tuscan cooking classes with a fresh homemade pasta from Maremma: Pici!

In my job (Tuscan Cooking Classes and private Chef directly to your home), can’t miss the PICI!

A bit of history

The history of the pici seems to sink its roots in Etruscan times. From the town of Viterbo, then the pici would arrive in Val di Chiana, and from there in all of Tuscany.

In our Tuscan Cooking Classes directly at your holiday home, we like talking about the story and origin of a recipe. On Winter (free from the hard work) we often study the culinary world of Tuscany.

That’s why we discovered that together with pappardelle, Pici share the record and represent a trademark of Tuscan gastronomy. Throughout the Siena and Maremma territory, it is possible to taste the unmistakable flavor of this pasta.
This pasta does not present a great variety in the form and in the dough. Anyway, you can season it with many different sauces.

A poor-kitchen dish

Running Tuscan Cooking Classes means to start from scratch. usually few ingredients: flour, eggs, water. The flavors often belong to the poor-kitchen tradition.

Well, the pici are a “poor” dish, typical of the rural reality, for the simplicity of the ingredients.

The egg is absent. In fact, it was present at the tables of the rich ones or used only in moments of celebration. Only water, flour, and salt (we add oil to give elasticity).

Many different names

As for the name, the currents of thought are many and conflicting. Some voices claim that the name derives from the gesture that is done with the palm of the hand to make the dough take the shape of the picio, the one that in Tuscan culinary jargon is the verb “appiciare” (probable).

Another road leads us to trace the origin of the name to the Pigelleto, the fir tree from the Monte Amiata natural reserve, white with a narrow and elongated shape, just like that of the pici.

Beyond what is the etymology of the name, there are many ways today with which this pasta is called.

In Siena, Maremma and Pisa territory the most common term is that of “pici”. Anyway if we move instead to Valtiberina are called “bringoli”, while in Umbria “stringozzi” or “strangozzi”, but also “umbricelli” and “ciriole” and “strozzapreti”.

The best Sauces for Pici

The picio par excellence is with aglione, a sauce made with garlic, hot pepper, oil, and tomato;

in Maremma the most appreciated sauce is with bread-crumbs, obtained with stale bread.

In the Amiata area, the pici are seasoned with fresh mushrooms.

Obviously, the Meat ragu sauce is one of the best sauces for this fantastic pasta.

Pici (fat spaghetti) Maremmani

Recipe by Erika Elia (Cuoche in Vacanza.it)

Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 1,05 hour about

Serving: 6 people

Ingredients

20 oz (600gr) all purpose flour (better if semolina flour)

9 fl oz (300ml) water

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 pinch salt

Cooking Directions

Pour the semolina flour in a bowl and make a well in the center
pour in the water and start to incorporate the flour by circular motions with your fingers or with a fork
add the oil and the salt and knead to obtain a mass
knead for about 5 minutes trying to form a leaf
cover the pasta with a cotton cloth or a plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes
flatten your dough with your hand and roll it out with a rolling pin
the thick of pasta should be around 1/4 inch

at this point you have 2 options:

1) you can slice your pasta with a knife (1/4 inch lengths) and don’t worry if some stripes will be longer than others: homemade pasta is always different

roll your stripes on the surface, with your hands to give them a circular shape

2) you can use a useful rolling pin with grooves (have a look to the pictures) and press it on pasta while rolling; after rolled it out you’ll have to pick your stripes and separate your fat spaghetti one by one

I love the shape they already have in this way, but you can gently rolling up with your hands if you prefer
remind to sand very well your work surface with the semolina and to sand again the pici once done
now you can cook the Pici:
put them in a big pot with boiling and salted (2 tsp) water and let them cook for about 5 minutes
You can season them with your fav sauce: ragu (meat sauce), pesto sauce, pummarola and don’t forget to add the parmesan…the final touch and a must here in Italy!

Salva