Alexis Nikole Nelson Eats the Weeds: Recipes from the Wild

So a few years ago, you took me around Rome, where to shop, where to eat.

But today, I'd like you to show me the other side of Rome, the personal side.

Like, how, how do you cook on a Tuesday night? Y- You told me you basically eat pasta and vegetables.

So, you know, first of all, the pasta in Rome is mostly dried pasta, right?

Si.

Si, si, si.

For me, it would be dry pasta mostly because fresh pasta, either egg or non-egg fresh pasta, is mostly from the north.

And, uh, for me, it's pasta vegetables because I love pasta very much.

But also, let's say for, you know, the house economy, to eating pasta vegetables is very affordable.

But pasta with vegetables, I mean that you cook the pasta with the vegetables.

So there is some sort of technique in there.

It's not as simple as it sounds.

So let's talk about that.

So we don't tend to cook things with the pasta here.

So are you just timing it properly to add vegetables to the pasta cooking water, depending upon how long it takes? Or, or how are you cooking it together?

Eh, I will give you examples that became, uh, very popular to make even in Rome, but they are originally from Neapolitan cuisine, because we hybridated a little bit all the regional cuisines together and mashed it up.

So we cook pasta together with peas when in season, fresh peas.

But you can use the frozen one.

I mean, it's legit, the good brands.

And pasta with potatoes, which I guess the cheapest thing you could possibly have, uh, and it's delicious, or pasta with lentils, or pasta with chickpeas, or pasta with pumpkin during the wintertime, which is my favorite.

Now, all these pastas, they have a characteristic.

They are cooked with a technique that I would call risottata, meaning that you cook the pasta as you cook risotto in the pan where you have done the sauce.

You prep the soffritto and the vegetables, let's say the pumpkin Okay.

That goes very well with garlic instead of onion, and some extra virgin olive oil.

When the pumpkin is soft, you add the pasta, the dry pasta, and then you cook it with the soffritto, and there is no liquid at this point.