Luisa Maria may be located in Germany, but her heart (or at least, her stomach) is firmly rooted in Italy. Like any good Italian, food is somewhat of an obsession for her, although she would never admit it... that would make it sound like loving food is crazy! That's certainly not the case here. Consider Luisa Maria your personal guide to that next great meal abroad. First stop on your itinerary: Bologna, Italy.

It’s a good sign when you Google gramigna alla salsiccia and there are only two results that aren’t in Italian.  Prior to visiting Bologna last month, I had never even heard of gramigna pasta, let alone tried this remarkable dish that is rarely served outside of Italy.  Another search found gramigna con salsiccia on the menu of two New York restaurants (Convivio in Midtown and Bianca in NoHo), but both use either broccoli rabe or red pepper in their versions – neither of which sound like bad additions, but they weren’t in the recipe during my trip.  And let’s be honest, I can’t image them being better than the version served in Bologna.  After all, this city is considered by most to be the culinary capital of the world… and this dish was one of the best I’ve ever tasted.

Gramigna is a short, thin tubular pasta that is curled at the edges.  Like most Italian pastas, it translates to something that isn’t so much appetizing as it is true to the pasta’s shape: grass. Salsiccia is Italian for sausage, and before you sausage-haters out there protest, I’m not talking about those thick cuts of sausage that overwhelm most Italian dishes you see in the States.  With gramigna alla salsiccia, the sausage is delicately crumbled, providing the flavor of the meat without the usual, dominating commodity of it.  It works well, bringing out the pasta along with the white wine and fresh cream that it’s tossed in.  Add some oil and onions, season with salt and pepper, and top it off with grated parmesan cheese and you’ve got your dish.  The taste is robust, savory and smooth.  After my first bite, I was in disbelief of how great it was and each subsequent bite was just as good as the first, though I did eventually come to believe that, yes, what I was eating was really that good.

It helped that the sausage was probably maxed out for the fat content.  This is a crucial addition that makes it somewhat difficult to replicate the dish on your own in the United States, given the lean sausage sold at most American grocery stores.  But unlike many sausage-and-cream pasta dishes in the US, it’s not a dish that’s maxed out on cream.  The cream seems subtle and the pasta itself isn’t drenched in the sauce, which is the Italian (read: best) way to do it.  The pasta wears the sauce, never vice versa.

Of course, this is just one of many specialties of Emilia-Romagna (the region of Italy that abuts Tuscany, making Bologna a perfect day trip if you’re staying in Florence).  Other regional delicacies I recommend include Tortellini al Brodo (or Tortellini in broth, a great soup to start off your meal); Tagliatelle al ragu (long, flat ribbons of pasta dressed in a ragu, which is Italian for “sauce” and in this case, means Bolognese sauce. Bolognese is made of beef, pork, veal, onions, carrots, celery, cream, wine and tomatoes… arguably the best sauces out there); Lasagna Bolognese (no explanation necessary); and Mortadella (a thin, smoother version of American Bologna – and now you know where the name comes from).  Buon appetito!