# Luca’s Spaghetti with tomato, pancetta and vegs sauce – For Kathleen



## Luca Lazzari (Jan 27, 2012)

Since you are a rigatoni and spaghetti fan, Kathleen, here is one of my favorite recipes for the spaghetti. This recipe combines some of the most classic ingredients of Italian pastasciutta dishes, tomato and pancetta, with a tasty mix of vegetables and herbs, to produce a savory outcome.

Serves 4 | SAUCE:  3 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil |  400 g canned chopped tomatoes | 100 g pancetta | 1 carrot | 1 stick of celery | 1 onion | 2 shallots | 1 sprig of fresh rosemary | 1 cup of fresh parsley, chopped | ½ glass white dry wine | salt and black pepper to taste | PASTA: 400 g spaghetti (as always, you can reduce this quantity, if you’re not an Italian fatso like me ) | a handful of coarse salt | SERVING: 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano cheese.

*How to prepare your spaghetti
*- Start heating a large pot of water for the pasta.
- Chop carrot, celery, onion, shallot and rosemary, mixing them. Finely chop the parsley and keep it for the final topping. Dice the pancetta.
- Warm the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the mix of vegetable. Cook for around 5 minutes over medium heat, then add the pancetta, wait a couple of minutes and add the wine, over a high heat until it evaporates. Add the tomatoes, and cook over a medium heat for 15/20 minutes (or as long as you like, but not toooooooo much), stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, and add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Add the coarse salt to the boiling pot of water, wait a couple of minutes then put in the pasta. Fill with hot water a serving bowl large enough for all the pasta.
- Cook the spaghetti (look at the package for the cooking time and taste them a couple of minutes before the end).
- Empty and wipe the warmed bowl. Drain the pasta and pour it into the bowl. Add the sauce in the bowl, then add chopped parsley and grated cheese and stir well with a fork and a spoon.
- Using fork and spoon, put the pasta in 4 warm plates and serve.

What wine can you drink with this recipe? A good red wine should go well with this tomato pasta dish, like a Sangiovese di Romagna Doc, from Emilia-Romagna region.


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## justplainbill (Jan 27, 2012)

3.5 ounces per person seems a modest portion unless they're a prima piatti.


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 27, 2012)

justplainbill said:


> 3.5 ounces per person seems a modest portion unless they're a prima piatti.



You're right justplainbill, it's supposed to be a primo piatto in a meal with more servings. However I try never to eat more than 120 grams of pasta, even if it's the only serving of my meal.

From now on I'll add this "primo piatto" warning of yours to all my posted pasta recipes. Thanks!


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## Josie1945 (Jan 27, 2012)

Hi Luca,
   I missed you. Glad you are back.
Thanks for the recipe I will definatly try it.

Josie


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 27, 2012)

Thanks Josie! 
And now I have to focus more on the risotto side of the table...


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## taxlady (Jan 27, 2012)

justplainbill said:


> 3.5 ounces per person seems a modest portion unless they're a prima piatti.



What's prima piatti?


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 28, 2012)

taxlady said:


> What's prima piatti?



Hi taxlady, a "primo piatto", or as we call it in Italy a "primo" (meaning "first"; plural "primi", "primi piatti"), is one of the serving of an italian meal.

This is the structure of a typical full course Italian meal:

- Antipasto (antipasti): appetizer > Anything on earth and beyond, but usually some cold cuts, or grilled vegs, or some fish, but also bruschette and so on

- Primo: entrée, starter > pasta, risotto, soup

- Secondo: second course > meat, fish, eggs, anything BUT NOT pasta or risotto
- Contorno: the side dish for the second course > vegetables of any kind

- Frutta: fruit
- Dolce: dessert
- Caffè: espresso coffee
- Liquore, ammazzacaffè > a good strong drink to finish!

- And do not forget the inevitable bread and wine!

Buon appetito


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## justplainbill (Jan 28, 2012)

taxlady said:


> What's prima piatti?


My bad Italian and gender for first plate(s).
Sorry, I have not been back to Italy for over 40 years.


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## taxlady (Jan 28, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> Hi taxlady, a "primo piatto", or as we call it in Italy a "primo" (meaning "first"; plural "primi", "primi piatti"), is one of the serving of an italian meal.
> 
> This is the structure of a typical full course Italian meal:
> 
> ...



Thanks for the primer. I feel like this post should be a "sticky" in the ethnic food section. It would be nice to be able to find it easily for reference.

How much of that is usually served for a regular, weeknight meal?


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## Kathleen (Jan 28, 2012)

Again, that recipe sounds so good.  I think that I will love the blend of veggies and herbs with pancetta!  Do you think that I could use fresh tomatoes when they come in season or do the canned variety work better?  

I also have a question about your typical Italian course, which sounds simply fantastic!  If you have something like bruschetta as an appetizer, would you then have tomatoes featured elsewhere such as in a sauce?  One of my favorite appetizers has to be the fresh mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil!  It's just so good.  

Thank you so much for posting this recipe and the other one.  They both sound amazing!


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 31, 2012)

Kathleen said:


> Again, that recipe sounds so good.  I think that I will love the blend of veggies and herbs with pancetta!  Do you think that I could use fresh tomatoes when they come in season or do the canned variety work better?



You surely can, but I generally use canned San Marzano variety, because it's faster and the final taste is good enough for me (and Bobby McGee). Even if we have plenty of fresh tomatoes here.



Kathleen said:


> I also have a question about your typical Italian course, which sounds simply fantastic!  If you have something like bruschetta as an appetizer, would you then have tomatoes featured elsewhere such as in a sauce?  One of my favorite appetizers has to be the fresh mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil!  It's just so good.



I generally do not prepare appetizers at home; when I want a robust meal, I just go for a pasta/risotto primo, and meat/fish secondo. But you're right: if I prepare a tomato-based primo, I will not use tomato for the second.
You could have some tomato bruschetta, then a pasta without tomato, or a risotto (I never use tomato in my risotto), and some meat or fish without tomato. But It's a matter of taste, in the end. I mean, unless you're a scientific menu builder, and you want everything to be perfect, you know, alternating flavours and taking into account nutrition issues. But I'm not a scientist...


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 31, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Thanks for the primer. I feel like this post should be a "sticky" in the ethnic food section. It would be nice to be able to find it easily for reference.
> 
> How much of that is usually served for a regular, weeknight meal?



Usually we have a primo and a secondo with contorno, some fruit and maybe some dessert, quite always coffee, not so often a liquor.


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 31, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Thanks for the primer. I feel like this post should be a "sticky" in the ethnic food section. It would be nice to be able to find it easily for reference.



You're welcome!
And I have to do a little editing, here, I just forgot to mention cheese (even if we are not French...) and legumes. Here is the edited version:

This is the structure of a typical full course Italian meal:

- Antipasto (antipasti): appetizer > Anything on earth and beyond, but usually some cold cuts, or grilled vegs, or some fish, but also bruschette and so on

- Primo: entrée, starter > Pasta, risotto, soup

- Secondo: second course > Meat, fish, eggs, anything BUT NOT pasta or risotto
- Contorno: the side dish for the second course > Generally vegetables or legumes

- Formaggio: cheese > It is not mandatory, sometimes they'll ask you if you want some cheese at the end of the meal, more often no one will mention it.

- Frutta: fruit
- Dolce: dessert
- Caffè: espresso coffee
- Liquore, ammazzacaffè > a good strong drink to finish!

- And do not forget the inevitable bread and wine!


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## justplainbill (Jan 31, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> You're welcome!
> And I have to do a little editing, here, I just forgot to mention cheese (even if we are not French...) and legumes. Here is the edited version:
> 
> This is the structure of a typical full course Italian meal:
> ...


Are fruits like pears peeled with a knife and fork?


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 31, 2012)

justplainbill said:


> Are fruits like pears peeled with a knife and fork?



 Luca's rule: you'll never eat troublesome fruit outside your homeground!

Actually, there are "good manners" rules about how to manage fruit, but I'm a poor and humble peasant, I never go to those restaurants with waiters filling you glass with expensive wines... 

However, I just phoned my posh friend Giulio to get some patrician advice.

1- Watermelon. You eat it like a dessert. Using fork and knife, you get rid of the seeds, in a courteous way, then you cut some small pieces, finally you're allowed to use your fork to carry one piece at a time to your delicate mouth.
2- Citrus fruits, like orange and grapefruit, you grab them with your left hand, then you peel them with your knife; you'll work on top and bottom first, then you cut through the rest vertically, and get rid of the damned peel. At this point you'll got blind for the acid squirts hitting your face, and you'll pathetically try to reach the toilet, but you cannot swear aloud, cause you're in a posh restaurant, baby. Once peeled, you keep the orange with the fork, and use the knife to cut some slice. Now you can use your hands to carry the slices to your mouth: do it with the utmost delicacy. And, please, don't spit the seeds like a hooligan: you'll spit them in your hands and lay them gently down in your plate.
3- Bananas. You keep it with your left hand, in the plate, then you peel it with the knife. Then you can cut it in pieces with the knife, and use your fork to bring the piece to your mouth.
4- Figs. You cut them in 4 parts and eat them with your fork (discarding the skin, you fool!).
5- Pears, apple, peaches. The fruit must be worked on always resting on the plate. You need to cut it in 4 pieces with the knife, using the other hand to help through the process. Then you take one piece with the fork and peel it with the knife, than you cut it in smaller pieces and, at last, you eat them.
6- Miscellaneous. You CAN eat some fruit with your hands, but even in this case you have to follow some guidelines. Grapes: grab it with your left hand, pick a grape with your right hand and eat it (for the spitting of the seeds, see the orange instructions). Strawberry, cherry, raspberry, you grab them from the stem and eat them. BUT, if they serve you this berries in a cup, you'll have to use your spoon to eat them. If they serve them in a cup WITH their stem, you can call the waiter a barbarian, in English, obviously. In Italy quite nobody understand English and you'll save your life from the fearful waiter's vendetta (I know what I'm talking about, I was a waiter long time ago).

A final WARNING: if you dare to behave following the above advice when you're in a normal (i.e. not heavily posh) Italian place with Italian friends or relative, or in some pictoresque Rome trattoria, they will surely skin you alive and make a fool of you till the end of time.


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## justplainbill (Jan 31, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> Luca's rule: you'll never eat troublesome fruit outside your homeground!
> 
> Actually, there are "good manners" rules about how to manage fruit, but I'm a poor and humble peasant, I never go to those restaurants with waiters filling you glass with expensive wines...
> 
> ...


Thanks for the aptly humorous reply. I recall the above etiquette practised in establishments where the patrons were not loath to combining some aqua minerale with their vino and il bagno looked like the following


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## Luca Lazzari (Jan 31, 2012)

justplainbill said:


> Thanks for the aptly humorous reply. I recall the above etiquette practised in establishments where the patrons were not loath to combining some aqua minerale with their vino and il bagno looked like the following


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## justplainbill (Jan 31, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


>


Those slippery slopes can be hazardous .


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## vitauta (Jan 31, 2012)

i'm stuck.  i can't get past your statement, luca, that you limit pasta serving size to 120 grams.  what??   and then you seal the deal by including the main course dish to that size.  what??!  it's luca's recipe, it looks good, smells divine and tastes sooo goood--why impose such a draconian rule limiting the pasta so drastically?  unless the paltry pasta serving is a low carb or caloric limitation, i cannot imagine why anyone would invoke a rule that would cut off a pleasurable meal midway through.  luca, i know you are referring to a personal preference in this pasta serving size matter, but i am burning with curiosity to know the why of it.  my pasta servings are ALWAYS at least twice the size of yours.  i would feel positively deprived to sit down at a table where my portion of pasta was to be limited to the paltry amount you suggest, luca.  don't be mad, luca, i just need to know WHY??!!!


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## justplainbill (Jan 31, 2012)

vitauta said:


> i'm stuck.  i can't get past your statement, luca, that you limit pasta serving size to 120 grams.  what??   and then you seal the deal by including the main course dish to that size.  what??!  it's luca's recipe, it looks good, smells divine and tastes sooo goood--why impose such a draconian rule limiting the pasta so drastically?  unless the paltry pasta serving is a low carb or caloric limitation, i cannot imagine why anyone would invoke a rule that would cut off a pleasurable meal midway through.  luca, i know you are referring to a personal preference in this pasta serving size matter, but i am burning with curiosity to know the why of it.  my pasta servings are ALWAYS at least twice the size of yours.  i would feel positively deprived to sit down at a table where my portion of pasta was to be limited to the paltry amount you suggest, luca.  don't be mad, luca, i just need to know WHY??!!!


Take a look at Luca's avatar.  Uno etti of dried pasta is not an excessively small portion for a primo piatto.


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## taxlady (Jan 31, 2012)

vitauta said:


> i'm stuck.  i can't get past your statement, luca, that you limit pasta serving size to 120 grams.  what??   and then you seal the deal by including the main course dish to that size.  what??!  it's luca's recipe, it looks good, smells divine and tastes sooo goood--why impose such a draconian rule limiting the pasta so drastically?  unless the paltry pasta serving is a low carb or caloric limitation, i cannot imagine why anyone would invoke a rule that would cut off a pleasurable meal midway through.  luca, i know you are referring to a personal preference in this pasta serving size matter, but i am burning with curiosity to know the why of it.  my pasta servings are ALWAYS at least twice the size of yours.  i would feel positively deprived to sit down at a table where my portion of pasta was to be limited to the paltry amount you suggest, luca.  don't be mad, luca, i just need to know WHY??!!!



Really? When I cook pasta for me and DH, I cook up 200-250 grams of pasta and that's plenty. My DH is a big man with a big appetite. That's with the pasta as the main course and a salad on the side.


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## justplainbill (Feb 1, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Really? When I cook pasta for me and DH, I cook up 200-250 grams of pasta and that's plenty. My DH is a big man with a big appetite. That's with the pasta as the main course and a salad on the side.


Basta pasta por due!
I like my breads and pasta.  When I was younger I was eating up to  200 grams of pasta.  Now that I'm older (and wiser?), I've cut back to the 115 - 140 grams I used to eat when I was a teenager.


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 1, 2012)

justplainbill said:


> Take a look at Luca's avatar.  Uno etti of dried pasta is not an excessively small portion for a primo piatto.


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 1, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Really? When I cook pasta for me and DH, I cook up 200-250 grams of pasta and that's plenty. My DH is a big man with a big appetite. That's with the pasta as the main course and a salad on the side.



It's the same for the two of us, taxlady.
And congratulations for you Canadian Borg avatar!


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 1, 2012)

vitauta said:


> i'm stuck.  i can't get past your statement, luca, that you limit pasta serving size to 120 grams.  what??   and then you seal the deal by including the main course dish to that size.  what??!  it's luca's recipe, it looks good, smells divine and tastes sooo goood--why impose such a draconian rule limiting the pasta so drastically?  unless the paltry pasta serving is a low carb or caloric limitation, i cannot imagine why anyone would invoke a rule that would cut off a pleasurable meal midway through.  luca, i know you are referring to a personal preference in this pasta serving size matter, but i am burning with curiosity to know the why of it.  my pasta servings are ALWAYS at least twice the size of yours.  i would feel positively deprived to sit down at a table where my portion of pasta was to be limited to the paltry amount you suggest, luca.  don't be mad, luca, i just need to know WHY??!!!



vitauta, I was born mad...

And gone are the days in which I could easily eat 1 pound of pasta...

However, I did some homework for you. Those are the calories of a dish of pasta (100 grams) with various typical Italian sauces:
- with pesto sauce > 760
- with amatriciana sauce > 750
- with carbonara sauce > 660
- with oil and garlic > 760

Ok, let's do some math with the following abysmally frugal example:

One pasta serving (100 grams pasta) > around 730 calories 
33 cl coca-cola > 122 Cal
1 banana > 70 Cal
No bread, no appetizers, no pork rinds, no cheerios, no chocolate milk, no nothing.

The total is slightly more then 900 calories.

If your daily intake is around 2400 Cal, you have three meals of 800 Cal each. So, 900 is not so bad, for me.
Obviously you could need 4500 Cal a day, but it's not my case, with my ass glued to the PC chair all day (currently I'm eating around 1500 a day, well alive and kicking). Or you could choose to eat nothing during all day and have only a huge dinner, but I don't think it would be wise (or viable).
Finally, I like to eat WELL: it means that a smaller portion is fully satisfying for my mind, my belly and my spirit. Amen.


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## vitauta (Feb 1, 2012)

i didn't really discover pasta until the late 1960s.  "bucky", the italian owner of a hotel/tavern in our small town, began cooking up spaghetti and meatballs with his famous "green" sauce (that had been simmering for hours already) for scores of us famished young patrons.  we got a small "taste" of what he would later serve formally for dinner at the hotel.  each dinner was served up with  full pound of past!!  my eyes bulged at that, but i never did have the money to indulge in the full treatise.  but the sight of that piled-high plate is one i've never forgotten--ahhhhh....today, i still can't seem to limit myself to one serving of pasta.  memories die hard.  that "green" sauce--the best i've ever tasted in life, lives on in my mind...it springs to life whenever i have a pasta meal, which is never limited to 120 grams.  like the drug addict, i seem to be forever chasing the tail of the dragon.  thankfully, not all my meals are pastas, and not everyone    had the magical but addictive experience of tasting bucky's "green" sauce in their youth....luca, you and all the others are right and i am wrong in this matter of the proper serving size of pasta.  my sincere apologies to all....


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 1, 2012)

I can perfectly understand you, vitauta!
Those memories are a true blessing. I can still remember the wonderful fragrance of my grandmothers' pasta, risotto and polenta, and sometimes I'm moved to tears when, in some restaurant, I eat something that has a similar taste...
And I'll be damned the day when I'll tell somebody that he's eating too much pasta!


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## vitauta (Feb 1, 2012)

Luca Lazzari said:


> I can perfectly understand you, vitauta!
> Those memories are a true blessing. I can still remember the wonderful fragrance of my grandmothers' pasta, risotto and polenta, and sometimes I'm moved to tears when, in some restaurant, I eat something that has a similar taste...
> And I'll be damned the day when I'll tell somebody that he's eating too much pasta!



your wonderful recipes, step-by-step food photography, along with your deliciously descriptive narratives should be collected and published, luca.  your culinary gifts together with your warm, intimate style of communication could provide a lucrative source of income for you, imo.  you have been our continental treasure ever since your arrival at dc.  your frequent contributions of enticing home-style recipes have been enormously popular and much appreciated by your friends and fellow members of this dc forum....


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## taxlady (Feb 1, 2012)

vitauta said:


> your wonderful recipes, step-by-step food photography, along with your deliciously descriptive narratives should be collected and published, luca.  your culinary gifts together with your warm, intimate style of communication could provide a lucrative source of income for you, imo.  you have been our continental treasure ever since your arrival at dc.  your frequent contributions of enticing home-style recipes have been enormously popular and much appreciated by your friends and fellow members of this dc forum....



Very well put Vitauta.


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 1, 2012)

vitauta said:


> your wonderful recipes, step-by-step food photography, along with your deliciously descriptive narratives should be collected and published, luca.  your culinary gifts together with your warm, intimate style of communication could provide a lucrative source of income for you, imo.  you have been our continental treasure ever since your arrival at dc.  your frequent contributions of enticing home-style recipes have been enormously popular and much appreciated by your friends and fellow members of this dc forum....





taxlady said:


> Very well put Vitauta.



Friends, thank you, grazie mille! 

I *really* appreciate this.


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## Kathleen (Feb 2, 2012)

vitauta said:


> your wonderful recipes, step-by-step food photography, along with your deliciously descriptive narratives should be collected and published, luca.  your culinary gifts together with your warm, intimate style of communication could provide a lucrative source of income for you, imo.  you have been our continental treasure ever since your arrival at dc.  your frequent contributions of enticing home-style recipes have been enormously popular and much appreciated by your friends and fellow members of this dc forum....




I agree 100%!


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## Margi Cintrano (Feb 25, 2012)

*@ Luca:  Simplicity & Ease of Italian Treasures*

Thanks for the post ... I am a Pasta & Pecorino Fiore Sardo fanatic ... And am always interested in a regional fare from Lombardia, as u know. My paternal grandmom was born in Milano. 

I am very fond of 100% Sangiovese reds and Sardinian reds ... I had a Sardinian Port last October while in Sardinia - and it was to die for ... I am very fond of Prosecco too and buy it all the time here in Madrid. 

M.C.

Ciao. Have great wkend,
Margi.


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## Luca Lazzari (Feb 29, 2012)

Margi Cintrano said:


> Thanks for the post ... I am a Pasta & Pecorino Fiore Sardo fanatic ...



The perfect ingredients for a sublime "cacio e pepe" pasta!



Margi Cintrano said:


> And am always interested in a regional fare from Lombardia, as u know. My paternal grandmom was born in Milano.
> 
> I am very fond of 100% Sangiovese reds and Sardinian reds ... I had a Sardinian Port last October while in Sardinia - and it was to die for ... I am very fond of Prosecco too and buy it all the time here in Madrid.
> 
> ...



I love Sangiovese, too, a straightforward red perfect for a tigelle and salami dinner 
And I love prosecco, too: it's the only wine I order when I'm in the UK!  While I learned to appreciate Cava white wines when I went to Barcellona.


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## Margi Cintrano (Feb 29, 2012)

*Prosecco*

@ Luca,

I love Prosecco sparkling wine ... always have some bottles on hand chilled just incase, we have guests ... 

When it comes to whites, I prefer Prosecco to still white wines ... I also am very fond of Cava from Sant Sadurní D´Anoia - Barcelona ... 

With reds, Sangiovese and / or a Spanish 100% Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero ... Have u had any Spanish wines ? 

Which ones ? 

Ciao. Margi.


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