Pennoni Pasta with Terracina octopus’ ragout

Summer, sea, let's go to Terracina, a beautiful town on the Lazio coast about a hundred kilometers south of Rome ... A city with a heart that still beats in ancient Rome with the historic center in the Roman forum, the theater and the route of the Old Appia Way.

But Terracina is a seaside town and the port smells of fish, of real life, of goodness. The Terracinese recipe could only relate to the sea: rigatoni or pennoni with octopus sauce.

And since the cuisine of southern Lazio is influenced by that of Campania, I thought of transforming the recipe into a "Genoese of octopus".

For those who are not Neapolitans, the 'Genoese' is perhaps the condiment par excellence of traditional Neapolitan cuisine. A condiment based on onions and beef, and there are many legends about the name, but none are linked to the city of Genoa.

Perhaps Genovese was the surname of a chef, or perhaps it is a distortion of the name of the Swiss city of Geneva. For years, Swiss troops have been in Naples bringing the abundant use of onions to the kitchen.

Pennoni recipe with Terracina octopus’ ragout

Let's take a nice ‘verace’ octopus weighing about a kilo and a half, the ‘verace’ are the ones that have the double row of suckers on the tentacles, and blanch for ¾ of cooking. At this point we cut it into not too large pieces and in the meantime, we prepare a chopped celery and carrots.

Take a pan, put some oil, add the mince, brown it and then add the octopus. Let it flavor, pour a little wine and let it evaporate.

At this point add the tomato paste, which we will dilute with a little water, cover and cook over low heat for about ten minutes.

Now add the finely chopped onions, as if we were preparing a "Genoese" the onion must be abundant.

We salt, grind some pepper and let it cook covered for at least 1 hour, checking that it does not dry out. In case we will add a little water and almost at the end of cooking we add some basil leaves.

We boil the pennoni, drain them al dente and finish cooking in the pan with the octopus’ ragout. We serve in the plate with fresh basil and a grind of pepper.

In the glass a Viogner, a structured white wine that contrasts the sweetness of the dish given by the presence of onions. But if you want to stay in the area, we recommend a dry Muscat from Terracina.