When dining in a restaurant right off the Central Piazza in Siena, my husband and I ordered a delicious pasta dish and I would like to learn the name of it. Also, if anyone has a recipe for it? It was a dish of a long, very thick, solid, spaghetti tossed with a parmesan cheese sauce. The waitress who did not speak English misunderstood my original order and brought me this dish instead. Her boss came over and told me that it was a specialty only cooked in Siena and so I agreed to just keep it and try it! I'm glad that I did because it was just delicious!

Just wanted to add that maybe someone on the forum may have had the same dish, thought it was also delicious, and remembers the name of it. Thanks.

I'd imagine the thick spaghetti, if it did not have a hollow centre, is in fact linguine. For dried pastas, I, and the head chef at Scalini, recomend De Cecco - superb texture, very difficult to overcook, in fact he uses it in his splendid restaurant.

As for the sauce, I'd guess it's a simple white sauce with some cream, white wine, herbs, and of course some parmesan blended in. After cooking the pasta toss through the sauce.

I don't know about the sauce, but the pasta sounds like pici, a long, thick, dense spaghetti that's a specialty of that area.

KT, you beat me to it!

I can't imagine what the sauce was .

Thanks for the information. I would really like this dish again and I'm thinking that this pasta is a kind of gourmet one. Like I said, my husband and I ordered pasta dishes, but did not get the one that I ordered and this one was brought instead. From what I wrote, it seems like we should have at least known what the name of the dish was that we ordered, but we don't remember.
The pasta was not hollow, it was thick, solid, and long, like a spaghetti, and it seemed to be over a 1/4 inch think!!!

I also think the pasta was "pici." The sauce may not have any special name. Was it made of just the grated cheese, some pasta water, butter or oil?

Thank you, everyone! I will search for the pasta, Pici, either on line, or at my local Italian Store.

>...I'd imagine the thick spaghetti, if it did not have a hollow centre, is in fact linguine. <

Imagine all you like, but spaghetti is round and linguini is thin and flat.

I frequently make a "sauce" by tossing the hot pasta with equal amounts of good olive oil and butter (preferably unsalted and European-style) and a whole lot of freshly grated Parmesan. Sometimes I add a dollop of heavy cream to smooth it all out, but not very much. This is my husband's absolute favorite.

A good recipe.

We also saute some garlic in olive oil, toss the pasta in that and then add fresh oil just before serving.

Sprinkle with Parmeggiano or Pecorino and Italian Parsley.

The garlic sounds like a great addition, Ira--thanks for the idea.

We also like a recipe that was in Cook's Illustrated for pasta with just olive oil and garlic: no cheese.