I had this last week at this Italian restaurant in Italy and it was SOOO tasty! And I couldn’t figure out which ingredients they used to make the sauce. The sauce had this light pink color .. at first I thought it’s heavy cream and tomato paste but I think Italians never use heavy cream in their pastas
by Competitive-Rent-476
4 Comments
We actually do, sometimes. It helps tying the dish together when the individual ingredients aren’t enough.
About your dish, though, I can’t really figure it out. You say the sauce was pink-ish but I’m only seeing golden yellow in the picture, plus some walnuts on top? Was there any saffron by any chance? Any additional info you could offer would help us understand whether that’s a traditional recipe or something that one specific restaurant made for its menu…
Italians do occasionally use cream in their sauces; you’re more likely to find it in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, and in northern Tuscany.
If it’s a pink sauce then it was probably made from tomato and cream — a salsa rosa. Looks delicious.
And the people in the restaurant didn’t know it either?
This appears to be really close to what you posted, does include radicchio no walnuts, but they appear to be only a garnish.
https://memoriediangelina.com/2009/10/17/pasticcio-di-pappardelle-al-radicchio-rosso-di-treviso/