Homemade egg pasta, so thin that it melts in the mouth: the pasta from Canepina, locally called Canepina fieno, boasts very old origins and is known and loved throughout Italy.
The original recipe, which comes from the area of Tuscia and has been handed down from generation to generation since the Middle Ages, includes the use of fresh eggs and durum wheat or Italian 00 flour (one egg for every 100 grams of flour), without the addition of water. The preparation, strictly by hand, is rather labor intensive: a very thin pasta layer is prepared, between 0.15 and 0.8 millimeters, then it is rolled up and cut into very thin strips – like capellini – with a knife and left to dry for a day. Their thinness and very fine cut, which allows them to be cooked very quickly in boiling water, are the special features of this local dish. Another special feature of this dish is that right after cooking the fieno pasta is removed from the pot and placed on a clean dishcloth to eliminate the water so that it can soak up the sauce and thus be more flavorful and prevent it from sticking together.
A ground meat or chicken innards sauce is generally used on this pasta, but it is also excellent in a tomato free version with porcini mushrooms from the Monti Cimini. Cheese is added at the end: according to tradition only pecorino, but nowadays parmigiana is also used or a mixture of the two cheeses.
A demonstration of the working class tradition of this small Medieval town, the pasta processing technique has remained unchanged over time, as well as the knowledge and skill necessary to best prepare it.
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