Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Eating In: Alto's Pasta with Parmigiano Reggiano
By
Joe DeSalazar
Published Oct 11, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Joe DeSalazar
Published Oct 11, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Cooking Our Favorite Restaurant Dishes at Home
The difference between Scott Conant’s restaurants, Alto and Gothamist favorite L’Impero, can be seen by looking at their pastas. L’Impero keeps it simple and classic while Alto has a pasta dish finished with a Parmigiano Reggiano foam.
Gothamist doesn’t do foams.
But the rich, intense flavor of that foam made of the “the king of cheese” was damn good. In fact, it would be nice to have it in a pasta dish in as many ways Gothamist can bother to make it. This Gothamist recipe features pasta and Reggiano in three ways - a rich fondue sauce, a crunchy baked crisp, and just a little more spinkled on top of the pasta before serving.
Gothamist Recipe
Pasta Parmigiano Reggiano
Reggiano fondue and crisp
This recipe is based from a traditional fondue technique. You can use any type of pasta here – flat pastas like fettuccini and linguini work well but so do tubular pastas like penne. Gothamist chose perciatelli - a thick, long tubular pasta.
Ingredient Shopping List
Recipe serves two people.
1 box of pasta (any long, flat or tubular pastas work well)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Unsalted butter
1 large cloves garlic
1 bunch parsley
1 bottle dry white wine (sauv blanc)
1 bottle dried red pepper flakes
½ lb chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Parchment paper or silpat
1 tbls flour
Estimated cost of ingredients: $12-14 at Fairway, not counting wine
Prep the Ingredients
Start a large pot of salted water to boil.
Preheat oven to 400.
Peel and chop 1 clove of garlic. Chop about 1 handful of fresh parsley leaves. Grate about 2 cups of Parm Regg. Measure about 1 cup of white wine.
Make the Crisps
Take out a flat sheet pan and overlap with a piece of parchment paper or a silpat.Take the grated cheese and create flat circles of the cheese on the parchment paper or silpat. Don’t make the two circles of cheese too close to each other - they will expand as they bake.Place the cheese in the oven for about 7-8 minutes total. Check after about 4 minutes – they should be starting to bubble. Take out when just golden brown and set aside to cool.
Place 1/4 - 1/2 of the box of pasta into your boiling water. The Perciatelli variety takes about 10 minutes for just a touch before al dente. Other varieties will be much shorter. Remember, overcooked pasta sucks.
Make fondue sauce
Drain the pasta and set aside. Drizzle it with a bit of olive oil in your strainer and gently mix into pasta so it doesn’t stick together.
Add one pat of butter to a hot pan. Add the garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes to the butter and sauté for a few seconds. Add 1 cup of sav blanc wine and bring to boil. While bringing to boil, add 1 tablespoon of flour and whisk into liquid. Once the liquid has come to a boil slowly add about 1 to 1 ½ cups of Parm Regg. Whisk continuously.
Once all of the Parm Regg has been added, continue to whisk continously and cook over medium heat for 1 minute until it comes together. Add the chopped parsley and then the cooked pasta and season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to low. Mix to gently coat the pasta in the sauce for a minute. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Sprinke the pasta with a more parm regg to finish.
Finish the Dish
You can add use the parm regg crisps in a few different ways. You can just lay the whole disk on the top of ta mounf of pasta, you can break it into a few shards like Gothamist did, or you can break it into smaller pieces to mix into the pasta. It all works.
Tagged
cooking
Cooking Our Favorite Restaurant Dishes
eating in
food
gothamist
Gothamist Recipe
Parmigiano Reggiano
recipe
restaurant
restaurants
Joe DeSalazar
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
Where are the cheapest drinks in NYC? A new report details the city's average prices.
The median price of a cocktail in the city is now $16, and $9 for a draft beer.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 19, 2026
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
Food
North African restaurants are rare in NYC. These 10 are the best.
Egyptian, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian food is delicious but underrepresented in the city.
By
Robert Sietsema
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
By
Robert Sietsema
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .