🍝 Rigatoni con la Pajata
Rigatoni con la pajata is a traditional Roman dish of rigatoni in a tomato sauce slowly cooked with pajata, the small intestines of a milk-fed calf. The intestines are cooked with the milky contents inside, which thicken into a soft, creamy, slightly tangy sauce. It is finished with grated pecorino and served as a hearty first course.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 320 g rigatoni
- 500 g pajata (calf intestines), cleaned and tied into rings
- 400 g crushed tomatoes
- 40 g pecorino, grated
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and chilli flakes
Method
- Cut the pajata into 10 cm pieces and tie each into a ring.
- Brown the rings in the oil, then add the tomatoes and a splash of water.
- Season and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours until tender and the sauce is thick.
- Boil the rigatoni until al dente, toss with the sauce and finish with pecorino.
How to make it lighter
- Use 1 tbsp oil to brown the pajata; it releases fat as it cooks.
- Serve a smaller 250 g portion as Romans do, as a first course.
- Go light on the pecorino and add more chilli for flavour.
History
Pajata belongs to the 'quinto quarto' (fifth quarter) cooking of Rome's Testaccio district, where offal was cooked near the city slaughterhouse. Sales of calf intestines were banned in the EU after the BSE crisis in 2001 and the ban was lifted in 2015; lamb intestines were often used meanwhile.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →