tomatoes didn’t exist in Europe then.
According to food historians, the first tomatoes in Europe were transported here by the Spanish Conquistadors from South America in the 16th century. They called them ‘tomatl’ (actually an Aztec word). The Spanish were the first Europeans to start using tomatoes in their cuisine in the 1600s.
Known as the Columbian exchange, tomatoes were one of many crops that came to Europe from the Americas.
But, unlike the Spanish, Italians didn’t take to tomatoes quickly. In fact, most people thought they were poisonous. Subsequently, tomatoes were only used as ornamental plants. It actually took about 200 more years for tomato sauce as we know it to become a popular ingredient in the Italian kitchen!
The Spanish ruled Naples and Sicily during the 16th and 17th century. So, it’s not surprising that the use and cultivation of tomatoes started there. Even today, tomatoes are mostly grown in the South of Italy.
Some Of The Tomato Varieties In Italy
In fact, nearly all of Italy’s famous tomato varieties like San Marzano, Vesuviano tomatoes and Pachino tomatoes are only grown in the Southern regions, which is also due to the climate, of course. Today there are about 300 varieties of tomatoes grown in Italy.
This is probably why tomatoes are traditionally used more in Southern Italian pasta recipes. However, before the 1800s pasta wasn’t paired with tomatoes. Italians served pasta in broth and soups, with white ragu, with cream, cheese, or butter, with other vegetables and legumes, with pesto or seafood but without a tomato in sight!
RECIPES WITHOUT TOMATOES
Because tomatoes were and are mostly cultivated in the South and the Southern Italians were the first to use them in cooking, most traditional Northern Italian pasta recipes are tomato less. And, even many central Italian ones don’t include tomatoes as an ingredient.
Cheese Stuffed Agnolotti Del Plin Typical Pasta Recipe From Piemonte Without Tomatoes
Consequently, there are many Italian pasta recipes without tomatoes. I think the popularity of tomato based pasta sauces in the USA is a result of the fact that many Italian immigrants came from Southern Italy. However, there are some classic recipes that people outside of Italy know, for example: alla gricia, cacio e pepe and carbonara (without cream) from Rome.
Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
I recently put together a roundup of tomato less pasta recipes including the classics mentioned above, which has proven to be very popular (link below). It doesn’t include stuffed or filled pasta like types of ravioli. However, I have another roundup of those some of which have a tomato sauce (link below), but most don’t.
I love food history and find the history of tomatoes in the Italian kitchen fascinating, especially as many people think of tomatoes as being a ubiquitous Italian ingredient. I hope you’ll check out the two roundups I have mentioned and try some of the recipes.
Pasta alla Gricia
Do you make any pasta recipes without tomatoes?
