Goth pasta

[triskellian]

One of the most memorable things smiorgan and I ate on our honeymoon in Venice was risotto nero, made with cuttlefish ink - which really did make the whole thing black - and ever since then I've vaguely been looking for somewhere to buy some and attempt the same thing at home

Comments

[onebyone]

My Italian cookbook claims that you can buy squid with the ink sacks still in, and furthermore that even if the fishmonger does gut them, they'll still have the ink lying around out back. So you could try the covered market, see if the fish shop can sort you out.

I don't know whether squid ink and cuttlefish ink taste different, but they're the same colour.

[bateleur]

but they're the same colour

As is markerpen ink, but xylene and pasta don't play nicely together.

[cuthbertcross]

Hmm, I bought a little jar of black pasta sauce from Carluccio's and it was a bit grim, to be honest.

I am not sure if the ink by itself tastes better - I eat all manner of strangenessess in the fishie department, but this particular sauce really didn't do it for me. It just tasted rather *earthy* (in the way beetroot sometimes does). Maybe it's my subconcious refusing black grainy sauce as a legitimate choice...

[triskellian]

This didn't taste earthy to me at all, so the jar sauce is probably different. Ours was two tiny sachets of thick liquid ink, stirred into a very simple tomato sauce, and I really recommend it if you want to give ink another shot.

[pepper_field]

That sounds cool - but it presses all the wrong buttons for me. I wish I was less squeamish about some things, because I like exciting new foods. I'm happy for you, though. :D

[undyingking]

Heh, I thought the actual pasta was going to be black, not the sauce. But I guess hand-making pasta might be a bit much for a school night.