🇮🇹 Italian · Pasta
🍝 Pasta alla Zozzona
Pasta alla Zozzona
Rome's cheeky 'dirty pasta,' unapologetically combining the city's four great pasta traditions — carbonara, amatriciana, gricia, and cacio e pepe — into one deliberately over-the-top dish.
Zozzona, meaning roughly 'filthy' or 'messy' in Roman dialect, is a modern trattoria invention that mashes together guanciale, sausage, egg, pecorino, and tomato, essentially combining several classic Roman pastas' defining elements into one indulgent plate.
Ingredients
Equipment: Large pot, Large sauté pan
- 400 g (14 oz) rigatoni or mezze maniche
- 150 g (5.3 oz) guanciale, diced
- 200 g (7 oz) Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
- 300 g (10.5 oz) canned crushed tomatoes
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 120 g (1¼ cups) grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving
- Freshly ground black pepper, generous amount
- Salt, for the pasta water
Method
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente.
- Meanwhile, cook the guanciale in a cold, dry pan over medium-low heat until the fat renders and it turns crisp, then remove and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan.
- In the same pan, cook the crumbled sausage until browned.
- Add the crushed tomatoes to the sausage and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, and pecorino together in a bowl with a generous amount of black pepper.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a generous cup of cooking water, and add it to the pan with the sausage-tomato mixture, tossing over low heat.
- Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the egg-cheese mixture along with the reserved guanciale, tossing vigorously and adding pasta water as needed to create a smooth, creamy sauce.
- Finish with extra pecorino and black pepper, and serve immediately.
Chef Tips
- Work off direct heat when adding the egg mixture to avoid scrambling it, just as with a traditional carbonara.
- The starchy reserved pasta water is essential for pulling everything into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
- This is a deliberately indulgent, rich dish — don't be shy with the pecorino and pepper.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Adding the egg mixture over direct heat, causing it to scramble rather than form a silky sauce.
- Skipping the reserved pasta water, leaving the sauce too thick and clumpy.
- Being too restrained with the ingredients — zozzona is meant to be a maximalist, generous dish.
Nutrition (per serving)
Health Benefits
- A rich source of protein, best enjoyed as an occasional indulgent dish.
Cultural Note
Pasta alla zozzona is a beloved modern addition to Rome's pasta canon, born in the city's trattorie as a playful mashup of its four classic pasta traditions.
Storage & Serving
Storage: Best eaten immediately; the egg-based sauce does not reheat well.
Reheating: Not recommended; best enjoyed fresh.
Serve with: A robust Roman red wine