A hand-rolled pasta of Romagna and Emilia, the name meaning «priest-stranglers». In Romagna the dough is eggless flour and water; in parts of Emilia it is enriched with a little egg white and grated Parmigiano. A rope of dough is rolled under the hands and torn or cut into short lengths of about 7 to 8 cm, each one given a loose twist, so the finished pasta is an irregular, twisted strand thicker than a noodle. It is dressed with a meat ragù or a simple tomato sauce and served as a main-course primo.
Strozzapreti are a documented pasta of Romagna and Emilia, the broad central-Italian heartland that lay under the temporal rule of the Papal States until Italian unification in 1861; the first written references to a pasta of this name are placed in the 16th century. The name «priest-stranglers» belongs to the anticlerical streak of the region, and several folk explanations circulate — that gluttonous priests choked bolting it down, or that the azdora, the Romagnolo housewife, «strangled» the dough as she rolled it while cursing the tithe-collecting clergy who dined at her table. Italian sources tell these as legend, not documented history, and the shape — likened to a twisted cord or a clerical collar — is at least as plausible a source of the name.
An irregular twisted strand with a dense, chewy bite, springier and more rustic than a smooth machine noodle; the eggless Romagnolo version is especially firm and a little rough on the surface, where the Emilian egg-and-Parmigiano dough eats slightly tenderer. The loose twist gives uneven thicknesses, so each piece has both a yielding centre and a firmer fold, and the rough surface and the curl of the twist hold a meat ragù in their grooves. A good strozzapreto is al dente and chewy with sauce clinging to it; overkneaded or boiled too long it turns gummy and loses its bite.
The Romagnolo dough is just flour and water, with no egg fat or egg protein to lubricate and set it, so it is kneaded and rested until the gluten is well developed and elastic, then left to firm; the result is the dense, chewy, slightly porous strand. Where Emilian cooks add egg white and grated Parmigiano, the extra protein binds the dough and eats a little tenderer. The shape is made entirely by hand — a thin rope is rolled and twisted under the palms and torn or cut, the twist and the torn, irregular ends giving the rough surface and the uneven thickness that grip a sauce. The pasta is boiled in plenty of salted water until al dente and finished in the hot sauce; the chewy, sturdy body is built to stand up to an assertive ragù rather than a delicate dressing.
Variations
The everyday dressings are a meat ragù — including ragù alla bolognese in its Emilian heartland — or a plain tomato sauce, though the pasta also takes seafood sauces and a simple butter and sage. The dough divides the two halves of the region: eggless flour-and-water in Romagna, sometimes enriched with egg white and Parmigiano in Emilia. Strozzapreti are kin to the region's other hand-rolled shapes and resemble a longer, twisted cavatello. They share their «priest-strangler» name and folk story, but not their form, with two distinct dishes elsewhere: the Umbrian strangozzi, a long eggless shoelace strand, and the Trentino strangolapreti, which is a bread-and-greens dumpling, not a pasta.
On the Palate
Where Strozzapreti sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 35 min active + 25 min waiting
- 110 min
Mound the flour, make a well, and add water a little at a time (and, for the Emilian style, a little egg white and grated Parmigiano), working it into a firm dough.
- 212 min
Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes, then cover and rest for about 25 minutes.
Watch outKnead until the dough is smooth and elastic, then rest it — this eggless flour-and-water dough needs developed gluten for the dense, chewy strand.
- 35 min
Cut off a piece of dough and roll it under your hands into a thin rope.
- 418 min
Roll and twist short lengths of about 7 to 8 cm off the rope between your palms, tearing or cutting each one, and set them on a floured tray.
- 520 min
Make the sauce: simmer a meat ragù until rich, or cook down a simple tomato sauce.
- 66 min
Boil the strozzapreti in plenty of salted water until al dente, a few minutes for fresh pasta, then drain.
Watch outBoil fresh pasta only a few minutes to al dente — it keeps softening in the hot sauce, so pull it while it still has bite.
- 73 min
Toss the pasta in the pan with the sauce, finish with grated Parmigiano, and serve at once.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
