Pasta as a serial actor: In The Sopranos, this baked pasta with plenty of cheese and tomato sauce plays an ironically prominent role.
Food plays such an important role in the American TV drama The Sopranos that a special Sopranos cookery book was published. The dish that probably appears most often in the series is baked ziti. In one of the first episodes – and one of the most famous scenes – we learn how important it is for the family. "What? No fuckin' ziti?" exclaims Tony's son Anthony Jr. when he hears that his grandmother is sick and therefore can't come to his birthday party. From then on, appearances of the pasta dish thread like a trail of blood through the six seasons of the TV series.
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 50 | g | butter |
| 4 | handful | garlic, finely chopped |
| 3 | large ripe tomatoes, peeled | |
| salt | ||
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 500 | g | ziti or some other tube pasta |
| 1 | l | tomato sauce (as above, or the leftovers of the recipe from 'Goodfellas' |
| 150 | g | parmesan, grated |
| 150 | g | pecorino, grated |
| 200 | g | ricotta cheese |
| 250 | g | mozzarella, torn or cut into small pieces |
| butter, for greasing | ||
